"It looked... distinctive, at least. The green hair was quite voluminous, but it wasn't ugly."
Laplace looked at Angel, who had put on the wig cap, and offered a very "sincere" compliment.
Angel: "..."
Seeing Angel's speechless expression, Laplace did not pursue the subject and changed topics instead. "Oh, right, I forgot to tell you something earlier."
"When Gabriel finished signing the contract and left, it asked Gleipnir to pass along a message for you."
Angel: "Gabriel? What did it want with me?"
Laplace: "It wanted a speaking puppet in reality as well—the same kind you made for it before."
"It said it would prepare Crystal Condensate and come find you. If you needed any materials, you could also tell it in the Dream Crystal Plain..."
Angel nodded. "I understand. There's no need for materials. This thing is very simple—I can make it right now."
As he spoke, Angel casually waved a hand, and an illusion puppet formed from a large number of illusion nodes appeared in his palm.
The instant the illusion puppet appeared, it transformed into a cartoon figure resembling Angel.
"Give this to it."
Angel handed the cartoon puppet to Laplace. The moment Laplace touched it, the puppet changed from Angel's likeness into a heterochromatic girl with hair trailing to the ground—a cartoon version, too.
Laplace had seen this puppet before at Text Manor, but she had not touched it then.
Now, the moment she touched it, she immediately understood how it worked.
"Beneath an illusionary shell lies a core that binds perception, mental power, and all kinds of energy. It then activates the sound frequencies inside to produce speech..." Laplace narrowed her eyes. "The exterior is simple, but the internal structure is exquisitely intricate."
Most importantly, Angel had created it with illusion.
Using illusion to create