Archangel Gabriel

Archangel Gabriel (大天使ガブリエル) is an archangel that appears in the Toaru Majutsu no Index main storyline. Being a divine entity and classed as an archangel, makes Gabriel one of the most powerful non-human characters in the story.

In fact, Gabriel is called The Power of God (神の力) and according to Kaori, Gabriel rules over the symbol of water which is its attribute, and is the guardian of the moon, the governor of blue, and the protector of the rear side. Acqua of the Back of God's Right Seat is aligned with Archangel Gabriel, which allows him to do feats similar to that of Gabriel when it comes to manipulating water.

Appearance
When Gabriel was summoned by Fiamma of the Right, Gabriel featured an androgynous appearance, and is classified as being depicted as both male and female; despite this, Gabriel features breasts, and has feminine features as well, though shows no obvious genitalia.

Gabriel has pure white skin, which has golden lines adorned all over its body in an intricate pattern mostly concentrated on its upper torso, forearms, upper legs, and lower ankles. Interestingly, the golden lines meet in the middle of Gabriel's breasts into a kite-like shape, bearing the symbol of the cross (this can also be seen on Index's Walking Church). These golden lines are also present on peculiar flaps that are on Gabriel's wings. These flaps can be seen attached on Gabriel's head – which seems to simulate hair, forearms, legs and waist – which seems to simulate coattails. On top of Gabriel's head is a blue halo, inside the ring is an inner circle where three arrow-shaped lines jut out, slightly beyond the outer ring in differing directions.

Like most of its body, Gabriel's eyes are white and seem to sport no visible iris and pupil.

Though not normally depicted with wings, Gabriel sports wings made of crystallized water through the use of its powers.

Background
Before the start of the series, a distortion of the four elements allowed Gabriel to bypass God's naming restrictions to his angels, most notably because of this his alignment to water becomes switch.

Angel Fall Arc

 * Main article:Angel Fall Arc

A weakened Gabriel appears in the the Angel Fall Arc, here, he takes the form of Sasha Kreuzhev and names himself Misha Kreuzhev (ミーシャ＝クロイツェフ). During the arc, Misha tries to attack Touma believing him to be the cause of her fall, though later after proving that he was not the culprit, she helps him, Tsuchimikado Motoharu and Kaori find the real culprit. They later find out that Touma's father, Kamijou Touya was the one who caused the Angel Fall and tries to attack him thusly so he can back to heaven. Kanzaki Kaori later preoccupies Misha while Touma and Motoharu try to find a way to stop Angel Fall before Misha uses The Sweep, though Kaori is obviously out-classed the angel even with Misha depowered.

World War III Arc

 * Main article:World War III

Fiamma of the Right summons the actual body of Gabriel during the World War III Arc. Here, he still calls himself Misha Kreuzhev which indicates that there is still a distortion in his alignment to the elements which still weakens him. Howerer, even a weakened Gabriel's displays power well above several characters, and completely overwhelms both the English and French forces being led by Carrisa and the Maiden of Versailles respectively. Misha uses its powers to turn day into night – just as he did during the Angel Fall Arc – in order to enable Fiamma's flying-fortress, the Star of Bethlehem to return the balance between the elements to its proper order, as well as to protect the fortress from damage, as seen when Carrisa ordered missiles to attack the fortress.

Even with Kazakiri Hyouka and Accelerator teaming up against Misha, it was only defeated after Touma destroyed Fiamma's control over Misha, as well as Acqua of the Back's absorption of some of it's telesma as he is aligned with Gabriel.

After Fiamma’s successful realignment of the elements and subsequent defeat at the hands of Touma; the true name of the angel is retaken. Archangel Gabriel materializes itself into the world, however its presence threatens a world-wide calamity, as it begins to melt ice around the Arctic Sea to restore its power that was lost during its stint as Misha. Touma uses the collapsing Star of Bethlehem to steer him towards Gabriel, at which point he clashes with it and tries to defeat it with his Imagine Breaker. The results of the clash were inconclusive, as both Touma and Gabriel are not seen afterwards, though Touma was successful enough to stop Gabriel from melting the ice.

Abilities
Ruling over the symbol of water, Gabriel can manipulate water in various forms and can use it as a means of attack. Crystalline wings, made out of water; it is capable of destroying a mountain with a single swing. Capable of turning half of the earth into ashes upon finishing the chant. It is said to have been a spell that destroyed an entire civilization. Summons burst of lightning bolts within her vicinity.
 * Water Wing (水翼)
 * God's Purge (神戮) or Sweep (一掃)
 * Judgement
 * Astro In Hand (天体制御 (アストロインハンド))

Manipulate the movement of celestial bodies that can be seen in the sky, and can be used to turn day into night. It can destroy the Earth by stopping its natural rotation. This halts aquatic movement in oceans and funnels most of the water towards the North and South poles. With little to no water in the equator and surrounding longitudes, the 'sea level' becomes non-existent and deprives natural land heights of oxygen, as well as removing precious ozone higher up. Without a barrier from solar radiation in the area, the equator becomes inhospitably hot and dry. North and South poles become a bulge of slowly-evaporating water while incredible heats in the equator shift deep rifts and cause sporadic and powerful earthquakes.

Other Abilities
Archangel Gabriel is also capable of flying at high speeds, demonstrated by its ability to fly from France to Russia to defend the Star of Bethlehem from Carrisa's missile lauch attack on the fortress. In addition, as Carrisa found in their battle, abilities such as the 'sixth sense' will not work on Gabriel, so any attacks will have to be made using the normal five senses.