Editing Toaru Majutsu no Index:Crossover2 (section)

===Part 19===

'''(Heivia/Ground’s Nir)

“To be honest, all we can do is wait,” said Heivia in his handsome disguise deep in the forest.

If their guesses were correct, then the “original cause” was where Quenser was. Fretting about it would not accomplish anything on Heivia’s side. They could only trust that the other side reached the same conclusion.

He took an optimistic view.

But just then…

“…?”

Boo Boo was the first to look around.

Then Heivia noticed something, held his breath, and slowly crouched down.

Finally, Beatrice and Filinion voiced a question.

“What? All the wild birds are taking flight?”

“Shh. It seems one of the Gates is activating. But this behavior is unusual…”

“…”

It was not Quenser. It was far too soon for that. Nor was it the “original cause”. After fleeing from Ground’s Nir, they would have no real reason to return now.

Then who else could it be?

Who else had the ability to pass between worlds?

“…This is not good,” muttered the handsome skin. “Tch. Is the culprit coming back after returning to the maintenance base zone!? We have to send everyone back in order, so we can’t have them wandering all over the place!!”

“What are you going to do?”

“We’ll just have to shove them back through!! If we don’t know where they’ve gone, we’ll have no way of repairing this!”

It sounded like he was arguing based on emotion, but Heivia the Chicken could be surprisingly calculating at times like this.

“And you said these Gates can only carry naked humans and memories or knowledge, right? Our world doesn’t have any magic or esper powers that let you say abracadabra and blow up a tank. Whoever it is that shows up, they’re nothing to be afraid of when they can’t bring a single knife or bullet with them. In fact, it would be safer to take them out immediately before they can find a blade or club to arm themselves with!”

“U-umm…”

“What is it, cow cutie? I appreciate the thought, but this isn’t the time to be hitting on me!!”

“Call me a cow again and I’ll melt that face off of you with sulfuric acid. Anyway, if what you were saying is true, then this culprit not only beat up the invader from our world but also pursued them back to Ground’s Nir. …D-doesn’t that mean they have some kind of trick that let them control something more powerful than our Magic?”

“…”

“Besides, if they were going to show up completely unarmed, would all the birds take flight in an ominous hint of approaching danger? This is more like what you would except in a kaiju movie!!”

“O-o-oh, hell!!!???”

By the time the idiot yelled, it was too late.

Something frightening descended upon the depths of the forest.

The trees of the forest were snapped like matchsticks at the appearance of what looked more like a mountain than a hill.

But a mountain would not have more than 100 cannons attached to a 50m ball of steel.

“Wh-wha-wha-wha…?”

Only flesh-and-blood humans and data could pass through a Gate.

Faced with a violation of that rule, Filinion tearfully backed away, tripped over a tree root, and fell on her butt. Her glasses slipped down, but she did not bother fixing them as she shouted at the top of her lungs.

“What the hell is that!?”

Heivia gulped. Not because he could not identify it. No, the deadly tension filling his body came from knowing the answer all too well.

“The Plasma Horn.” He spoke its name. “Why is the 16th’s cutting-edge Second Generation showing up here when it was supposed to be part of the joint military exercise!?”