Editing Toaru Majutsu no Index:Crossover Extra (section)

===Part 4===

The nine worlds of Norse mythology were said to have been created from the corpse of a giant named Ymir.

The ocean was no exception as it was supposedly made from Ymir’s blood.

The massive ocean that surrounded the entire Norse world was ruled by a sea god named Ægir.

And a certain goddess was his wife: Rán.

While Ægir was the ruler of peaceful seas, Rán was the ruler of especially stormy seas. She would use her large net to capture humans who were thrown out into the ocean and drag them down to the bottom. That may paint the picture of an evil god that devoured human souls, but she only dragged down the souls she took a liking to and she gave them a special reception in her undersea palace.

In a way, she may have been something like an extremely predatory Otohime.

Although, she was still a wife.

“Fish!”

A small boy raised his hands in joy in the undersea palace ruled by that sea goddess.

“Wow!! There’s so many fish!!”

Despite being called a palace, it was several dozen kilometers across, so it could be seen as a tenth world that was not contained by any of the other nine. It also helped indicate the scale of what people in the Norse civilization thought of as a “world”.

A transparent dome covered the entire palace with room to spare and it also protected several other buildings built from piles of massive carved stones. The overall size was easily one hundred kilometers across. The level of technology could be seen in the decorative waterways built along the stone-paved roads despite having gone to the trouble of holding back all of the seawater.

A tall woman stood next to the boy.

She had white skin and black hair cut to shoulder length. She wore a long dress so thin that any kind of backlight revealed her bodyline below and some accessories made from shells adorned her hair and wrists.

“What kind of fish is that?”

“A striped beakfish.”

“It’s so shiny and cool. …Voom voom! And it’s fast!!”

“It is delectable when grilled.”

“It’d be sad to eat it, so no thanks.”

In this Norse world, falling from a boat in your clothes was a death sentence for anyone but the most well-trained warrior. While being less technologically advanced than the gods, the humans had named themselves Vikings and used extremely well-made high speed ships, but they did not do much to polish their personal swimming skills.

That gave them very few chances to see the fish who swam freely through the sea.

With that in mind, it was not surprising that the boy was in high spirits.

“I never knew the ocean was so pretty. I thought it was a scary place.”

“You weren’t wrong to think that. The ocean is the mouth of death. The question is whether you have the technology needed to overcome it.”

“I want to show this to Waltraute. And to my parents.”

“…”

“I can’t? Is this a secret place?”

“No, the ocean is open to anyone. The boundaries between worlds and the head god’s rule do not reach us. Still, I doubt may people would want to come here.”

“What are you talking about? Everyone would love to see somewhere this pretty!”

Rán narrowed her eyes and gently rubbed the boy’s head.

“Can I come here again, Rán?”

“Again?”

“I need to get back home or my parents will be mad.”

“…”
She fell silent again.

Her expression barely changed, but she looked somewhat troubled.

“What is it?”

“I am sorry, but I think you need to stay here for the time being.”

“Okay! I’ll go tell my parents!”

“…”

“I can’t even do that?”

“Soon.”

Finally, she spoke while looking down at the small boy.

“Soon, the sea will bare its fangs. The mouth of death swallows all. This is a mutation that not even the Norns were able to predict, but I doubt there is any changing the flow of events now. You and the heroes from foreign worlds smashed the plans of the second head god, so no one in this Norse world can stop you.”

“Rán?”

“So you must stay here until the calamity of the mouth of death has passed. I am Rán, queen of the king who protects the tenth location which is not contained in the nine worlds. But while I will escape Ragnarök, I have been stripped of the right to influence major events such as Ragnarök.”

The boy did not understand the workings of the gods.

He did not know what she was specifically referring to when she said the sea was the mouth of death, when she said it would bare its fangs, or when she said it would swallow all.

But…

“Rán, if everyone’s in trouble, you have to tell them!”

“…”

“Rán! Can’t we have Waltraute and everyone else escape to here!?”

“…”

Rán could only give him a troubled look.

He had not realized that she could not influence the general path of history. Even if she knew of the coming destruction, she had no way of stopping it. She could only use her power on the branches where it would not affect the trunk.

She could not even speak a single word.

She could not get out the words she truly wanted to say.

If those words would influence any major events, she was forbidden to even open her mouth.

“…”

So this was all she could do.

She could only protect people with methods that did not change history in any obvious way.

But…

(Here they come.)

Without speaking a word, she looked away from the boy and straight up.

A massive transparent dome protected the palace and the surrounding buildings with room to spare.

And now, the Divine Ship Skíðblaðnir dropped straight down to break through the very top of it.

(I cannot directly influence history.)

As she listened to the shattering of the tenth world she controlled, Rán gave a silent, thin smile.

(But if the branches I move manage to drag along the gods and the foreigners who overpowered them…!!)

Surely, something would change.

However, the sea goddess might be swallowed up and destroyed by that very torrent of change.