#this is not super well articulated and w/o screenshot

[demacianpuppet]

When I was rewatching the Jayce vs Viktor fight scene in Episode 8 and I realized something while watching it: Jayce's psychotic flashbacks and physical glitch only happen around Viktor and always whenever he saw a follower of his. (This will be your fate if you fail your mission.) Also, in Episode 9 Jayce doesn't seem to have these anymore once Viktor fully ascended to his Herald of Arcane form.

Which makes me wonder - did Mage!Viktor put these feature onto Jayce as kind of fail safe? Basically, making sure Jayce would physically not be able to stand in the presence of Hexcore-Viktor without being in physical and mental pain? That also would explain why Viktor was not able to see properly into Jayce when his vessel touched him in Episode 8 - Jayce's mind is more or less sealed away from "weaker" Viktor's grip so far.

This also would explain why Jayce stops having this psychotic flashback in the last episode - Viktor reached his height of power and is at the same power level as his mage counterpart, so Mage!Viktor is not able to protect Jayce from himself anymore. (Also, I still assume we needed the Herald of Arcane Viktor to undo the damage he has already commited, so Jayce didn't need to be guided to this specific outcome anymore.)

This does seem rather drastic measure from Mage!Viktor to ensure Jayce will make sure this time things will turn out fine.