As Raphael left the room on the second floor, he left a little surprise for the masked woman.
When he opened the window, he deliberately used his Zombie conversion ability on Sophia in another bedroom.
Sophia was alive, so the conversion was bound to fail, but it would immediately alert her.
Moreover, the ability was very subtle. No one besides Raphael and its target would notice it.
Thus, Sophia immediately discovered the masked woman in the other room and quietly launched an attack.
After leaving Sophia's Villa, Raphael immediately entered an alley.
He took out a pen and paper, wrote "Change of plans" on the paper, then quickly set up a simple altar. He summoned the messenger carrying four heads and had the note delivered to Dwayne Dantès.
Raphael then quickly doubled back to watch the show. When he scaled the wall and returned to the large tree in the garden, the battle in the room he had previously occupied had indeed begun.
Raphael sat on a branch, watching the two women fight.
Sophia had just formed a transparent Ice Crystal Spear and hurled it at the masked woman. The woman nimbly dodged, but when the spear struck the floor, it spread frost across the surrounding area, slowing her movements.
Sophia used black flames again, but just as they were about to burn the masked woman, they suddenly veered away and set the dressing table beside her alight.
Raphael was briefly taken aback before he understood. This was the power of "Distortion." The masked woman had just "distorted" Sophia's attack. That meant his guess had been right: she really was a Beyonder of the Lawyer Pathway, and a Baron of Corruption at that.
Overall, however, Sophia held the upper hand. She was using spider silk and frost to gradually stiffen