"Oh? And how do you want to play this?"
Hearing that Il Dottore wanted a battle of wits, Idris relaxed even more.
The Doctor spoke with perfect confidence. "I've designed a special virus for your Akasha network. If you can neutralize it without invoking Grand Sage privileges or running an active, manual sweep, you win. Our cooperation continues, and I'll even represent the Fatui in taking a step back—no more meddling with Sumeru's rights.
"But if you lose… heh. Mr. Idris, you know I'm not fond of this particular Grand Sage."
Idris couldn't help a laugh. You want to beat 360 Safeguard with a hand-crafted payload on a network? Bold move.
Outwardly, he kept it even. "That wager's a little lopsided. If you lose, you 'take a step back.' If I lose, I resign? Hardly fair."
The Doctor's eyes narrowed. "What terms do you want, then?"
"I want a public apology and compensation for everything you did to the Akasha. You'll admit it openly."
"Oh?"
He hesitated—then nodded, weighing his chances. "Very well."
He had absolute confidence where the Akasha was concerned. What he didn't know was that this time he wasn't up against Idris at all—but against the Grand Sage's petty, perfect, and profoundly shameless software.
Seeing the Doctor agree, Idris smiled the same calm, confident smile and tossed him an Akasha earset.
Dottore slipped it on and set to work, fingers still and eyes half-lidded while his mind stitched a trap into the net. Idris didn't interfere; he merely watched in silence as the malicious construct took form.
In the shadows, the two hidden gods watched with keen interest. Battles of strength were commonplace in Teyvat; battles like this were a first. Win or lose, Nahida thought, this would be written into Sumeru's history on the World Tree. Of course, she still hoped Idris would win—even if the opponent was that cunning, terrifying Doctor.
About an hour later, the masked man opened his eyes. "Grand Sage Idris, the payload is set. Your move."
Idris checked in with 360. A few minutes passed; the response came back:
—No threats detected—unless a full, hours-long deep scan was initiated.
"Not bad," Idris said mildly. "My resident antivirus didn't flag it on first pass."
Clearly, this virus wasn't in the same league as the hundred-plus backdoors 360 had already uprooted.
Dottore smiled. "Well then? Ready to concede?"
"Hardly."
Idris knew how these things went. When a virus lies dormant, even the best defenses sometimes leave it alone. But once it executes, a proper safeguard bites down and deletes it at the root.
"So why don't you," Idris suggested, "go ahead and activate it?"
"Oh, I should warn you," Dottore said, faux-pleasant. "Once it runs, the Akasha will suffer some damage. Don't try to pin the blame on me afterward."
"Be my guest."
Perhaps irked by Idris's nonchalance, the Doctor tapped the earset.
Il Dottore's special exploit: LAUNCH.
In another life, the man would have been a top-tier hacker. Unfortunately for him, even top-tier hackers have a natural enemy.
The very next second, a window flashed across his inner view:
[High-Risk Exploit Detected. Execution Quarantined.]
Delete this threat?
[YES]
Idris calmly "clicked" YES.
In the span of a few heartbeats, the painstaking payload designed to crack the Akasha was kicked to the curb by 360 Safeguard.
Even Dottore's eyes went briefly blank.
"Doctor—Il Dottore," Idris said, pleasantly. "You lose."
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