But seriously, why are we in a desert fighting this thing?

Impressions:

A whole episode milking tragically dying, which, again, is undercut by the already multiple stabbings and self-destructs that take place every third or so episode. Yeah, sure, she got a big sword in her gut, but this wasn't the first time, and since they have backups in everything from moon servers to rubix cubes to now apparently swords, I'm not totally sure why we're screaming in anguish here. A new form of body/mind transfer was spat up literally seconds before it. But I guess we're supposed to take that 9S only knows about the first few ways to immortality and not any sword based ones. Okay, sure. It'll be a fun surprise for later when Ms Haircut-For-Character-Development decides to explain anything. Yes, I'm aware that doesn't happen and 9S is likely to spend the rest of this timeline in a slobbering rage.

And then there's the random ball snake out of nowhere. In a desert. Was this a meaningful boss in the game? A bunch of spheres popping up out of the sand to sort of be in the way but not actually? Why is he suddenly in a completely different biome fighting some goofy monster that looks like something Dr. Robotnik would have come up with? He fought that, and then traveled miles away all in the time that she stumbled about 20 feet and got stabbed? Am I understanding the logistics here correctly? Why not have him just faceplant onto the ground at terminal velocity a few hundred feet away? Did we miss some entire dungeon but still wanted to include the boss for no particular reason? Is the ball snake a fan favorite? I have so many questions, and none of them have to do with the actual story.