When Angel saw a black hole like an abyss appear in the mirror, he understood that he was being watched.
Earlier, when the Black Earl entered the Hanging Jail Stairway, he had also seen this mirror and even left a mark, but nothing happened to him. Why was it different for Angel?
Comparing their differences before and after entering, the answer was actually quite obvious. There was only one reason, and that was the oil painting.
Angel had destroyed the painting and taken the round wood from it. This clearly provoked some hidden presence in the mirror, and the moment Angel came into contact with the mirror again, the entity immediately noticed him.
The dark abyss presented in the dressing mirror was surely the entity’s doing.
The goal was no other than to ’force’ or ’lure’ Angel into the mirror. As for what awaited inside, it was certainly nothing good.
Therefore, when Angel saw the abyssal passage in the mirror, he immediately chose to retreat while sealing off the mirror.
— Just like the saying Jon often quoted: A gentleman does not stand beneath a dangerous wall. Understanding the principle of ’avoiding unnecessary risks,’ how could Angel recklessly wipe the mirror directly?
Before blowing off the dust, he had prepared to seal the mirror.
The sealing of the mirror involved knowledge of space and mirrors, which happened to be the subject Angel was recently studying. In order to study this topic, he had repeatedly entered and exited the Mirror Grudge’s mirror space, so sealing the mirror was no difficult task for him.
The mirror acts as a conduit between two different "spaces" and is the most fragile point. Once sealed, it is difficult to break.
Angel reacted quite promptly, and shortly after he closed off the mirror, a hand reached out from that abyssal black hole.
This hand was made of translucent gemstones that glowed with a faint light, appearing lustrous and transparent. However, the gemstone composing this hand was a bright red, as if freshly stained with blood.
The gemstone hand’s target was clearly Angel.
It moved extremely fast, intending to break through the mirror to drag Angel inside. However, the moment it touched the mirror, it was repelled by an invisible force field.
This force field was the mirror seal placed by Angel.
The gemstone hand, unwilling to be thwarted, tried to break through the force field, yet no matter how hard it exerted itself, the mirror remained unscathed.
Seeing that Angel was so close but unable to breach the mirror, the gemstone hand could only resort to impotently pounding the mirror in frustration.
In the end, just as Angel was about to leave, the gemstone hand did something that utterly surprised him.
The gemstone hand extended its little finger and stabbed at the mirror fiercely, causing the finger to break at the joint, oozing a liquid akin to fresh blood.
The gemstone hand pinched the broken little finger, using the "blood" inside as ink to write a crooked line of blood words on the mirror.
Angel understood the writing, but the handwriting resembled a child’s... and was written backward.
Angel didn’t expect a monster using its own finger as a pen to understand the concept of mirrored text. After reading the line, he walked out of the room.
...
"Blood words? What did it write?" the Black Earl asked in confusion.
Angel: "A heartless threat."
"Leave here, or forever you’ll have a residency permit."
Hearing Angel read out the blood words, the Black Earl was stunned for quite a while. If he had a physical body, his brow would probably have furrowed deeply.
"What does that mean? A permanent residency permit?"
Angel shrugged: "It’s a typo."
Not only did the gemstone hand write in a childish manner without considering mirror orientation, it also made a typo. It turned the threat of "forever stay" into "permanent residency permit."
In the common language, the characters are quite similar, but one conveys an emotional threat, implying "you can’t leave, die here"; the other is a neutral term without emotional stance: "permanent residency permit."
In other words, what the gemstone hand meant to write was: Leave here, or forever stay.
Unfortunately, the typo softened the harsh words immediately. That’s why Angel said it was an emotionless threat.
After learning the truth, the Black Earl was also dumbfounded. In his mind, the entity in the mirror would either be the so-called "Mirror Demon God" or the "Mirror Bearer" leading Demon God believers to steal the Sacred Object.
To the Black Earl, both the Mirror Demon God and the Mirror Bearer, who was suspected to be high-ranking in Naraku City, were smart individuals.
Otherwise, how could they brainwash Demon God believers?
But now, the owner of the gemstone hand seemed not very smart... even a little foolish.
This was a stark contrast to what the Black Earl imagined.
"Can you tell what creature it is? Is it a human or a magical creature?" the Black Earl asked.
Angel was about to answer when Dox’s voice called out from outside: "Black, Gold? Are you still inside?"
Angel glanced at the Black Earl and softly said: "Let’s go out first and talk while walking."
The Black Earl had no objections; their conversation couldn’t be hidden from the Wise Sovereign. Or rather, when Angel went to wipe the mirror, the Wise Sovereign probably saw it through the mana array’s God’s View, so there was no need to be particularly secretive.
After leaving the room, sure enough, Angel immediately met the Wise Sovereign’s gaze.
The Wise Sovereign looked quietly at Angel. Although he didn’t display much expression, the deep meaning in his eyes was undoubtedly telling Angel: I’ve seen everything you said and did.
To this, Angel had no choice; this was the Wise Sovereign’s domain, and having laid out his plan for millennia, his advantage was immense. It’s very difficult for them to turn the tables here.
This was probably why Dororo warned him, "The wise are not foolish," when trying to stir trouble in the underground aqueduct because one cannot bypass the Wise Sovereign.
How to handle the relationship with the Wise Sovereign was indeed the situation they would face next.
Angel sighed quietly in his heart and looked away.
"Sir, are we going to the third floor now?" Kaier immediately stepped forward to ask when he saw Angel come out of the room.