Toaru Majutsu no Index Light Novel Volume 20/Chapter 1

Part 1 (Summary)
It’s October 30th, near the country Elizerina’s (sp?) border, where Shiage and Rikou are in a small car. Shiage’s planning to find ‘something’ to use in their ‘negotiations’ with Academy City so Rikou can be saved. Rikou’s been translating the Russian radio, and it says war has begun, with Academy City having evacuated all its facilities out of Russia. Shiage thinks that might be the reason why Academy City is letting them be for the moment.

Shiage found they are running low on funds, and he plans to rob a corner store next to a petrol station for some supplies. He wants to avoid hurting the employees there at all costs. When he charged inside he found there are already 3 robbers in there that have tied up the female employee and threatening her with a dagger. When the Russian robbers asked ‘who the hell are you’ in Russian Shiage just replied “A robber, so put your hands up!” in Japanese without understanding a word they said.

After hearing many gunshots Rikou sees Shiage coming out of the shop with many merchandise, such as food and warm clothing. When she asked did it go well Shiage replied he got thanked by the employee and got all these things for free, even fuel for the car. They drove off again with Rikou confused about what happened.

Part 2 (Summary)
Accelerator is hiding inside a military convoy that’s on the ‘Federal train highway’ that spans across Europe and Asia, and will take over two weeks to walk from one end to the other. Due to wartime conditions all safety standards are ignored and all trains are travelling at high speeds. The carriage Accelerator is in is travelling at over 500km/hr, with the first section carrying something like fighter jets.

Accelerator’s thinking about the war and thinks this isn’t like how Academy City does things, unless they have something they want in Russia – like that time when they invaded Avignon (TN: a city in southern France, see vol14), though he didn’t know what Academy City is after at that time either. Academy City could’ve easily stopped the war from happening before it erupted if they wanted to, but allowed it to happen, so there must be something hidden in all this.

Accelerator covered Last Order with blankets found on the truck, and put on a white-coloured coat himself. Last Order woke up and asked where they are, and Accelerator lied saying everything will be fine. Last Order is saying it’s great that after all this time she can finally see Accelerator’s face again, trying to move her hand towards Accelerator but can only make her fingers tremble.

Accelerator can only fume at the injustice of the world that makes a girl that did nothing wrong suffer like this. His heart is feeling like it’s been pierced and he clenched his teeth that strange noises came out of it. He clenched his cane as if to crush it totally. He thinks in this world war there are many people fighting for different reasons, and yet none is willing to fight for her. Accelerator abandoned everything he had, such as his position and his pride, to save this girl. Aiwass said if Accelerator can defeat the cause of this unrest in the world then he might be able to help Last Order in some way, though Accelerator don’t know if he can trust Aiwass. But regardless he can only do as Aiwass suggested since it’s the only option.

Accelerator then heard many clunks coming from all the carriages. Russian profanities cried out and gunshots fired, but all quickly turned into cries of pain and anguish. Accelerator thought maybe Academy City have finally caught up with them, as there aren’t many things that can do this on a train travelling at 500km/hr. Accelerator covered Last Order’s eyes with a folded handkerchief, as he didn’t want her to see the bloody world he lives in. Last Order knows Accelerator is going to do something dangerous, but all she can do is ask to “try not to fight in that kind of wind”, as she no longer even have strength to rob Accelerator of his powers by cutting off the Misaka Network. Accelerator stood up and vowed to kill off every last one that tries to harm Last Order.

Accelerator then shot up to the top of the carriage and left cracks in the carriage. He sees about 10 white Power Armours, the kind designed for speed. It’s noted that these Armours are state-of-the-art, and monetary efficiency in production is completely ignored to get the best possible outcome. As the white armours pointed their weapons at Accelerator, he moved his red eyes around and said: “… You pieces of trash, don’t make me mad.”

A Russian soldier is trembling in terror. Not just at the white armours that’s flying towards them but the white monster with red eyes that disposed of them easily. That monster knocked off one of the armours off the train and then said “Che, so that can’t kill them huh”, making it even more clear they’re all monsters. One of the armours jumped out to try and ambush the monster but he turned the armour into pieces just by touching it. The suitcase the armour is carrying dropped next to him, with what remains of a handcuff still on it. The suitcase was cuffed onto the Russian soldier before, but the one of the white armours crushed the lock with its fingertips. The monster walked towards the suitcase, and the soldier was too scared to try and stop him. The monster shattered the lock like it was nothing. The monster muttered something like “What the hell is this?” but he can’t tell for sure. The soldier then saw several dozen lambskin paper with spells and magic circles inscribed in nearly-faded ink on them, which gives off a ominous feeling.

While the soldier thinks no-one will believe in demons in present day, he don’t believe the upper brass of the military will put something like that in a reinforced suitcase and handcuff it to a soldier when transporting, and Academy City coming after it without reason. Therefore those lambskin papers must hold extraordinary value.

“Interesting…”

That monster muttered in a low voice. “So something like this have the same importance as retrieving the strongest esper of Academy City huh… Though I don’t see anything special right now, this just might have something to do with ‘Another set of laws’ that damn bastard mentioned before.”

Part 3 (Summary)
Kamijou Touma finally reached Russia. Even though it’s only the end of October, the ground is already covered in snow. The snow has gotten into his shoes and it’s freezing. The school uniform he have from Academy City though is made from the latest technology, and can adapt to any environment, which he found to be reassuring otherwise he would freeze even more.

He found war have broken out and according to Queen Elizard it has erupted unnaturally, which means Fiamma is behind it. But also, Academy City’s response is ridiculously fast, as if they’ve prepared for this years ago, since as soon as the war started Academy City have poured massive amounts of AI-controlled weaponry and forces against Russia. Touma decides to think about it later, since what he has to do right now is defeat Fiamma and break his controller to save Index.

Lessar managed to find him as soon as he crossed the border into Russia, which surprised him as they’ve settled everything back in UK. Lessar says she’s not here on orders from the Royal family, she doesn’t have a grudge against Fiamma, nor that she wants to be a part of the ‘Kamijou Faction’. She says she’s only here to keep Touma from dying, since if he dies it wouldn’t be good for UK as a whole – though soon afterwards it’s revealed that’s only an excuse. Lessar also says she now have ‘upgraded’ steel gloves, which can fire off things like a red laser and can manipulate objects just by pointing at it. Touma didn’t pay much attention to that, and Lessar’s disappointed, thinking maybe he’s seen much more impressive things during the civil war.

Lessar asked him if he needed an interpreter for Russian, and Touma’s feeling pathetic that since he’s supposed to be sneaking into the enemy territory, and somehow anyone can just walk up and find him. Lessar mistakens Touma’s melancholy for feeling guilty that not long after leaving Index in London and saying he’ll save her, then soon afterwards meeting another girl. Lessar then told him she’s not wearing any shorts under her skirt, just her panties, and Touma exclaimed why does he need to know that useless info. Lessar then commanded him to forget any other girls he might have a relationship with, and Touma starts to get a twitch on his head when anime characters get angry (TN: Don’t know the name for that, someone please fix this). Lessar then asked how is Touma going to find Fiamma in a country spanning 9 time zones, but isn’t expecting a good answer. However, Touma surprised Lessar by saying: “… Who knows how many times I’ve fought against magicians, by now I know at least a bit on how these people do things.”

Part 4 (Summary)
At Dover Strait, the patch of ocean between France and UK around 30Km long the Knights and Anglican Church set up defences against the Roman Catholic Church. UK has brought out many wooden ships spanning 100m in length, and all have been magically reinforced.

Anieze is talking to Kanzaki on board one of the ships, remarking how resilient humans are, that after the civil war (TN: see volume 17-18) which ended spectacularly and involved everyone in the country, now people are carrying on with life and accepting it. Kanzaki says that’s not impossible, considering things like ‘espers’ are being developed at Academy City people now have greater tolerance for these kind of things. Kanzaki’s not comfortable thinking about using science to cover magic, and decides to change the topic.

If France breaks through here then it would be all over. This time it’s unknown whether France is attacking because of backing from Roman Catholic Church and the Russian Orthodox Church, or they just want to settle the bloody history (in terms of magic side relationships) between the two countries once and for all.

France then commenced their attack, solidifying the ocean surface between the two countries using the salt in the ocean, and negating the UK’s ships from moving. Half of UK’s defence power are the ships, and they’ve been negated so easily. Then as fast as an arrow, over a hundred, no, over a thousand magicians started crossing the distance between the two countries from France’s side. And when Kanzaki and others jumped onto the salt to try and fight back, the surface collapsed beneath them from a long distance attack. When Kanzaki grimaced thinking of course the enemy isn’t going to make this easy, she heard a voice saying:

“Panicking with just this, are you people really a fighting force protecting UK?”

A thin layer of something like paint covered the Strait immediately, and the UK’s forces now have a place to stand. After Kanzaki blown away over 20 magicians surrounding her using her sheath, she turned around and looked at the source of the voice. It turns out it’s the 2nd princess of UK, Carrisa.