Doublerift's ashen remains thinned and faded into nothingness. In its place was his broken Death Ward.

That was the only one we had. It had done its job; Doublerift should have been transported back to our base with 50 HP. Enough to live, but he'd be heavily wounded. Hei and I needed to fend off Alice alone until he'd recover and rejoin us.

We knew about Alice's second skill, Proclamation. It was a power unique to her who was the voice of the game. With words alone, she could teleport, destroy towers, and negate attacks. Doublerift told us about those things. We never knew it could be used to kill.

…Did it have a cooldown? What prevented her from using it again to kill us too – permanently?

Hei charged in towards her, his spear hoisted and aimed at her chest.

"Be careful!" I screamed. "She's melee!"

A swordsman. Thus far, she hadn't even needed her physical weapon to fend us off.

I gritted my teeth and followed, and stopped at the max range of my gun. 65 meters away from Alice.

I didn't have Doublerift's absurd range. I couldn't contest Alice's 75 meter reach on her flame strike, Edge of Prometheus. If I wanted to do real damage, I had to risk my life. We had no other choice.

I shot bolt after bolt of raw arcane energy at Alice. She ate hits to the chest and stomach. Instead of returning fire against me, she unleashed a flaming slash at the approaching Hei. He leaped to the side, avoiding the attack, but the flames singed his clothes.

Hei thrusted his spear at Alice. She swung her blade to deflect.

Steel rang against steel, followed by a spray of blood.

Hei had opened a gash on Alice's wrist with the edge of his spearhead.

Alice swung back, her blade glowing with smoldering heat. Hei was quick to retreat, stepping out of her swings, and keeping her at bay with his weapon's greater reach.

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Their weapons clashed over and over. Alice made up for her shorter weapon with her crescent bursts of flame. But Hei weaved left and right, his reactions so fast as to resemble precognition. The flames could not touch him.

And try as Alice might, she couldn't avoid all of his advancing hits. Not while being pelted down with my arcane bolts and Frost Missile.

Alice launched a wave of fire at me.

It came, roaring like a storm. I dove aside.

It was too late.

The flames engulfed me. Pure heat overtook my senses. There was some pain. But more than the pain, it was the pure heat that overwhelmed me.

…What was this?

The wave of fire passed over as quick as it arrived. But it left something. A status effect.

[Condition - Death Sentence. 1 minute duration. After receiving damage from Alice, while the target is under 1000 HP and within 75 meters of her, Proclamation can be used to instantly kill the target.]

[SOPHIA

HP: 410/590]

Alice's pointed at me.

Her lips parted, and she spoke.

「Red team has –

Hei plunged his spear into her bowels. Time seemed to pause. Thin arcs of electricity wisped along the weapon's shaft, into Alice. The sky seemed to darken, if only just for an instant.

A shockwave exploded from the spear-tip. It launched Alice skyward and back, like a ragdoll, into the tower behind her.

– slain an enemy.」

Hei turned back to me, a look of despair carved into his face.

But I was fine.

"Her instant kill is 75 meters range!" I shouted. "Only works on enemies below 1000 HP!"

Hei didn't interrupt her ability, I believed. He just knocked her too far away for her to use it on me.

Alice's voice sounded once more across the sky.

「I am fifty meters forward.」

Alice vanished without a trace, and just as quickly reappeared among the brawling golems. Next to Hei. She pointed her finger at me again.

My blood ran cold. Without thinking, I ran. I sprinted away, until I stumbled beneath my own tower. Way out of range.

But no Proclamation had sounded against me.

…Was she just trying to scare me off? Was Proclamation still on cooldown?

Despite Hei's ferocity, he couldn't drive her back on his own. He had kept himself safe. But he couldn't protect our golems. One after another, while I fled, they had fallen to Alice's flames.

A soft, white glow pulsed across Alice. She had reached level 3.

We had no idea what her third ability did.