I brought her hands together, the fingers of the right hand forming the gesture for a Mana Bolt while the left shaped a partial version of the Threefold Barrier. Techniques much like astral structures were comprised of basic constructs; the only difference was that once properly drafted and formed, the mana acted upon the Physical as opposed to becoming a part of an astral being. Some models for astral structures even had effects related to their functions within the Astral if used for magic.

The Threefold Barrier technique utilized three layers of defense with interlaced patterns designed to strengthen each layer, much like a mesh. One layer protected against purely physical attacks and another warded the user from energy-based attacks and mana-born constructs like the dark hands used by the invaders or my tendrils. The final layer stabilized the first two which allowed the technique to provide a consistent defense by only draining mana when it actually blocked something.

I applied the philosophy of multipurpose layering to the Mana Bolt, a simple projectile of pure force generated by mana imbued with the intent to harm. Theoretically, I could create hundreds of layers if I wanted to but not only would the layering become significantly less efficient mana-wise but Lucile would be incapable of following what I was doing. Since this was primarily a teaching exercise, I stuck with a Threefold Bolt.

“Who are you really, girl? A Conclave spy?!” Joseph asked gritting his teeth as he saw Lucille’s hands preparing to cast. I didn’t answer and Lucille was engrossed in watching as I manipulated her mana. He growled, a guttural sound unbecoming of a man adorned in fine robes. “You won’t stop me. Not you or the fools on the Council. You’ll all see the power of my Will!”

He raised Delilah’s head to intercept whatever attack was sent his way and I sensed the mana within his dark vortex accumulating faster. I wasn’t worried either; his attack wouldn’t have the chance to go off and I had already analyzed the magic in the head and had a plan to deal with it.

Souls were incredibly difficult to destroy, in not impossible in some cases. They can be damaged or torn apart but they’ll endure. Joseph, or the creature possessing him, had anchored a mana absorption technique to Delilah’s head while simultaneously using it as a medium to bind a fragment of her soul. Normally, mana absorption techniques that are used to counter enemy techniques are incredibly risky since it involves taking on hostile mana which could damage one’s body or soul. However, Joseph didn’t need to worry about that since it was another’s soul who bore all of the stress.

I fired, finishing my technique before the Archmage.

The projectile disappeared as the first layer accelerated it to speeds beyond even Lucille’s ability to perceive drastically increasing its potency. Still, the Archmage had been prepared and the technique embedded into Delilah’s head activated. Unfortunately for him, I knew a bit about binding souls.

The second layer of the bolt activated as soon as it made contact with the opposing technique. As the head attempted to absorb my attack, the psykhe that I hid opened an exit point for the tormented fragment of Delilah’s soul circumventing the seal completely. And, just like that, the absorption technique had no anchor to handle the stress of the hostile mana so it rebounded on the physical object in which the technique was embedded.

The severed head popped in a gruesome display of gore sending chunks of the skull into Joseph’s face. He screamed as one piece of bone pierced his eye ruining his focus on the dark vortex and causing it to dissipate. My technique wasn’t done though.

The third and final layer of my attack struck. Released from its suffering, the tortured fragment of Delilah Weiss’s soul sought an outlet for the agony beyond death, similar to a revenant but too incomplete to manifest an incorporeal form. A casing of pure mana enveloped the fragment and carried it into Joseph’s body whereupon it unleased its torment. Had Joseph’s soul been intact, the fragment wouldn’t have been able to do much but as it was, the Archmage had surrendered himself to madness and possession and his soul served only as a tattered cloak for the invader within.

He screamed again; however, this time, it contained all the agony of two broken souls. Lucille flinched away, a motion of pure reflex as her soul recoiled at the pure anguish inherent in the sound. Finally, Joseph’s mind couldn’t take the strain and he collapsed completely and my target acted.

A wave of dark mana exploded from the dark hole on the Archmage’s chest. In the wave of mana, I heard the horrid cries of hundreds of souls harmonizing into an unnerving symphony. I shifted Lucille’s hands creating a circle then I collapsed the circle by interlocking both hands. A barrier of mana ballooned out of Lucille’s body before it flashed solidifying into a semi-physical structure. I kept my hands interlocked as the wave of dark energy collided with the newly-formed barrier.

The collision lasted three seconds and every second drained Lucille’s mana so fast that I doubted her natural mana capacity would have been able to last more than four or five seconds in total. When the wave dissipated, I dropped the barrier. I dropped the barrier.

I had to stop myself from reflexively probing the invader with my mana tendrils.

Even now, I couldn’t sense the astral being with my astral senses. I had reviewed my improved detection structures over and over using my sub-cores but I couldn’t find any flaws. I had to accept that my understanding of the dark mana wasn’t comprehensive enough to provide a complete counter.

It had taken over Joseph’s body completely at this point. The man’s eyes held no lingering vestiges of humanity, only aberrant curiosity. Its head tilted to the side and mana rolled off of it like heat from a star. I felt its astral senses briefly brush against Lucille’s body and soul revealing that its method of obfuscation wasn’t all-encompassing.

Mortal. Power. How? Both Lucille and I were surprised when the invader projected a psychic message filled with hostility and mana. The message was distorted and muffled as though someone with damaged vocal cords was speaking through a layer of cloth.

“C-can that thing read my thoughts?” Lucille asked, breaking her horrified silence.

It was an understandable misunderstanding for her. After all, I had put forward the impression that I could read minds during my introduction to the acolytes when, in fact, I had simply listened to the whispers of their souls. The two aren’t that different depending on one’s perspective.

No, I said. It’s sending psychic impulses into your mind through mana. You could do the same with the right technique; it’s a fairly simple matter. That said, be wary of it in the future. While this one isn’t reading your mind at the moment, it IS possible for it to do so or any number of other unpleasant things by using a similar method.

As we spoke, Joseph’s skin turned gray and the flesh became taut and dull as though drained of all its moisture. His fingernails and teeth turned black as coal sharpening to points. The mana around the creature fluctuated, some of it being drawn back into the possessed man’s body. Then, eight grotesque arms made of oily darkness and corded with thick muscle erupted from his back. Like my mana tendrils, these arms truly originated from the astral beings housed in the remains of Joseph’s soul yet unlike my mana tendrils, they were purely constructed to pulverize creatures and objects in the Physical as opposed to granting the subtlety and utility my design achieved.

However, I couldn’t let something like that go unanswered since it could literally tear Lucille apart.

I condensed mana into my unseen tendrils making them more resilient and putting them on par with the dark arms. As long as I filtered the mana through Lucille’s soul, it would adapt to her mana signature and prevent the astral being from discovering my presence. I had masked Lucille’s mana levels and strength from the enemy precisely for this reason. As long as I didn’t channel too much mana through her soul like what would’ve been necessary to completely heal Amalia’s soul, I was practically invisible to the invader and I didn’t have to worry about overexerting her.

“So… what should I do?” she asked, sounding more than a little daunted by the foe in front of her.

Run toward it. Same as with Amalia. I need physical contact.

She dashed forward without hesitation once again impressing me. I had expected a bit of reluctance given her fear of the creature but I underestimated her resolve. As she moved, I used my psykhe to create a protective casing around her soul. I had been surprised too many times by these invaders and their insidious mana. I wouldn’t have them inadvertently force me to face the backlash of a broken pact because one of their attacks somehow damaged Lucille’s soul enough to kill her instantly.

Two of the arms swung forward, one on the right and the other on the left, both stretching like rubber to close the distance. They traveled silently through the air but their speed hinted at how much power each strike held. I doubted Lucille’s Threefold Barrier would hold up to a single strike; not that she needed to worry about them.

Both attacks were smacked aside by my mana tendrils. She ducked another one that I diverted at the last second as it came in from below. Three more struck out and she kept in a straight line, each strike pushed or pulled by my unseen appendages.

When she closed the distance, a smile spread across the creature’s face. Its body blurred as it lunged forward, all eight arms closing in from the sides to bar any escape.

Jump, I commanded. Then fire as many Mana Bolts as you can.

Admittedly, I could have nullified the coming attack and allowed her to make contact at that moment but I was essentially training Lucille letting her push herself so she became familiar with the limits of her new body.

She jumped using her running momentum to launch herself upward. To the average human, she might as well have flown. Her jump carried her over five meters into the air in an arc. She sailed over the unsuspecting creature as it swung its clawed hand on the area where she had just been. Its mana ripped through the area sending a cone-shaped blast of destruction nearly a dozen meters into the suite.

Simultaneously, Lucille twisted mid-air, her body’s newfound flexibility proving invaluable. She fired once, twice, three times before she crashed into the floor, too caught up in firing off Mana Bolts to adjust herself for a decent landing. Two of the bolts hit the creature’s back, one in the center of his spine. The last struck the back of its ankle knocking its leg from out under it.

Lucille’s landing carried her into a roll toward the edge of the building where the Archmage had once stood. I latched onto the dark arms with my tendrils and arrested her movement by using them as an anchor.

Dazed from her landing, she took a few seconds to get back to her feet. In the meantime, I used the creature’s mana-constructed arms to batter its body against the floor with my reinforced tendrils. I enjoyed it a little too much I have to admit.

Joseph’s body still hadn’t died by the time Lucille reached it and thus, his soul lingered for the invader to possess. The creature had enhanced its host in some way once it took over if that sudden burst of speed toward the end was any indication. Even as it laid on the floorboards broken with its body, I saw darkness filling the place of shattered bones and spilled blood.

Place your hand on it now, I said. I had no desire to let the invader restore its host’s body.

She knelt next to the Archmage placing her hand on his forehead. I immediately cut into Joseph’s soul using psykhe like a scalpel to create an opening. The invading astral entity tried to escape but I prevented it leaving by sealing the soul with more psykhe. It writhed in agitation as I peeled it away from its host like one might remove a bloodsucking parasite.

Before I could celebrate, a particular feeling overwhelmed me. It was the same feeling that had struck me when the entire mess started. It felt like an enormous predator had suddenly cast its shadow over me.

For all my power then, I couldn’t do anything as the entity within my grasp reversed our positions in an instant and the fragment of my consciousness was ripped out of Lucille’s soul. The last thing I sensed before I lost my connection with the Physical was her scream as an explosion of deathly mana erupted from the Archmage’s corpse.

Like a phantom phasing into existence, it appeared in the Astral and its presence taught me true fear. I realized my mistake, my failure to consider the possibility that I should have when I integrated the first of my sub-cores.

I wasn’t dealing with a legion of foreign astral beings. Everything from the fodder to the four most powerful signatures, they were all a part of one unfathomably massive entity and I had fallen into its trap.