A monocle... had Klein been parasitized? Or had Amon's Avatar simply taken on his appearance?
A thunderous boom went off in Angel's head, as though she had returned to the day she fought Amon's Avatars, all wearing monocles and mysterious smiles.
In an instant, she had brought Trissy beside her into the Mirror World through a "reversal," leaving behind only a Mirror Substitution with some combat capability. Around her, the tables, chairs, floor, and even the ceiling painted a dazzling gold had turned grayish-white to varying degrees, as though transformed into rough stone.
But a second later, as Angel observed reality from the Mirror World, she noticed that "Klein" wore his Crystal Monocle over his left eye, rather than the right as all the Amons did.
Moreover, his free right hand was pinching his collar with three fingers, as though straightening his clothes.
That was the signal we agreed on back when he advanced to Marionettist. We've almost never used it... Angel instantly understood that Klein was merely engaging in some form of "acting." Only then did she breathe a sigh of relief. She shoved Trissy, whom she had dragged into the Mirror World and whose expression had only just turned startled before she could even react, back outside. Then she returned to the Physical World herself, swapping places with the Mirror Substitution she had left behind.
From the outside, it looked as though Trissy's figure had shattered like a mirror and vanished, only to return to the same spot a second later, while Angel's expression had changed slightly without any change in her movements or position.
Of course, no one in the Golden Theater's private box had any attention to spare for their reactions. Queen Mystic Bernadette stared fixedly at Klein in his Gehrman guise, a strange light flickering