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Not entirely sure how it works- If a Necron Lord is in a challenge with an enemy character, if he goes down does the challenge continue until he fails his ever-living/reanimation protocol roll? Or does it end once he's been downed but not REALLY dead?

If the character has been killed during the challenge then it ends. If he then gets back up again he's free to start another challenge but for all other purposes he's dead until he resurrects.

Interesting question.

Page 64 in the main rule book covers challenges. Within is a single paragraph with the title of combatant slain and it outlines what happens if a character dies during challenge. The important thing to note is that the challenge does not immediately end, but continues to be in effect till the end of the assault phase. Therefore you can not simply argue that the challenge ended because you 'died' during it, and it makes a very strong 'rules as interpreted' argument that your return would put you right back into the same challenge.

This is where it gets interesting from a pure rule as written stand point:
The ever-living rule also take affect at the end of the phase, meaning it happens simultaneously with the end of the challenge!

Page 9 has some very interesting things to say about 'simultaneous events' in an exception clause. The clause can easily be summed up with the simple sentence of 'whichever player's turn it currently is decide the order of events.' This would mean, from a pure rule as written stance, you could decide to end the challenge before you even make the ever-living test. That is assuming, of course, that it is your current turn when the independent character is 'killed' in combat.

Now, there is nothing stopping the challenge from being reissued and it is very likely the next combat phase will start the challenge anew. This is because the ever living rule does state you need to immediately pile back into combat if your character 'died' during it. The best it could be used for is to give your character a second chance to refuse the challenge, with all the negatives that come from doing so at a time your unit is probably pretty beat up given the lost of their leader.