<For a while now I've argued that Ex-Emperor Calus has no power of his own. That the power he saw at the edge of the galaxy was the Darkness and that the power he wants to show you is just that. After all, the Darkness is winning, IT always wins. So, let me analyze the Psion Councilors, the powers of free Psions, and their connection to literally every encounter in the Leviathan minus the underbelly and possibly the Gardens. [b]The Castellum:[/b] The Castellum has Councilors occasionally pop up. When they do pop up, they shield Standard Liberators. This shows that Psions can empower other species. Further proof of this is in the Adventure [i]Dark Alliance[/i], where Psions bond with a Centurion to give them the same immunity shields. [b]Royal Pools:[/b] Psion Councilors do not interfere with the Pools encounter very much, only popping up after phase 1 (assuming you didn't destroy every censer before then). The Councilor will spawn a Projection if not dealt with, this is the same for the Gauntlet encounter as well. The main goal of the Pools encounter is to destroy the censers and cleanse the pools. The unfortunate thing is that the pools are covered in some kind of poison. In order to defend against this poison, you can pick up an orb which gives you Psionic Protection. You are being directly or indirectly being protected by a Councilor in order to participate in the test. [b]Pleasure Gardens:[/b] This is the odd one out. Councilors do not appear in this, only normal Psions. Unfortunately, normal Psions aren't what we're looking for. However, the Royal Beasts have Psionic abilities themselves, able to use a "Psionic Howl" which will kill you and your team if not in the safe room. It is unknown whether these beasts are given the ability by Councilors or it's a natural ability. [b]The Gauntlet:[/b] This is Psionic mayhem. The orbs return and will destroy your mind if you cannot complete the game. Fun fact, most if not all Psionic abilites are done with the mind and affect other minds. Once you pass a gate, a Councilor will spawn. Again, if it's not dealt with correctly, it will spawn a Projection. If the Projection is not killed, your minds will go under a mental collapse. Please pay attention to that mental collapse message because it's important. [b]The Throne:[/b] Yeah, this is the big one. For one thing, Councilors are all over this encounter, and so are their projections. Two, Calus uses a head beam and an "Imperial Nova" attack. Another attack possibly related to the Psions is the fire ball. Let's start analyzing. Let's get the fire attack out of the way. Psions in D1 and D2 use elemental abilities constantly. The only ability they haven't been observed to use so far is solar, but if they can tap into the void and use arc, then solar should be easy to use. This would explain how a solar ball seemingly comes out of nowhere when Calus uses it. Now, most of the wipe mechanics for this fight, and even during the raid, have the same sound and screen effect. The "Projection Detonated" message reveals that the Psions are going to put you through another mental collapse. Since the same sound effect is used for the Revive Wipe and the Imperial Nova, we can assume that these are also more Psions working their annoying magic. Now before we get to the Nightmare Realm, lets discuss the head beam. For one thing, this Calus is a robot and it shouldn't be that hard to believe that his head has mechanics to fire a laser beam. But assuming he doesn't have the proper mechanics, may I refer to the Mind Stone (yes, I'm going into Marvel territory for a sec). The Mind Stone grants its user PSIONIC ABILITIES. We all saw what Vision could do. If Calus was empowered by his Councilors, then it shouldn't be that hard to believe he can do half of these things. The Nightmare Realm is defined by the purple aesthetic and the LARGE Calus Projection. Projection... sound familiar? Psions use purple Projections throughout the raid. There you go. Calus is using his own Projection to manipulate the events of the Nightmare Realm. He also has a symbol that appears on his forehead which is different for each player. Psionic Projections still appear around the area and will detonate and cause your mind to collapse. So, despite my post being out of focus, probably because of my bad shoulder, we have enough to get the idea that Calus is using Projections to manipulate the entire Leviathan Trial. It shows the power of Free Psions and how well the Calus bot works with Psionic abilities. Perhaps some may say that this is the power Calus saw at the edge, but it is not. This is another power he may have witnessed many times. This isn't the power he's talking about, but it's a power worth mentioning. Free Psions.> <EDIT: Psions are nowhere in the Gardens encounter, my mistake.>