Churronzon

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Jun 7th, 2023
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  1. Othinus, or the head Norse god which became the origin of the name, had left behind
  2. many different legends as the center of the system making up a mythology. That god did
  3. not necessarily use only one weapon and there were records of that god defeating various
  4. different enemies with various different blades.
  5.  
  6. And there was one weapon specifically associated with Othinus rather than Odin.
  7.  
  8. It was simply known as a crossbow.
  9.  
  10. No one knew its official name, much less how it was produced. That phantom weapon had
  11. left only a description of its frightening destructive power in the texts. That symbol of the
  12. head god was too obscure to be called a legend and had mostly been covered by the mists
  13. of time.
  14.  
  15. It was said that crossbow could simultaneously hold ten arrows in a fan shape.
  16.  
  17. It was said firing that crossbow could exterminate any army.
  18.  
  19. The entire world could be heard creaking.
  20.  
  21. Kamijou looked up slightly.
  22.  
  23. He saw the disturbing symbol bursting from Othinus’s back and providing the color of
  24. light to the entire black world it covered. He heard the creaking sound of it gathering
  25. tremendous power.
  26.  
  27. In the end, the world was her crossbow.
  28.  
  29. As soon as Kamijou Touma realized that, ten pieces of destruction rained down from the
  30. heavenly dome above.
  31.  
  32. -Shinyaku Toaru Majutsu no Index Volume 9 Chapter 8 Part 7
  33.  
  34.  
  35. What exactly could this be compared to?
  36.  
  37. Perhaps a super-long railgun that targeted someone on the planet’s surface after eternal
  38. acceleration using straight guiderails stretching from one end of the universe to the other.
  39.  
  40. Perhaps a singularity weapon that created destruction unexplainable with Newtonian
  41. physics by directly messing with the smallest particles dealing with mass and motion such
  42. as the bosons and the Higgs particle.
  43.  
  44. In all likelihood, expressing it with words was meaningless.
  45. Even if one gathered everything that could be expressed with words, it was unlikely one
  46. could shoot down that crossbow.
  47.  
  48. It merely hit.
  49.  
  50. “...!!!???”
  51.  
  52. Kamijou Touma leaped to the side with all his strength.
  53.  
  54. ...The first shot fell vertically from the heavens.
  55.  
  56. It held the destructive power needed to easily wipe out a planet or two, but it was beyond
  57. the point of creating anything like a crater. This was no different from a rifle bullet fired
  58. with the initial velocity of a sniper rifle piercing glass without breaking it. The arrow had
  59. been fired with such great speed that it pierced the pitch black ground without waiting for
  60. the impact to propagate.
  61.  
  62. Even so, Kamijou ran.
  63.  
  64. His distance to Othinus was close yet far. It felt like an infinite wall.
  65.  
  66. ...The second shot seemed to skim the ground as it was fired behind him and diagonally
  67. to the left.
  68.  
  69. Kamijou crouched down and the arrow passed over his head and swept across the world.
  70.  
  71. Its trajectory was angled downward slightly and it created a giant valley in that black-dyed
  72. world.
  73.  
  74. Othinus did not move from her spot.
  75.  
  76. She and Kamijou had to be the same. They were both pouring all their strength into
  77. defeating their opponent.
  78.  
  79. ...The third and fourth shots burst up through the ground.
  80.  
  81. They stabbed up a few meters away on either side of Kamijou. It was a trap. If he rashly
  82. moved even a step to evade, he would be smashed to pieces.
  83.  
  84. The more unnecessary actions he took, the farther he would be from victory.
  85.  
  86. He sharpened his senses like a needle and pictured himself stretching forward and
  87. piercing Othinus with that needle.
  88.  
  89. ...The fifth shot came from directly in front of him.
  90.  
  91. His movements to the left and right were already sealed off and now Othinus had thrown
  92. a straight pitch. For the first time, Kamijou swung his right hand. But not in a straight
  93. impact meant to destroy. He scooped his hand up from below, traced his hand along the
  94. surface of the arrow, and diverted its trajectory upwards.
  95. He ran straight forward.
  96.  
  97. His fear and self-interest threatened to shake that simple action.
  98.  
  99. ...The sixth and seventh shots scraped across Othinus’s shoulders.
  100.  
  101. The two arrows were fired from behind her and they collided in midair before reaching
  102. him. With a tremendous explosive noise, the two arrows’ trajectories changed complexly.
  103. The boy evaded one by ducking his upper body down and then jumped over the other with
  104. a great leap.
  105.  
  106. Devoting himself to evasion was meaningless.
  107.  
  108. His path threatened to waver, but he used the power of his will to desperately keep himself
  109. on course.
  110.  
  111. ...The eighth shot overcame the restrictions of the third dimension.
  112.  
  113. Kamijou felt a static electricity-like spark on his spine and immediately swung his head
  114. to the side as hard as he could. An instant later, space suddenly split open and an arrow
  115. assaulted the world.
  116.  
  117. He focused on his trajectory.
  118.  
  119. The several meter path to Othinus appeared clearly in his head.
  120.  
  121. ...The ninth shot ignored the concept of numbers.
  122.  
  123. The arrows that fell from above colored the night sky like fireworks and glittered like stars
  124. covering the heavens. Every single one of them was fatal, but Kamijou did not freeze up.
  125.  
  126. No matter how torrentially they rained down, there was always a safe space left to step in.
  127.  
  128. He was going to reach her.
  129.  
  130. He glared at Othinus’s face and clenched his right fist tighter than before.
  131.  
  132. ...And the tenth shot...
  133.  
  134. (I can reach her.)
  135.  
  136. Kamijou gritted his teeth.
  137.  
  138. He sharply moved right up to her.
  139.  
  140. (I’ll reach her no matter what!! It doesn’t matter where the final arrow comes from! I can
  141. punch her after evading it or punch her before she can fire the arrow. Either way, I’ll end
  142. this here!!)
  143.  
  144. “Othinus!!”
  145.  
  146. In the instant he shouted out, he was certain of his victory.
  147.  
  148. He stopped thinking about the tenth shot altogether. That was why he had reached the
  149. idea of ending this before she could fire it.
  150.  
  151. But his mistake was understandable.
  152.  
  153. The final shot approached from directly behind Magic God Othinus.
  154.  
  155. And she did not move a single step.
  156.  
  157. In other words, the arrow unhesitatingly pierced through Othinus.
  158.  
  159. The final arrow broke through the girl’s entire body and assaulted Kamijou from the blind
  160. spot directly in front of him.
  161.  
  162. “...Ah.”
  163.  
  164. Time stopped.
  165.  
  166. He was too slow to react.
  167.  
  168. By the time he heard a dull sound, the final arrow had already been absorbed into his
  169. chest and accurately targeted his heart.
  170.  
  171. This was nothing as kind as piercing or breaking him.
  172.  
  173. In the instant of impact, Kamijou Touma’s body was smashed to pieces from the chest
  174. down. As his heart continued to writhe in midair, the tip of the arrow caught it and blasted
  175. it to the farthest reaches of that world.
  176.  
  177. All that remained in that place were the boy’s arms, shoulders, and head.
  178.  
  179. At that level, this could only be called his remains.
  180.  
  181. Kamijou’s “body” spun at least twice through the air and Othinus caught it in one hand.
  182.  
  183. She had supposedly taken the exact same damage, but not so much as a single scratch
  184. remained on her smooth skin. The destruction had indeed occurred, but the wounds had
  185. immediately repaired themselves like watching the destruction of gelatin in reverse.
  186.  
  187. -Shinyaku Toaru Majutsu no Index Volume 9 Chapter 8 Part 8
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