The moment Angel stepped into Windmill Town, a familiar ripple appeared beside him.
"Angel?" Sanders suddenly appeared at Angel's side.
As always, Sanders wore a gentleman's suit, every detail impeccably precise. He wore no hat, however, and each strand of hair had been combed back, lending him an air of abstinence.
Everything looked perfectly normal, as though he were real... but only "as though." As an illusionist wizard, Angel could easily tell that the Sanders beside him was merely an illusion.
His true body should still have been in Puppet Hospital.
"Mentor." Though it was only an illusion, Angel still greeted him respectfully.
Sanders said, "You came all the way from the ruins. Is something wrong? Has something changed in Dream Wilderness?"
"Nothing has changed in Dream Wilderness. I came to see you because of Bobota."
"Bobota?" Sanders repeated the name, seemingly recalling something. "Is he about to die?"
Angel nodded. "If nothing unexpected happens, it will be today."
"I understand," Sanders said.
As his words fell, Sanders' figure gradually blurred until it vanished completely. Yet the moment the illusion disappeared, a rustling sound arose nearby. Sanders, dressed in formal attire, emerged some distance away.
This time, however, Sanders was no longer an illusion. His true body had come in person.
Sanders nodded to Angel. Then, with his left hand, he removed the glove from his right and extended that hand into the void.
With a slight movement of his fingers, strange glowing dust drifted down from his long, fair fingertips.
At the same time, an energy aura carrying a sense of laws surged from Sanders' palm. As it emerged, it merged with the glowing dust. In an instant, a wondrous rhythmic pulse emanated from where the energy met the dust.
As though some marvelous chemical reaction had occurred, the