Toaru Majutsu no Index II Episode 21

Synopsis
As chaos looms into the night sky of Academy City, three people engage in their own respective battles.

While Touma looks for Vento and Accelerator hunts down his mentor Kihara Amata, Tsuchimikado Motoharu is elsewhere, confronting a mysterious figure with the ability to summon spires of earth from the ground. He notices that his opponent does not possess magic of the Christian age; instead, the enemy uses magic patterned from Pythagoras's teachings way before the Age of Christ.

This analysis angered the enemy, and Tsuchimikado prepares to defend himself against the enemy. Luckily for him, he is able to evade the attacks with relative ease (although with the help of magic). Soon, Tsuchimikado discovers a weak link in his opponent's offense and destroys it.

Meanwhile, Accelerator is faced with a tough challenge: saving Last Order with only four minutes remaining in the device that allows him to use his esper powers. Although fatigued from the previous fight, he trudges on to the Heaven Canceler's location to increase his chances of saving Last Order.

At the frog-faced doctor's hospital, several units of Hound Dog are positioned throughout the premises. They are prepared to face a heavy assault at any moment, but a telephone call directly from Heaven Canceler himself advises them to pull back to avoid any bloodshed. It seems that they do not believe in his words, and Heaven Canceler's only request for them is "don't die".

Something that is very hard, if not impossible, to do, considering Accelerator.

Vento of the Front struggles as the amount of AIM in her surroundings increase. However, she feels relieved that her plan to disable Academy City has been going smoothly, although her Divine Punishment spell has started to spread across the world.

With the fallen units of Hound Dog on his feet, Accelerator receives a call from his cellphone. At first, he suspects that it might be a trap, since he knows Last Order might be captured by Kihara. However, it's someone else from the other side of the line. And he does not know that it is Kamijou Touma, the same boy who defeated him for the first time.

Touma contacts all the numbers in Last Order's phone and notices that only one managed to answer him. Touma asks help to the other side of the line; however, Accelerator tells him to return to his normal life, something which Touma cannot accept. Accelerator decides to ask him to go to the railway station on District 7 for the rendezvous point.

Touma soon apologizes for not being able to keep Last Order safe. Accelerator acknowledges his apology and likewise admits his mistake of leaving Last Order alone as well.

Kihara Amata decides to organize a small group of his remaining soldiers and asks a report on what is going on. According to them, they have either fled or were killed. Also, a selected number of Hound Dog units are determined to possess low oxygen levels. This infuriated one unit, which then collapsed upon his mention of Vento of the Front.

Amata is annoyed at the current development, but nonetheless keeps the operation at work, starting with the preparation of a device called as Testament.

Soon, he contacts Accelerator, who starts an exchange of sour remarks at his mentor. Amata tells him that he used a device called Testament to install a virus code on Last Order's brain, and is not afraid to kill her at that moment. However, Accelerator knows that Amata had all the time to kill Last Order, but did not. He assumes that there is something - someone - who is keeping Amata's actions on check. Accelerator thinks of visiting one of the members of the Board of Directors and extract information directly...

...but overwhelmed by the anger of being manipulated by the higher-ups of Academy City brings him to the edge.

Using more of the energy in the electrodes on his choker, he unleashes his Redirection ability on a building, lifting the whole structure several feet from the ground. Accelerator then dashes forward along with the whole building, which he then slams into the Windowless Building, hoping to destroy it in one blow.

However, the Windowless Building remains undamaged.

Aleister Crowley watches from inside what happened, but ignores it compared to further preparations to eliminate Vento of the Front using FUZE=Kazakiri. The progress is going smoothly, with AIM expanded throughout Academy City with such a concentration that any magician who casts a spell will go into overdrive and self-destruct.

Aleister's target, Vento of the Front, still constantly vomiting blood due to the effects of exposure to AIM. Soon, she is confronted by Touma, who goes to the rendezvous point by request. Vento immediately prepares to fight Touma, who demands Last Order's whereabouts. Vento does not know anyone named Last Order and is about to attack Touma again, when she witnesses something that forced her to flee the scene. Touma is puzzled as to what caused Vento to escape, but he soon realizes as he looks at the scenery of Academy City from his position...

"...a manifestation of an angel in Academy City?"

Touma wonders, and he realizes that he has a bigger mission to complete. He contacts Accelerator and tells him that he was not able to find Last Order. Also, Touma tells him that he will not be able to help out in looking for Last Order, as he needs to stop the angel's manifestation to complete. Accelerator lets him be, and the two exchange the same piece of advice to each other: "Don't die."

Accelerator soon barges into the home of Thomas Platinumburg, one of the members of the Board of Directors, and researches on a possible cure to the virus code, codenamed "ANGEL", installed in Last Order's brain.

Meanwhile, Touma heads to the epicenter of the angel manifestation. There, he is seen by Misaka Mikoto and Index. Index warns him to not go to the angel, who is actually Kazakiri Hyouka, in fears of Touma's Imagine Breaker killing her. Touma tells her that he must prevent the destruction caused by Hyouka's appearance, but will save her no matter what.

Despite lacking vital information on what is going on, Mikoto decides to help out, thinking that it's for Touma's friend. "As part of the Punishment Game", Mikoto joins in on the battle, taking care of the Hound Dog units while she lets Touma and Index continue on their journey towards Hyouka.

Soon, Touma and Index sort out the mechanics of Vento's Divine Punishment ability. However, with the mystery of Vento's power solved, the only challenge is how to return Hyouka back to normal. Touma knows that Hyouka is from the science side, so he decides to contact someone from the science side as well. However, there is no answer.

The only guaranteed person to ask about science is none other than Misaka Mikoto herself, who is still stuck with fighting Hound Dog.

Soon, Kihara Amata witnesses the unleashing of FUZE=Kazakiri from the building he is in, and is amazed at how Aleister, a man of science, can reject science at that moment by creating an angel. Soon, he is startled by Accelerator's entrance from outside the building. Accelerator kills off Amata's Hound Dog units and prepares for another battle with his mentor.

Meanwhile, Touma finally reaches the center of the angel's manifestation. However, he feels helpless as he knows that one touch of the Imagine Breaker would ultimately kill her. Soon, Vento reappears and declares that she must kill a monstrosity like Hyouka must die along with him. Touma then prepares to fight Vento for another battle.

Adapted From
Toaru Majutsu no Index Light Novel Volume 13

Major events

 * Kihara Amata activates Kazakiri Hyouka's FUZE=Kazakiri form and freezes the Radio Noise clones in Academy City.
 * The Roman Catholic Invasion force is annihilated by FUZE=Kazakiri.
 * Accelerator begins his battle with Kihara Amata anew.
 * Kamijou Touma begins his battle with Vento of the Front anew.

Characters
By order of appearance
 * Tsuchimikado Motoharu
 * Accelerator
 * Last Order
 * Hound Dogs
 * Heaven Canceler (voice-only)
 * Vento of the Front
 * Kamijou Touma
 * Kihara Amata
 * Aleister Crowley
 * Kazakiri Hyouka
 * Radio Noise clones
 * Misaka 10032
 * Misaka Mikoto
 * Index

New Characters

 * Dennis
 * Mike
 * Thomas Platinaburg

Abilities

 * Crested Ibis Stakes - Roman Catholic Invasionary Force
 * Redirection - Accelerator, level 5
 * Divine Punishment - Vento of the Front
 * Wind Hammer - Vento of the Front
 * Imagine Breaker - Kamijou Touma, level 0
 * Radio Noise - Radio Noise clones
 * Railgun - Misaka Mikoto, level 5

New Abilities

 * FUZE=Kazakiri - Kazakiri Hyouka

Locations

 * Academy City Outer Zone
 * Academy City
 * The hospital Heaven Canceler works in.
 * Olla Podrida
 * Windowless Building

New Locations
No notable locations were introduced during this episode.

Trivia

 * The episode would mark the first time Touma and Accelerator would speak to each other since their confrontation in the 14th episode of the first season.
 * Accelerators attack on the Windowless Building is depicted much weaker and slower then described in the light novels, where it is described as being much faster and also destroying several other structures on the way to its target.
 * There are more than 10 Misaka clone in Academy City, furthermore, during the activation of the virus that would make FUZE=Kazakiri manifests, Misaka 10032 is the only clone apparently able to move and speak.

Referbacks

 * Touma uses the cellphone Last Order dropped during Vento of the Front's attack on Touma from the previous episode.

Animation Trivia

 * When Accelerator launches his attack on the Windowless Building, the building he launches at it simply bounces off sustaining little damage before falling back and then collapsing. A building travelling at that speed should have completely shattered upon hitting the target.
 * This episode would mark a new animation for Aleister Crowley's appearance.
 * Misaka Mikoto firing her Railgun is a recycled animation from the first Toaru Kagaku no Railgun Episode.

Unanswered Questions

 * Where did Index come from, and how does she know that the angel is actually Kazakiri Hyouka?

Quotes

 * Mikoto: "The penalty game! Today isn't over yet. I'm telling you to go save your friend and come back, no matter what! Got it?"
 * Touma: "I will! So, don't you die on me either!"
 * Accelerator: "Now, then...It's time to scrap! You bastard!!"