Editing Toaru Majutsu no Index:Crossover Extra (section)

===Part 7===

As all the others were scattered here and there, Kamijou Touma crawled along some stone pavement with the last remains of his clothes clinging onto him for dear life.

“Oh, Kamijou Touma,” said a refined male voice. “What is this about you dying?”

“I am going to die. I really am going to die with all this going on!! Do you people begin battling without giving any thought to making it a balanced fight!? And who are you anyway!?”

“We are…”

“The royal we!?”

“We are the sea king, so that is to be expected. In fact, it would seem nonsensical to hear us say ‘I’ or ‘me’,” said the relatively harmless-looking man. “Let us get back on topic. We are Ægir, king of the Norse sea.”

He was a king, so it was to be expected.

It was possible he had halved Kamijou’s gold and dragged him out of the coffin.

“By the way, that woman is our queen, Rán. But unlike us, she is incredibly aggressive, so whenever the mischievous woman takes a liking to a human soul, she drags them down to become a resident of the palace.”

“Oh, so you’re one of the idiot couples you see in myths sometimes? The Greek mythology book I read in the school library the other day was awful! How do Zeus and Hera even stay at the top!?”

“How rude. Rán is trying to save everyone.”

“Hm?”

“You see….”

Ægir must have been very well-prepared because he pulled out a water tank and placed a cup inside.

“This world’s sea is like this cup. But if you attempt to return to your original worlds, the cup will break. What will happen then? The water in the rest of the tank will come rushing in. And do you know what will happen to the island inside the cup?”

“……………………………………………………………………………………Sounds like it would be in a lot of trouble.”

“It would in fact be in a lot of trouble.” Ægir nodded. “The world has two options: you can abandon our world and return to your own or you can give up on returning home in order to protect our world. Those are the only options.”

“Um, so is Rán-chan on such a rampage because she’s trying to kill us and protect the world?”

“How rude. As we already said, Rán is trying to save everyone.”

“Could you explain that more clearly?”

“Hm. The historical silencing is affecting her more strongly at the moment, so we should be able to speak more freely. …It seems to still be having some effect, though.”

Ægir thought for a bit.

“Very well. We will give you a direct answer that should get our meaning across even if our words are twisted.”

“Please do.”

“Rán is attempting to evolve herself by experiencing a battle that exceeds her limits. She wishes to become a ‘grim reaper of the sea’ who does not kill and has complete control over the sea that could cover the nine worlds. But if that happens, all traces of her current self will vanish and she will transform into an entirely different god in both body and mind.”

It was a ridiculous idea.

It sounded like making a human sacrifice.

It was true that would protect the lives of everyone in the nine worlds while also allowing Kamijou’s group to return to their homes.

But…

“What meaning is there in that?”

“There is none. She is thinking too highly of herself. We sea gods cannot influence major events, so her idea is doomed to fail from the very beginning. Even if it all succeeded and even if she transformed into something else, she would still be unable to protect anything.”

“That’s not what I meant!! Who would think they’d been saved if they were protected like that!?”

“…”

“I don’t know what exactly to do, but let’s go save her. Just tell me what I have to do!!”

“We are the sea king. We cannot influence history. Just as Rán will fail, we too will-…”

“Shut up!! That’s not what I’m talking about!!”

Kamijou cut him off and stared directly at the surprised god.

“Then why did you even speak to me!? Rán-chan’s your wife, isn’t she? You did something because you didn’t want to sit idly by and lose everything for a decent-sounding reason like saving the world and everyone in it, right!? Then stick with it to the end. You may fail, but the rest of us will make up for it!! What did you want to do from the very beginning!?”

“…ell…”

Ægir’s voice briefly faded.

Something was obstructing his words. A cruel system was crushing the bud of possibility and telling him not to change history and to simply watch the tragedy unfold.

“Well…”

But he seemed to shake it off

His pride as sea king allowed him to temporarily overturn the rules of the world.

“She is our wife and that would be meaningless if we did not save her.”

The two of them stretched their legs on the stone pavement and clearly stood up.

First, Kamijou and the others had to regroup.

After that, they would rush onto the intense battlefield the undersea palace had become.

“Let’s try everything we can think of. Even if that doesn’t turn up the answer, it should at least give us a hint. And if we gather enough hints, we should be able to come up with a completely different answer! So…!!”

“Yes, we will no longer give up before even trying. We are the sea king, so we will have our way in the sea even if nowhere else!!”