i also think that this specific text is so important to phainon and anaxa because of the fact that, yes, it was indeed anaxa's Body, anaxa's Hand that pierced through reaver's chest. but it wasn't truly Him.
it was cerces controlling anaxa's body; anaxa having just come back to consciousness, only to not be able to control his own body, plus, now housing a being he detests in the sense that he believes they shouldn't get to dictate or control people's beliefs or decisions, people's personhoods, effectively taking away his autonomy and any sort of governance he may have had over his own body before.
and remember, this was our first encounter with reaver. before this scene had played out, all we saw him doing was staring at anaxa's undead and unconscious body that sat atop the luminary throne. when castorice and the others come onto the scene, reaver begins to engage in battle with them—yet he chooses to specifically leave anaxa on the throne to recoupperate, rather than attacking him as an easy target because he is the most vulnerable amongst everyone on the scene.
and when anaxa does come back, it isn't truly anaxa. it's only then does reaver attack him as well. because the one controlling his dear professor's body, Isn't His Professor.
reaver does not have control over his own autonomy either. he never had. which makes this all the more gut-wrenching, as his body grows more intensely hot with each coreflame he consumes. the hand of one of the most important people to him pierced through his chest, and it was the closest he had ever been to a person in so long. yet, again, it wasn't even truly anaxa.
