From the ridges of the jungle, his eyes scanned as across the treeline and readied himself as the sound of rustling threatened for something to come into view. Two figures emerged and the moment Sanaki began to hesitate, his stance shifted. She identified the two individuals as her parents then proceeded to explain they were dead.

These were not her relatives, they were adversaries made to look like loved ones.

“ROSE,”

The word was yelled like a battle cry from lips that screamed resolution in the face of a mirage. Their minds were cages that kept themselves held there. Glued to their hopes, Maximellian turned to face their foe. If this Juju man wanted to play mind games like his companion said, he would steel himself to the truth that all men must die and if he died fighting for the light it would be a worthy death. In an instant his body shifted, followed by the sound of swift, metallic footsteps as his armour crunched against itself and he charged shield first toward his adversaries.

Iron against flesh, his sword angled to slash across the leftmost outsider’s chest as he charged forward shield first into the other. In the optimistic hope that one of the adversaries would at least get knocked back and the other wounded. Followed by a combative stance, braced for impact as the paladin planted both boots into the ground and fastened his defense. He would not let them pass.

The grief she had endured so many years ago had returned, fresh and agonizing like a partially formed scab being torn off. The more it hurt, the more she felt the rage rising within her chest. As Maximellian's blade cut into an impostor and his shield battered another, the wounds inflicted drew no blood–but a strange milky substance. One was pushed to the ground, while the other took the blow without flinching. The one that was knocked down then started to rise to it feet, this time in a manner that wasn't human. Their voices continued to speak in an unsettling tone, warm smiles still on their faces. "Sanaki, welcome home–" Before they could finish their sentence, a flurry of pink rushed past the paladin as the horned priestess brandished her glaive in the air. With eyes filled with boundless fury, she cleaved the figure bearing the visage of her father in two, slicing its head clean off its neck. While the rest of the body continued to stay upright, what should have been the neck revealed an aberrant internal structure. Instead of skin and muscle, it resembled more like the cross-section of a lotus root. 

The larger of separated pieces began to regenerate what she had initially decapitated, proving one thing–the neck or head did not contain this abomination's vital points. As the intensity of her anger grew, Sanaki charged the regenerating body of her 'father' and plunged her glaive into its chest. A searing torrent of flame began to travel down the weapon's shaft as she incinerated the horror without mercy. Despite the magical flames creating an incredible amount of heat, it took a few minutes for it to overcome the creature's unique body composition as she kept it pinned to the ground. That left the 'mother' still standing, and the creature tried to rush at the war priestess while she was rendering the other one to ash. It was unknown what these doppelgangers could do, but their regeneration factor made them a formidable opponent. Simply attacking them like a normal human would prove to be futile.

She snatched her grappling hook and swung it like a bat at the mother. This stopped the mother illusion from charging at her friend but made the illusion regenerate and turn towards Leita. Apparently attacking normally didn't work. Or maybe she didn't attack in the right area. Leita ended up flailing the grappling hook at the mother, who looked incredibly unimpressed. Battle strategy wasn't Leita's strong point. Nor was fighting in general. Deciding to stop this battle for good, Leita held up her grappling hook in the air and attempted to swing it down on the mother's head. The mother illusion just stepped to the side and watched as Leita fell onto her face. Suddenly the ground began shaking violently as the sand and trees began to vanish. Leita momentarily looked at her grappling hook with surprise, wondering for a moment if that had been the cause. Was her grappling hook magic? Then she realized that it had to be the flowers that had been growing throughout the island.

The island was falling apart. That much was clear. The spires of the city began to topple and the jungle was vanishing before their eyes. If everything was just an illusion, then whatever the ground was made of, probably wouldn't stick around for long. Reaching for Sanaki and Max, she tried to make sure they stayed together. Their surroundings were insane and they couldn't be split up now.

"I don't suppose anybody has a boat?!" Leita asked, "I have a feeling we'll be needing it soon!"

She looked in her bag but didn't find anything useful for the situation. For once, she was not prepared. Her eyes darted around the area but there weren't any real trees to use as floating devices.