I think it can be both; Look at the Peacekeeper for an example.
They were made with Durzacheron’s dead revival magic by accident (apparently), and is proven to be both sentient and independent thanks to their ability to produce magic energy (something that other revived corpses don’t have).
My theory is that dead revival magic essentially is “the creation of life” through the usage of three things:
- A vessel to contain spirit energy
- Magic energy to make the vessel function
- Spirit energy to give it a soul/magic energy production
Why do I think that’s the case?
Because dead revival magic requires a corpse as catalyst and grants it magic power, said living corpses are incapable of producing their own magic energy and cannot move autonomously; Commands have to be given out for them to do anything.
This is where the Peacekeeper comes in; A corpse revived from ashes, given magic energy to be fixed, and spirit energy to be autonomous.
Of course that’s just a theory, a game theory.
Thanks for reading.