Toaru Majutsu no Index Light Novel Volume 21/Chapter 8

Synopsis
Using "her" wings of ice, Archangel Gabriel, as Misha Kreutzev, soars across the Russian battlefield, tearing through the ranks of Academy City troops and destroying their superior technology. Despite this, even the Russians are taken aback by the sight of an angel ripping through the land, and both sides become resigned into being killed by an unstoppable force.

Suddenly, Misha is confronted by several figures, composed of the British princess Carissa, the Maiden of Versailles and Knight Leader. Despite belonging to opposite sides in the war, Carissa and the Maiden of Versailles choose to focus on taking down the archangel using their respective weapons, with Knight Leader forced to the sidelines because his Thororm's Defense Formula is ineffective on attacks that are not recognized as weapons. Both Carissa and the Maiden of Versailles are able to slice through the archangel's wings through sheer force, but the fierce counterattacks, as well as the ability of Misha's wings to cripple their sense of intuition, force them back to a defensive. The archangel then retaliates by raining down thousands of shards of ice on the two, followed by a much bigger attack against the surviving soldiers of both sides nearby. Carissa is forced to take the full brunt of the second attack, and the impact not only injured her, but also caused the fragment of Curtana Second in her hand to shatter.

Carissa manages to survive the attack by using two more shards to create two swords, and Misha begins preparing another barrage of attacks against the princess. Both the Maiden and Carissa, despite their injuries and the fatigue in fighting against an angel, face Misha once more as both British and French forces begin evacuating the soldiers from Russia and Academy City away from the fight against Misha. Here, Carissa decides to begin "Plan B", which involves firing surface-to-air missiles on the Star of Bethlehem. Misha initially sees no threat in the British counterattack, but the archangel quickly leaps towards the missiles after being taunted by Carissa about its real purpose. Although the fight against Misha was interrupted, the injured Carissa is still worried about how to soundly defeat the archangel. Regardless, she uses the chance to complete the evacuation process.

The Star of Bethlehem continues its ascent, and Touma and Sasha run across the fortress to reach its west wing, where Sasha confirmed Fiamma's current location, as well as the place where the ceremony room is located. Touma is in disbelief that Sasha was able to cover the distance of 40 kilometers by herself, but Sasha soon reveals that there is a train line within the fortress. To conserve energy, Sasha and Touma use the roofless train to close the gap, but he is shocked to see 100 missiles dangerously close to the train line. In an instant, something blocked the missiles, and it was Misha Kreutzev, who stopped the missiles from making contact with the fortress. Then, before Touma becomes a target of Misha's attacks, something else kicks Misha out of the way. Touma immediately recognizes this as Kazakiri Hyouka. As the train plunges into a tunnel, Touma helplessly watches as Hyouka singlehandedly faces Misha.

In spite of not being able to fully grasp her powers yet, Hyouka decides to confront Misha in order to fulfill her vow of "protecting her friends". Wielding a sword of purple lightning, Hyouka prepares to strike down Misha, who conjures a sword of ice. The fight soon becomes an exchange of sword blows between two angels.

Hyouka soon hears words from the archangel, and she tries to discern its meaning despite its garbled structure. She interprets it as Misha having "opposing powers... forcibly put in one container", and finds the element of fire in a being whose abilities are based on the element on water. However, she does not see this as a reason to break her promise. Hyouka continues the clash against Misha until the archangel is interrupted by the presence of "lamb skin" nearby.

With Misaka Worst on the driver's seat, Accelerator rides a truck with Last Order in his arms. The Level 5 decides to give up on sneaking around and choose a more direct advance to the middle of the war. Meanwhile, the fight between the two beings near the Star of Bethlehem is having an effect on Accelerator himself. He eventually pins down the culprit to the parchment in his possession, which he had suspected as somehow related to the angel that's now in the Russian airspace. Seeing that a direct confrontation is the only way to save Last Order, Accelerator leaves her behind Misaka Worst as he approaches the two beings.

Near Digurv's village, Glickin is on a path of uncertainty after winning against the privateers earlier and abandoning the Russian army. As he ponders on where he would belong to, he begins looking for a 10-year-old girl who wandered off too far from the settlement, a task that was made difficult by the forest wildlife and the possibility of landmines. But, Glickin finds a Russian soldier (which he assumes is from a unit called Eastern Death which deals with assassinations) and is quickly found, leading to a pursuit. In the attempt to escape, he finds the girl that has been missing from the village, and this further complicates his situation. Suddenly, the Eastern Death soldier is shot from nowhere, and a boy speaking in Japanese, who is none other than Hamazura Shiage, shows up after shooting the soldier who was chasing Glickin.

Shiage and Rikou soon begin explaining that the Eastern Death units deployed in the area are in preparation for the Kremlin Report, which would spread a lethal virus to an area around a nearby Cold War-era nuclear silo. Shiage plans to stop the multi-stage process of spreading the virus, relying solely on himself and Rikou to perform the mission while Glickin returns to town with the missing girl. Although Glickin is worried about Shiage's well-being, he is forced to trust Shiage on his plan. After exchanging phone numbers, Shiage and Rikou head off towards a nearby mountain, where the wind is capable of carrying the virus, while Glickin is tasked with persuading the Academy City forces there to perform an evacuation plan. Accelerator makes contact with the two angels, and he plans to take on the more difficult foe (i.e., Misha) while incapacitating the other (i.e., Hyouka). However, after finding out that the weaker enemy not only understands Japanese but also did not show any interest in the parchments in his possession, the Level 5 realizes that the real enemy is the other angel. Immediately, however, Misha begins casting a spell (in a language that Accelerator somewhat understands) and the sky is soon filled with countless meteors that hit him in ten deadly waves. Accelerator barely survives because of his ability, and is left in awe. But, he refuses to stand down and prepares to fight to the death while Misha begins a 30-second countdown until a "second wave" happens.

Although slightly concerned about the lack of restraint in Misha's part, Fiamma is unmoved as he watches from the Star of Bethlehem, certain that neither the "angel of science" nor the one accompanying her would be able to defeat the archangel. Soon, Acqua of the Back begins talking to him using a long-distance communication device, determined to stop Misha's rampage. Fiamma is initially unconcerned of Acqua, especially since he considers his fellow member of God's Right Seat as a chess piece to his plans, but Fiamma quickly finds out that Misha's power is diminished by a third. There, Acqua declares that he will contain a part of the powers of the archangel within his body, a plan that Sasha Kreutzev is also trying to do.

Elsewhere, in the ground near the fortress, Acqua stands alone as he pushes his body to its limits to receive the immense amounts of Telesma from the archangel, hoping that less of the power would be used to take the lives of other people. As a result, 50% of the archangel's power was sapped away. Fiamma thought that Misha with the remaining 50% is capable of destroying the opposition, but he discovers that Misha is no longer responding to his commands. Meanwhile, Touma arrives at the ceremonial hall where Misha was first summoned. Touma soon concludes that there is something within the Star of Bethlehem that allows Misha to manifest itself, making the fortress an important tool in calling forth the archangel. Touma eventually finds several tubes inside the room and destroys them, thinking that they are of importance.

As a result of Acqua's and Touma's intervention, Misha enters an unstable state. Accelerator tries to stop the resulting explosion, but he and Hyouka's efforts only managed to contain the blast to a 300 meter-wide area. Meanwhile, Acqua collapses after absorbing and dispersing a fraction of Misha's Telesma. He is prepared to die and is fulfilled in stopping Fiamma's plans. But, Shiage and Rikou manage to find him in a terrible state and tries to tend to his injuries.

Acqua tries to reject their gestures of concern, but Shiage begins asking him about what will happen to the people he will leave behind if he passes away. After thinking of the people he had saved and the person he cherishes, Acqua stands up for the first time as a normal human after losing his ability to use magic in the ordeal against Misha.

Fiamma destroys the staff he used to control Misha after the archangel's defeat, having acquired the knowledge in the parchments regardless. Then, he goes straight to Touma, five kilometers away, in order to retrieve his right hand. Fiamma soon reveals that the night sky is still intact even after Misha's defeat, and that his plans are much bigger than World War III and the events related to it.

Adapted To

 * Anime: Toaru Majutsu no Index III Episode 22 (Parts 1-3) & Toaru Majutsu no Index III Episode 23
 * Manga: N/A

Characters
By order of appearance
 * Archangel Gabriel
 * Carissa
 * Maiden of Versailles
 * Knight Leader
 * Kamijou Touma
 * Sasha Kreutzev
 * Kazakiri Hyouka
 * Last Order
 * Accelerator
 * Misaka Worst
 * Glickin
 * Hamazura Shiage
 * Takitsubo Rikou
 * Fiamma of the Right
 * Acqua of the Back

Abilities

 * Curtana Second fragments - Carissa
 * Durandal - Maiden of Versailles

New Abilities

 * Sweep - Misha Kreutzev

Locations

 * Russia
 * Star of Bethlehem

Cultural References

 * When she arrives in Russia, the Maiden of Versailles mentions and how Russia is the country he gave up on, a reference to the disastrous.

Unanswered Questions

 * What is the true extent of Fiamma's plans, now that it has been revealed to go beyond the borders of WW3?

Quotes

 * Carissa: "As a princess who gambled the fate of her own country in this war, I shall not go down so easily!"
 * Accelerator: "People who are worthy to be used like this are lucky. They get to crack boring jokes, and have a chance of not being killed."
 * Misha: "Command, Sweep-Cast initialized."
 * Accelerator: "AAH!~ Fuck, I admit it! I want to protect her! I don’t want to lose her!! I don’t even want to think about the possibility of losing her!! I will face anything in order to protect this dream of mine!!!!"