Vertrag

'''SPOILERS AHEAD! READ AT YOUR OWN RISK!'''

Vertrag is one of the Seven Ghosts in the 07 Ghost series. He is the pledging spirit and capable of controlling a person's soul by making a contract with them, being able to control how they move and what they say.

The remains of the statue of Vertrag still lie in one of the seven Ghost towers in the Barsburg Church. The statue had been destroyed and its tower closed since the end of the Raggs War due to the Ghost Vertrag being devoured. It is currently unknown what people used to pray to the statue for, though considering Vertrag's power, they may have asked Vertrag to change someone's behaviour and speech for the better.

Etymology
Vertrag is the German word for 'contract', referring to the contract that must be made before a soul can be taken and controlled.

Form
Vertrag's true appearance is in the form of a hooded skeleton, (like the grim reaper) wielding a large scythe. His appearance is the same as Verloren since the Ghosts are made up of fragments from Verloren.

Vertrag's Ghost symbol is purple in colour and appears to be a trident, with the first prong twisted completely upwards, the third prong twisted completely downwards, and the middle prong curved only slightly downwards.

Human
Going by Fea Kreuz's appearance, reincarnations of Vertrag tend to be tall and slender, with narrow eyes, long faces, and white hair.

Persons who have acted as Vertrag

 * Fea Kreuz
 * Many unnamed previous vessels

Personality
Vertrag is a kind, courageous and selfless Ghost, but is not above violence for the sake of protecting his loved ones. He may also have an eccentric side.

Abilities and attributes
The Seven Ghosts all possess the ability to erase or otherwise alter a person's memories. Vertrag is able to place seals on people's memories, so if anyone tries to read the protected memories, they will be injured. Like the other Ghosts, Vertrag can make his true form temporarily leave his human, host body.

Also, it is possible that the Ghosts can recover faster from injuries than ordinary humans.

Since the host body is dead; their hearts do not beat and their bodies do not give off heat, it is probable that all of them have a much greater tolerance of extremely low temperatures than ordinary humans.

Specific abilities
The Ghost Vertrag has the ability to manipulate the soul of a person, controlling their movement and speech.

The creation of the Ghosts
The Seven Ghosts are amongst the earliest 'gods' created by the Chief of heaven and their existence dates back roughly 1000 years. At the time of their creation, humanity was already present.

The legend of the ghosts tells that Verloren (the God of Death) was in love with the Chief of Heaven's daughter, Eve, but after her skeleton was found and her soul devoured, the Chief of Heaven accused Verloren of killing her. As Eve's soul being devoured automatically forced it to be sent to earth and reincarnated, Verloren escaped the heavens and fled to earth to find her reincarnation.

Verloren began looking into the hearts of humans in order to find the soul that originally belonged to Eve. However as he looked, that person's heart was instantly tainted by his presence, and slowly slipped into despair. This meant those souls could not enter Heaven in this life because they were no longer pure, and they would be forced to reincarnate again once they died.

"The Chief of Heaven dispatched seven heavenly lights from the heavens, in order to punish the wicked Verloren. They are said to have sealed the detestable Verloren on this earth."

- A nun

When the Chief of Heaven noticed the consequences Verloren's actions had on those souls he looked into, he fashioned seven heavenly lights out of Verloren's fragments, each with one of Verloren's powers, and sent them to execute him.

Schedel's Crusade
The Ghosts' mission was to take Verloren's body to The Land of Seele- where it would be judged and destroyed, and after they had fulfilled this mission their souls would be able to return to heaven. The ghosts drove Verloren to Seele, but even with their combined strength, they weren't strong enough to destroy him. Faced with this, they instead used the powers of the two angel eyes (Mikhail and Raphael) to tear Verloren's soul from his body, in the hope that they never join again so he could never be at his full power.

They sealed his physical body in Pandora's Box on earth, and used the Eye of Mikhail to make sure it could not escape from its prison. They sealed his soul using the Eye of Raphael, putting his soul in a human- and forcing it to undergo a process of constant reincarnation whenever the human body died- regardless of how the person had lived their life- so it could never enter Heaven again.

The threat of Verloren had been eliminated, but since the Ghosts were unable to judge Verloren, they could not return to heaven; instead staying in the mortal world to serve as guardians.

Vertrag went on to become the progenitor of the Raggs bloodline.

After sealing Verloren
"The Seven Ghosts, to continue to protect the seal on Verloren, always remained in this world. In order to coexist with the people of this world they took on human forms. Before long they became tied to humans and built families... The houses of God inherit the blood of the Seven Ghosts."

- Seilan

Now on earth, each Ghost assumed human form and went on to live human lives; they married humans, had human children and died as humans. The Seven Ghosts and their human families went on to form the Seven Houses of God, and the Ghosts' powers were passed on to their children, and further generations.

The current ghosts are the descendants of the original seven.

During the Raggs War and return of Verloren
Around 990 years after Verloren had been sealed, the Eye of Raphael malfunctioned- resulting in Verloren's soul awakening (the human who was currently holding Verloren's soul regained all of Verloren's memories) and continued with Verloren's crusade against the Chief of Heaven.

The descendants of the ghosts that first fought Verloren were again forced to re-group and fight.

Currently, very little is known about the Ghosts' roles in the Raggs War.

A member of the Raggs family (the God house of Vertrag) and person acting as the Ghost Vertrag, Fea Kreuz, was accused of stealing and escaping with Pandora's Box, and it was this theft that sparked the Raggs War. Pandora's Box had been moved into a human- meaning Verloren's body was at a risk of escaping- so four Ghosts protected and guided Vertrag through the Seven God Houses in order to receive the cursed tickets and travel to the Land of Seele to destroy Verloren's body.

This, coupled with the fact Verloren's soul had awakened, caused Ea and Landkarte to separate from the others and go undercover into the military.

"The military's actions are disturbing. We will investigate further."

- Ea and Landkarte's last words before disappearing.

However, the Ghosts were not successful in their mission, and it resulted in the death of one Ghost, Vertrag, whose reincarnation was killed by Ayanami and devoured by Verloren.

Modern history:
In chronological order:
 * Raggs War
 * Attack at the Hausen House
 * Verloren's Revival

Trivia

 * When Vertrag was devoured, the statue of Vertrag in the Church collapsed. However, it may have since rebuilt itself, as Vertrag has been revived as of the final manga chapter.
 * Vertrag is the first Ghost to be devoured by Verloren.
 * Interestingly, "Fea", the name of the most recent reincarnation of Vertrag, is present in the romanji form of "Vertrag", "Featorāku".