"I refuse," Nyonokyo said. "This doll is our sis. We can't be against her."
Sitihi turned her head to Toloruchan to see how she would respond. But the healing doll supported its battle sister.
"I can't be against my sister, even if she's not Nyonyokyo," Toloruchan "wrote" on the screen.
"Why?" Sitihi asked. "You promised to be on my side."
"I'm on your side," Nyonyokyo answered. "You're my sister, and this doll with chains is my sister too. I can't be against you. Before, when I was human, I could say something in this situation, but now I don't remember."
"You said, 'Sorry,'" Toloruchan "wrote".
"Yes," Nyonyokyo continued. "That's exactly the situation now. Although I don't know what this word means, I will say..."
Nyonyokyo turned her back to Sitihi, while her head remained in the same position.
"Sorry," the doll said with an indifferent expression on her face.
Sitihi turned around to check what her opponent was doing. The doll in chains was kneeling on a pillar with her eyes closed. The screen in front of her was gone, and her hair was covering her chest and crotch.
"I'll leave you two alone," Nyonyokyo looked at her twin sister. "I can't take either your side or hers."
Toloruchan swiped her finger in front of her. A symbol appeared on the screen that indicated agreement.
Sitihi turned her head back and saw her now former allies leaving the battlefield by air.
"Now they'll disassembled me and put me in a crypt," the doll with the shovel thought as if it was something insignificant.
Sitihi turned her head towards her opponent and noticed something that would have terrified a living being. The doll in chains was looking at her with purple glowing pupils.
"Now they'll disassembled me. I won't be able to help my sister. I won't even be able to pass on the message."
Sitihi noticed how the blade of the shovel she was holding in her hand was near her own neck.
"I just thought about it, and already she disassembled me with my weapons. The healing dolls are too smart."
The blade of the shovel pierced the neck, but did not go any further. Sitihi looked at the healing doll and noticed another doll behind it, with long red hair in a purple aura.
"Is this another sister?" Sitihi thought. "But I don't know her. She wasn't in the crypt."
While the doll with the shovel was thinking, a green energy harpoon flew out of the forest and cut off the healing doll's head with a swift blow. Sitihi realized that she could move her hand, after which she pulled the shovel out of her neck.
The harpoon disappeared into the forest, but instead a spherical clot of wind flew out. It threw the headless body of the doll towards the entrance to the crypt, away from the head.
"I have to go," Sitihi decided. "There are too many of them."
But it was too late. Another energy harpoon flew out of the forest, but this time it was heading straight for Sitihi. Luckily, the red-haired doll managed to stop it with her gaze before the tip of the harpoon reached her neck.
"Ustumut, that's enough," the red-haired doll said. "She's not with Kuttanai."
Harpoon went back to the forest. The red haired doll looked at the head of the healing doll, which had already activated the pink aura and was about to merge with the body.
A dinosaur in grey plate armor, covered in grey feathers and surrounded by a green energy aura, jumped out of the forest.
"Ikte, let's go underground," Ustumut said. "While he's without a nose, we can disassembled him."
"No," Ikte looked up at her opponent's head, and then threw it to the opposite edge of the ruins. "We'll have to retreat. Yuehei will recover now. She will hinder us."
"Yes, I forgot," Ustumut scratched his neck with a claw. "All your dolls are the same."
While Ikte was struggling with the enemy's head, Yuehei's body activated a pink aura and rose a few steps above the surface. Sitihi was finally able to see Yuehei's breast, which was now covered only by chains.
"She has too much power," Sitihi thought and summoned a wrench. "The other two dolls must have gone away."
"I hope this is enough for now," the dinosaur landed next to the doll with red hair. "Won't she recover too quickly?"
"Yes, we have some time," Ikte answered. "Healing dolls are too inconvenient an enemy. I forgot about that. My memory has not fully returned yet."
Ikte closed her eyes, lowered her hands, and then rose above the ruins. Ustumut changed the color of his aura to purple and followed her.
Sitihi found that she was left alone in the ruins, and the body parts that had been scattered into pieces were already glowing with pink energy and were ready to unite.
"The head will come back soon," Sitihi looked around. "It's time for me to leave too. But if I leave, what will I tell my sister?"
The answer was found quickly.
"I'll tell her what the purple-haired doll told me. Sorry."
Sitihi flew up and even managed to notice two purple silhouettes moving in one direction. The doll immediately realized who it was and decided to follow them.
***
Unana was sitting on the bed with a pillow in her hands, thinking about something. Her cheeks were puffed out and her eyebrows were lowered.
Next to her, on the floor, Kimchan was sitting on her knees in almost human form and wagging her tail.
"The creator didn't..." the dog girl stuttered in fear. "He doesn't want to save me."
"He doesn't love you," Unana noted. "So it's no wonder he sent you here."
"The creator loves my big sis. But he loves me too, but more my sis."
Unana lay down on a large gray-purple pillow, and grabbed her headphones with her hands, as if they helped her think.
"If that's true," Unana hugged the pillow with her legs. "Then I have an idea."
Kimchan tilted her head to the side and groaned, as if she wanted to know what her owner was planning. But the dog girl's expectations were not met. The door of the room suddenly opened, and Yueret entered...
Kimchan managed to crawl under the bed, but only halfway. The thick thighs of the dog girl simply did not go any further. Luckily, Yueret was too busy to even look towards the bed.
"Unana, I found something else."
The archer looked under the bed in fear and found legs and a dog's tail there. The next moment, the blanket fell to the floor and covered the lower part of the dog girl's body.
"Unana, are you here?" Yueret looked at the bed and saw his sister hugging a pillow and a blanket on the floor, a common sight for this place.
"I just haven't woken up yet," Unana explained. "There are no classes today, so I sleep as much as I want."
"But now you have to come with me. I found something really interesting."
"It's not outside?"
Unana looked at the window, partially covered with ice.
"No," Yueret answered. "It's in the house, almost."
"How is that?"
"Let's go. Just dress up."
Unana pointed her index finger at the headphones.
"I'm talking about normal clothes," Yueret smiled. "It's cool there."
Unana made a displeased face, but still took out brown pajamas with a hood and slippers in the shape of bear paws from her inventory.
"It's not that cold there," Yueret said.
"Eh..." Unana blushed and turned away. "I bought it because it's cute, but it's uncomfortable to sleep in. I tried wearing it outside in the winter, but I got cold."
"Do you want to wear these pajamas?"
"Yup, I also want you to take a picture of me."
Unana moved the pajamas onto herself, and then sat on the bed on her knees. Yueret had to take a few pictures, after which the little sister put on the slippers that imitated bear paws, but for some reason on her hands.
"You put these things on the wrong way," Yueret noted.
"I know," Unana touched the small bear ears on her hood with her hands. "I'm like your little bear sis. Don't you want a little sister like that?"
"Uh..."
"Then take a picture of me!"
Yueret had to fulfill the request of his eighteen-year-old sister...
... After some time, the brother and sister stood near the stairs on the first floor.
"There's nothing here," Unana noted.
Yueret "drew" a symbol in the air with his finger, after which a part of the wall moved down and opened a wooden door.
"It's a basement," Yueret said.
"I didn't know we had something like that in our house."
"I just found out myself."
A blue energy lock appeared in front of the door. Yueret entered a few symbols into the text box above it, and the lock disappeared.
"How do you know the password?" Unana frowned. "You hid this room from me..."
"In my dad's room, under the bed, there was a cache with login information."
"I already thought that he hid dolls there," Unana calmed down a little. "It's good that Yueret is not like that."
"Unana…"
"What?"
"You didn't put slippers on your feet."
"But it's so cute!"
"You should have ordered two sets of slippers."
"There are two of them."
Unana opened her inventory, but she couldn't find the second set.
"Kimchan..." the archer thought and was frightened. "She even got in here. No, that's impossible. Most likely, I just took the pawies out of the cell and left them somewhere in the room."
Yueret pushed the door with his hand. A passage opened into a semi-dark corridor that went sharply downwards. Unlike the house, everything here was stone – the walls, the ceiling and the steps.
"Ahh..." Unana looked down and could only say this.
"I was surprised myself," Yueret stroked his sister's head. "Don't be afraid. There's nothing scary there."
Soon Unana recovered from her shock and was able to see the corridor. The walls were smooth, without any symbols, but for some reason there were arrows carved on the steps that pointed "forward".
"Why is this here?" Unana pointed with her "paw" at the step. "For those who want to go there, it is clear that they need to go down."
"There might be another way here; I just haven't discovered it yet."
"Our parents hid so much from us," Unana thought. "Why? Is there something too serious there?"
The archer became curious about what was in the basement and stepped on the step. The floor was cold, reminding Unana that she was no longer in a warm wooden house.
"Yueret was right," the girl looked at her hands, dressed in bear "paws," and then moved them to her legs.
Yueret summoned the blue glowing ball he had used to escape the carrot-nosed man. Unana shuddered.
"Don't be afraid," Yueret smiled. "He's not there."
"Who's not there?" Unana turned away.
"It's creature with a carrot for a nose. Did you think about it?"
"How do you know what I thought?"
"I'm your big brother. I can read your mind. Well, almost."
Unana shuddered again, but this time at the thought of Yueret finding out who Kimchan really was.
"I was joking," Yueret said. "Let's go. There really is nothing scary there."
The steps led the brother and sister into a small room with no windows or doors, but with smooth stone walls.
"There really is nothing here," Unana noted.
"It will be now," Yueret walked up to the wall and ran his hand along it.
A blue energy lock appeared in front of the wall, similar to a door, but with several text fields. Despite this, Yueret entered symbols into each of them, then summoned a sword, activated an aura, and inserted it into the hole in the lock.
There was a sharp sound, like the sound of an incoming message notification. The lock began to flicker, and soon disappeared. A rectangular stone slot, resembling a coffin, came out of the wall with a rumble.
"You said there was nothing scary here," Unana turned away.
"The doll won't come out of it," Yueret resummoned the sword. "This thing is too small."
"Have you opened it before?"
"No. But I read about what was inside."
"I wouldn't be surprised if there's a doll figurine or a robot that will attack you."
Yueret smiled. He did not believe his sister's words, because he knew something truly important about the contents of the vessel, but he could not say about it before opening the lid.
"It was a gift from mom and dad," Yueret said. "They hid it here for us to find when we grew up."
"It must be dangerous if it can't be shown to children."
"Let's check. This box will only open when we put our hand on it together."
Unana looked at the stone box and noticed two hand slots on the lid.
"Does that even happen?" the archer adjusted her headphones with her hands. "How did they know our hands would fit into those slots? We were little then..."
"The hand should not fit into the slot. The surface reacts to the energy that is transmitted from the hand and recognizes it."
"Now I understand. So, I need to put my hand there and activate the aura?"
"Yeah."
Unana brought one of her hands to the nearest slot. Yueret did the same. A moment later, the brother and sister simultaneously activated their energy auras and placed their hands on the slots…
The room was filled with a bright white glow. Unana closed her eyes and turned her head towards the other wall, but it didn't help much - the light was too bright.
Yueret was saved by a passive skill. A black helmet with a transparent face shield appeared at the most opportune moment, and allowed the guy not to close his eyes...
Gradually the glow faded, and Yueret could see something rectangular at the bottom of the stone box through the transparent helmet face shield.
"There's something here," Yueret said.
"Is that a doll figure?"
"No. It doesn't look like a creature at all."
"What does it look like?"
"How... Like a piece of meat..."
"What?"
At the mention of meat, Unana forgot about the bright light and opened her eyes. Fortunately, the intensity of the glow decreased sharply, and the girl was able to see something blue in the stone box and even feel the vibration.
"It's energy," Unana guessed. "So, it's a memory card?"
"You're smart," Yueret patted his sister on the head.
"The bears are smart," Unana answered mentally.
The white glow gradually changed to blue. There really was an energy memory card in the stone box, vibrating.
"It's a memory card with some kind of ability," Yueret noted. "It's probably energy."
"There's a picture on it."
Yueret took off his helmet and began to examine the object. Dark blue lines, which almost merged with the blue translucent background, formed a pattern.
"This is..." Yueret began.
"A shield," Unana completed.
The pattern did indeed resemble the outline of a semicircular shield.
"It's a sign of some kind of skill," Yueret noted. "I've never seen it before."
"Neither have I," Unana agreed. "I don't have one."
Yueret touched the card with his hand, which caused a screen with text to appear.
"There's something written here," Unana pulled a strand of hair back with her hand. "Is it for us?"
"If you're reading this message, it means you've grown up and managed to open the basement. I used to store all sorts of junk here, but when you were born, I decided to leave you a gift. You can have it when you're smart enough to get into this place."
"There's another page," Unana pointed her finger at the arrow that led down.
Yueret clicked on the arrow. The page refreshed:
"Mom and I wanted to see how you would find our gift. Unfortunately, the circumstances turned out to be stronger. I hope this skill will be useful to you at the right time."
Yueret turned the page, and the text continued again:
"And most importantly, there are contacts on the map to contact your uncle. His name is Itinit. I told him to keep an eye on you. You may have met him before. If you want to find us, contact him. He knows where to find us. Even if he doesn't know, he knows someone who does. Tell him that. He'll understand."
Brother and sister looked at each other at the same time. They couldn't believe that what had seemed like a guess or a dream had suddenly been confirmed.
"You see, there's nothing to worry about," Yueret said after several dozen moments of silence.
"Yeah..."
"It's a good thing I don't have to go through with my plan," Unana thought. "I wanted to torture Kimchan with lightning and film it, and then make her show it to her creator."