"There's nothing here, sis," Sitihi said.
Halankuo looked out from behind Kyotyoryon's horns and saw an empty stone coffin.
"I remember you lying in that thing," Sitihi continued. "I remember it clearly."
Halankuo remembered waking up in a coffin inside a crypt and seeing the head of her "little sister."
"But I wasn't a doll. I just fell asleep there."
"Yes," Sitihi agreed. "But then where's your body? When they make a doll, head and body are created for her."
"Maybe they just created a head for me and forgot to create a body?" Halankuo turned away from the coffin. "How did you even get this head?"
Sitihi looked at the weapon-head.
"It's not answering?" Halankuo said.
"Yes," Sitihi answered. "It never spoke to me, but your head, the one attached to you, spoke to me."
"Uh, yup, for some reason that's how it happens."
"I can't explain to the doll why my real head can talk," Halankuo turned away. "To her, my doll head is real."
Fortunately for Halankuo, there was no need for explanation. Sitihi noticed a small dark spot at the top of the slope and tilted her head to the side.
"Sis, there something's coming this way."
Halankuo immediately forgot what she'd been thinking a moment ago and began looking around. Finally, she spotted that same dark dot, rapidly approaching and beginning to take shape.
"We won't have time to escape," Sitihi pointed her weapon-head at the approaching object. "It's too fast. Let's just..."
The doll mimicked the sound of an energy beam with her voice.
"No, don't," Halankuo said. "I know what it is."
The dark dot transformed into the silhouette of a large bird, which gradually grew lighter.
"Sis, it has wings," Sitihi said. "Let's shoot it down."
"This is my metal," Kyotyoryon finally noticed the strange object in the air. "Don't touch it, or you'll become an evil doll, and I'll disassemble you."
"Is this Metal Bird?" Halankuo recognized the flying machine, but she still wasn't sure it was it.
The larger the object in the air grew, the more confident Halankuo became. But despite this, it wasn't until the flying machine became the size of a large animal that the girl truly recognized it.
"Sis, I'll create a barrier," blue energy appeared around the head in Sitihi's hand.
Halankuo tried to protest, but her "little sister" beat her to it. The translucent barrier of blue energy appeared in the air.
The flying machine landed in front of the barrier, after which its wing-like doors slid open...
"Master, there's a doll in there. Let me..."
"No, Noru, you can't. It's the different doll."
A ball of fire flew out of the flying machine, hung in the air for a few moments, grew to the size of two human heads, and then flew forward...
…Halankuo saw a huge fireball hit the barrier wall and shatter into a multitude of sparks.
"My creator, this thing cuts fire," Kyotyoryon pointed forward, her hand holding a blade protruding from her bracelet. "Can you give it to me?"
Halankuo looked at the character and only after a few moments realized what she was talking about.
"If I can cut fire, I can cut a fire dog-bearry," Kyotyoryon explained.
"Sorry, I can't," Halankuo admitted.
"But you're my creator. You can do anything. You created me. Why can't you give me that blue thing that cuts fire?"
Halankuo couldn't answer. She looked at Kyotyoryon silently and watched as the tip of the blade emerged from her mouth.
"Sis, they're all alive," Sitihi looked at the shovel blade. "You can't just demolish their heads off."
Halankuo looked out the window and saw two creatures standing near the Metal Bird.
"They didn't eat Tuot after all. Even his tail is still there."
Gradually, Halankuo's gaze shifted to the arctic fox girl, who was perched on his back like a rider in some strange game.
"All she needs is a helmet," Halankuo thought.
Etinnei descended to the ground and, in a matter of moments, changed into her winter form.
"Uh... how… Can she change depending on the weather, like real arctic foxes?"
A few moments later, the white-yellow hair turned black again, and the white-blue jacket gave way to a gray-purple top.
"What's wrong with her? Why did she transform again?" Halankuo thought.
"Don't worry… Etinnei just can't figure out what time of year it is."
"Itinit," Halankuo didn't turn around, but for some reason summoned a wrench. "How did you get through the barrier?"
"If I can create barriers," a brown-haired head appeared next to Halankuo. "That means I can pass through them."
"That's not true," Halankuo looked at the creator of the dog girls and noticed he wasn't even smiling.
"Of course it's not true," Itinit admitted. "A goat helped me."
"I'm a sheep!"
Halankuo turned around and saw a stone barrel protruding from the ground, with a girl's head protruding from it, her horns black and spiraling.
"Who is that?" Halankuo asked.
"I am Imerii, and this is Imeriichen," the sheep girl banged her fist on the edge of the barrel.
"Did you name the barrel after your childhood name?" Halankuo asked. "That's what pets are usually called."
"Yup," Imerii closed her eyes. "It's my pet. It's always with me. I mean, I'm always inside it!"
"Who created her?" Halankuo turned to Itinit. "Is it your brother?"
"Yes, I had no doubt that you would guess," the creator of the dog girls answered. "We're looking for him, and we'll probably find him soon."
"Why do you think that?"
Itinit summoned a map, more detailed and complete than the map of Halankuo. It even had that very northern coastline where the mountains ended.
"My pets and I explored this entire area," Itinit pointed to the northern part of the map, from the abandoned train station to the mountains near the coast. "We even found his office, but he wasn't there. But we did meet a bear girl, and more than one."
"What did she look like?"
"Like this."
Itinit entered the image section and clicked on one. Another screen opened over the map screen, displaying two images: a white-blue bear girl and her brown counterpart.
"I saw her," Halankuo pointed at the white-blue bear girl. "She was skating on the ice. And I saw the other one too."
Itinit looked at the glacier, which was clearly visible through the translucent barrier, but in distorted colors.
"So she went there," the dog girl creator closed all the screens. "We have to go. If we linger here, I won't see my brother in a state where he can talk to me."
***
"Sis, wait a little longer. The server will appear soon."
The screen in front of Nyonyokyo refreshed again. This time, the symbols were highlighted in red.
"You think we should be looking for that person, not the server? I forgot to ask him last time. Let's find him and ask him. He should know where..."
Nyonyokyo didn't have time to finish her sentence. Something heavy and dark attacked her, demolished her head, and then disappeared into the sea. Her body froze in place, as if trapped in a time-stopping zone.
The screen with the symbols disappeared. Toloruchan activated her purple aura, rose above the snow, and thereby avoided the energy beam...
A doll's head, wearing a black beanie and yellow hair, emerged from the water, surrounded by a dense blue aura with the image of a shield above its head.
Toloruchan noticed this and pointed one of her hands with a purple eye at her. She pointed her other hand at her sister's head, which was floating nearby.
It seemed both heads would end up in the healing doll's hands, but a beam of blue light erupted from beneath the snow and prevented this.
Toloruchan had to dodge, so the beam missed her, only cutting off a few strands of hair, which then fell to the snow.
This attack allowed Aragas, who was already halfway out of the water, to release a blue energy rope from her hand and pull Nyonyokyo's head towards her.
"Your head is so soft," Aragas poked her finger into her opponent's cheek. "Is your body like this too?"
The maid released an energy rope from her other hand to catch the body, but a sudden crack of lightning made her give up.
"What's that?"
Aragas looked at Nyonyokyo's head and noticed thin lightning bolts running across her face.
"You don't have a body. You can't do anything. Hey, why are you shooting lightning bolts? You need to assemble first."
But Nyonyokyo's head refused to listen to her opponent. Aragas received a sudden electric shock, causing her to release her head and plunge into the water. The energy rope never reached its target...
Meanwhile, on the shore, the confrontation between Toloruchan and her still-invisible opponent continued. The doll managed to summon a barrier in the form of a blue energy cocoon and hide within it.
"Sis, where are you?" Nyonyokyo's head flew to her body on an electric thread and connected with it. "I can't find you."
Instead of the screen, a clot of yellow energy appeared in front of the doll.
"What is this?" Nyonyokyo tilted her head to one side. "Sis, have you come to help me?"
The clot of energy transformed into a ball, which suddenly expanded in size and released a wave of yellow energy.
"Sis, you didn't have such a skill," Nyonyokyo began to suspect something.
The beam of blue energy erupted from the snow, piercing the electric doll's rubber armor before exiting its back and heading toward the energy cocoon in the air.
"Sis, it wasn't you."
Nyonyokyo's head, defying the laws of nature, turned upward. The doll saw her sister's silhouette in a blue, translucent cocoon. The energy beam trying to destroy it.
"Sis, there you are. Wait a moment, I'll be back soon."
Nyonyokyo tried to free herself, but the beam held her firmly in place. The yellow ball nearby was releasing new waves of energy, preventing her from using lightning.
"Sis, I'm stuck."
Nyonyokyo realized this too late. Now, through her body, which felt nothing, the beam used against her sister was passing.
"Sis, you'll have to wait longer."
Nyonyokyo's head returned to its original position. The doll's eyes focused on the yellow ball emitting waves of energy.
"Sis, I'll be there very soon."
Nyonyokyo's pupils turned purple. The next moment, the ball was thrown back several dozen steps. Its yellow energy no longer reached the doll, meaning it could use lightning again.
The only remaining obstacle was the energy beam that pierced the doll's belly and held it in place. But Nyonyokyo decided to circumvent it in a rather original way.
An electric aura surrounded the doll, after which she "rode" on the beam, as if on a rail. A few moments later, she appeared near her sister's cocoon and released several electric birds.
"Sis, I'm back."
Of course, Nyonyokyo wasn't so foolish as to hope to hit an invisible enemy with such simple attacks. The doll used the electric birds to try to locate him, as they automatically homed in on their target.
"Sis, I've come up with something."
But the electric birds never detected the enemy. They stopped in front of the energy beam, as if unsure of where to go next.
"Sis, he doesn't exist."
Meanwhile, on the seashore, Aragas finally managed to escape the water. Lightning continued to course through her body, causing her arms to twitch in different directions, but for some reason it didn't interfere with her head and arms.
"Great lord, you have a good plan," Aragas looked at the electric doll in the sky next to the energy cocoon and thought. "Even I don't know where it will lead."
Soon, the beam emitted from beneath the snow began to diminish, and then disappeared altogether. Nyonyokyo freed herself from the last obstacle and moved up a little. A sword, surrounded by lightning, appeared in the electric doll's hand.
"I remember her," Aragas thought. "Last time, this doll cut off my head in such a way that I only noticed it when I saw myself without a head."
A sharp and almost instantaneous lightning strike struck the mountainside. Aragas only managed to glimpse the electric silhouette of a winged humanoid against the backdrop of falling snowflakes…
"Even I don't know where the great lord is now. How does this doll know?" Aragas thought.
The electric silhouette disappeared as suddenly as it had appeared. Aragas only noticed a bright white-blue flash in front of her, and then heard a crackling sound behind her.
"Now I could end up headless again," Aragas thought. "Don't pay any attention to that, great lord. Continue with the plan."
Aragas had already imagined what her body would look like from the outside, but Nyonyokyo didn't do anything. She stood on the shore and looked at the ice floes being carried away by the current.
"I didn't come to fight, even though I am a battle doll," Nyonyokyo said. "Tell me where the hidden server is."
Aragas turned her head toward Nyonyokyo and saw Nyonyokyo standing a few steps away, but for some reason her back was turned to the sea.
"Better ask the great lord about this."
"He doesn't appear," Nyonyokyo answered. "Can you summon him?"
"No. He's my great lord, and I'm his maid. He'll spank me so hard for this that my head will float on the sea like this ice."
"So you can summon him?"
Aragas didn't answer. She thought about all the possible scenarios, but they all ended with her either being beheaded or disassembled.
"If I cut off your hand, will your creator come?" Nyonyokyo turned her head toward her opponent.
"He is a great lord. Call him correctly. No, he will not come."
"I see," Nyonyokyo turned her head toward the sea. "And what if I cut off your leg as well as your arm?"
"I can fly. It doesn't matter."
"What if I cut off your head?"
Silence fell, broken only by the crackling of lightning from Nyonyokyo's aura...
Aragas looked at her opponent as if she had no intention of fighting. Nyonyokyo didn't try to attack either. It was as if she were waiting for that very human to appear before her and answer her question...
…But no one showed up. The sun peeked out from behind the cloudy sky and illuminated the snow, making it sparkle.
"Great lord told me to wait for him, but he's doing nothing," Aragas thought. "Did he really leave?"
The maid looked up and noticed a purple energy silhouette with wings where the cocoon had been.
"That's Toloruchan. She's transformed into a butterfly."
A ring of purple energy appeared around the silhouette. Aragas looked at Nyonyokyo and noticed that she showed no reaction to her sister's transformation. She continued to look at the sea and wait for that human.
"If she stands like this, she'll run out of energy. Then I won't have to do anything. This is the best plan, great lord, but for a battle doll, it's a little wrong."
Aragas raised her head and saw a being with four purple, translucent energy wings in the sky. Instead of a white mask, she now wore a white helmet with long, thin antennae, from beneath which hung long strands of pink hair. The nutshells that housed the lower part of the breast were replaced by large blue-green leaves. Lianas of the same color extended from them, penetrating her navel and ending in a leafy skirt.
"Her power hasn't changed," Aragas closed one eye, causing the other to magnify the image. "Why did she do this? She'll only exist for one day."
Aragas turned her head towards Nyonyokyo. The electric doll still looked out to sea, but its aura was weakening.
"Nyonyokyo will probably run out of power, but by then I'll already be headless."
Aragas looked up and saw the butterfly doll, surrounded by a purple aura, slowly descending onto the snow.
"I dedicate my head to you, great lord," the doll bowed its head, closed its remaining eye, covered its mouth with its hands, and then collapsed straight into the snow…