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World War III
World War III (第三次世界大戦) (alternatively written World War Three and World War 3, also referred to as Third World War) was a global war, lasting from October 19 to October 30 of the current year of the Toaru Majutsu no Index timeline, between two opposing great powers and alliances: Russia, controlled by both the Russian Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church, and Academy City with its allies.

The Roman Catholic Church, under the influence of God's Right Seat, manipulated events in order to ensure Russia's alliance with it, specifically that of the Russian Orthodox Church. France sided with the Catholic Church due to its long held animosity against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, who was allied with Academy City. Other countries like China and India would later join the war on the side of Academy City, while Japan would remain neutral by being subtly threatened by Academy City of being left on its own defending against Russian attacks should it interfere. Russia also used the pretext of the war to invade a neighboring neutral country, the Elizalina Alliance of Independent Nations, having been hostile to its existence since it seceded from Russia years prior. The United States of America were the only ones left out: as they were gearing up for it, the war ended before they could pick a side.

While seemingly not as widespread as the previous two historical world war, it did involve two out of the world's three greatest military powers.

Outside of the geopolitical causes, the war was also the result of a series of incidents and skirmishes between the Magic and Science Sides, notably involving the Catholic Church and Level 0 Kamijou Touma, a secret conflict that would bleed into the "normal side" and create the first open war between magic and science that both sides had been trying to prevent since even before the start of the story.

Ultimately, in reality, the world war was actually part of the plan of a single man, Fiamma of the Right, manipulating the great Churches and even God's Right Seat to do his bidding, and arranging circumstances to allow his Star of Bethlehem project to succeed and become La Persona Superiore a Dio.

World War III would be a significant turning point in the political alignment, climate, and social structure of the globe. Most countries, like Russia itself, whose industries had been damaged moved towards economic recovery and expansion, assisted by Academy City. On the magic side, the power of the Roman Catholic Church and the Russian Orthodox Church were weakened. As a result, the world would tilt more towards the science side, and, as its single major representative and organization, Academy City gained much more power following their victory. Following the Star of Bethlehem project at the end of the war, the world is slowly beginning to recognize the existence of the occult, like the American President Roberto Katze. When it is not handwaved away as the psychological phenomenon "Third War Syndrome", people aware of the occult and that would normally be on the normal side make plans to prepare against the magic side or even manage to mix science and magic.

The magic-based terrorist group GREMLIN would also come about as a result of the war, born out of resentment of Fiamma of the Right, the Roman Catholic Church and their Christian Alliance with the Russian Orthodox Church having been made the "representatives" of the whole Magic Side in the war despite never having chosen them, and their losses against the Science Side being forced on the rest of them. They are thus a new type of occult, created to devour the newly made powerful science side and declaring their own war on Academy City.

Finally, the war would result in Aleister's Plan, already fraying the seams, to be completely derailed because all the rules of the "old world", including the parts Aleister had controlled, were all gone.

Forming of Elizalina Alliance of Independent Nations
In recent years, several small nations to the west of Russia seceded from it and declared independence, forming the Elizalina Alliance of Independent Nations, because they did not agree with what Russia had been doing in recent years. Because of their declaration of independence and the opening of an access route to Eastern Europe which freed the landlocked countries from its indirect influence, Russia is hostile to the alliance and its countries, viewing them as a nuisance, and had been looking for reason to invade them ever since.

Tensions between the United Kingdom and the European Union
Several years prior to the British Halloween, with the influence of the Roman Catholic Church, the European Union adopted a treaty that specifically banned the weapons the UK was developing and required them to give up their nuclear arsenal to France. The official reason given was because, as France would be the sole possessor of nuclear weapons within the EU, they would therefore have the technology needed to safely disassemble them. This severely weakened the military prowess of Britain and served as a show by the EU being capable of provoking the country with impunity. This treaty was taken in stride by Queen Elizard, though people like Princess Carissa had a problem with this.

Academy City–Roman Catholic Church Cold War
Since at least July of the current year, speculations of a possible war between magic and science had been made, with things like Academy City dealing with the traitorous Russian shopping mall , and arms race on both sides like the Astra Reorganization project and the Space Elevator Endymion being taken as preparations for the upcoming conflict. The tension between the Vatican and Academy City was the most concrete example of this. Although Lidvia Lorenzetti's plans to take over Academy City using the Croce di Pietro were apparent before any obvious animosity existed between the City and the Church, the start of the cold war began after the events of Orsola Aquinas' rescue. That is due to the fact that the Roman Catholic Church was weakened due to the events of this arc. With the destruction of their main fighting strengths Gregorian Chant and the Agnese Forces, as well as the Anglican Church gaining the Amakusa Christians, the Roman Catholic Church was put in a vulnerable enough position in allowing Lidvia Lorenzetti to set-up the Croce di Pietro in Academy City, to tip the already crumbling balance between the world's factions into their favor.

Takeover attempt on the Daihaseisai
A rather non-violent attempt at taking over Academy City was implemented by Lidvia on September 19 of the current year of the timeline using the Croce di Pietro. Despite her efforts however, the plan is foiled and both she and her hired mercenary, Oriana Thomson are later detained by the Church of England. With their failure and with the Croce di Pietro lost, the events of September 19 would force the Roman Catholic Church to opt for the total destruction of Academy City instead of capturing, by reviving an ancient weapon of the church, The Queen of the Adriatic Sea.

Mobilization of the La Regina del Mare Adriatico
Although violent, the main conflict between Academy City and the Roman Catholic Church could have been prevented by the usage of the antiquated La Regina del Mare Adriatico, which could utterly destroy all of the science side in a single blow. However, after the Battle of the Adriatic Sea, the La Regina del Mare Adriatico and its Queen's Fleet were destroyed, Biagio Busoni was captured, and a powerful group of nuns, the Agnese Forces, later defected to the Anglican Church.

The event severely weakened the Roman Catholic Church and further strengthened the Anglican Church. The failure of the act and the presence of Kamijou Touma in several events were the Roman Catholic Church failed in their endeavors sealed the fate of a world in conflict.

0930 Incident
Roman Catholic Church forces later tried to strike a preemptive blow to Academy City through the direct attack by Vento of the Front. Many citizens of Academy City and most likely the rest of the world were affected by Vento of the Front's Divine Punishment, which would've been used as the opening for the Roman Catholic invasion forces to impale the citizens of Academy City.

The main goal of the invasion was to assassinate Kamijou Touma, who by now, has become the core of the conflict between the two forces, as an enemy of God and quickly take over Academy City before it can counter-attack. This would have most likely prevented a war with Academy City and its allies.

However, the plan fails with the defeat of Vento of the Front and the destruction of the Roman Catholic invasion forces. With the appearance of Fuse=KAZAKIRI and the blatant usage of magic of the Church, conveniently covered up as an outside esper program, both sides criticize each other's claims, and later demands of concessions and compromises could not be reached.

Anglican Church–Russian Orthodox Church Prewar Conference
The two great Churches of Europe met in London in St. George's Conference to discuss their stance of the upcoming war. The meeting was inconclusive apparently as the Churches could not decide who to ally with, and in the end the Anglican Church remained loyal to Academy City while the Russian Orthodox Church seemed neutral.

The Interceptor Show
Academy City starts preparing itself for the war to come by sending out rockets into the sky in order to make people speculate what their contents are, as they believe the more the possibilities the people can speculate, the more effective it is in holding others in check.

Moreover, already prepared for chaos ahead, Academy City showed the world it already had weapons and tools manufactured by way of a weapons expo, the Interceptor Show, showcasing various technologies, from unmanned attack helicopters to the latest powered suits, with lethal capabilities as a show of strength by Academy City, showing of its destructive weapons to their enemies as a diplomatic tool. However, the Interceptor Show was actually the City desperately gathering funds for the war, through making relatively insignificant weapons that do not take much technology to make and selling them at a high price as the latest weapons made by Academy City when in truth they would be reduced by 3 or 4 tiers below their original capabilities.

Licenses to create the core parts of the weapons were sold to cooperative institutions working with Academy City in various countries, needing only to inform the City on how many the company was making and where they will be deployed. After the war, those weapons would still be in use for the sake of keeping the peace.

The Anti-Academy City October riots and the Avignon Cleanup Operation
After the failure of bringing the other two great churches, Anglican and Russian, to its side, the Roman Catholic Church started looking for a way to force the Russian Orthodox Church to end its neutrality and join it, as it came to know that the Anglican Church had a relationship with Academy City. As the power balance between Academy City and the Roman Catholic Church was very equal, the joining sides could very well tip the balance, and so it was imperative to stop the Russian Orthodox Church from joining Academy City.

And so, in October, the C-Document was activated in Avignon by God's Right Seat member Terra of the Left,, sparking worldwide protests and riots against Academy City from every Catholics. Originally starting as a series of large-scale protests throughout Europe, ranging from men and women holding banners, to youths setting fire to Academy City posters and vandalizing Japanese companies, it soon spread to America as well, appearing in the major West Coast cities and expected to spread throughout America before long.

Thanks to the riots, the Roman Catholic Church was also gathering funds for a war in the form of "offerings" from believers of the church, on the pretext of funds to help bring peace back to the world from the current chaos. The greater the chaos grew, the more "funds" they would receive. Furthermore, if the chaos continued for a significant length of time, it could generate an economic bombing (経済的な爆撃), triggering a worldwide panic, which could end up tearing Academy City apart.

Many countries ended up resolving the riots happening in their lands through the use of military force, though that was not enough to stop them completely and even often exacerbated them. In truth, every country was waiting for one country to provide an example by making a move so effective at resolving the problem that they could see what made it work and what effects it had. Academy City would prove to be this country, by way of the Avignon Cleanup Operation: violently suppressing the riots in Avignon, isolating the city, destroying much of its infrastructure in the process and forcing its citizens to be relocated, all in an attempt to totally destroy the Document of Constantine and kill Terra of the Left. This would be the last riot caused by the Document of Constantine before Touma destroyed it during the operation.

Although ultimately dealt with by Imagine Breaker dispelling the Document, the show of power by the C-Document caused the Russian Church to ally itself with the Roman Catholic Church. The overall incident also dealt an economic blow which America took the brunt of - this led to investors moving their attention elsewhere and while facing a crisis, they feared the and  markets becoming more active, and were willing to sabotage their enemies. The war between the and Euro would later affect the circumstances of the European countries pressuring the United Kingdom under the Roman Catholic Church's influence and the Eurotunnel bombing, which led to Carissa's coup d'état.

British Halloween
Although the coup d'état in itself was not one of the sources of the world war, the conflict was the result of years of tension between the United Kingdom and the EU, as well as the manipulations of Fiamma of the Right, who had wanted to provoke a full blown conflict between France and the UK, which the coup ironically prevented, or rather, only delayed a conflict with France as both countries would later clash during the battle of Dover Strait.

Declaration of War
On October 18, the President of Russia, I. Krainikov, issued an ultimatum proclaiming that Academy City had held their advanced technology from the world for too long at the expense of the people around them, and must hand over all their advanced knowledge to the rest of the world by midnight. Otherwise, Russia would declare war on Academy City:

Now is the time for efforts to protect the world and all of mankind who fight to continue living in this world.

In today's world all of humanity faces similar crises: The greenhouse effect, rising sea levels caused by environmental damage, and the shortages of oil and other fossil fuels. All such world-wide events are the result of a single culprit: Academy City of Science and Technology. If we do not put a halt to their continuous abuse of science and technology in such a disorganized manner, then this planet, and all who live in it, will face extinction.

To protect our common humanity, and the future of all forms of life on this planet, Academy City ought to halt all projects and pursuits currently undertaken. Moreover, in order to analyze and solve problems common to all walks of life, I hereby demand the holder of the most advanced technology on this planet give full access of that technology to myself.

Despite continuous pursuit of a peace proposal, Academy City has mercilessly rejected all such attempts. Such rejection demonstrates that Academy City continually defies integration into the global community. I had planned to wait until determining their purpose and the motivation behind it, but to live on this planet while it is in crisis, a crisis that exposes all forms of life to the existence of evil, is something I will not tolerate.

I will wait until 0:00 Moscow Standard Time on October 19 for Academy City's reply. If they have not submitted their answer by such time, I will interpret their lack of response as a declaration of war, and will immediately consider the use of offensive engagements with intercontinental ballistic missiles.

Furthermore, I will consider the friendly relations Academy City currently maintains with Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and making similar judgments. If Academy City continues to insist on selfishly pursuing their own interests and, moreover, ignoring the plight of all outside forms of life, I shall recognize them as an enemy. For our posterity and the posterity of all future generations, we shall fight them wholeheartedly.

October 18, Great Command of the Russian Federation, Soldier I. Krainikov

The higher-ups of Academy City chose not to comply, and on October 19th, World War III officially began.

Home Fronts
Officially, Academy City declared that they had no reason to fight, but would not sit idly by when they had the power to stop the war. Their operations during the war were thus seemingly limited to maintaining a defense line over the sea of Japan, evacuating and defending the facilities that worked with Academy City within Russia (which presumably includes the facility Misaka 10777 was a part of ), and only bringing to bear the "bare minimum" of defensive weapons needed to maintain peace, with the vast majority of Academy City's forces being unmanned units using AI and remote controls. But characters like Kamijou Touma, Accelerator, Takitsubo, and Misaka Mikoto express doubts about the City's intentions and official motives for participating, especially because Academy City could have easily stopped the war from occurring in the first place and entered the war way too quickly as if it had been prepared for it.

Due to its overwhelming technology, by way of its supersonic bombers and Powered Suits, Academy City managed to establish several forward bases within Russia itself.

In the City itself, usage of the airport in District 23 had been restricted for civilians. New technologies would be developed for the sake of the war, like the Griffon Driver, the HsSSV-01 (codename "Dragon Rider"), and the Enemy Blaster, but most would end up not being used due to the war finishing too quickly.

Within its borders, Russia deployed many units to defend itself. Many civilians in villages near the border with Elizalina were forced to evacuate their homes and were mobilized by magicians and the Russian military. The government also contracted mercenaries to monitor some border areas and attack some villages considered "problematic". The Eastern European city of Baggage City would be taken over the military to serve as a central point along the railroad network, so it would transport materiel to the front.

Outside the two main belligerants, in the United Kingdom, in preparation for the war, the construction of multiple Mobile Fortresses would be commissioned, but, besides the Glastonbury, most would not be completed until mid-November, weeks after the end of the war. Prisoners would be conscripted to help Britain, including Second Princess Carissa, Knight Leader , and Brunhild Eiktobel (in exchange for having her charges dropped). In the United States, there was a rush to build as many bases as possible in order to deal with the war. a few units of the Italian army were deployed to help with the war. Finally, was in talks with the  Trident to hire them for the war, but negotiations broke down before a price could be settled on.

Eastern Front
Russia at first attacked Academy City with ballistic missiles, but this was unsuccessful because they were all quickly intercepted by Academy City.

Over the Sea of Japan, battles raged on between the Russian Air Force and Academy City's HsF-00 supersonic fighters. The Russian Air Force was no match for its enemy's supersonic bombers and were thus forced into a stalemate.

Magician Saronia A. Irivika, and presumably other Russian Orthodox magicians, was deployed to the city of in the  to stop Academy City forces from landing.

Near Indonesia, about twenty Russian navy submarines were navigating the Pacific Ocean to circumvent the ongoing battle above the Sea of Japan and cut off Academy City's supply line. They tried to find out if at least a single transport ship was headed for Academy City and thought of various possibilities including submarine, but they could not find the answer. Wiretapping their communication, an Academy City submarine carry supplies was slipping past the blockade at a distance of only a few meters without getting detected by their radar and sonar as they had blended in with the ocean currents.

Battle of Dover Strait
After discovering the premature deployment of French ships during the British Civil War, England manages to anticipates the attack of French forces from Dover Strait, and prepared ships against them for a naval battle. However, they did not expect that the French forces would freeze the waters of the Strait and turn into a battlefield. Despite the fragile surface of the battlefield, the Anglican Church forces, composed of the Amakusa-Style Remix of Church led by Kanzaki Kaori and the Agnese Forces led by Agnese Sanctis, engage the magicians of the French forces. They are later aided by the reactivation of the Curtana by Queen Elizard and the arrival of the Knights of England, accompanied by its leader, and second princess Carissa.

The British forces take much ground against the French forces until the arrival of the Maiden of Versailles, which forces Carissa to clash against her and use the mobile fortress Glastonbury. The battle prematurely ends once the Golden Arms start appearing and the forces begin rushing towards Russia.

Proclamation of Armistice
We can't let this meaningless war continue.

Our side has clearly examined the conditions proposed by Academy City, and we will continue to discuss this. We'll negotiate about the details, but we can assure that Russia will not end up disadvantaged.

In the past, we ignored the advice of the public, followed the suggestions of a few people and were unable to undo our choice. As for how tragic the situation was, I suppose everyone knows it better than I do. Regarding this historical error, we can't make any excuses.

At least what I can do is to end all these abnormal situations as soon as possible, and let the world regain the peace that it should have had.

Before all of these end, we shall be punished.

So before that, please give me some time.

A minority may be unhappy with this result, and may feel that putting down our arms isn't what we should do. However, I want everyone to calm down and think: what were we fighting for? If it's to fight for our family, our friends, our lovers, all the people that are important to us, this is the time, the moment to get all of 'these'. Continuing to fight on will only cause you to lose 'these'.

The thing that made us recognize this were the actions of everyone on the battlefield.

Facing the supernatural disaster near the end of the war, we chose a 'correct' move that's way above us, helping everyone, enemies and allies, without any difference. I believe that we can accept this ending.

From now on, I declare that all fighting will cease. I hope for everyone to agree with this decision, and will be recorded for a future peaceful world to see.

30th October, Archbishop of the Russian Orthodox Church

Krans R. Tsarskiy

Aftermath

 * Destruction of God's Right Seat
 * Change of Pope for the Roman Catholic Church
 * Kamijou Touma declared MIA
 * Disbandment of the organizations of the Dark Side of Academy City
 * Restructuration of ITEM
 * Revelation of Aleister Crowley's survival to the whole world

Categories
Events Military operations and conflicts

World War III Arc
The World War III Arc is a major and the final arc of the Toaru Majutsu no Index light novels, spanning Volumes 20, 21 and 22. It is a culmination of all the previous arcs, a magic-science war between Academy City and Russia, controlled by the Roman Catholic Church, itself under the influence of God's Right Seat. However, the war was actually part of the plan of Fiamma of the Right, manipulating the great Churches and even God's Right Seat to do his bidding.

Due to the forces that are composed in the war, it marks the first conflict that both the Magic and Science Sides have been trying to prevent since even before the start of the story.

The story arc focuses on the three protagonists, Kamijou Touma, Accelerator, and Hamazura Shiage, heading deep into Russia in order to save the one they hold dear just as the entire world plunges into a Third World War.

In order to save Index, Touma is hunting down the leader of God's Right Seat Fiamma of the Right, the man who stole the spiritual device that controlling Index as the latter required the knowledge of the 103,000 grimoires to move his grand scheme along, and now has sparked a global conflict in order to fulfill his ambitions.

Accelerator is also forced to travel to Russia to find a way to break the connection between Last Order and Aiwass, which has been causing the former and the one person he cares about immense pain by being forced to anchor Aiwass' existence to the real world through the Misaka Network.

Finally, Shiage is on the run with Takitsubo after escaping their Academy City pursuers to Russia. Shiage now hopes to find someone in Russia who could help cure Takitsubo of the Body Crystal poison, as well as find something valuable enough to negotiate their return Academy City.

Chronology
During Touma's journey however, he gains a traveling companion in the form of British New Light member, Lessar, that he rescued from death during the British Halloween. The two eventually find the God's Right Seat member's hideout along the Elizalina Alliance border, but the two are forced to split when Fiamma traps the boy aboard his flying fortress, the Star of Bethlehem. From there on out aboard the flying castle, the battle between Touma and Fiamma takes place.

Following the advice of Aiwass, which told him to find the answer he's searching for in Russia, Accelerator heads there to break the painful connection between Last Order and Aiwass. Along the way however, Accelerator comes across a batch of magic parchments that are highly valuable to his enemies, as well as the next experiment performed by Academy City's dark side, Misaka Worst, that has been sent to put an end to him. Later on, Accelerator is forced into a battle against the Fiamma controlled archangel, Misha Kreutzev, that appeared before him, and is later able to discover that the key to Last Order's cure is related to the song sung by Index during the 0930 Incident that was previously used to cure Last Order of Kihara Amata's virus.

On Shiage's side, he, and Takitsubo, are currently on the run from Academy City's pursuers after parachuting into Russia. Stealing a vehicle, the two travel by car to the Elizalina Alliance of Independent Nations in the hopes that they can find someone who can cure Takitsubo of the damage she's suffered from Body Crystal poison as well as find something to negotiate with the Academy City higher-ups in order to get back into the city. However, they are forced to make a pit stop at a Russian village run by a man named Digurv, who was currently engaged with a Russian privateer unit that had come to raid their village during the war. After helping them, Shiage finally arrives at the Elizalina Alliance, and seeks help from the actual Elizalina to get the poison out of Takitsubo with her magic powers, but knew that Takitsubo couldn't truly be healed without the top-notch technology within Academy City. Later on, Shiage is forced to deal with the threat of the Russian Kremlin Report trying to kill off everyone in the area with a bacterial weapon, and finally reached a conclusion with his long battle against Mugino Shizuri. He also finds the answer to negotiate his way back into Academy City being the Parameter List data that reveals the level limit of every esper student in Academy City.

Categories
Story Arcs Toaru Majutsu no Index Story Arcs

References/Notes

 * the EU war front pressing in towards Moscow from Eastern Europe (vol 21 ch. 7 part 7)
 * The talk shows were just going over serious news about most countries accepting Academy City even though its belligerent interactions had been one of the things that led to World War III. This was because Academy City had paid out large amounts of money to pay for reconstruction after the war. (NT1 ch. 3 Part 5)
 * The situation is unstable enough due to World War III. A lot of countries and regions are dissatisfied with the lack of financial support for the restoration work Academy City is leading. (NT3 ch. 3 Part 8)
 * the TV was left on news about the end of World War III. It was something about the weapons not needed now that the war was over being transported to Districts 2 and 23. (NT1 ch. 3 Part 7)
 * the recovery and return of the parts of churches and cathedrals from across the world that had been used to construct the Star of Bethlehem (NT2 Epilogue)
 * the giant golden rings and bones that appeared at the end of World War III were being disposed of in the ocean near Hawaii/the EU is planning to dispose of their golden rings and bones via the Atlantic Ocean, but they do not have enough sources of funds to cover it (NT3 Prologue)
 * “As the main battlefield of World War III, Russia is in the process of being restored by Academy City’s technology and America’s funds.” (NT3 Part 24)
 * “There was a rush to build as many bases as possible in order to deal with World War III. The war ended much sooner than anyone expected, but money given to a project can’t be taken back…or rather, won’t be given up. A lot of meaningless construction is still going on.” (NT3 ch. 3 Part 2)
 * My country was torn apart by World War III. And yet there were a few countries and areas that benefitted from that war. The primary examples are Academy City and the United States. On top of that, they are remaking my country as they see fit by controlling the flow of money being sent in the name of war restorations. Winter is coming. They have requisitioned the natural gas pipelines, claiming it is so they can repair them, but they are delaying that work for the sake of clearly unnecessary construction. They know full well that heating is a lifeline there in the winter, but they are having people swear their loyalty.” (NT3 ch. 5 Part 4)
 * “The technology of the cooperative institutions that made this declaration is not up to the level of Academy City, but they were loaned a great number of leading edge unmanned weapons during World War III which are still in use after the war for the sake of keeping the peace. If these weapons are not returned, it is possible a large scale military conflict will break out with Academy City made weapons on both sides.” (NT 3 Epilogue Part 4)
 * Baggage City had been forcibly taken over by the military during World War III, because it was expected to function well as a central point along the railroad network, so it would transport materiel to the front. However, before the urban buildings could be destroyed and the military facilities could be constructed, the war had quickly ended, leaving the base in a state of half-completion. Normally, the city would have been returned to its original residents at that point, but that was not to be. It was said to be due to military interests, but a lot was unknown about the process by which the military ended up selling Baggage City to the Anti-Academy City Science Guardians. (NT4 Sub.04)
 * I could probably buy up the entire EU now that it has declined from the back-to-back conflicts of British Halloween, World War Three, and the Magic God Siege in Denmark. (NT20 ch. 1 part 4)