Yamisaka Ouma

Yamisaka Ouma (闇咲 逢魔) is a Japanese magician adept at the use of the magical azusayumi crossbow which amplifies the power of his magic. He appears in the 5th Light Novel to capture Index so he can retrieve a grimoire inside of her, as so she can save a woman who has been cursed to die.

Background
Not much is known about him, though what is known is that he visited a hospital where he sees a girl with cursed markings in her body. The girl to notices him and they have a conversation, with the girl confusing him for a funeral worker due to him wearing a black suit all the time. Ouma realizes that the girl has accepted the fact of her fate, and remained resolute through her suffering.

Ouma then falls in love with the cursed girl and tries to find a way to save her, however, he has to commit several sins to do achieve it which would make her the reason why he is committing sins; because of this, he denies to himself that he is trying to save her.

Appearance
Ouma is a tall man who is often seen wearing his black suit and tie. His eyes are always closed except when he is in pain or experiencing some other strong emotion.

Personality
He likes to do things while causing as few casualties and as little destruction as possible. He fell in love with a girl who was cursed to die but refused to cry out for help. He originally claims to act for his own ends, but that is only because he doesn't want to blame his actions on and shift his sins to her.

Three Stories Arc
Ouma appears in the 31st of August during the afternoon searching for Index. Using his magical crossbow, he successfully manages to locate her and kidnap her and eludes Touma. He takes her to a roof a building and begins the ceremony of extracting the grimoire Houbokoshi, a Chinese grimoire supposedly having the way to become immortal, as well as the way to create a miracle drug can cure any illness – Ouma's true goal in kidnapping Index.

Predictably, the knowledge of the grimoire he is extracting from Index painfully deteriorates his body. Index pleads him to stop, though he disregards her warnings and continues on. In one instance, Ouma's memory regarding the cursed girl flowed into Index and is told by her that his reasons for denying the reason for extracting the grimoire is wrong, as he truly wanted to save the girl because he has fallen in love with her. Though because of the sins he committed, he doesn't want her to be the reason for committing the sins. Index once again pleads with Ouma who is now squirming in pain, as his death may cause even more suffering for that girl.

Touma(who has heard their conversation through his cellphone)arrives just in time to destroy the ceremony and chastises Ouma for trying to give his life just so he can save hers, as well as making it seem that he was the victim. Touma then offers Ouma a deal, in which he would dispel the curse on the girl’s body using his Imagine Breaker, which he explains to Ouma can negate any supernatural phenomenon. They later leave Academy City together, with Touma apparently successflu at dispelling the curse.

Abilities
His speciality seems to be demon exorcism as he mentions he was able to bind a lower-class demon. All his spells use wind, and most of them have "Demon" in their names. He uses an azusayumi normally used in ceremonial dances by priests and has the ability to fix damaged or distorted minds.

Spells:

 * Fuuma no Gen (Wind Demon's Bow String): Uses the bow to create a ball of wind, which is then used to fly.
 * Shouda no Den (Piercing Bullet's Bow String): Uses the bow to create a ball of wind, which is then used to blast through objects.
 * Souma no Gen (Seeking Demon's Bow String): Emits a radar to track down a target.
 * Danma no Gen (Severing Demon's Bow String): Uses the bow to fire a high-pressure blast of wind.
 * Touma no Gen (Invisible Demon's Bow String): Turns the user and those he wishes invisible.
 * Bon Dori (Lantern Festival): By setting up a barrier that's mixed with Shinto and Buddhism, he can amplify his bow's power to draw out Grimores and read minds. However, this works both ways, so his target can read his mind as well.

Trivia

 * Though much of the Three Stories Arc are featured in the 1st season of the Toaru Majutsu no Index anime adaptation, Ouma's involvement in the story is omitted. However, he and his story appears in the 2nd season of the anime adaptation as well as in the manga adaptation.

Quotes

 * To Index: "There's nothing a magician can't do. I became a magician so that I'd never have to experience failure and frustration again!!"
 * In his Memories: "Death is right in front of her and yet she refuses to scream for help!!"
 * To himself: "But no matter how hopeless it seemed... I just couldn't give up on her."