"Isn't it funny? In the end I have really been sacrificed! And to think I have tried so hard, and in the end. . "

"Stop it right there and sit properly." Lucy interrupted Krogar, who was lying upside down on his bed, playing with his hanging white hair.

"Why? Copyright or what?" Krogar continued his silly behaviour.

"No, you will dirty your hair naturally!"

"Lucy, tell me honestly." Krogar pushed energetically with his hand, reverting to sit in a more proper way. "You are not the previous Lucy right? And do not tell me you have a procedure dedicated to caring for hair switched on. Whoever you are running from, I would say that we are far out of their reach now."

Krogar's sudden shift in mood startled Lucy and she was about to play it down with a joke, but decided otherwise after a few seconds of hesitation.

"I am a wife of the main researcher, or more precisely, an exact scan of her mind, right before she died." Lucy was no longer dodging the question.

"No shit!" Krogar shouted.

"Come on, you are so rude! Like a drunkard! Where did you caught that language anyway?"

"Hey, do not play princess, you . ."

"Do not even say it, it is contagious, that is why!" She interrupted him.

"I have it from school, no doubt. You know kids these days .. Anyway, it is quite a security breach to copy you here. What about your husband?"

Silence greeted Krogar, resulting in him only scratching nervously his chin.

"Do not mind me, we should figure out our situation, I am surprised to be still in one piece, they are quite easy going considering their previous reactions." Krogar's mood changed rapidly, it was a huge relief to have someone who was probably more of a human than him next to him.

"Mmm." Getting the shortest answer possible, Krogar realized his trusted female companion was not in a mood to discuss things further.

Changing his position on the bed again, he began to think about his next move, but before he could think of anything, the sound of the door opening disrupted his thoughts.

* * * *

Looking out of the window, Ranna's eyes widened with shock, when she saw a familiar, white-haired figure exit the building like she owned the place with no military personnel in sight.

"No way!" She rushed down the stairs, barging into the office of her superior while breathing rapidly.

"She is running away!"Shouting laudly, she looked at the two people next to a massive wooden table.

"I let her go, it is none of your concern. You will receive your assignment shortly if you bother to wait outside of my office." Akir frowned, answering brashly. "Dismissed."

"Yes, sir." Ranna blinked a few times and turned around, walking out of the door.

"She was speaking of the target?" A plain looking man asked Akir.

"Yes, set off immediately." Akir nodded and the man followed behind Ranna out of his office.

Akir leaned against the table and looked out of his window, following the figure walking in the distance with his pupils.

"An unidentified construct." He whispered. It was useless to interrogate a non-living contruct, he considered it much more advantageous to let it go and see the mission it had been ordered to complete firsthand.

If he was from another nation, he would have considered dismantling her, but given the nature of their mana well, it was not practical to use machines devoid of life.

"We will see who is trying to mess with us."

* * * *

Archon laughed madly, walking towards eight meters high circular hole in space, which was gleaming ominously in front of him.

"Follow me!" His voice boomed as he vanished in the hole and unending lines of many vermins of his kind followed him, while producing cacophony of sounds depending of the respective breed they belong to.

He could watch as his surroundings changed in a flash and a vast rocky terrain spread in front of him with occasional snow and grass here and there.

"Mmmmm, another world welcomes its conquerors." Archon inhaled the cold air deeply with a wide grin.

. . .and he chuckled.

. . .and he coughed.

. . .and he coughed and coughed more.

"Damn it to hell! What is it with this cold? Bad luck, it has stolen my moment of greatness. Fetch me a coat!" He grabbed one of the demons running past him and turned him around.

"Yes, master!" The little demon squeaked and ran back through the portal to make his wish happen. Although, he anded up slamming into the big, eight meters tall hole in space instead of passing though it, making Archon gape with surprise.

"What?!" Archon angrily returned a few steps back and tried to push his right hand back through the portal, but his attempt was in vain.

"Unthinkable!" Archon could not explain the situation. "Why is it only a one way gate?"

The process should have been failproof, he could not think of a reason why only half of it worked. The time should have been turned back if the anchoring person vanished and it was hardly possible for only half of it to disappear resulting in this flawed gateway.

"No, no, no, stop! We cannot just come here with no options for retreat!" Archon tried to stop the others, but realized that the ones pushing them from behind would not hear him. Quickly, he tried to contact his generals, but was unsuccessful.

As the last resort, he came in front of the portal and grabbed the first head that appeared by its horns, receiving a long face of the horns' owner and pressed against him, preventing him from fully passing through.

The demon was trembling with fear and immediately bowed his head, looking down.

"Write stop with your leg on the other side." Archon ordered, urgency in his voice.

The demon switfly turned around a rock he was gazing upon on the ground, took one of his legs out of the portal and began to write something on the surface of the rock.

"It does not work lord, to hard." He proclaimed with frustration.

"The other side imbecile! On the other side!" Archon raged.

With utmost hurry, the fearful demon turned the rock around again and tried again with no success.

"Too hard as well lord!" He was scratching the rock with his claws in a futile attempt to engrave the requested word in its surface.

"Do it with your other leg, on the other side of the portal!" Archon said slowly, forcing himself to calm down.

* * * *

A demon general observed the troops flooding into the portal, while holding the handle of his huge cleaver at his waist. He did not even need to encourage the hordes of demons as they run forward with fervor in their eyes.

"The army is in top condition, exceptional moral, rested, full of vigor. . " Suddenly his following up words stuck in his throat as his eyes ended up on one particular demon.

"We are conquering worlds here not shaking asses!" While roaring, he run towards the demon who apparently considered very funny to block the line while shaking his butt and kicked him hard.

* * * *

The demon nodded and after a second, shot out of the portal with incredible momentum, headbutting Archon, who ended up sprawled in a heap of demons.

"Whatever, it is too late to stop it anyway." Archon was proud of himself, his calm attitude was the proof of the wise leader he was. In his oasis of peace, he could see the demon next to him kneeling, writing something on the gound with his leg.

"STOP"

He lifted his head and smiled happily at Archon, who simply grabbed him by his horn and threw him into the distance while roaring, continuous stream of curses coming out of his mouth.

* * * *

Krogar walked the streets with a sparkling smile.

"Nice, I have all conveniences of an android, no one hunts me, no need to eat or sleep. Isn't it perfect Lucy?" Krogar was whispering for himself, and for Lucy of course.

" Antimeter batteries at 95%." Lucy responded.

"Ah, sweet 95%, that is more than enough." Krogar hummed, only for his humming to stop abruptly. "Wait! It dropped by one percent already?!"

" Antimatter batteries at 95,955%. I have rounded it up, but of course, it is not infinite and with no recharging, it is only a matter of time before it runs out in a few years, depends on the workload.." Lucy explained.

"A few years is enough time, but. .. Wait, that means that I will only live for a few years!?!"

"Yes." Krogar felt like a bucket of cold water have been splashed over his body and his pace transformed into the one of a snail in a blink of an eye.

"One year ..Energy. Conserve. Must." He mumbled in daze.

"I have said a few for fu .. holy mother's sake, do not piss your pants and be a man."

"That is right I am a man. A MAN!" Krogar found out some passersby began to turn, looking at him with question marks in their faces. It was not a phrase one would expect from a beautiful woman.

"Wait, that won't do, we must find a way to recharge it." Krogar decided immediately, his eyes sparkling. "I am lacking a goal anyway, to charge myself and be alive longer than a few years is probably a damn good reason to do something right?"

"Perhaps." The uncertanity in Lucy's voice infuriated him.

"You are closer to the metal, tell me how realistic it is to recharge my battery here?"

"Ehmm.. Actually, most of the times, the batteries are thrown away and replaced with new ones, recharging the ones you have is not economical."

"Not economical?" The word was stuck in Krogar's brain.

"To solve it, we will probbaly have to find a brand new source of energy and clibrate the output to match yours." Observing Krogar's face, which was almost melting with terror, Lucy decided to proceed with baby-steps. "Simply put, you need people who know their way around machines and energy."

"That means we need information." Krogar said and began walking with a destination in his mind."I happen to know a place here."

"Oh? What place?"

"A school." It was not tbe best start, but certainly better than none.

It did not take long and a white-haired beauty, who was Krogar naturally, was carrying a bunch of books under her coat, heading out of the town.

"Seriously, do you have a fetish for forests or something? We could have read the books in the school or in the town, it is completely needless to steal from kids their books and hide in the forest afterwards because of that!" Lucy could not wrap her head aroud Krogar's thought processes.

"They were teenagers already!" Krogar protested. "By the way, I look forward to being in a normal forest, by which I mean green leaves, brown trunks."

After a while Krogar sat on a stone located inside of a peaceful meadow and opened the first book.

"Common machinery and tools used in society."

"1. name all the tools and machinery you have at home."

"Hoe, axe, rivet, "

"By the way, how are we going to call ourselves?" Lucy asked while her companion was going through a book he had brought with him from the school.

"What? Calling myself? I will call myself by my name, Krogar." He responded while frowning at the book.

"2. name all the tools and machinery you want to have at home."

"Dice, Cat."

"Oh my god!" Krogar rolled his eyes, looking at the sky.

"Do you realize your body is a female? Krogar sounds definitely like the name for a male. The name should be a female one." Lucy continued her train of thought, observing Krogar's, slowly derailing train.

"3 Tell your friend about the tools you use and write down those you have in common."

"Horse. Sister."

"Holy mother of chipmunks ! Are they five year olds, perverts, or what?" Krogar kept shaking his head.

"You cannot be serious, I refuse to be called that." Lucy said firmly.

"Of course not. I would love to have your problems, it is so easy to solve!"Krogar closed the book loudly and continued. "I am Krogar, you want it to sound female. Krogar plus female equals .. equals Krogaress. Problem solved." Krogar nodded his head firmly.

"Oh . . o-k then."

Krogar laid the book aside and took another one, but let it lay on his knees with a heavy sigh, not having the courage to open it.

"Krogaress?" Lucy called him.

"What the . .What?! Are you serious?" Krogar's eyes widened in horror.

"I certainly am, but you are not. Quick, give me your female name, no dodging this time."

"Agh, just modify it in a way. I would say Lulu could work." Krogar was satisfied with himself.

"How in the world have you arrived at Lulu by modifying Krogar?"

"Simple. L is after K and two uu look like boobs so it fits for a female, Ulu is silly, so after adding atnoher L there is Lulu." Krogar began to explain as if it was the most rational way of thinking in existence.

"Oh come on, Lulu sounds just gross, such a sleazy name, like for a prostitute." Lucy scoffed.

"One boob version would be Lul, what about that?" Krogar tried to enchant her with an alternative.

"Not a chance."

"Or we can leave the sleazy part for you and have Kroglu" Krogar began to laugh.

"Lucy."

"Why are you calling yourself?"

"The name will be Lucy." Lucy stated, absolute finality in her voice.

"Do not even think of usurping my body." Krogar stopped laughing.

"Come on do not be paranoid." She wanted to click her tongue, but none was under her command.

"Alright, Lucy it is, but we can change it to Lulu-Lucy anytime." Krogar winked.

Only silence greeted him.

Suddenly, Krogar noticed a slight red hue appearing on his body. He realized it was a reflection and looked up above his head where a huge eight meters wide circle appeared.

"Oh my Krululucy. . ." Krogar-Lucy jumped to their feet with their eyes glued to the circle.