I had seen Alice killed once before. 6E12 had erased her from existence.

She brought herself back to life in a matter of minutes. Alice was rebirthed from a fiery rose, breathing and fighting, despite every atom in her body having been unmade moments earlier.

That was her Ultimate Ability, Doublerift explained.

"It has no Mana cost and no cooldown," he told us, his inner circle. "It is an unconditional resurrection."

"Any downsides?" Kevin the skull knight asked.

"There are two," Doublerift said. "First, she is resurrected at 20% HP."

Kevin folded his arms. "But that hardly matters, if she can't be killed."

"The second drawback is that her damage is halved for a year and a day," Doublerift continued.

But how much would that help with killing her, if she remained immortal? Plus, even with her damage halved, she still had enough firepower to kill 6E12. To obliterate thousands of HP with a single slash of her fiery blade.

"If she cannot be killed, then perhaps it's simpler to destroy her mind?" asked a middle-aged man standing to the left of Doublerift. He wore a nondescript gray coat, half-framed spectacles, and spotted a cleanly trimmed mustache. His polite attire belied his status as Dr. Arseniev, the foremost of Doublerift's Champions. The strongest combatant of the LCS, besides Doublerift himself.

"That is the backup plan, should our primary plan fail," Doublerift said.

"And our primary plan is?" Dr. Arseniev asked.

"Challenge her to a PvP battle," Doublerift explained. "Force her level to 1. Without her Ultimate unlocked, she will only have a single Death Ward to defend herself."

Dr. Arseniev narrowed his eyes. "I suspected as much. I'm assuming you'll be fighting a one-versus-one match against her?"

"On paper," Doublerift confirmed.

"What does that mean?" I asked.

Dr. Arseniev glanced at Doublerift. When the latter did not speak, Arseniev explained, "Doublerift cheats."

Doublerift reached under his white suit, and brandished twin pistols. Across the room from me, Hei visibly tensed up.

Doublerift pointed his pistols at the ceiling, one in each hand. He pulled the triggers simultaneously. Dual bursts of energy shot out, one cobalt and one violet. They sliced through the air, leaving what seemed to be two floating gashes, torn into space itself.

"I will challenge Alice to a one-on-one match," Doublerift said. "But I can bring two of you with me. Once you are in my pocket dimension, you will be considered a part of my inventory."

"That's pretty broken," I remarked quietly.

"We will need it to stand a chance," Doublerift said. "On top of her halved damage debuff. We won't have long until that wears off."

…Had it really been almost a year since Alice used her resurrection against 6E12? That was after the Winter Challenge in Silvercreek.

Since then, I was tricked into a so-called pacifist PvP match in Gold for Spring Challenge.

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Then our battle with the Bounty Hall leaders coincided with the Summer Challenge.

Fall Challenge was my last Challenge in Gold, the one through which I had ascended to Platinum.

And not too long ago, I finished my Winter Challenge here.

So time was indeed running out. It made sense now why Doublerift wanted to slay Alice within a thirty day limit. Or, well, it was thirty days when he first declared it. We barely had two weeks left now.

"Dr. Arseniev," Doublerift ordered, "You will lead the LCS in my absence. Should this mission fail, you will take over and carry our efforts on."

"I take that you know who you'll bring with you," the doctor remarked.

"My first teammate will be Hei," Doublerift stated. "The second is to be determined."

Eyes in the room converged upon Hei. I sensed shock, even indignation, among the gazes.

"You should explain yourself," Mei, The Champion Ascendant, advised. Her orange robes flowed weightlessly like incense-smoke as she turned to Doublerift.

"You are to stay here, and control the situation if any of Alice's allies attempt to interfere. Hei is a duelist. I will directly employ him in the fight against Alice."

"And what if I were to reject your plan?" Hei interrogated.

Mei shot a glare at Hei.

"Our plan will fail," Doublerift said curtly. "You and Sophia have already stepped under my banner. Do not think Alice will spare your lives."

"This is ill-advised," Mei muttered to Doublerift.

"Our leader has his reasons," Dr. Arseniev said. "Those he brings with him become part of his inventory while the match persists. If he dies, everything in his possession vanishes."

It sounded like Doublerift wanted to force Hei's loyalty by bringing him into the arena, where their lives would become entwined.

The assembly of LCS Champions and Chief Officers remained disquieted by Doublerift's arrangements. Several more objected, yet Doublerift dismissed their concerns, one by one, and soon adjourned the meeting.

Hei and I left, and he drove me back to the armory.

"How do you feel about this whole thing?" I asked Hei once we were inside and alone.

He huffed. "I've said it, we're all pawns to him."

"But we've got leverage," I told him with a hint of a smile. "He needs us more than we need him."

Hei regarded me with a glance of skeptical curiosity. "You're thinking of playing a gambit?"

I rummaged across the contents of my workbench, found the mithril Armguard Engine power source I had built over the last days, and put it on. I snapped my fingers. There was a loud pop, and a flash, as plasma sparked against the base of my thumb.

"I want to try," I told him.

Over the next couple days, I continued my project of creating a plasma upgrade for my gun. I built a donut-shaped electromagnetic cage to store the plasma. I ran electricity through water to trigger electrolysis, and collected hydrogen to use as plasma fuel. Hei worked alongside me as my lab partner.

"Does heavy water count as water?" I asked him one day as we busied about.

He shrugged. "Is it?"

"Well, not according to my Ring of Water Purification," I said. "The ring separates heavy water from water. Electrolysis on heavy water produces a special hydrogen isotope, called deuterium."

I had learned that from the science books Kevin's henchmen brought me.

"Is that a good thing?" Hei asked.

"Yeah. It's basically premium grade fuel. But I can't collect that much, so we'll need to use it sparingly."

Every night, I continued to feed the Seekflower my Mana.

Soon, only eleven days remained of Doublerift's thirty day plan to kill Alice.

That was when the Seekflower finally bloomed.

I carried the newborn flower to an abandoned hospital, then I descended into the underground electric room, where I was sure I'd be alone. I turned off my phone so no one could track me.

There, I readied myself. The moment had come.

"Where is Sylvie, the Knight of Anomalies?" I asked the flower.

It tilted its head in the five o'clock direction.

I aimed the metal scanner on my railgun. I aligned the radar dish as well as I could. Steadying my hand, I triggered the Eye of Odin.

Sylvie's armor and sword flashed across my vision as streaks of cobalt light. I found her on the ground floor of a building, some eight and a quarter miles away.

I planted my palm to the ground. Trails of light darted beneath me, forming a magical diagram, a triangle. I visualized a second triangle around Sylvie, my target, and I connected us both with a thin band of Mana.

"Final spell," I declared. "Maw of Leviathan."