He drew as much ether from the Orb of Psionics as he could – untold power that kept collecting in him, growing and growing while demanding release. He was halfway tempted to unleash another kinetic wave, one so powerful that it would rip her to shreds. But that would kill Serah, too, not to mention the woman the Queen’s mind was occupying.
There was only one solution that was acceptable to Lucian. Cut off her magic entirely.
He let the ether manifest into magic and directed it right at her Focus – her eyes widened at the incursion, the violation, and what Lucian found was that her Focus was a weapon tempered over decades of practice and meditation. Even with the Orb, it wouldn’t be an easy thing to create a brand around. The Queen screamed as she pushed back. Hard. Gravity pressed down on Lucian more intensely, until his vision darkened and his muscles shook. Lucian could hardly draw breath, as if a ten-ton stone were pressing into him from above.
It was as he feared. Even with the Orb, the magic was still not enough to overcome the Queen’s Focus. She smiled in triumph. He would be crushed long before he could overwhelm her. Hope was draining faster than his own consciousness. Shantozar had been right, in the end. His last image before his death would be of the Queen’s gloating face as she became the owner of two Orbs of Starsea.
But from nowhere, the gravity pushing him down became less intense. He didn’t understand why at first. Was the Queen weakening?
But it wasn’t that. He had wits enough to see that Serah was now standing behind the Sorceress-Queen, working to counter the Queen’s Gravitonic amplification disc.
The Queen shrieked in fury, but she couldn’t afford to switch her attention on Serah. If she did so, it might give Lucian the opening he needed to break through the last of her shield. Lucian gasped for breath as his vision returned. The gravity was still intense, but at least he could concentrate now.
At that moment, he remembered something Vera had told him – with the Manifold, magic stemmed from belief. He had to believe it was possible, and the Orb would supply the rest.
The rush of magic increased, until the purple stream emanating from Lucian’s hands was blinding in its brilliance, entering the Queen’s mind. It intensified until that light was everything, until the world itself faded and was replaced with a matrix of purple streams. All those streams were converging on the Queen’s Focus. Lucian knew what those streams were – ether itself. He was so deep in his Focus that the Manifold itself was manifesting before him, the ethereal background that formed the bridge between Manifold and reality.
Slowly but surely, the Sorceress-Queen’s Focus was shattering. Her shield collapsed, and she screamed as he gained access to the vital core of who she was, her Focus. He controlled it now as if it were his own. He set a brand over it, preventing any magic from entering or leaving – and to secure it, he reached for the Orb of Binding, cohering it with the magic from the Orb of Psionics, creating a brand so powerful that even the Sorceress-Queen of Psyche could never hope to break it.
With that final stream, the real world returned as the magic from both Orbs petered out. When his usual vision returned, it revealed the Sorceress-Queen of Psyche, stripped of power, her dress in tatters, her dark hair askew, and violet eyes wild.
Her eyes widened as if she were naked. From her expression, she did not know what to do with that feeling of vulnerability. She had probably never experienced it before. She looked like prey who had just seen the hunter, who was about to take his shot.
The Queen ran, attempting to brush past Serah.
“Oh, no you don’t!”
Serah extended a hand, which emanated a silvery aura. The Queen slowed at the increase of gravity, her knees buckling. Not giving up her hopeless prospect of escape, she crawled on the ground like a worm. Lucian could feel her trying to break the block he’d formed in vain, but an ant might as well try to break a wall of pure graphene. Even so, he held his Focus, with both the Orb of Binding and Psionics near to hand. He didn’t want to leave anything to chance.
He stumbled forward, picking up his shockspear and using it as a support. Serah waited by the Queen, who could barely even breathe from the force of gravity forcing her down.
She cut a pathetic figure, but Lucian had to remind himself that this wasn’t truly the Queen. Serah stood above her, the point of her spear at the Queen’s throat. The Queen raised her hands in surrender, her expression one of pure loathing.
“Don’t kill her,” Lucian said. “This isn’t the Queen.”
Serah looked at him incredulously. “What?”
“I mean, the mind is hers, but the body belongs to someone else. Someone the Queen’s possessing. That’s why she looks so young. Everyone else must have known – Lord Kiani, all those people at the party. They all knew, but we never thought to ask.”
Serah looked at the Queen with wide eyes, as if she didn’t believe him. “Well, rot me. How do you know?”
“I felt it when I cut her off,” Lucian said. “I . . . saw her as she really was. If we kill her, the person she’s possessing dies, too.”
“I don’t get it. Would the Queen die if we killed her, or would she live?”
Lucian shook his head. “I really don’t know. The Manifold is treating this woman as if she is Ansaldra, both her Focus and her mind. So yes. Probably.”
Serah edged the spearpoint closer to the woman’s throat. “And I don’t suppose you’d share that information with us, your Majesty?”
The Queen – or rather, the woman she was controlling – spat.
“She can be exorcised. I can do that with the Orb of Psionics. At least,
