Klein slowly opened his eyes. Looking at the grayish white that had stopped spreading at his feet and the black flames that swiftly receded as though they had never existed, he smiled once more.
This was not a crazed, self-mocking smile, but one of relief.
He had chosen to trust Angel and her Mirror Person, giving up on fleeing or struggling against the death brought by a Catastrophe Demoness. And, just as he had expected, Angel had never truly intended to kill both "Kleins." She had merely used the threat to force the "shadow," who had no chance of resurrection, to expose himself, then exploited the Mirror World's peculiar nature to purify him completely with black flames.
As the "Klein" who had split off under the corrosion of depravity died, the distorted black silhouette stretched, swiftly extending beneath Klein. Looking down, he discovered that his faint black shadow had reappeared. In the Mirror World's false dawn, it moved in sync with his raised arm, no longer possessing a mind of its own.
His mental state also improved considerably after a sharp pain stabbed through his head. Although the Virtual Persona created for him by the projection of Justice Audrey that he had summoned earlier still existed, and the urge to mock the entire world surfaced from time to time, his spirit body and physical body were now whole again, allowing him to suppress those thoughts effectively.
The controlled Enyouni had clearly displayed powers from the Spectator, Sun, and other pathways, so Klein was in no hurry to summon Audrey's projection again to remove the Virtual Persona. Although it made his temperament somewhat unstable, it also added another layer of protection at the subconscious level, which would help in the possible battle against the Dark Angel ahead.
After rapidly settling the