Sasha Kreutzev

Sasha Kreutzev (サーシャ＝クロイツェフ) is a recurring character in the Toaru Majutsu no Index series. She is an operative of Annihilatus, an organization of the Russian Orthodox Church that specializes in the hunting down of spirits that are not supposed to exist. Her form makes its appearance early in the series during the Angel Fall Arc, but her actual debut is seen much later on.

Etymology
Sasha Kreutzev's name (Russian: Саша Кройцева, Saša Kreutzev), due to the limitations in romanization, is a highly contested affair, mostly regarding her family name. Her name is romanized in the official Toaru Majutsu no Index BD booklets as Sasha Croitsef. However, the closest approximation of Sasha's name in katakana (サーシャ＝クロイツェフ), is Sasha Kreutzev.

Sasha, is the diminutive form of Aleksandr, and can be both be used for male and female (Aleksandra). Furthermore, according to Russian naming conventions, family names are sex specific (adding the suffix -a for females), as such, Sasha's full name should be Sasha Kreutzeva (Russian: Саша Кройцева, Saša Kreutzeva). Because of this however, the Japanese fandom has speculated that Sasha might actually be a male and only looks female. This theory however, doesn't really have any solid basis, and maybe due to the author's lack of insight regarding Russian names.

Currently, only official English translations as well as the author himself can finally settle this matter, just as Kamachi romanized Leivinia Birdway's family name.

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 which can be compared to the Seven Tools of the Tower of London. Under is small layer of clothing that covers her torso and her arms up to the wrist, finished with thigh-high stockings. They are form-fitting which naturally shows Sasha's figure. Sasha's skimpy dress can be attributed to her female superior, Vasilisa—who forced Sasha to wear it as part of her hobby. Judging by her body, she gives the impression of being 13 years old

Sasha's bangs covers her eyes in most of her appearances.

Personality
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 "My first question:", "My first answer:" or "A supplementary explanation:". 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.

She is hinted to be an avid drinker and doesn't mind enjoying brandy in work hours even though she is not supposed to.

Sasha expressed a great distaste for "luxury foods" such as sweets and bubble gum, which is almost ironic as when Misha was inside her body she developed a taste for chewing gum.

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 Kreutzev, and helps the gang in the investigation.

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
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.

Anglican Church–Russian Orthodox Church Prewar Conference
Sasha goes to London, England, to accompany Vasilisa, the representative of the Russian Orthodox Church. Sasha on the other hand, 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 Vasilisa made her dressed like that. Sasha also mentions in passing the Russian Orthodox Church is a perverted organization filled with people with tastes like Vasilisa'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.

British Royal Family Arc
Sasha is enjoying tea with brandy when Vasilisa barges in and tells her that an order has been made to capture her because of the telesma inside her body. There, Vasilisa proves where her loyalties lie as she decides to rip up her church contracts before Sasha, essentially rebelling against the church and the country. With a wink at a shocked Sasha, Vasilisa tells Sasha that she is willing to betray them just so she can be by her side. Vasilisa then hurriedly tells Sasha to flee through the window after giving her a bag of necessities. Sasha continues to flee in a snowstorm, using magic to insulate herself from the cold. She is later attacked by a party riding Sleipnir spiritual items. Seemingly doomed, Vento of the Front suddenly arrives and has her hide with her in a cave hidden by the snow. Sasha tries to question her though Vento of the Front has little patience for them. She asks Sasha where she is planning to go, to which she is lost for words. Vento of the Front states that alliance between Rome and Russia has brought God's Right Seat to the country and that Sasha will not be safe until she leaves it, to which Vento of the Front suggests going to Elizalina Alliance of Independent Nations. Vento of the Front says that though she has no real duty in helping her, she doesn't like the people who are after her more, and that she is willing to do things that she isn't used to. Sasha is worried that going there might give Russia a cause to invade, though Vento of the Front states that it is already too late as Russia is attacking the nations that have declared independence. Sasha doesn't believe it, but says that bringing her there would certainly cause more bloodshed. Vento of the Front points out that she is an important target that needs to be alive, as such Russia would be forced to not attack indiscriminately. She reveals Fiamma of the Right behind the conflict and that going to Elizalina would have the Anglican Church and Academy City's attention turn towards there as well, forcing Russia not to attack.

With that, Sasha meekly accepts Vento of the Front's help as well as her demand to pay for inn accommodations. Vento of the Front then asks about her queer clothes, to which Sasha says that Vento of the Front has no right to call her that seeing she is wearing yellow clothes. Sasha then pulls out the clothes Vasilisa prepared for her and seeing it as a Magical Powered Kanamin costume, Sasha was prepared to reveal herself just so she can punch Vasilisa in the face, much to Vento of the Front's chagrin.

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 her efforts together with Vento, 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, Lessar, and several others escape.

GREMLIN invasion of Tokyo
Vasilisa and Sasha are part of the entourage of Russian Orthodox Church Patriarch Krans R. Tsarskiy as bodyguard for him. When they arrive before the United Nations Building in New York City for the conference called upon by Roberto Katze, Sasha is arguing about Vasilisa having "faith" in something other than "Japanimation" and American culture, despite being a member of the Russian Orthodox Church. Sasha then says that Vasilisa should be afraid of falling victim to an inquisition for saying such things in front of the Patriarch. Krans hears this and says that he woulnd't do it. Roberto then asks where there others are while reading a lewd magazine in front of the others. Roseline says that the French are already inside the United Nations building, the Roman Catholic representatives should arrive shortly along with the Italian Foreign Minister. Thus the meeting of the Anti-GREMLIN Alliance draw near.

As the meeting takes place, the bodyguards stand guard outside the conference room. There, Kaori notes a board Vasilisa and starts a conversation with her. Vasilisa asks about her opinion regarding GREMLIN and Othinus, to which Kaori says that though she finds it hard to believe the Magic God Othinus exists, she believes that this is no longer a situation she can judge with her common sense, recollecting her battle with Mjölnir. She summarizes the actions GREMLIN took in order to construct Gungnir, which she deems impossible and hard to verify. Regardless, she can't ignore the power of Gungnir, as she remembers her battle with Brunhild Eiktobel with a prototype Gungnir. Vasilisa agrees but tells her that most information they have gotten comes from the illegals, like the Dawn-Colored Sunlight. Vasilisa states not just them but of Ollerus' ilk as well, and that one of them has infiltrated GREMLIN, though she doubts they can trust them. But Kaori says that she doubts the Dawn-Colored Sunlight and the others will betray them as a world with GREMLIN in control is a riskier than one with Christianity in power. Kaori explains on how the Dawn-Colored Sunlight benefits from the world with Christianity in power and that it would be a fatal blow for them if GREMLIN replaced it with their own. Vasilisa finally agrees just to put her mind in ease so she could gain a peace of mind she depended on. With all that GREMLIN has done to get where they are, they hope that the plans of the leaders come together in time.

When Vasilisa reads the people in the conference room's lips that an invasion of Tokyo by GREMLIN has begun, Kaori believes that being left behind as a bodyguard was part of GREMLIN's manipulations to prevent them from being in the front lines by having an unofficial international conference held. Vasilisa tells Kaori that she shouldn't worry yet as they don't know anything yet, commenting on how Anglicans are surprisingly weak to information warfare. She then says that what matters in an emergency is to do everything as you always would, as it is better than panicking and falling into confusion. With that in mind, she then uses a small charm made of parchment to communicate to her subordinates. There, she blatantly ignores the chain of command and others them to crush every member of GREMLIN hiding in Russia, allow the normal military to head to Japan, and protect their citizens. This surprises Kaori and infuriates Sasha. Vasilisa comments on how she is doing this for the Patriarch as she doesn't want his purity to be tarnished by telling him of the dirty jobs behind the scenes. The infuriated Sasha does not take this lightly, believing it to be treachery, she hits Vasilisa with her crowbar with enough force to bend her in a 50 degree angle. However, Vasilisa remains alive, even smiling, and quickly turns back to normal. She then tell her subordinates to go all out on crushing GREMLIN's diversion team, and teach them that they are the only magicians allowed to use the name of a fairy. Hearing this, Kaori can only mutter that they are perverts. Sasha overhears and asks Kaori to at least refer to her as monster instead.

VS the World
Krans R. Tsarskiy has Sasha and Vasilisa somehow travel quickly from the United States of America to Denmark quickly in order to deal with the Touma and Othinus question after the latter decides to protect her.

While resting inside an abandoned car, Touma notices two people in special nun habits from a distance. Sensing danger, he leaves the sleeping Othinus quietly to deal with his next enemy, which turns out to be Sasha and Vasilisa of the Russian Orthodox Church. He approaches them in caution while the two are having their usual casual banter regarding Sasha’s outfit. Since Touma isn’t acquainted to the both of them, though he only remember Sasha during the Angel Fall incident, he thinks that it won’t be easy dealing with them and they will not be easily swayed by his persuasion. He then asks both of them on how they view him. Sasha then tells Touma that Othinus may have persuaded him to join her side either by suggestion or having same goals to which Touma responds that he was thinking how tough it is to be a hero of justice and that they had to have doubts about his and Othinus’ actions while not knowing what actually happened. Sasha and Vasilisa concludes that there’s no real reason for them to understand everything in spite of all Touma’s explanation and thus proceeds to attack him. Sasha swings her crowbar on Touma but he forcibly grabs it with his right hand breaking it. He then proceeded to punch Sasha while altering his timing to catch her off guard but Sasha realizes that she won’t be able to evade it thus she sweeps his leg from under him making him tumble on the ground. Vasilisa then throws a Russian military radio at him and he hears a voice speaking in Japanese telling him that they have constructed a unique spell to use against a magic god and it would be also probably effective against him. He then asks him if he would still challenge them. Touma then tells them that they won’t be able to stop him. Vasilisa then starts chanting the spell while standing a distance away behind Sasha. Roaring flames starts to spiral around Vasilisa, prompting Touma to wraps his left arm with his jacket as the flames expanded. As he negated it, Sasha approaches him from the side and swings her saw to tear his chest but he uses his wrapped left arm to shield himself. He then negates the saw. The voice speaks again, amazed of his accomplishments but tells him that it means that he is trampling on the wishes of the whole world and considers it prideful. Touma’s leg then suddenly collapses.

It turns out that the Patriarch was using the “Seven Deadly Sins” spell against Touma thus slowly debilitating him for each sin he deems that Touma has done. After forcing the last deadly sin, “Gluttony”, on Touma, he then collapses and Sasha checks up on him. After realizing that he isn’t responding, she and concludes that he is already dead, she decides that she will thoroughly destroy his body in order to ensure that it won’t be a problem in the future since they know that Othinus can animate corpses. As she was about to swing down her saw, she suddenly stops when Touma smashes his right fist at her saw. As Sasha tries to finish him off, Vasilisa stops her as suddenly Touma shouts to the phone asking if silencing people with violence and not hearing them is how their god does things then tells him that it is an incredible level of pride. Vasilisa then realizes that Touma has figured out the mechanics of the spell and is now using it against them and thus decides to not interfere since it would be much worse. Touma manages to force six out of the seven deadly sins to the Patriarch. The Patriarch then asks Touma his motivations for siding with the magic god to which he responds that he had a good reason of doing so instead of them who has decided to kill her without actually knowing and talking it out with her, and that it would be the root sin of all their other sins.

Strength returns to Touma’s body, thus ends the battle, though he comments on how he is unable to force the last deadly sin “Lust” onto the Patriarch. He then turns to Vasilisa and Sasha and asks them if they will still continue the fight without any support. Vasilisa then tells him that they won’t continue the fight any longer and that killing him would only make the Patriarch trap himself in the “Seven Deadly Sins.” She also regrets that they didn’t use a breaker like what the Roman Catholics did earlier. Before parting, Vasilisa tells him that they can’t touch him since the spell is still active and explains the scope of the spell further saying that if an assassin that is not a Russian Orthodox believer kills him, it will not feed back to the Patriarch. By the time Touma catches on, someone attacks him and rendered him unconscious. Vasilisa and Sashas likely could only stand by as Kanzaki Kaori, William Orwell, Knight Leader, and Third Princess Carissa takes away Touma.

Sasha and Vasilisa do not retreat however, and later arrives in the area near Egeskov Castle alongside Lessar before Ingrid Martin of the American forces. They were in the snow for such a long time that they were buried in the snow. As Touma battles Othinus in order to stop him from killing herself after believing that she shouldn't be saved, Vasilisa rises out from the snow, surprising Ingrid. Hearing of America making its move to show the world on what's happening with Touma and Othinus, Vasilisa is angry on how "their boy" is making them wait on showing his good side. Sasha then asks if Vasilisa has any faith at all, to which Vasilisa says that since religious people in paintings are always beautiful then there is justice in beauty. Lessar then appears, and wonders what that black cat that appeared during the events of Touma and Othinus' battle was doing there. Ingrid Martin is astonished by their sudden arrival, to which Lessar points out that the spot is the best place to observe Touma and Othinus and that Ingrid was the one who was late in showing up. Lessar then talks to his contact, regarding England's position during this matter as well as that of France. She tells her contact to pass the information to the Queen as an outlaw like her doing so would cause too much trouble. Later, they likely saw Touma saving Othinus from certain death and then later see her becoming 15 centimeters tall.

Abilities
She carries around a large number of unique magical weapons from hammers to saws. These weapons appear to be powerful enough to smash through walls, as seen in the anime, and are magical in nature. She also uses magic that allows her to endure the cold.

She also appears to have some knowledge of magic arrays as well, where she draws a magic array designed to disrupt the control Fiamma of the Right had over the Star of Bethleham.

Due to Angel Fall and the Telesma that was left in her body, Sasha is able to detect when Magic is being used in her vicinity, experiencing a slight trembling in her fingertips and a pressure in her chest when she is near to an active spell or spiritual item.

Video game appearances
Sasha Kreutzev's body is used as a player character in the game, named as Misha Kreutzev, the vessel of Archangel Gabriel. In her route she is tasked in recovering the stone Angel's Tear a stone that has mysteriously ended in the hands of the science side. For this purpose Sasha hires the help of Oriana Thomson, but while searching for the stone they notice that several factions such as the Anglican Church seem interested in preventing the stone from being used by magicians. The boss of her route is the angel of science, Fuse Kazakiri.

Being possessed, Misha can use several powerful water and ice attacks, though is fairly slow moving. To compensate for this, the attacks are longed ranged and can be spammed from a distance, some have relatively quick set-up, allowing enough time for Misha to get close and trap the opponent with her pincer light attack that draws in her opponents to her or use of her Overdrive. If an Overdrive is set-up properly, Misha can rain several ice spears onto the opponent, and can trap them into the wall, allowing for another attack if it doesn't kill the opponent first.

The alternate costume for Misha is the Magical Powered Kanamin costume, referencing Vasilisa's forcing Sasha to wear the costume in the novels. When using the alternate costume, she mimics Magical Powered Kanamin's pose in the magazine that Aogami Pierce shows Himegami Aisa at the end of the 24th episode of the first season.

Trivia

 * In Toaru Majutsu no Index Manga Volume 5, she appears in a short omake called "Her name is".

Design evolution
The most striking difference from early Sasha is the presence of a ridiculous red "Russian hat" as part of her ensemble, which according to Haimura was arbitrary (much of her early design). Later designs had Haimura focus on Sasha as an alternate version of Index, thus finalizing her design with a headdress.