Toaru Majutsu no Index Light Novel Volume 22/Chapter 12

Synopsis
Accelerator has just finished performing Index's song, before collapsing into the snow with his entire body covered in blood. To his joy, he finally hears the weak voice of Last Order crying out to him, and then embraces her tightly. Misaka Worst interrupts the emotional reunion with a warning however: it appears the war would not be letting them off so easily. The Telesma pouring fourth from the golden sky has begun accumulating into a single spot on the Star of Bethlehem, aimed directly towards the Earth. In response, Accelerator once again Awakens and unleashes his black wings. However, as he smiles down at Last Order and acknowledges his honest desire to protect her, this time the wings transform into a white color to reflect this change in mentality. Flapping his wings, Accelerator charges up into the atmosphere to intercept the threatening flow of energy.

Back aboard the Star of Bethleham, Fiamma is shocked upon realizing the Telesma has been obstructed by something, with Touma asking if he has had enough. As Touma begins running forwards to end it with one punch, Fiamma desperately tries to stop him by throwing his Third Arm as a form of brute force attack, but it is completely destroyed by Imagine Breaker now that its source of power has dried up due to the lack of malice coming from the world. He then tries to access Index's controller as a last resort, but is becomes aware that it too has been compromised, thanks to the efforts of the Angelicans. Now left without any defenses to protect him, and his plan having been completely shut down by the collaborative efforts of everybody around the world, Fiamma of the Right finally has his illusions shattered.

Having dropped the controller into the cracks of the fortress upon being struck down by Touma's punch, Fiamma surrenders himself to his fate as the surroundings crumble around him. Without the ability to utilize regular magic and losing his Third Arm, Fiamma has become an ordinary human, and the power of the Holy Right that enabled the fortress to fly in the atmosphere has disappeared. Although he has no strength left in his body, he is pulled by his collar by Touma, dragging him into the last remaining escape pod. Left speechless by this action, he wonders why Kamijou would ever bother to save his enemy from their own actions. He never receives an answer as the container is ejected.

Just then, Misaka Mikoto has finally managed to reach Touma's location piloting a aircraft. She questions if they can land onto the falling fortress, but the Russian Sisters cautions that the risk of crashing into the surface due to the all the shaking and trembling prevents that from being a viable option. Although she tries to reach Touma in an attempt to save him, and even tries to force him onto the aircraft with her magnetism when he refuses, Touma negates her connection and mouths the words "I still have something I need to do". Having lost her final chance at rescuing Touma, Mikoto falls back into the cockpit and cries as they fly away from the crumbling fortress.

After leaving behind his last chance of rescue in the form of Misaka Mikoto, Touma continues to search for Index's remote controller, having fallen into the debris after his fight with Fiamma. A projection holding Index's consciousness then appears to him, calling out his name and asking why he stayed on board. He answers that he still needs to take care of the falling fortress as well as freeing Index's from her current condition. Realizing there may be a possibility he might not make it out alive from this situation, Touma takes the chance to try to come clean about his amnesia, but Index interrupts him, saying that as long as he came back home, everything else would be okay. Promising her that, he asks that she tell the Angelicans he needs help steering the fortress, before he negates the controller and brings her consciousness back into her own body.

With Stiyl Magnus providing instructions to him by connecting to the speakers on the Star of Bethlehem, Touma runs around the fortress negating various spiritual items with his right hand in order to control the speed and direction of its descent. Touma is concerned about the possibility of tsunamis, but Stiyl reassures him that the cities along the Arctic coastline have been given evacuation orders thanks to the cooperation of the Roman Catholic and Russian Orthodox churches. Suddenly however, midway through the operation, Stiyl shouts in surprise about the re-emergence of Misha Kreutzchev.

Archangel Gabriel has made its move in an attempt to reclaim her rightful position in Heaven, now having been fixed by Fiamma's re-alignment of the 4 elements. However, she lacked enough strength to accomplish that, aiming to replenish herself using the element of water. To that end, Gabriel begins flying towards the North Pole to melt the ice caps present there. Back in St. George's Cathedral, Stiyl analyzes the situation and concludes that the results of Gabriel absorbing the ice cap's water would be catastropic. Since her incarnation as Misha Kreutzchev was imperfect, attempting to regain her full power would simply result in self-destruction and a massive explosion of Telesma powerful enough to knock the planet out of its orbit.

Then, he notices an abnormality in the direction of the Star of the Bethlehem's descent: it has begun heading towards Misha/Gabriel. It quickly becomes apparent that Touma is deliberately steering the fortress into the North Pole to take down the threat. As Touma reaches Gabriel's location, he clenches his fist and thinks back on all the adventures he had over the course of the past few months. With these precious memories in mind, he throws himself onto the berserk angel and plunges into the frigid waters. Although all 3 denominational churches send search teams to look for survivors, Kamijou Touma was nowhere to be found. On October 30th, he was officially declared missing in action.

Adapted To

 * Anime: Toaru Majutsu no Index III Episode 26
 * Manga: N/A

Characters
By order of appearance
 * Accelerator
 * Last Order
 * Misaka Worst
 * Fiamma of the Right
 * Kamijou Touma
 * Misaka Mikoto
 * Misaka 10777
 * Index Librorum Prohibitorum
 * Stiyl Magnus
 * Archangel Gabriel

Abilities

 * Imagine Breaker - Kamijou Touma
 * Electromaster - Misaka Mikoto
 * Awakening - Accelerator

Locations

 * Russia
 * Star of Bethlehem
 * St. George's Cathedral

Referbacks

 * Touma's flashback thoughts makes reference to every story arc he had appeared in so far in Old Testament.

Unanswered Questions

 * What will happen to Kamijou Touma now that he has crashed into the Arctic Ocean and been declared missing in action?

Quotes

 * Kamijou Touma's inner monologue: It had all started at the point where he had lost his memories. He had continued forward after lying to a certain girl in order to not sadden her. He had fought an alchemist to rescue a girl who had special blood. He had fought the strongest monster in order to rescue the #3 Level 5 and her Sisters. A fight to the death had unfolded with a traitor of a classmate in a beach hut. A lot had happened on August 31st. He had stood up to a real golem in order to save his friend who was an aggregation of AIM diffusion fields. He had picked a fight with the largest denomination of the Christian Church in order to save a nun who claimed to have deciphered the Book of the Law. There had been an incident related to an underclassman of the girl from Tokiwadai Middle School. During the Daihaseisai, he had protected Academy City from the threat of the Croce di Pietro while it had gotten the coordinating committee member and his other classmates wrapped up in it all. In Chioggia of Italy, he had assaulted an ice fleet in order to save a girl who had once been his enemy. On September 30th, he had clashed with a woman from God’s Right Seat in order to save his friend who had been completely changed. He had enjoyed delicious sukiyaki with his classmates and then had fought Skill-Out in order to save the mother of the girl from Tokiwadai Middle School. In Avignon of France, he had fought God’s Right Seat over the C-Document. With the help of the Amakusa Church, he had fought a powerful Saint in Academy City’s underground district. In London, he had stopped the coup d’etat led by the second princess.