The Black Reaper
The Black Reaper is the protagonist and titular character of the first book of the series ██████ of the Black Reaper. He is touted as the strongest magician to have lived. His unmatched magical power arose from the absorption of the souls of individuals with high spiritual and magical powers. He currently disguises himself as Dan Long, a 21-year-old archeology student at New York University (NYU), after killing the young lad. His next target is a 18-year-old biology student by the name of Alicia Murphy, who has unusually strong spiritual powers.
Appearance
The Black Reaper takes the form of a twenty-some-year-old man with mildly tanned skin. His black hair sits flat against his head, and bangs comes down diagonally to cover the left side of his forehead. He is very well dressed and likes to wear a mix of dark and light color clothes, with the exception of his Black Reaper outfit being all black.
Personality
The Black Reaper is a contradictory human being, spanning between the spectrum extremes of traits. He can be as kind as he is cruel, honest while he lies, a pacifist who has no qualms of killing. Due to the need to keep his true identity a secret, the Reaper has continuously put on a façade and fit in with his surroundings for millennia, to the point where the distinction between his true self and his persona blurred. At his core, the Reaper is an intelligent, insightful, resourceful, and kind person who just wants to do good by his family, friends, and community. But when that was all taken from him and he was pushed down a dark path, he no longer felt remorse for doing everything necessary to survive and attain his ultimate goal.
In combat, the Reaper has a penchant for commenting, often derisively, on his opponent’s move, seeing them as beneath him—one who has mastered all there is to master. That being said, he does give compliments where he believes compliments are due, such as he is caught off-guard or when his opponent shows immense courage and determination.
History
The Black Reaper was born approximately 4000 years prior to the story’s beginning to an Egyptian family that lived on the outskirts of the kingdom. His parents were very poor and uneducated, but the Reaper had great acumen and was the brightest kid in his age group. Wanting to improve his parents’ lives, he sought to become a priest. However, before he could achieve his dream, his family and fiancée were killed in a strange housefire.
Determined to revive his parents and fiance, he travelled to the capital to visit the Temple of Osiris. There, he met what he thought was Osiris and was ordered to deliver three souls to the god in exchange for the three souls that he had previously taken. Not even questioning the inequivalent exchange, the Reaper used black magic to remove three souls from three criminals in the nearby town to offer to the god. The god turns out to be Set in disguise, who not only didn’t keep the promise (because he couldn’t) but still wanted to claim those souls. Infuriated, the Reaper absorbed the three souls and destroyed the temple while trying to escape from Set, solidifying his fate on the dark path.
The Reaper returned home, depressed that he couldn’t revive his parents and fiancé, but the trip was cut short when the royal army came to arrest him for destroying Osiris’s temple. He was executed but did not die and escaped with the help of his fiancé’s sister. They escaped Egypt together, but shortly afterward, the fiancé’s sister died as well. The Reaper returned to his village to bury her before setting out once more. Since then, he has been wandering the Earth, searching for a purpose in life and a cure to his incomplete immortality. Sometime later, he became notorious and was branded with the moniker the “The Immortal and Invincible Dark Mage.”
Victims of the Black Reaper
Merlin
(Death: 6th century AD)Merlin (400s-600s) was a legendary wizard and served as an advisor in King Arthur’s court. He was an offspring of a woman and an incubus, which explains his extraordinary magical power beyond that of a typical wizard. He had two apprentices, the infamous Morgan le Fay and Vivien (or Nimue). Merlin loved Morgan, and though she rejected his love, he still continued to teach her magic and protected her. Later on, Vivien, a princess of Northumberland, comes to visit Arthur, and Merlin fell in love with her. She manipulated him into teaching her magic, which she then used to magically control him to do her bidding. When she was returning, Merlin escorted her. On the way, Merlin receives a vision that Arthur needed, so he and Vivien headed back to Camelot. Night was falling, so they stopped in a stone chamber to spend the night. Merlin tells Vivien that a pair of lovers once lived here and when they died, they were placed in a stone coffin. Vivien takes advantage of the situation, and when Merlin was sleeping, she trapped him the stone coffin and sealed it, thus killing him.
In actuality, the Black Reaper was the one who gave Merlin the vision of Arthur being in danger, prompting Merlin’s return. He knew that Merlin was under the control of Vivien and sought to control Vivien, but the princess left before he could come into contact with her. As he snuck out of Camelot to pursue Merlin, he found that the two sleeping in a stone chamber. The Reaper used the druid magic he had stolen from Merlin to make a sleeping powder and induced a powerful sleep spell on the two. He then searched Merlin’s and Vivien’s memory for spells that could potentially cure his curse, and after finding none, he absorbed Merlin’s soul and hypnotized Vivien to bury the body with her magic.
Patriarch Subhuti
(Death: 7th century AD)After hearing about the great Taoist sage atop the Lingfang Cun Mountain, the Black Reaper trekked to see the sage. Upon meeting, the sage called him into a private meeting where he revealed that he has seen through the Reaper’s true form, an immortal magician killer. In the heat of the moment, he killed the Taoist sage, hid the body, and ran away.
Abe no Seimei
(Death: 10th century AD)The Black Reaper was a student of Abe of Seimei. After studying under Seimei and learning the basics of soul magic from creating shikigami, Astes consulted the onmyōji about the art of immortality. Seimei refused to tell the Reaper anything. Thus, the Reaper revealed his true nature and asked Seimei for help. Seimei responded by attacking him. The Black Reaper retaliated, causing a large explosion, and escaped in the confusion. He later reappeared before Seimei and killed him, absorbing the onmyōji’s soul.
Saint Thomas Equinas & Albertus Magnus
(Death: 1274 AD) & (Death: 1280 AD)Albertus Magnus was said to have witnessed a gold transmutation and thus believed to be in possession of the Philosopher’s Stone. He shared this secret with his pupil Equinas. Equinas used the power of the Philosopher’s Stone in a different form and was able to perform “miracles,” leading the Black Reaper to him. After killing Equinas, he found that the version of the Philosopher’s Stone Equinas possessed was incomplete, the Black Reaper chased after Albertus Magnus. Sadly, Albertus Magnus also possessed an incomplete Philosopher’s Stone, albeit more power than Equinas’, thus the Black Reaper stopped searching alchemists afterward.
Plot
██████ of the Black Reaper
(Aug 2013 - Jan 2014)In the first chapter of the novel, the Black Reaper found a target in Dan Long, a third-year college student at New York University (NYU) majoring in anthropology. He goaded the young man with honey trap and killed the man, then assumed his identity. There were several calculations made in choosing this target. One, the target is an inhabitant of New York City (NYC), the financial center of the US, thus allowing the Black Reaper to meet as people of different nations and walks of life. Two, Dan was still young, so if the Reaper could use his identity for an extended period of time. Three, Dan was a student of anthropology, which the Reaper would leverage later on for his ultimate goal. Shortly after killing Dan and assuming his identity, the Black Reaper met Alicia Murphy, a young witch-exorcist hybrid who possess a tremendous amount of spiritual energy, and marked her as his next target. The two became acquaintances, and the Black Reaper made efforts to pursue as a romantic interest to one day kill her. However, after having carefully followed through on his plan, he failed—twice—and discovered that he had lost his ability to absorb souls. And as if matter couldn't get worse, Alicia fought his memory suppression spell and informed her father who called upon the Enforcers, agents from the Office of Magical Law Enforcement.
(TBC...)
Equipment
The Black Reaper carries two daggers (Japanese: 短刀, tantō, 'short blade'), one strapped to either leg. His name (黒の死神) is engraved on one side of each blade closest to the handle.
Powers & Abilities
Physical Abilities
Using his Soul Reaping Spell, the Black Reaper was able to turn some of the spiritual energy he absorbed into physical energy to maintain and bolster his physical body. Due to this, he has gained superhuman strength, speed, stamina, and reflex.
Martial arts
The Black Reaper has mastered many forms of martial arts, from unarmed techniques to armed techniques, including all variants of Chinese kung-fu, karate, jujutsu, aikido, muay Thai, pencak silat, savate, commando sambo, sword fighting, fencing, and the obscure taijutsu of ninja.
Spiritual Powers
While the Reaper possesses strong, innate spiritual energy, his powers were awakened by the absorption of souls in his confrontation with Set at the Temple of Osiris. His normal spiritual energy is a sky blue with flickers of gold, while his spiritual energy as the Black Reaper is pitch black with no sign of light.
Magic
The Black Reaper has mastered almost every known of magic, across the world throughout all times. His teachers were renown magicians and alchemists, including Merlin, Nicolas Flamel, Subhudti, and Abe no Seimei.
- Ancient Egyptian Magic: The Black Reaper is the only known user of ancient Egyptian dark magic.
- Soul Removal: A spell that removes the soul (and spiritual body) of the target from its physical vessel. The user must be physical contact with the target in some way. The Reaper has demonstrated this spell through three times within the first book. He removed Dan Long’s soul by grasping the man’s face. He then used it twice on Alicia Murphy—though unsuccessful—first with a kiss, then by grasping Alicia’s face.
- Soul Absorption: A spell to absorb a disembodied soul and its spiritual body of the target into the user. The user gains the memories and abilities of the soul, and the targeted soul’s spiritual body is converted into pure spiritual energy which bolsters the user‘s own powers.
- Soul Reaping: A modified version of the Soul Absorption Spell which can use the converted spiritual energy to rejuvenate the physical body, thus attaining a form of pseudo-immortality.
- Soul Sealing: A spell that seals a soul (and possibly also its spiritual body) into an inanimate vessel.
- Taoist Magic: The Black Reaper has great mastery of Taoist magic, and he prefers to use spells from this school.
- One Hundred Eight Transformations of Heaven and Earth
- Body Freezing Spell
- Heavenly Lightning
- Splitting Void
- Four Direction Holy Beasts Barrier
- Split of Heaven and Earth
- Onmyōdō Magic: The Black Reaper has also shown mastery of Onmyōdō magic. He used it in the first book, although the spells were never explicitly attributed to this school.
- Western Magic: The Reaper has demonstrated usage of modern Western magic and knowledge of ancient Western magic. It can be presumed he is also a master of Western-style magic as well.
- Reparo totalis
- Unknown school:
- Teleportation: Teleports the target to the designated location dictated by the magic circle.
- Spacetime Dissociation Barrier: Creates a barrier isolates the enclosed area from the external world. All changes to the physical area enclosed within the space are nullified once the barrier is lifted.
Quotes
- (To the Murphy family) “Don’t worry. I’ll be sending you all to him right now.” (██████ of the Black Reaper, Chapter 18)
Inspiration & Character Creation
The concept of a dark mage who maintains his life, power, and youth through absorbing the souls of the living was influence by Voldermort from the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling. In contrast to the infamous Dark Lord who split his souls and hid them in different vessels to tether him to life, the Black Reaper kills other spiritually powerful humans (spiritualists and magicians) to fuel his immortality. However, since the Black Reaper is the protagonist, his motivation for power cannot be completely malign. As such it was decided that he would be tricked into performing dark magic for the first time, and this set him on the path of no return.
Given that the Black Reaper is now immortal, it would be more interesting if he was real old and has amassed an ungodly amount of knowledge and abilities. Thus, it was decided that he would be born in Ancient Egyptian c. 2000 BC. With that, he would have been able to travel across the entire world, learning different languages, different cultures, different magic spells, and all sorts of fighting abilities. The Reaper has a penchant for using skills and techniques unknown to his opponents, making it easier for him to gain an upper hand, and aiming directly for weaknesses without shame.
His physical design is influenced by the character Hei from the anime series Darker than Black (by Tensai Okamura) who shares the same epithet.
Trivia
- The Black Reaper's birth name is █████, meaning ███████ ████████. Since leaving his birthplace, he has assumed many pseudonyms.
- The surname Long (of the Reaper's last victim and assumed identity) can mean “dragon” in Chinese.
- His paternal ancestor from 5 generations back was ███████████████.
██████
- "The (Immortal and Invincible) Dark Mage"
- "The Black Reaper"
- ES: La Muerte Negra
- JA: Kuro no Shinigami, 黒の死神
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