Sozty Exica

Sozty Exica (ソーズティ＝エキシカ) is a character introduced in the PSP videogame Toaru Majutsu to Kagaku no Ensemble. She is a character in the Magic (Surface) story of the game and its novelized form Toaru Majutsu no Index: Road to Endymion.

Appearance
She is similar in appearance to her sister, as she has swarthy skin and have gray or silver hair, though unlike her, she has green eyes and not a trace of her Indian heritage. She wears her hair short, with two tufts of fringes hanging to the side of her face, while the back of her hair has it spread out. She also has olive eyes and a small.

She wears a student uniform, which is described as though it was due to her getting erroneous information regarding Japanese culture. She wears the blouse and skirt extremely short. For the former, she wears it to the point that her navel is shown. Sozty complements her short skirt by wearing thigh high socks, though this may be due to the erroneous information she had gathered. She wears school loafers. According to her, since Academy City's residents are mostly students, and that Japanese schoolgirls dressed like sailors, she thought it would make a good camouflage, believing her kind of uniform is the norm.

Personality
She is described as healthy-looking, bright, and energetic. Although, she also apparently shows some sort of naïvete regarding Japanese culture.

She has shown to be quite a hardworker and go-getter when it comes to her magic cabal. She is a person who is determined. Despite often failing in constructing spells, she does not get stuck up in such a failure. She contained the failure to its smallest possible level. By heading back in from a different angle, she could often gain something she could not have otherwise. She was used to making that kind of recovery. She would work as hard as she could towards success, but she would fail in the end. The situation would never progress ideally. It was because she understood that fact that the foundation of her thought process was in accomplishing something even when she tripped.

She is loyal to her cabal, and allowed them to use her as a decoy as they escape despite the surety of death, and would rather sacrifice herself than get captured and become a liability to her cabal. However, this is only because she believes that the goal of her cabal is righteous, Sozty shows that she can distinguish that just because she is loyal doesn't mean she's blind to its fault, as evidenced by her confrontation with her sister when she revealed the cabal's intentions.

Overall, Sozty is a determined girl who cares deeply for the things and people she values.

Background
She had no idea of the true intentions of the magic cabal in attacking Endymion, as well as her own sister's plans. She is aware of the Astra Reorganization that befell on her sister but only a little. Before the attack on Academy City with Agni's Festival Fire, she researched Japanese culture beforehand, though unfortunately, obtaining erroneous information that has lead her to have misconceptions regarding how to wear her uniform.

With their plan in place, Ureapaddy with Sozty, along with the other members, split into several groups and travelled the world over to avoid suspicion before meeting up in Tokyo. With the help of Pantagruel, they successfully infiltrate the city, and has managed to build a network of magic circles in the city in order to realize their plans. They later set up a base of operations in the Beehive located in School District 7 before Stiyl Magnus catches up to them.

Toaru Majutsu to Kagaku no Ensemble
Sozty becomes the decoy for their cabal to escape as Stiyl attacks their headquarters in Academy City, burning it down. Although she is chased by Stiyl, she uses a modified Agni's Festival Fire to fire at Kamijou Touma and Index, despite the great pain it induces upon her person. Due to the winds decreasing the spells accuracy, she uses the Garuda reconnaisance spiritual item to find them. She stops however as Stiyl manages to track her down, and she is forced to flee. She then meets Kamijou Touma and Index, with the former believing she is a bystander but Index quickly corrects him. However, they are both attacked by Stiyl, to which Touma is forced to negate his attacks, though the force both knocked them down. Sozty immediately tries to flee again, but Touma manages to grab her foot, though she kicked him away. The force of which however, dislodged her mobile phone from her pockets, which allowed Touma and Index to see a wallpaper of her and Ureapaddy together.

She later finds herself in a subway tunnel and defeats Stiyl using the modified Agni's Festival Fire, due to the fact that the air only goes in a straight direction, allowing for her attacks to have perfect accuracy. Touma later confronts her, and in her confidence, attacks him, believing that he cannot contend against her. However, the attack misses, and Touma reveals that the tunnel has smoke vents in case of fire. Sozty tries to attack the wall to destroy the power cables that connect to the smoke vents. Touma states that it is of no use as they were made not to be destroyed easily. Touma's pace quickens, and Sozty, knowing that she cannot outpace him, pulls out a blade towards her neck. But Touma arrives before she can do the fell deed, destroying it with his right hand. She grabs her by the collar and slams her by the wall. He gives him a choice of admitting defeat or getting punched by him, for he will not allow her to choose death.

And so Stiyl bound her so that she is unable to refine her magic. He suggest to kill her instead, but Touma disagrees for he was the one that won her not him. Stiyl states that they need to lock her up if they do not wish to kill her. Touma suggests a report to the Anti-Skill, but Stiyl says that it would be the first place the cabal would think to look, and might attack. And thus, Touma concludes that so long as the cabal would not think to check there, it can be anywhere, and suggests his place, which Stiyl thinks as ludicrous. As Touma puts Sozty inside a taxi cab, she comments on how if there is something wrong with wanting to protect her sister, to which Touma replies that there are plenty of ways for her to do that, many ways that are better than what she thought of. Suddenly however, an explosion occurs next to them, damaging the taxi. Touma asks what's happeing ot Stiyl to which he states that his magic should still restrain her. Index then states that another magician hd used Agni's Festival Fire to silence her. Touma later discovers that Sozty is bleeding, though unperturbed by this, and even glad, as she says that it will surely protect her sister. Touma reiterates that it isn't true as there are other ways to do it, but Sozty could not respond. Stiyl mentions on how the cabal will likely send an assassin again. But Touma tells him that Stiyl needs to capture the assassins, while he focuses on saving her life.

Touma later takes her to a hospital and afte being treated with first aid for minor injuries, the footsteps of Anti-Skill came knocking. As such, Touma went to room and told her of the situation, but Sozty still insists that her death will be optimum option for her. With Anti-Skill coming in, Touma forcibly takes her away and has them leave the room through the window. Sozty questions why he did it, to which he says that there is no reason for him to abandon her, even if the City puts him in a disadvantage, or if she refuses his help, referencing on how it was the same when she tried to save her sister. Clicking her tongue, Sozty asks why Touma did no think of threatening of handing her over to Anti-Skill if she did not cooperate in telling him information about the cabal, to which Touma says that the thought never occurred to him. This prompts her to call him an idiot and then finally introduce herself to him. Touma obliges by introducing himself and Index. The Anti-Skill arrives and finds the room empty. They go to a nearby shopping district where they discuss where to go next, to which Touma decides would be in a manga café. After questioning her outfit, Sozty comments on their apparent drawing in of the crowd, to which rebuffs by saying that a bunch of gloomy people would gather more attention. Sozty later tugs on Touma's clothes, telling him that it her actions would work as a camouflage since it wouldn't be as out of place as being gloomy. As Touma tries to reason with her, he gets bitten for his trouble by Index who jumped on his back.

Stiyl later gives out a call to the cellphone he gave to him, wanting Sozty for information regarding the cabal. Stiyl relates that he has already found the place where they hid, at a car scrapyard, but says that they have already been destroyed, and most likely, due to infighting. They later go into a manga café, and with the photos Stiyl sent them, Sozty determines that out of all the missing persons in the cabal she determined, only one did not match, her sister Ureapaddy Exica, for she was not a leader. With great hurt and betrayal did Sozty bears as she continues to explain. She tells that the wounds that have been caused are very similar to those that are caused by the Astras their cabal uses. Both Index and Sozty explains to Touma what an Astra is. Then, she once again references her sister, who uses Shiva-related Astras, but once used a different line of Astra. After Sozty explains to Touma on how Ureapaddy had came by this Astra, he asks what Astra she had, to which she states was the Brahma Astra. The group later discusses the power of Brahma Astra, its abilities, and its requirements, specifically the need to have a three shooting stars. Knowing that she wouldn't gone out of her way to destroy the cabal if she couldn't surely use Brahma Astra, the group concludes that she would need to use a substitute of shooting stars, mainly, the exploded debris of rockets that are being sent out for the Venus Probe Contest.

They go to School District 18, the district adjacent to School District 23, where Ureapaddy would most likely sabotage a rocket for her plans. However, there is a snag, for Stiyl believes that Ureapaddy has already gone inside the district. Sozty however points out that their cabal planned to attack the district from the beginning after using the Agni's Festival Fire on the other districts as a distraction. This would mean that Ureapaddy could not possibly infiltrate School District 23 as the alarms would go off. Touma then states that Ureapaddy doesn't need to enter School District 23, for she only she only needs to intercept one of the rockets carrying Hydrazine. Touma notes that only a few districts could handle the chemical like School District 10, and later carried to School District 23 for launch. Touma says that they may be able to intercept her by choosing the shortest, widest, and straightest transport route for it.

Ureapaddy later hijacks a vehicle carrying a satellite guidance vehicle filled with Hydrazine for the Venus Probe Contest, en route to School District 23, injuring the driver and destroying the escort vehicles. She later takes control of the satellite guidance vehicle's altitude control computer which is directly linked to School District 23's control system, hacking it and take control of the Debris Storm located there. Although, Touma, Index, Stiyl, and Sozty is unaware of this however.

She is later intercepted by the arrival of Kamijou Touma, Index, Stiyl Magnus, and Sozty Exica. Sozty asks if she truly did destroy the magic cabal, to which she confirms, telling her that they were nothing but a burden, and refers to them as only a decoy. Sozty asks if it also applies to her, to wish Ureapaddy answers that Sozty can think what she likes but the incident with her did force her hand. Sozty assumes that she is referring to the assassination attempt by the cabal on her life to silence her, but is then told by Ureapaddy that it was because Sozty already ruined the plan and it forced Ureapaddy to act to rework her plan of betrayal. Silence falls, but Touma breaks as he shouts in anger, and Sozty stops him from getting closer. Touma then asks what happened to the convoy that escorted the vehicle and its driver, to which Ureapaddy quickly says that she eliminated them. Sozty later asks what Ureapaddy is after since they destroyed their magic cabal, and see no reason to attack Academy City with her Brahma Astra at all. Ureapaddy says that she has no obligation to answer that and tells her that she is a disgrace and would kill her. Though hurt, Sozty continues to press her point, sickened by Ureapaddy's goals and as well as herself for justifying her cabal's goals as necessary. Ureapaddy gives a disinterested expression, and then tells her the true reason for their cabals actions on attacking Academy City, referring to her that despite being opposed to the city's methods of training the mind and body, their ultimate goal was School District 23, a place that focuses on aerospace technology, and tells that true goal of the cabal lied elsewhere. Ureapaddy hoped to have shocked Sozty with that relevation, but since she has already given up with the cabal, she is disappointed that her revelation had lost meaning.

With that, Ureapaddy states that her preparations are already complete, and summons Brahma Astra. She tells them that the time has not come for it to be used in the manner that they thought of, and states that escape is her top priority. She draws her bow, and pierces the toxic Hydrazine-filled tank of the rocket. However, Index later tells Stiyl to modify his fire magic under his instructions to blow the hydrazine away and removes its toxicity. Ureapaddy later becomes nervous upon hearing this, and Stiyl quickly ignites the fuel. In the chaos, Ureapaddy escapes.

The group hides away as the authorities begin to investigate the explosion. They wonder on how Ureapaddy managed to abandon the rocket so easily, to which Touma concludes that she may have already sabotaged many rockets already, as Sozty points out that they have traveled through countries participating in the Venus Probe Contest. With not much to choose from, Touma concludes that they need to destory Brahma Astra itself. Stiyl later gets information on the rocket that Ureapaddy hijacked which was supposed to be launch three days from September 11. They conclude that Ureapaddy would need to use the Brahma Astra in three days when she will destroy the sabotaged rockets to fulfill the requirement of three shooting stars. Stiyl states that as he will be leaving signs that only magicians can see in order for her to be too cautious to sleep. Touma and the others are adviced to be discreet. Touma decides to go to a 24 hour restaurant to sleep, as he deems going to his dorm might take them straight to Anti-Skill. After eating, and discussing on how she smells after not having a bath for a while, Touma asks what Ureapaddy is doing. Sozty states that she doesn't know, only that she needs shooting stars for her Brahma Astra. Touma mentions School District 21, the district that focuses on astronomical observation, to which Sozty states that they wouldn't be in that much trouble if she was in any obvious places. Sozty states that even though Ureapaddy may have strayed from the simplest and quickest route in order to make her information useless, it would mean that she was increasing the level of visible risk to eliminate an invisible risk. Sozty concludes that if she can effectively increase the suspicions of Ureapaddy then she could get a hint from her. The next day, Touma is contacted by Stiyl to report that Ureapaddy could still not be found. In an empasse, they conclude that they could only pressure Ureapaddy into screwing up. After the call ends with Stiyl, Touma, Index, and Sozty plan on how to force Ureapaddy into a direction that would advantageous for them using simple constructed spiritual items. However, a powerful electromagnetic interference erupts in Academy City, and then a call comes for Touma's phone. Here, due to the scrambling of the networks, Touma coincidentally receives Misaka Mikoto's call to Shirai Kuroko about the Debris Storm, an experimental technology used by Academy City to move orbital debris but can be used as a weapon to hurtle debris towards a target. At last Touma discovers the final piece of the Ureapaddy enigma. Touma relates to them on how Ureapaddy doesn't need three days to launch Brahma Astra. Touma reveals that Debris Storm can be found in School District 23, and that Ureapaddy hijacking the rocket last night was to take control of the altitude control computer that is directly linked to the control system in School District 23. If she were to use Debris Storm, Ureapaddy would be able to create tens of thousands of shooting stars whenever she wants.

Stiyl is briefed by Touma later, to which the former predicts that there might be someone who helped her. They then discuss the possibilities and dangers of her being able to target as many locations as she could. They fear that they have no way of knowing when Ureapaddy would use the Debris Storm to create shooting stars, and that she maybe already using it now. Sozy however states, that Ureapaddy would require to have a conductor for her magic power to use the Debris Storm, for there are not any ley lines in the sky, and even if she tried sending her will to the air, it will diminish, making it impossible for her to make use of her magic effectively. Then, Stiyl speaks and refers to the driver of the satellite guidence vehicle that Ureapaddy attacked, survived. Stiyl tells them that the driver reference a space elevator project, and that the Venus Probe Contest was merely a ruse by Academy City in order to construct the space port parts of the elevator. With regards to it, Stiyl infers that this was the reason for the cabal's ultimate objective with Agni's Festival Fire, but it is in vain now, for they have been destroyed. With the conductor for her power revealed, all they need to do is enter School District 23, where the space elevator is located, and Ureapaddy is heading.

Their time is only limited on how Ureapaddy has set-up the timing for the Debris Storm. With the electromagnetic intereference by Debris Storm, Touma and company enter a truck heading towards School District 23. While in the ride, Sozty mentions on how Ureapaddy used other Astras, mainly Shiva Astras, though not forgetting that Ureapaddy might have also manipulated information regarding her own power. Stiyl plans on having him, Touma, and Sozty prepare for injuries, while Index remains as back up. Sozty understands that she might be hurt, and is willing, but Touma states that he will only allow injuries, as he will not allow anyone to die, not them, not Ureapaddy, not even the people she is targeting. There ride however ends, as Anti-Skill has surrounded them. Stiyl deems this is related to the space elevator, and that despite the obvious danger of the Brahma Astra, the higher ups does not want them near it. Stiyl is later forced to hold them off, stating that he would slice the container they were in so they could escape, and having the others proceed further into School District 23. Stiyl asks if he could calculate candidates for routes. Touma states that they should stay in a path with small pieces of cover, as Anti-Skill will not bother to check them. Stiyl asks what the most dangerous routes are, as so Sozty and him can use concealment magic to head unseen through the areas Anti-Skill is most confident are safe, as Touma and Index head along the routes with the most cover. And with that, Stiyl slices off the container and they put forward their plan.

They later devise a plan. Stiyl served as a diversion for Anti-Skill, while the resth of them headed for her location. Touma would confront Ureapaddy directly, while Index viewed her from afar to analyze that she was doing, while Sozty sent the message towards him. Sozty would later witness Touma contend against her sister, aiding greatly in defeating her.

Toaru Majutsu to Kagaku no Ensemble
Sozty's role in the game's Magic (Surface) Story remains quite the same compared to Road to Endymion. In the game, Sozty tells fortunes to Touma while in the restaurant.



In the game's ending scene, after Touma defeats Ureapaddy, unlike the ambigious nature of the ending in the novel adaptation where she simply gets away after she is defeated. After her defeat, they are once again embroiled in another difficult situation, as Tsuchimikado Motoharu and the magician he has been chasing, Pantagruel, appear before them. Ureappady tries to attack him, but Pantagruel simply swaps his location parameters with Sozty's, hitting her. Pantagruel heals her, but threatens to reopen her wounds if anyone tries to oppose him. Touma is no match for him as well, as he has altered his own parameters to that of being "above Saint class". It is revealed that his magical specialty is speaking with the dead, which he does by examining the remains of the person and using a ceremony to regenerate their thought patterns. He intends to revive Aleister Crowley, the magician he views as his teacher and a genius magician. Ureapaddy comments that reviving the dead is impossible, and that even "speaking with the dead" spells have failed with Aleister's remains. Pantagruel, however, says that is because the remains are fake and Aleister Crowley might not even be dead, as he had traveled the world over, and only Academy City is left unchecked.

An thus, he tries to summon Aleister Crowley there whether he is alive or dead, but he didn't take the Misaka Network into account which messes up the spell. He tries again, but before he can, Urepaddy uses her Brahma Astra to create another "shooting star," which creates a duplicate of the spell using the remains of Kanou Shion's particles, that Kukimoto Hibiki released earlier after being defeated by Misaka Mikoto. that are Shion's particles. The two spells clash and are destroyed. Because of this, Pantagruel's parameters are temporarily gone, allowing Touma to punch him. He later regains partial ability of the spell, and swaps parameters with an object, allowing him to warp away.

After the events of the game, Ureapaddy decides to join Necessarius along with Sozty since she betrayed her cabal.

Agni Astra
The Agni Astra is the base form of Agni's Festival Fire. It is the main Astra of Sozty. Here, since she cannot use it effectively she modified it for her to be able to use it supportively. Using the characterstic of Agni that held the Astra that is of light that possessed symbolic meaning of festival fire, she can use it to send out a code in the form of lights that blink at a regular interval, a form of communication based on the length of the flashes.

Agni's Festival Fire
It is a modified version of Agni's Festival Fire, causing smaller scale explosions using the terminals used for the larger spell set up on the turbines, though it is constructed poorly. As Agni's Festival Fire not something anyone can control, Sozty forcibly interfering with the way with the way she is, either inexperienced or too young, she experiences pain like fire running through her nerves.

The spell is not perfect as the accuracy of the explosions are affected by the winds surrounding it. A space with many buildings for wind to flow around will lessen the accuracy of the spell.

Others

 * Garuda - Sozty can use the spiritual item as a reconnaisance. Since her modified Agni Astra was inaccurate, the spiritual item proved invaluable in harassing Touma and Index.
 * Shiva Astras - Sozty states that she could use the Shiva Astras.

Quotes

 * (Sozty introducing herself to Kamijou Touma, from Road to Endymion): "You idiot... It's Sozty."
 * (To Ureapaddy, ibid): "I was wrong!! What we were trying to do is wrong no matter what reason you have. Forcing this onto them does nothing to save the people who would be sacrificed. The existence of a reason makes no difference!! And if it’s wrong with a reason, there is no way I can let you do it without a reason!!"
 * (To Touma, ibid): "I haven’t had a bath in a while. You can’t detect your own scent, so am I starting to smell?"
 * (To Stiyl, ibid): "I understand... She is justifying it with some ridiculous hope, but my sister is giving up every part of her life for this day. If she is trying to wear away her entire life, I cannot expect to remain unharmed."