Sasha Kreuzhev

Sasha Croitsef (サーシャ＝クロイツェフ) is a character introduced in Toaru Majutsu no Index. She is an operative of Annihilatus of the Russian Orthodox Church, which specializes in the hunting down of spirits that are not supposed to exist. Her form makes it's appearance early in the series during the Angel Fall Arc, however, her first actual appearance is seen much later in the series. She is hinted to be an avid drinker and doesn't mind enjoying Brandy in work hours even though she is not supposed to.

Appearance
Sasha can easily be distinguished by her signature look, a red hood and cape (which hides her long curly blond hair) and matching pointy red shoes. Her torso and limbs are covered with leather belts, and has metal braces on her ankles, wrist and waist, the latter being used to carry her many eccentric weaponry. Under is small layer of clothing that covers her torso and her arms up to the wrist, and acts like a thigh-high socks, they are form-fitting which naturally shows Sasha's figure.

Sasha's skimpy dress can be attributed to her female superior – Vassilisa – who forced Sasha to wear it as part of her hobby.

Angel Fall Arc

 * Main article: Angel Fall Arc

Her form first appears during the Angel Fall Arc, where the fallen angel – Archangel Gabriel – uses her form as a way to find the culprit of Angel Fall, under the name of Misha Croitsef.

After finding out that the culprit behind the spell was Kamijou Touma's father, she reveals herself to them and tries to use The Sweep to eliminate Touya. She is later preoccupied by Kanzaki Kaori while Touma and Touya find a way to end Angel Fall, and return the angel to heaven. After Tsuchimikado Motoharu destroys the ritual location of Angel Fall, the angel returns to heaven, though leaving a large amount of telesma as a consequence for him using Sasha's form.

Academy City Invasion Arc

 * Main article:Academy City Invasion Arc

It was noted that due to Angel Fall, there is a massive amount of Telesma, the equivalent of mana for angels, left as residue in her as an after-effect of Gabriel's "possession" rivaling that of the Holy Mother. Though the real reason isn't known to her or anyone else of the Russian Orthodox Church, it resulted in her being put under observation for the time being.

Volume SS1 (13.5)
Sasha went to the Necessarius women's dormitory on an informal visit to scout out which side they would be on if war breaks out. As she enters her clothing is repeatedly commented on as being incredibly strange, to which she mutters it's not her choice to be dressed like that, but Vassilisa made her dressed like that. Sasha also mentions in passing the Russian Orthodox Church is a perverted organization filled with people with tastes like Vassilisa's. Most of the women present in the dorm thought the informal visit is to ask for sanctuary from being mistreated into wearing that, and she can't be blamed for that; much to Sasha's chagrin.

Due to the nature of magicians being able to betray any organization if it conflicts with their morals/goals, Sasha decided to come to talk with the ones here at this dorm instead of asking for 'official stances' from the higher-ups. As Orsola gave the views the ones present will be helping anyone who needs to be protected in the war regardless of which side they are on, Sasha left without her question answered.

World War III Arc

 * Main article:World War III Arc

Sasha becomes the target of Fiamma of the Right because of the telesma within her, forcing her to flee to the nation of Elizarina. She is later captured by Fiamma, despite the efforts of her, Lessar, Elizarina, and Touma. Later, it is revealed that the angel that Gabriel called himself as Misha a name derived from the Russian Mikhail, the equivalent of Archangel Michael the mistake made due to their attributes switching, which is also why Fiamma was after her in the first place, as being aligned with Michael that got switched with Gabriel enabled him to use the telesma within Sasha, as well as the Star of Bethleham, to summon and control the angel. Later, while Touma is battling Fiamma, Sasha draws a magic array to disrupt Fiamma's control over the Star before she, Lesser, and several others escape.

Abilities
She carries around a large number of unique weapons from hammers to saws. These weapons appear to be powerful enough to smash through walls, as seen in the anime. She also appears to have some knowledge of runic magic as well, as seen in volume 22 of the light novels, where she draws a magic array designed to disrupt the control Fiamma of the Right had over the Star of Bethleham.

Video game appearances

 * Main article:Toaru Majutsu no Index (PSP game)

Sasha Croitsef's body is used as a player character in the game, named as Misha Croitsef, the vessel of Archangel Gabriel. Being possessed, Misha can use several powerful water and ice attacks, though is fairly slow moving. The unlockable costume for Misha is the Magical Powered Kanamin costume, referencing Vasilisa's forcing Sasha to wear the costume in the novels.

Trivia

 * In To aru Majutsu no Index Manga Volume 5, she appears in a short story titled "Her name is"


 * Japanese fandom has speculated that Sasha might be a trap, due to the nature of the name Sasha in Russian; (rus editorial: in Russian, the name "Sasha" can be both male and female - it's short of "Alexandr" and "Alexandra" respectively. However, the last name is definitely male. The female version would be "Croitseva") though this theory doesn't really have any solid basis.


 * She follows a strange speech pattern in which she will politely and almost impersonally point out the contents of what she is trying to address beforehand such as " "The first question is" (第一の質問ですが) ", " "The first answer is" (第一の解答ですが) " or " "I observe that" (私見ですが) ". It should be noted that since the questions and answers are numbered, that actually hints that Sasha usually thinks on more than one thing to address at a time; even though there are cases when the flow of the conversation doesn't present the opportunity to reveal such fact.