Toaru Majutsu no Index Light Novel Volume 09

Publisher's Summary
Academy City's largest school event, the Daihaseisai.

The event is an athletic festival that also doubles as a large-scale experiment for ability development institutions which aims to determine the effects of interactions between abilities.

Of course, Kamijou Touma is a participant. However, his "misfortune" is going strong, having his head gnawed on by a hungry Index, facing a lecture from Daihaseisai Committee member Fukiyose Seiri, and fighting against Misaka Mikoto in an ability contest.

In the middle of these events, a mysterious object, the "Stab Sword", is carried by a certain magician that infiltrates Academy City.

Oriana Thomson. a leading "courier" in the Magic side, also known as "Route Disturb", and her motives are...!

When science and magic collide, Kamijou Touma's story shall begin!

Prologue: Preparations Stage Seen From Third-Person — Parent's_View_Point.
September 19 marks the first day of Academy City's largest athletic meet, the Daihaseisai.

Newcomers to Academy City, Kamijou Touya and Shiina arrive to look for their son Touma. By chance, they would soon meet a woman named Misaka Misuzu, Mikoto's mother. Shiina slowly develops a dark aura upon seeing her husband's friendly attitude towards Misuzu, only to calm down upon seeing Touma talking to what turns out to be Misaka Mikoto, the one Misuzu is looking for.

To their surprise, they are witnessing the start of an anything-goes punishment game between the two.

Chapter 1: Under the Blazing Sun from the Starting Signal — Commence_Hostilities.
On England, Archbishop Laura Stuart of the Anglican Church holds an online meeting with the Superintendent of Academy City. The topic is about Oriana Thomson, a powerful magician that can elude being seen with ease, and Ridovia Lorenzetti, a "radical" member of the Roman Catholic Church; both are involved in bringing a powerful artifact called the "Stab Sword", a sword-shaped artifact that is rumored to slay any Saint with ease.

Meanwhile, Kamijou Touma finds himself in a roller coaster of events: bringing A Certain High School to victory, acting as Index's guardian, and being dragged for a Scavenger Hunt event by Misaka Mikoto. And as when things are settling down, he sees Stiyl Magnus and Tsuchimikado Motoharu. Touma has no idea that he will find himself in a Magic Side conflict once again.

Between the Lines
The currently-recovering Shirai Kuroko is being assisted by Uiharu Kazari as they roam through the crowds. Since Kuroko was injured, she was not able to join the Daihaseisai, and is now forced to fulfill Judgment duties with Uiharu.

Kuroko soon gets the shock of her life when her "Onee-sama" is shown in a nearby television screen, helping out a certain teenage boy by wiping the sweat on his forehead.

Chapter 2: A Stadium of Magicians and Espers — "Stab_Sword."
Touma discovers that there are magicians running loose in Academy City from Tsuchimikado and Stiyl Magnus. Fortunately, the target is not Index. Tsuchimikado's plan involves Touma taking Index away from any magical conflict that would ensue, while Stiyl and he will handle the magicians.

Things would go different than expected as Touma stumbles upon Oriana Thomson by chance. He begins a pursuit for the blonde onee-san from earlier with Tsuchimikado and Stiyl. A failed attempt at catching her would require Stiyl to perform a tracking spell, only to realize the extents of their target's abilities.

Chapter 3: Tactics of the Pursuers and Pursued — Worst_Counter.
With Stiyl recovering from being hit by Oriana's counterspell, Tsuchimikado and Touma head to the location of Oriana's "Shorthand Original": in the middle of the "Ball Tossing Contest". They sneak in the event and discover that their opponent would be Tokiwadai Middle School, led by none other than Misaka Mikoto.

A chaotic search for Oriana's trap begins in the middle of the Ball Tossing Event.

Touma manages to find the trap Oriana laid on the field and protects Mikoto from tripping it, but he found out that it was not the one they were looking for. Instead, there was someone else who activated Oriana's trap: Fukiyose Seiri, who faints instantly after contact with Oriana's spell card.

Between the Lines
Seiri would later find herself waking up in a certain hospital. She was surprised to find herself in the hospital despite her preparations, but later becomes responsible for her current status.

She would then be taken to a hospital room, where a frog-faced doctor attends to her.

Chapter 4: Did the Battle End in Victory or Not? — Being_Unsettled.
With Stiyl's help, Tsuchimikado and Touma trace Oriana's location to a train station in District 7, and they eventually reach her. However, Tsuchimikado becomes affected by one of Oriana's spells, so Touma faces Oriana Thomson alone. Touma endures Oriana's endless streak of randomized elemental spells and defeats Oriana in their first fight, but she escapes. What's alarming was that she did not have the Stab Sword with her in the first place.

Laura Stuart discovers the real identity of the Stab Sword and relays the information to Tsuchimikado and Stiyl. Nonetheless, the plan still stays with pursuing Oriana, although they now know that the magicians plan on using the Apostle's Cross to convert Academy City into Roman Catholic Church domain.

Meanwhile, Touma's parents meet up with Misaka Misuzu and her daughter Mikoto. The Rank 3 Level 5 becomes the topic as her punishment game with Touma is recalled. As the Kamijous invite the Misakas to lunch, they would encounter a blonde girl with a voluptuous figure.

They have no idea that it was the same person who is planning an attack on Academy City.

Saint Peter and Pietro's Cross
Is one of Jesus's Twelve Apostles, foundator of the Roman Catholic Church and also a saint. Peter was executed during the late 1st century A.D., and when Emperor Constantine first recognised Christianity was in the early 4th century, and the Frankish king, Papal the short, gave up this land in the 8th century.

Peter wasn’t on good terms with the Roman empire at that time, for he was enemies with the high magician of the empire, Simon Magus, and in the end, killed him. (Note: Legend had it that the magician Simon wanted to show that his power exceeds those of the Apostles, and thus let himself float in the air. As Simon was floating in the air, Peter kneeled down and asked God for a miracle. In the end, Simon immediately fell down and ended up dead). To do that sort of thing when Christianity was being persecuted, one can imagine what sort of end he would meet.”

There are many legends about Peter when he was executed. Besides the just stated one, there’s also the famous ‘Quo Vadis (Where are you going?)’ legend (Note: At first, Peter was convinced by his fellow believers to escape to the gates of Rome, and saw Jesus. He asked Jesus, “Where are you going?” Jesus replied, “I’m going back to Rome, to be nailed on the Cross again.” Thus, Peter understood what he meant, and went back to pay the price of his faith with his life). As Peter was being pursued by the Imperial soldiers, he was saved by his fellow believers, who begged him to run onto the streets. He already reached the gates, only to let himself get captured by the soldiers. Furthermore, he saw a vision of the ‘Son of God’ at the exit, realising that that is the time when he has to be the martyr.

On the day that Peter was executed on the Cross, he made this request, ‘I don’t dare to die the same way as my Lord, so please turn the Cross over.’ As one of the twelve Apostles, Peter must have known that no matter what action he took, he would be executed one day. So, he could have used what he could have done with his own death and tried to get the best out of it, even considering what might happen several hundred years later.

Even so, it was after Peter’s death that people first erected ‘a Cross to commemorate Peter,’ and state that ‘this land is Peter’s inheritance,’ which led to a long road that ended up with 2 billion believers forming the nucleus of the Roman Catholic Church.

Actually, Peter did think through it, where he would be killed. As you all know, where Peter is resting today is at the centre of the Vatican. He knows that the place where he’s going to be killed would be closely linked to the history after that, so it ended up inheriting the ‘Apostle’s Cross’ to the future Roman Catholic Church. And the cross commemorating him is the 'Pietro's Cross'.