Toaru Majutsu no Index Light Novel Volume 22/Chapter 11

Synopsis
Accelerator is in absolute awe by the golden sky covering the planet, but forces himself to return his attention to the matter at hand: saving Last Order from the virus embedded within her brain. He asks Misaka Worst if she is finished downloading the data on Index's song from the Misaka Network, and is replied back that it was fairly easy to locate it due to a single large will continually analyzing the song. However, she warns that the song cannot be expressed easily due to how abnormal its breathing methods are for the human body to produce with its parameters. Accelerator pulls out the Lambskin Parchments in response and rebukes that he'll manage it somehow using them.

Worst sarcastically wonders if Accelerator is messing with her and expresses her disbelief at such a simple object ended up being the key to solving Last Order's condition. She further questions how convenient everything had been up until this point, comparing Accelerator's quest to that of a video game where hints were given along the way. Accelerator cuts her off with a rejection, and instead tells her that he had been analyzing the unscientific properties the whole time and broke down the information into mathematical numbers.

But he admits that he is unable to solve the puzzle due to missing a piece of information, causing numerous errors to occur in his calculations. He then comes to an epiphany that the missing clue had already been inputted within him by Aiwass back in Academy City. Accelerator recalls how easily its attacks had bypassed his Reflection field, due to working off of an unknown set of laws. He realizes that his Esper ability can be used to analyze the unknown laws and reproduce the original phenomenon that Index had performed, much like how a particle accelerator analyzed the Big Bang by reproducing its original conditions.

Now with his confidence restored, Accelerator begins the process of producing the song. The mysterious vectors coming from the golden sky interrupts partway through the process however, forcing him to adjust his equations to match it. After refining his life force into mana using the special singing voice, the rejection effect common for Espers occurs and ruptures his blood vessels across his body. Despite being in immense pain, Accelerator's firm convictions in saving Last Order's life allowed him to perform the high-level mental work needed in casting the spell. His situation is comparable to that of Christian stories where believers would often witness the form of angels in the form of a prayer while being gruesomely tortured.

Meanwhile, Hamazura Shiage is in panic trying to find Takitsubo Rikou, who had dissapeared before his fight with Mugino Shizuri earlier. Although he annoys Mugino into blasting her Meltdowner into the snow in defiance, she nonchalantly points out how Rikou had been sneaking up behind him in silence. With all 3 members of his team back together, Hamazura begins formulating a plan to defeat the assassins as he approaches their drop zone. Upon reaching them however, he stares at their strange uniforms and masks, questioning that they lacked armor to defend themselves.

One of the attackers turns in his direction, and Hamazura swiftly pulls the trigger on his assault rifle, only for the bullets to be casually deflected with ease by a white life-like wing protruding from the mask.Hamazura then sees the name Equ.DarkMatter on the attacker's mask, and comes very uneasy at the reference to the 2nd Ranked Level 5's Esper name. As more wings come out of the mask, they slice at his direction with lethal sharpness, and Hamazura is able to barely roll out of the way. Unfortunately, he takes a hit from a falling tree and is knocked down onto the ground.

One of the attackers reveals the secret behind their suits: they have been crafted out of Dark Matter by forcing the remains of Kakine Teitoku to create the materials, much like a production factory. The attacker compares the use of psychic abilities to that of wielding fire, and explains how they are meant to be properly used to enhance the manufacturing process of civilized men. Hamazura spits out his disgust at the idea of using living beings as simple tools and questions if they were here to retrieve Mugino for a similar purpose.

He then enacts the first step of his plan: by deceiving the attackers into believing they had broken his vial of bacterial wall used for the Kremlin Report. As they run away from the broken vial in a panic, Hamazura reveals his bluff as simple carbonated water and shoots one of the attackers at point-blank range, bypassing the white wing's defenses. The second attacker retaliates in return, but is blocked by the automatic defenses of the earlier victim. Hamazura, having hidden behind him before the attack, then eliminates the second attacker with his rifle.

However, at this point, the final attacker is able to reach him by destabilizing Hamazura's balance using the wings to destroy the ground underneath, and pins him against a tree. Although this appears to be the end for him, Hamazura reveals his final trump card: Mugino is now able to fire off a couple more shots while the attacker was busy with Hamazura's distraction. The attacker refuses to believe that is possible, citing her loss to Hamazura twice in a row as proof of her worthlessness, and calls him out as bluffing.

Suddenly, a Meltdowner beam shoots by and blows the final attacker's arm off his body. As he stares in shock, he realizes Takitsubo had been enhancing Mugino's accuracy by aiming for her with her AIM Stalker. It is only then that the attacker realizes the extent of Hamazura's plan. He had deliberately allowed them to call out his bluffs in order to let their guards down upon cornering him, all so that Mugino's shot could hit on-target with her weakened abilities. The final attacker then stares down the barrel of Hamazura's rifle in fear as they crowd around him.

Back on top the Star of Bethlehem, Fiamma of the Right has just recently lost his brief position as the One Above God due to the regeneration of Imagine Breaker by Kamijou Touma. He angrily questions how Touma was able to reduce him to this state, and claims that the ability to nullify the supernatural should not have been that special. He sends out a rain of golden light to assault the room, but Touma is able to deflect the hail of attacks by scattering the first strike in order to distort the trajectories of the rest.

Touma replies that the answer is simple: Fiamma had miscalculated the amount of power he could draw upon from his Holy Right. As Fiamma's power grows in comparison to his enemy's evil, he had designated the entirety of World War 3 has his enemy in an attempt to gain power on a planetary scale. Yet what if humanity had not held as much hatred and malice as Fiamma had initially assumed?

Thus, Touma concludes that the positive virtues hidden within human hearts had prevented his plan from coming to fruition. Fiamma laughs at this idea, and claims that the world war brought the true nature of humans to the surface. He points out how discrimination and conflict dominated the world at this moment, refusing the believe in the purity of the human heart. With this fundamental disagreement in their worldviews in mind, Kamijou Touma goes on the offensive against Fiamma and charges towards him.​​​​ ​​​

Around the world, golden arms have been sprouting from the surfaces and exploding into various elements. From the coastlines of Barcelona, the waters of the Sea of Japan, the frontlines of Eastern Europe, and even the battlefields of Russia, the golden arms devastated its surroundings without discrimination. Soldiers from both sides of the war band together to fight off this new development and try to survive, all while wondering what was going on.

Over in the Strait of Dover, a young magician by the name of Leivinia Birdway calls out to her subordinate and accuses him of slacking off in maintaining her Symbolic Weapon. She remarks on the sheer destruction being caused by Fiamma's attempt at world salvation, and compares the process to the flood of Noah's Ark. Although the golden materials protruding from the environment are of top quality, she dismisses them as worthless because they are unable to be processed by human techniques.

Furthermore, she mentions that increasing the number of resources would only increase the scope of human conflict as they used those resources to expand their control, and mocks Fiamma for failing to understand that basic fact. Speaking to the entire battlefield with a megaphone, Leivinia tells everybody there that no matter what nationality they were, those who could provide backup fire should support them using their targeting equipment. The soldiers ask who her group is in confusion, and Leivinia replies that they are a magic cabal, one known as the Dawn-Colored Sunlight.

Meanwhile, Acqua of the Back watches the events with a smile, and calls Fiamma a fool in his heart. He remarks on how everybody is now working together as one for a single purpose: to protect the people important to them. From afar, the magic cabal known as the Astrological Surgery Brigade has managed to spot Acqua from their location. They converse about how they followed him here to pay off their debt in having been saved by him many times before, and how they managed to call up their worldwide connections in fighting off the golden arms. Then they raise their weapons and charge into combat.

Back in Moscow, Vasilisa knocks down a pair of palace doors and frees the Russian Patriarch from his imprisonment. He complains how how he had lost all his authority after having his signature stolen, as everybody used that as an excuse to act out their own indulgences, no matter how many times he appealed to overturn that decision. Vasilisa then moves the conversation onto the real topic: bringing down the Star of Bethlehem. She explains that since it had been constructed by both Roman Catholic and Russian Orthodox spells, they could interfere with it's functions holding it together by analyzing its structure. The Patriarch realizes that the Phenomena Control and Reduction Reproduction Facility was nearby, allowing for them to simulate what type of spells Fiamma used for his fortress.

Within the Vatican Library, former Pope Matthai Reese is also researching the spells Fiamma used as well. He is contacted by Vasilisa, inquiring how things have been going on his end. He replies that he has just finished selecting the spellbooks required for this collaborative plan. Vasilisa then questions if it was okay for the Roman Catholics to be going against Fiamma's actions, since technically speaking he was bringing great prosperity to their cause. However, Reese replies that wielding such power was pointless if it could not protect everyone, and affirms that he was fully willing to to proceed with their plan if it meant saving the people, no matter what the consequences were to themselves. Suffering from a headache due to the pure magical knowledge contained within the library, Matthai Reese moves onto the next topic: contacting the Angelican Archbishop.



On board the Star of Bethlehem, Sasha and Lessar are preparing to evacuate the 200 Russian Orthodox magicians who were mercilessly abandoned by Fiamma. Lessar warns that the last escape pod was about to leave, but Sasha refuses to leave yet, intending on providing further resistance to Fiamma's plan out of her pride as a professional magician, seeing as Touma was the only person directly opposing Fiamma at the moment. Lessar questions how exactly she was planning to support him, with her replying that as her body was used as the catalyst that called in Gabriel in the first place, she should be able to interfere somewhat. Lessar then exasperatedly stays behind to assist Sasha, while revealing that all of the Russian Orthodox magicians had left their escape pods to do the same.

Meanwhile, the Agnese Forces have been running across the Russian snow plains, providing first aid and rescue operations for any wounded. They now reach a spot filled with collapsed soldiers and set up magical shelters to shield them from the golden explosions, while transporting the critically wounded into helicopters. An Academy City soldier questions which side of the war they were on, but one of the nuns retort they did not come here for such a purpose. She elaborates that their goal was to save as many lives as possible, before turning away to to activate magical communications. Suddenly, a golden arm appears from the ground, only to be instantly cut down by Kanzaki Kaori. As the soldiers lie down in shock, having planned on charging in a suicide run to allow the nuns to escape, the Agnese Forces provide medical treatment with medicinal herbs and healing spells.

Elsewhere, Carissa and the Maiden of Versailles have been destroying the golden arms from their surroundings as well. Carissa remarks that Fiamma seems to be obsessed with Telesma, commenting that he had summoned both an archangel and the symbolism of the right hand. She then orders the Mobile Fortress Glastonbury to be moved over and checked for any malfunctions, stating that it would be a massive pain if it happened right then. The Maiden then wonders if she could use this situation to get the Elizalina Alliance of Independent Nations to be indebted to her, but her thoughts are caught by her sister Elizalina in the process, who warns her that she was within range of her bombardment spell. As the two siblings continue their telepathic argument, Carissa receives a transmission from her personal radio, and promptly pulls it out from between her cleavage, causing the Maiden to look on in shame. She questions if it was truly neccesary to store it there, but is retorted by Carissa that her dress did not have any pockets. After threatening the Angelican Archbishop into giving up the information needed to bring down the Star of Bethlehem, the two ladies and their knights focus their attention back to destroying the golden arms.

Within St. George's Cathedral, Stiyl Magnus succesfully manages to temporarily restrain Index using a rune card, by tricking her with an illusionary mirage. Although this was merely meant to buy some time, Archbishop Laura Stuart decides that it was enough, and hands Stiyl the Angelican copy of Index's remote controller along with the communications card connecting to the other two churches. She states that this was his "reward" for holding out for so long, and now was the time for all 3 major denominations of [Christianity]] to work together in stopping Fiamma.

As the battle between Touma and Fiamma continues to proceed, the power supplying the Holy Right has begun to fade, causing Fiamma's Third Arm to slowly lose its form with each clash. Touma then warns him that his plan was over, and that everything around him was no longer working for his benefit, but rather to his defeat. Unexpectedly, Fiamma is completely unfazed by this turn of events, revealing that even though he has lost his power at the moment, the imbalance between the flow of Telesma in the skies and in the ground would cause a massive chunk of it to fall down onto the Earth. He compares it to the tension that is released by a bent continental plate during an earthquake, stating that human civilization would be critically damaged by this flow of energy, allowing for the malice that would result from such a tragedy to reignite his Holy Right's source of power.

Between The Lines
After finally neutralizing the nuclear warhead's launch mission, Misaka Mikoto pants in exhaustion and remarks that they would be in big trouble if the enemy had yet another way to activate the missile, such as a ultrasonic remote. The Russian Sisters reports that the enemy's command center has no such ability to do that however and are panicking at having run out of plans, from intercepting the radio transmissions. She further reports that they plan to abandon the nuclear weapon due to lacking the strength to carry something of its size, of which Mikoto comments that leaving it there would cause problems later on. The Sister then affirms that a special forces unit had come to the same conclusion, surrounding the officers in charge of the launch. With that out of the way, Mikoto proceeds to destroy the warhead's connectors and prevent any further attempts at its activation. Now Mikoto sets her attention to tracking down Kamijou Touma amidst the Russian battlefields, her original intention from the very start.

Adapted To

 * Anime: Toaru Majutsu no Index III Episode 25
 * Manga: N/A

Characters
By order of appearance
 * Accelerator
 * Misaka Worst
 * Last Order
 * Hamazura Shiage
 * Mugino Shizuri
 * Takitsubo Rikou
 * Kamijou Touma
 * Fiamma of the Right
 * Leivinia Birdway
 * Mark Space
 * Acqua of the Back
 * Vasilisa
 * Matthai Reese
 * Sasha Kreutzev
 * Lessar
 * Agnese Sanctis
 * Angelene
 * Kanzaki Kaori
 * Carissa
 * Maiden of Versailles
 * Elizalina
 * Stiyl Magnus
 * Index Librorum Prohibitorum
 * Laura Stuart
 * Misaka Mikoto
 * Misaka 10777

New Characters

 * Krans R. Tsarskiy

Abilities

 * Equ.DarkMatter - ???
 * Meltdowner - Mugino Shizuri
 * AIM Stalker - Takitsubo Rikou
 * Curtana Second - Carissa
 * Durandal - Maiden of Versailles
 * Unnamed mirage rune - Stiyl Magnus
 * Magic - Vasilisa, Dawn-Colored Sunlight, Astrological Surgery Brigade, Agnese Forces, etc.

Locations

 * Russia
 * Spain
 * Strait of Dover
 * Vatican Library
 * Star of Bethlehem
 * St. George's Cathedral

Cultural References

 * Fiamma makes reference to the destruction of the when explaining how overwhelmingly powerful divine abilities can easily tear apart the bonds created between humanity and society.