Investiture, also known as simply "energy", is a spiritual source of power in Magical Girl Policy. It is an inherent part of all organisms and makes up a portion of their soul, representing their emotional drive. It, along with empathokinesis, serves as the foundation of the series's supernatural abilities.
Most beings possess a simple Investiture composed largely of will, but creatures with higher sentience such as humans can have a larger Investiture with additional emotional components. Some are born with especially strong Investiture usually augmented by an outside force, such as the Spirit Guards inheriting theirs from their Ardentia predecessors at the intervention of the High Spirits. Those chosen to become Champions have their Investiture given a sort of mark by Fate, which becomes visible under certain circumstances in a phenomenon called Ardent Resonance. For example, when a future Spirit Guard calls upon their Investiture, such as when it defends itself from a monster's drain, their body glows and an Ardentian symbol appears on their forehead. The Standridge Hill Stone Circle acts as a beacon that draws people with greater Investitures to Kessia City. This is what has those who would become the Spirit Guard all meet at the city, but the population is also perfect prey for Platicore's Investiture-draining monsters.
In its natural state, Investiture is contained within one's soul and can only be detected by abilities like empathokinetic perception. Uncontained Investiture is visible as floating green globules of energy and automatically moves to return to its original owner. One can have their Investiture drained by another and are left sluggish and apathetic, with Cory Frost likening the experience to a fly mindlessly approaching a bug zapper. One dies if all of their Investiture is lost, but a partially drained Investiture regenerates over time with seemingly no lasting side effects. One with an especially intricate Investiture, such as a Spirit Guard, is highly resistant to having it removed and can reflexively weaponize it to repel such an attempt. Extracted Investiture can be used to empower oneself, fuel empathokinetic foci, or be infused into an object to grant it a degree of sentience as a monster. Platicore specializes in these practices and plots to obtain enough Investiture to combat Fate.
One's Investiture correlates to their natural range of empathokinetic abilities. For example, Rob has very high serenity levels, allowing for a highly keen empathokinetic perception, and inheriting parts of the Shrine Maiden's Investiture through reincarnation allows proficiency in her abilities granted by the Spirit Guard Serenity form. Some foci are used in conjunction with one's Investiture, such as each Spirit Stick only responding to the Investiture of its paired Spirit Guard and temporarily bringing all of their Investiture's power to the surface when activated. The power of one's Investiture is linked to whether they have an aura, and the aura's composition is generally reflective of the Investiture's makeup.