The one who had ridden the black dragon to destroy the city was merely one of Sarif's clones. Their previous clashes had already proved that he most likely had multiple clones, and that their relationship to his original self was no ordinary one.
According to Triss's guess, each of Sarif's clones possessed almost all of his strength and enough freedom to act independently, allowing him to achieve the feat of "being in a thousand places at once" on a physical level. But even if these seemingly perfect "incarnations" were destroyed, the damage would be reflected back onto his mind.
As Raven put it, only people who wanted to destroy themselves would use a method like this to increase their combat power. After all, tearing apart your own mind was never something a normal person would choose.
But given Shadowblade's life experiences, there was no way to judge him by the standards of a normal person.
"Are you really going to the place he gave us?"
On the way to Bodell's main city, Adele asked:
"Even though it might be a trap?"
"No. He's gone too far to waste the effort setting a trap for someone who's going to help him carry out his final plan."
Murphy shook his head.
"He thought no one knew about his activities in Scarlet Castle, but Raven's player backend data had already proved he existed. I didn't deal with him because, aside from the possibility that he might use a clone to take the fall, I hoped psychological treatment from another world might bring about some positive change in him.
"I knew when he left Raven that he didn't intend to keep scraping by anymore.
"He came back here to take on the Abyssal Sisterhood.
"Now he needs our help. He doesn't just want to