St. Germain Arc

The St. Germain Arc is a story arc in Shinyaku Toaru Majutsu no Index, covered in Shinyaku Toaru Majutsu no Index Volume 12. It involves an incident at the Dianoid on December 1st, where the entity known as St. Germain sealed off the building from the rest of the city. Among those who are trapped inside and faced with St. Germain's schemes include Kamijou Touma, together with Index and Othinus, ITEM and a boy posing as the Number Six Level 5, Aihana Etsu. Around the same time, the true Gremlin, having lost their Hidden World, begins to make their move.

Background
The magic gods have observed Kamijou Touma and have influenced the chain of events that allowed Othinus to continue on living with him. Already wanting to interfere with Touma's development but could not in the concern that their mere presence will destroy the world, their plans are put on overdrive after Aleister Crowley himself appeared in the Hidden World. With their Hidden World lost, the High Priest, Nephthys, and Niang-Niang use Zombie's spell that would allow them to go to the world of humans without affecting it by the sheer power of their existences. Little did they know that Aleister had changed the spell Zombie used that would allow the magic gods to be killed. Zombie herself would later end up being capture by Kihara Noukan and later killed.

Upon descending into the world, the magic gods are already aware of St. Germain and his plans. St. Germain, also aware of the presence of the magic gods and their obsession with Kamijou Touma, St. Germain enact their plan in besting the magic gods. He targets Touma, but due due to the very nature of St. Germain their plans and thoughts often contradict each other.

Kanou Shinka
Shinka is a boy who were friends in Frenda Seivelun. Following her "disappearance", Shinka decides to try and find her, and later is enticed by Yokosuka to take on the name of Aihana Etsu, the name of the 6th-ranked Level 5. Shinka would eventually find himself becoming involved in St. Germain's plot, as the boy searches for Frenda in the Dianoid.

Heading for the Dianoid
On December 1, Shinka's birthday, Shinka, with the identity of Aihana Etsu enters the Dianoid. Hamazura Shiage and Stephanie Gorgeouspalace also arrive there with Power Lifter in order to transport a large die-like container to TV Orbit, which is found in the mid-level of the Dianoid. They meet Shinka in the cargo bay, but he runs away scared, after being unable to intimidate them with Aihana Etsu's name. ITEM is also there, having Shiage promise to meet them after his job is finished.

Coincidentally, Touma, Othinus, and Index are also going there, wanting to buy a dollhouse for Othinus. By the time Touma lost track of both Othinus and Index, St. Germain has begun their operations, occupying Dianoid with several "identities" and using his powers to seal it off from the rest of the city.

Kamijou Touma's meetings
Touma briefly meets Shinka. After divulging on how he is in the Dianoid to rescue a girl, Kanou once again introduces himself as Aihana Etsu, the 6th-ranked level 5, but Touma however is not intimidated. He introduces himself to Kanou, prompting him to panic that he is before Kamijou Touma after hearing many rumors about him. Touma, noting Shinka's negative response to his name recalls his trauma from one of the phases world Othinus once tried to torture him. This is then exacerbated by the arrival of a St. Germain, in the form of an old man. St. Germain introduces himself as someone who is beyond Othinus. Touma believes this boast of his, and assumes hastily that he is a magic god. Touma breaks down and continues to do so as St. Germain demonstrates his powers of "warping" the world. He uses his Chambord spell before Touma, but instead of killing him St. Germain changes his tracks, one of the first signs that St. Germain is inconsistent. He changes the world back to normal, much to Touma's relief and later leaves.

Aihana Etsu's first meeting with St. Germain
Shinka hides away scared after witnessing St. Germain's Chambord attack. As he becomes encouraged after remembering Frenda's words to him, St. Germain appears before him in the same form as what Touma encountered earlier. He faints and later finds himself on the roof of the Dianoid with St. Germain. Initially frightful of him, St. Germain manages to calm him down and offer him a drink. St. Germain later shows to Shinka that he eats pills. Then, St. Germain reveals that he is also after him, Kanou Shinka, not Aihana Etsu. He talks circles around him until he tells him he has to leave in order to retrieve "Anne's Shield" from TV Orbit. He then implies that Frenda is already dead and that Shinka may lose his chance in finding the last vestiges of her. He allows Shinka to roam freely in order to do what he needs to do. Before leaving he introduces himself to Shinka.

Kamijou Touma confronts Hamazura Shiage
After Touma is reunited with Othinus and Index again, he tells her that there may be a Magic God in their midst. In the end Touma still believes St. Germain's lies that he is a magic god. Though afraid of once again facing a magic god, Touma determines to stop them. He asks Othinus how to kill a magic god, to which she says Ollerus' Fairy Spell could be modified to kill one. He later asks both Index and Othinus to help him. Touma tasks Index to analyze St. Germain as much as possible, while Othinus was to go with Touma in order to determine if he truly was a magic god.

Meanwhile, Shiage and Stephanie, decide to help with the situation in the Dianoid after delivering the package to TV Orbit. Shiage later encounters a St. Germain, at which point Aneri suggests to Shiage that they should hide. Here, Shiage fears for the worst with ITEM encountering the man, and opts to take him right then and there. Touma hower sees Shiage on television encountering St. Germain. Abandoning his plans, Touma uses the large water pipes of the Dianoid to get to him as quickly as possible, believing him to be in grave danger. Touma arrives and prevents Shiage from continuing on with his plans. Touma pleads to Shiage to wait until they find a way to deal with a Magic God. Shiage doesn't care about Touma's explanations, oblivious of the true power of a magic god, wanting to see to it that ITEM is safe. Seeing as Touma will not allow him to fight St. Germain, the two begin fighting.

Despite the massive advantage that Shiage has with his Power Lifter, Touma manages to force the fight on his terms, pulling Shiage out of the Power Lifter. Touma has the upper hand until Shiage surprises Touma and hits him in the thigh. Shiage later knocks him out, beating the hero World War III and the one who solved the GREMLIN crisis.

Kanou Shinka's plan
As the battles against St. Germain take place, Kanou Shinka decides to act. He ingeniously uses his cellphone to draw Anti-Skill to the Dianoid before leaving the roof, making sure that there is a rock between the entrance and the door so it won't close and lock like the rest of the Dianoid.

Meanwhile, Touma still reeling from his defeat against Shiage, is with Othinus. She consoles Touma after his loss, telling him that he should not be ashamed of his powerlessness as there are other kinds of strengths and that he has shown his value without it before. It is here that Touma discovers that St. Germain is not a magic god that he initially he assumed, but a collective identity that refers to themselves as St. Germain. They are later attacked by St. Germains, and Touma is forced to draw them out in order to keep Othinus safe in order to help in finding a way to beat St. Germain.

As Touma runs away, he meets up with Shinka again, dragging him into a hiding spot. Seeing him, Touma tells him to run away and hide but Shinka refuses. He divulges to Touma that the St. Germain knew where they were but did not act because they are obsessed with him and don't want to hurt or kill him yet and as such gives them a fighting chance. Despite being scared, he tells Touma that he will get St. Germain to talk. He then says that if he doesn't make it then he would like for Touma to go to Frenda's apartment in the upper level of the Dianoid to find a clue that could save her, not believing St. Germain's words to him prior. Before leaving, Shinka reassures Touma and reiterates that he is Aihana Etsu the 6th-ranked Level 5.

ITEM vs. St. Germain
After St. Germain has sealed the Dianoid, Saiai checks the exits and finds that they have been fused. Saiai wonders if it is because celebrities use the top level of the Dianoid as vaults, to which the conversation moves to them discussing about Frenda's own hideout in the Dianoid. As Shiage isn't with them, Mugino decides to create an escape route using her Meltdowner. Despite firing several times on Dianoid's walls, it simply regenerates. Mugino is undeterred however and keeps on firing. This doesn't go unnoticed by St. Germain, and one of them arrives to deal with them. As he rambles on about his plans, Mugino orders Saiai to protect Rikou. Mugino is annoyed by St. Germain's overconfidence, and later vaporizes his arm and the Chambord spear it was holding with her Meltdowner. As people panic at their battle, St. Germain still projects an air confidence despite his missing arm and then later makes a suicide attack on them using a bomb strapped on himself. Despite this, Saiai saves him by tearing the bomb off him and the throwing it away.

Now knowing who they think is behind the sealing of the Dianoid, ITEM embarks in defeating as many of them as possible.

St. Germain's deception of Kanou Shinka
Shinka later meets up with a St. Germain, who takes him back up to the rooftop garden. There, he finds another St. Germain in the form of a woman chosen to look like Frenda had she lived and grew up. Before they talk, Shinka makes St. Germain promise not to harm Touma, which she assures him so long as he keeps talking to him. Before starting, Shinka once again sees St. Germain eating a pill. Here, St. Germain divulges to him their "history" and their "plan". She reveals to him, including several references to magic side terms that confuses the uninitiated Shinka. Eventually she tells him that she is looking for the one who can wield Queen Anne's Shield, and the only one who can do that is someone who is genetically close to the mythical twin sister of King Arthur, Queen Anne, which in this cases is supposedly Shinka. St. Germain tells Shinka that because he was chosen by the shield then they would serve him as a king. She later hands to him the golden shield they took from what was supposed to be delivered to TV Orbit for a show, claiming it to be the same shield in the myth giving him "power". Despite being a Level 0, Shinka hesitates in accepting the shield that would supposedly grant him power. But St. Germain pulls a fast on him, referencing the "last vestiges of Frenda Seivelun".

After eating another pill, St. Germain reveals that they have gained access to Frenda’s room's DNA computers. And after much prodding from Shinka reveals to him a video. Much to his horror, it is the video of Mugino Shizuri confronting Hamazura Shiage just after killing Frenda. Shinka breaks down after seeing the video, demanding answers from St. Germain. Before answering, she references the graviton-style artificial gravity control device in the basement of the Dianoid as a bomb, leading to Shinka to ask if it is what Frenda left behind, though St. Germain doesn't answer him straight. As the building shakes because of Mugino's attacks on the St. Germains below them, she identifies to Shinka that the one who is attacking is the same one who was carrying Frenda's corpse in the video. Despite that, she says that she doesn't matter. She tells Shinka that Kamijou Touma is the one to blame as he wasn't there during the incident as Frenda would've definitely been saved if he was there. Having now fallen to despair, wants vengeance and demands to make use of the "weapon" that is Queen Anne's Shield. Thus, Shinka falls for the lies of St. Germain.

He is later taken to the basement of the Dianoid where the gravity control device of the building is located that could be turned into a black hole bomb that could destroy the planet. After St. Germain mocks the Magic Gods, Shinka wonders why Touma couldn't save Frenda in time, and in the end wonders why didn't arrive in time to save her himself.

Convergence
While running about trying to find ITEM, Shiage runs into Touma again as they are attacked by St. Germain's Chambord spears that goes through the bodies of people. Shiage believes that he has settled things with Touma, to which Touma replies that he did but says that the St. Germains will not listen to them. As they are enclosed by St. Germains and their spears, Touma tells Shiage to flee and go to his girlfriend as he will handle the St. Germains himself. Guilt-ridden Shiage takes Touma and flees, surprising him. As they flee, they are saved from being skewered by the Chambord spears by the timely arrival of Stephanie. Hiding in a theater's third story seats, Shiage sees a beam of light pierce nearby, showing to Shiage that at least Mugino is fine. Touma then discusses his plans on saving Shinka, whom referred to himself as Aihana Etsu to Touma. He then discusses the inconsistencies in St. Germain's actions surrounding him, the sealing of the Dianoid, and St. Germain's obsession with Shinka. This leads to Touma to conclude that St. Germain wants Shinka to do something for them. Touma then tells Shiage that Shinka wanted him to search for the "last vestiges" of Frenda in his place. Hearing this, Shiage confirms to Touma that he knows who Frenda is. Touma tells him that the secrets of Frenda may be the key to breaking Shinka free from St. Germain and that they need to search the upper level for clues about her. Hearing this, Shiage agrees and teams up with Touma.

Separated from Shiage, Stephanie Gorgeouspalace later meets with ITEM and helps them against the St. Germain. ITEM has already figured out out the people who call themselves St. Germain are somehow being "controlled". Rikou then tells Mugino to fire a Meltdowner beam toward an atrium, apparently noticing that Shiage was nearby and show to him that they are still alive. They are then attacked by the St. Germain's Chambord spears again, but this time they are forced to contend with actually not killing any of them.

The last vestiges of Frenda Seivelun
Touma and Shiage later arrive at the upper level of the Dianoid and later manage to find Frenda's room. Expecting bombs and traps, they instead find birthday presents for every one of her acquaintances, even Shinka. There, Shiage realizes that the strange duality of Frenda's personality. Shiage sees a recording of Frenda dancing for Mugino and vows that he will never let Mugino see it.

Despite all this, Touma finds that nothing there would help Shinka solve how Frenda disappeared. Just then, they see security footage of Shinka and the St. Germains in the basement of the Dianoid, and finds out that Shinka is blaming Touma, who is known for saving people whenever he is present, for not saving Frenda. Hearing this, Shiage is disgusted by the fact that Touma is getting blamed for something that he has never been involved in, and is shocked on how accepting Touma is of the blame. Touma understands that Shinka isn't thinking rationally as he is being manipulated by St. Germain, but is willing to have Shinka take his anger out on him. Shiage tells Touma that the fact that other people using Touma's presence in the incident that killed Frenda and others as if his existence determines who lives, spits on all those who tried to survive. Touma agrees that the world doesn't revolve around him and that he is only fighting for his own desires. In the end, Touma decides to save Shinka despite wanting to kill him, which Touma says is because of his own selfish desires. Hearing this and seeing Touma act, just makes Shiage think that Touma truly is a legitimate hero. Touma is willing to have Shinka fulfill his vengeance on him. He instructs Shiage to save Shinka with his Power Lifter after Shinka loses his reason to fight.

Into the lowest level
Alerted by the graviton-style artificial gravity control device is being tampered with by St. Germain and is likely being turned into a gravity bomb, Touma and Shiage's conversation shifts to St. Germain's inconsistent schemes, with Touma telling Shiage that the St. Germains are not after Shinka or the gravity bomb but something else entirely. Shiage is completely out of the loop as Touma speculates about the structure of St. Germain and explains it in layman's terms. Returning to rescuing Shinka, Touma still wants to go through with his plans, to which Shiage, having enough of it all, knocks Touma off his feet. Here, Shiage tells Touma to stay back as he will be the one to take Shinka's revenge in his place, not wanting Touma to die for the sake of Shinka's. Before trapping Touma in Frenda's room, Shiage confesses to Touma that Shinka should have a better reason to have revenge on him because he wasn't there to save Frenda back then. Shiage later leaves for the lower level.

ITEM continue their battle with St. Germain, with Saiai using her Offense Armor, while Mugino used her prosthetic eye to track the spears then crush them with her prosthetic hand. As they battled they noted how weak an individual St. Germain and wonders if they are trying to buy some time instead of winning. As they wore them down, the St. Germains fall back. Rikou later discovers the reason why they fell back through one of Dianoid's monitors: they are going to use the graviton-style base isolation structure as a black hole bomb. Seeing this is as an obvious challenge, ITEM decide to stop them.

After being left alone by Touma, Othinus strives to find Index in order to formulate a countermeasure against St. Germain. She later meets up with Index inside an air duct. Othinus tells Index that they need to go to the lowest level where St. Germain is and where Touma will be. Crawling inside the air ducts they then find themselves at their destination. They observe the St. Germains and Kanou Shinka with the "Queen Anne's Shield", where both Index and Othinus ascertain that it is definitely a fake made up by St. Germain, though as it is magic it is still dangerous for Shinka, who is an esper. Here, Othinus believes that St. Germain wants to break Touma's heart by having his opponent, Shinka, die in front of him.

Finally, Touma, left alone by Shiage in Frenda's room is able to escape. With Frenda's present for Shinka in tow, Touma slides down the elevator shaft to the basement where Shinka and the others are. Shiage, upon meeting Shinka, tells him that he was the one who let Frenda die and that it makes no sense for him to attack Touma as he is a much more suitable candidate for revenge for Frenda. St. Germain tries to intervene but Shinka stops them. Shiage urges Shinka to fight him and he relents, despite the fact that he knows that he is only hurting himself by doing his revenge.

Without their knowledge however, Touma has arrived, sneaking into the basement. Not wanting to let Shinka fall into vengeance, he tosses the gift that Frenda prepared for Shinka prior to her death next to him. St. Germain tries to intervene but Shinka stops them. Here, Shinka sees that it was a voice message from Frenda for his birthday. The message has Frenda admire him for being a crybaby, and that she respects him for it as it prevents him doing awful things. There, Shinka is finally lifted from his despair. He casts aside the shield, the name of Aihanu Etsu, and calls himself Kanou Shinka again. He tells St. Germain that he will not accept him. Realizing that their ruse has been found out, destroys Frenda's present, though Shinka remains steadfast. With that, Kamijou Touma and Hamazura Shiage decide to aid him against St. Germain at the same time as their respective group of friends arrive in the basement.

The final battle with St. Germain
Much of the battle has Shinka being protected by Touma and the others, with Touma and Shiage being primarily at the center of the conflict. Their strategy during the battle was just them trying to buy enough time for Index and Othinus to develop a countermeasure against St. Germain's framework. However, this was not an easy task, as Shinka was being targeted. Shinka was also nearly hit by Mugino's Meltdowner beam under the assumption that he was one of the enemy, much to Shiage's frustration. Much worse than that, St. Germain reveals the true extent of their control over carbon by creating plant-like beast bodies to attack them with the St. Germains having direct control over it.

But the group still makes headway against them. During the battle, Touma calls out St. Germains for deluding themselves to think that the St. Germains are something special, even beyond a magic god, when in fact they are just normal magicians. With their ruses being revealed, St. Germain tries to make the group think that they can spread their collective identity through television. Touma calls out their bluff, and with Shinka, reveals that a person becomes a part of the "St. Germain" collective is by consuming pills, the same pills that Shinka has seen them eat.

Now with all of St. Germain's tricks laid bare, the group need only to stall time for Othinus and Index unravel the spell that binds the person in a trance that makes them believe that they are St. Germain. As Index slowly unravels the true nature behind how St. Germain works through her song, Othinus is there to stop her from being deceived by another one of St. Germain's lies. With that, Index begins her work in deleting the structure that the St. Germain framework is made of through a song. With the St. Germains being affected by Index's song, gives Touma the opportunity to point out that St. Germain's true enemy was beside him all along, and that was Kanou Shinka. With that, Touma allows Shinka to punch the St. Germain that looks like an older Frenda.

Aftermath
As St. Germain has been defeated, the seal on the Dianoid has been broken, allowing for all those that were trapped inside to escape. Touma meets up with Shinka on the outside and tells him Shinka not to worry about the black hole bomb, letting Shiage take care of it. Touma then reassures Shinka that he was the hero of the story after he asks Touma why he let him finish St. Germain.

The humbling of the Magic Gods
After St. Germain's defeat they are ready to interfere with Touma's development as they could not do so previously because St. Germain was present and interfering as they are still too powerful and would've likely destroyed the world in the process. However their plans come to a standstill when Aleister Crowley communicates with them. They once again mock him but they are suddenly skewered by stakes through their chests. Shocked that they could be harmed, Aleister Crowley reveals that he had swapped the spell Zombie used to allow them to be in the world without destroying it with his own, allowing them to be vulnerable to him, and declares that he no longer considers them a threat. At that moment, Kihara Noukan catapults the body of Zombie, crucified on a steel cross and wrapped with barbwire, into their midst. Now for the first time since becoming magic gods they are now vulnerable to death.

Despite Aleister's actions however, the magic gods are still very powerful, and with them now upon earth and seemingly no one to stand in their way, they begin their plans with Kamijou Touma.