Mary

Mary is a dead-mana necromancer whose precise creations and compassion turn a feared discipline into one of Cale's most versatile sources of protection.

Biography

Hais Islands and the Magic Tower

Mary is a twenty-five-year-old necromancer who has lived in the underground City of Life for fifteen years. At age ten, she fled across the desert as her family died and absorbed an enormous quantity of dead mana. Becoming a necromancer allowed her to survive, though it left her body painfully marked and erased nearly all memories of her earlier life (Chapter 22).

Necromancy is therefore not a fascination chosen at a safe distance. It is the method by which a poisoned child remains alive after ordinary living tissue should have failed. The scars, mechanical voice, and missing memories are continuing costs, while the City of Life gives her a community that does not define survival as corruption.

She joins Cale Henituse aboveground and immediately demonstrates both technical mastery and unusual gentleness. Mary calls the skeletons under her command her babies, constructs a functional artificial arm for Ron, and helps confront creatures poisoned by dead mana (Chapters 22–24).

Cale's group gives that mastery practical public uses. Ron's arm requires precision rather than battlefield scale: a nonliving structure must fit, move, and replace lost function. Calling animated skeletons her babies similarly reveals care inside a discipline outsiders assume can only desecrate.

Ancient powers and imperial schemes

Mary expands the force available to Cale's group by assembling and controlling large numbers of monster skeletons. She prepares flying formations with magic stones and uses the bones gathered from the Dark Forest as a disciplined aerial force rather than indiscriminate undead (Chapters 30, 33).

Available remains determine what she can build, while dead mana and magic stones determine how much structure can move. This makes her a logistical creator as well as a caster: gathering, sorting, reinforcing, and arranging bones precede the visible army.

Northern war and Death Canyon

During the northern war, Mary controls an ancient white dragon skeleton and creates black bone wyverns for aerial combat. She can channel dead mana through arrows, dismantle the bone structures in enemy wings, and reinforce skeletons into durable weapons. She also creates artificial limbs for Clope Seca that contain a concealed dead-mana countermeasure (Chapters 41–48).

Her control is especially effective against bone-based flight. Rather than overpowering every rider directly, Mary interferes with wing structures, removes the support that keeps enemies airborne, and gives allies platforms or catches when they fall. The same craft that restores a limb can therefore disable one, depending on purpose and design.

When priests condemn her as a necromancer, Mary refuses to hide. She declares that she is strong and wants to stand behind Cale just as Choi Han does. She later absorbs dangerous dead mana, assists Pendrick in treating ordinary soldiers, and takes visible pleasure in using her power to help people (Chapters 46–48).

Standing openly changes the meaning of strength for her. It is not only the capacity to command a dragon skeleton; it is remaining visible while using feared power to protect soldiers who may have shared the priests' prejudice.

At Death Canyon, Mary strips bone wings from enemy forces, catches Choi Han during the aerial battle, and supports the allied crossing. Her necromancy becomes essential to the coalition's control of the sky (Chapters 50–52).

Aftermath and the Mogor crisis

Mary remains one of Cale's principal specialists after the war. As plans against Mogor develop, she is asked to collaborate with the Flame Dwarves on constructing a firebird, extending her work from skeletal restoration into a new kind of engineered magical creature (Chapters 55, 59).

The firebird project suggests collaboration rather than a sudden independent fire power. Mary contributes structural animation and dead-mana engineering while dwarven specialists supply techniques outside ordinary necromancy.

Appearance and personality

Mary wears a black robe and mask that conceal a body covered in burn-like scars and black, spiderweb-patterned veins. Her voice sounds flat and mechanical, an effect of the dead mana that transformed her body.

Despite that severe presentation, Mary is curious, literal, innocent, and deeply grateful for life. She is affectionate toward her skeletal creations and quietly proud of her strength. Her desire to stand openly beside Cale shows growing confidence and a refusal to accept the shame others attach to necromancy.

Abilities and powers

Dead-mana control and skeletal animation

Mary absorbs, stores, and directs dead mana through bones and corpses. The energy animates structures, while her control determines joints, formation, movement, and whether a skeleton acts as mount, soldier, barrier, or rescue platform. Reinforcement makes bones durable enough for aerial battle, and magic stones can support larger flying formations. (Chapters 22, 30, 33, 41, 47)

Scale depends on resources and concentration. She needs suitable remains, dead mana, and sometimes stones; commanding many creatures or an ancient dragon skeleton is more demanding than moving one limb. Her affection for the creations does not make them autonomous children—their disciplined battlefield behavior comes from her direction.

Bone disruption and aerial control

Mary can read and interfere with existing bone structures, including the wings that keep enemy forces airborne. By separating or weakening key pieces, she denies flight without needing to defeat every opponent in a direct power contest. She can also reshape allied skeletons to catch falling companions or open routes through the sky. (Chapters 47, 50–52)

This advantage is most direct against skeletal or bone-dependent targets. Living bodies and non-bone magic require dead-mana attacks, allied force, or another specialist rather than the same structural shortcut.

Artificial limbs and embedded safeguards

Mary constructs precise nonliving replacements such as Ron's arm and Clope's limbs. The work restores movement through fitted structure and necromantic control rather than regrowing flesh. Because the result is nonliving, it can tolerate dead mana differently from an ordinary limb. (Chapters 22–23, 46–48)

She can also embed a concealed dead-mana countermeasure in a creation. That feature demonstrates technical control but carries an ethical distinction: restoration helps a trusted ally, while a safeguard can restrain a dangerous one. The mechanism itself is neutral; Cale and Mary decide its purpose.

Relationships

• Cale Henituse: Cale brings Mary aboveground, trusts her expertise, and gives her a place where she can use necromancy without hiding.
• Ron: Mary constructs Ron's artificial arm, demonstrating the precision and practical value of her art.
• Choi Han: She uses his position beside Cale as the model for the open, protective role she wants for herself.
• Pendrick: Mary works with the elven healer to treat wounded soldiers.
• Clope Seca: She supplies his artificial limbs with a concealed dead-mana safeguard.

Items

Mary has no signature named personal item in the covered chapters. Her skeletons and artificial limbs are creations produced through necromancy rather than equipment on which her power depends; she relies on dead mana, available bones, and her own precise control.