In the illusion, a sapling suddenly sprouted from Raphael's chest.
The sapling rapidly grew larger, soon bursting through Raphael's chest completely, his internal organs dangling from its branches.
Crack!
The branches burst through the carriage as well, and soon a towering tree stood in the road.
Where the trunk met the ground, Raphael's two legs lay sideways, like a pair of strange boughs.
Miss Sharron sat on the largest branch. Her face remained expressionless, her eyes looking somewhat ethereal.
On such a pitch-black road, a beautiful yet cold woman sat on a branch as though she were out on a picnic. Anyone who saw the scene would wonder whether they had encountered a ghost.
Sharron held a wooden doll fashioned from a branch. It was an avatar of the "Illusion Master" who had spoken earlier, and she had already dealt with it.
She glanced at the trunk beside her. Everything had happened too quickly, and more importantly, she was unfamiliar with the enemy's abilities, so she had been unable to stop Raphael from turning into a tree.
"I can see a castle!" Raphael's voice suddenly came from the treetop. "Honestly, being a tree isn't so bad. You're so tall you can see all that way."
Sharron looked up and saw Raphael's head hanging from the highest branch.
Her form immediately grew somewhat insubstantial. She floated up to the treetop, then reached out-
Raphael seemed to realize what Sharron intended to do. "Wait-"
But it was already too late to stop her. Sharron plucked Raphael's head off as though she were picking a piece of fruit.
Reduced to nothing but a head, Raphael could not help swearing. "Fuck, aren't you afraid you'll kill me?"
"This is an illusion," Sharron said.
"Who knows whether injuries we suffer here will affect us in