Klein had prepared a few contingency plans for surprise attacks from Zarathus and Amon. After all, he did not spend every moment in Backlund, nor was Angel necessarily always at his side to protect him. These two masters of prophecy, puzzle-solving, and exploiting loopholes might well find an opening.
Thus, once he confirmed that the intruder was Zarathus and that his attempt to "curl" his Spirit Body Threads had failed, Klein immediately activated his backup plan.
A sharp crack of breaking glass came from inside his coat, and his body turned into scattered shards of mirror.
This was the Mirror Substitution Angel had given him, made with a little of his blood. The Seer pathway's Flaming Jump and Paper Figurine Substitute were effectively useless against the higher-Sequence Zarathus.
Black threads visible only to a Marionettist or a higher-Sequence Beyonder of the same pathway danced through the air, instantly connecting to another location. A figure materialized there—it was Klein, who had changed positions.
But his Spirit Body Threads were immediately brought under control again. His expression was blank, his eyes lifeless. He was merely a marionette that had emerged from the Mirror World.
In the instant he escaped control with Mirror Substitution, Klein had already swapped places with a fish marionette he had created in the nearby sea, letting fish-man Gehrman become Zarathus's target in his stead. He submerged himself, while the Sealed Artifact glove, which had switched to the Wind-blessed's soul, pushed aside the surrounding water and gave him a chance to breathe.
Had he not instinctively begun controlling the Spirit Body Threads of sea creatures the moment he noticed something wrong with his surroundings, he could never have acted faster than a Sequence 1 Mystic Seer!
This is the value of caution... With his mind clear again, Klein instinctively