Toaru Majutsu no Index Episode 08

"Ars Magna" is the eighth episode of the Toaru Majutsu no Index anime series. It was first broadcast on November 23, 2008, and was directed by Fukuda Noriyuki, while the script was written by Akahoshi Masanao.

The name of the girl trapped in Misawa Cram School is Himegami Aisa, the girl that Touma met in the fast food restaurant. In the school's lobby, he and Stiyl come upon the remains of one of the Thirteen Knights of the Roman Catholic Church, a dead man wearing armor, and the students seem oblivious to its existence. Stiyl explains that he, Touma, and the knight are separated from the students by something like the front and the back side of a coin. The two sides of the coin cannot interact with each other, and the students are not aware of anything on the other side of the coin. This separation allows the study to be ignored by the students, and the only thing to break it is to break the "core" of the magic. But suddenly, all the students stop what they are doing and stare at the Stiyl and Touma as they stand in the entrance of a cafeteria, and then they begin to chant words of magic.

Synopsis
Stiyl tells Touma that the corpse they are seeing is that of one of the Thirteen Knights of the Roman Catholic Church who Stiyl says was probably annihilated by Aureolus. Touma asks why no one notices the corpse in the school, to which Stiyl states that the reason the students are unaffected and are unaware of them and the corpse is because Aureolus has put a seal in the school. The seal in question puts the students on a sort of outer side of a coin, with Touma, Stiyl and the corpse on the inner side. Touma tries to dispel the seal in the building but is told by Stiyl that it won’t work and that they need to defeat Aureolus to break it. Stiyl makes the sign of the cross, and mentions that he has another reason to fight now.

They move to the stairs and Touma wonders why they aren’t using the elevators. Stiyl tells him that they can’t use equipment that is on the outer side while they are on the inner side. Touma then wonders if they can’t contact people on the outer side. Touma calls Index to confirm this and it works. Index tells Touma that she ate the two lasagnas and a pudding that were kept in the refrigerator. Though initially frustrated with Index’s actions, Touma eventually relents and hangs up. Stiyl comments on how relaxed he his, talking to a girl on a phone while on the battlefield. This prompts Touma to ask him if he is jealous. Stiyl tries to deny it, stating that he does not see Index as a target for romance. He continues on to tell Touma that many people have been in the position Touma is in right now, occupying the role of Index's close friend or companion. Stiyl reveals that he too was once in this role, but unlike Touma, he failed - which in Stiyl's eyes is the only thing separates Stiyl from Touma. This makes Touma reflect to himself that the person he is now is not the person that Index likes - Index likes the person who saved her, the person who he was before his memory loss.

They later arrive in a cafeteria where they suddenly discover that the students have noticed their presence and are in some sort of trance. Stiyl states that the students have been placed on the inner side of the coin as an automated alarm system. The students start standing up and begin doing an incantation. Glowing blue spheres start coming out of the students' foreheads while they’re doing the incantation. Stiyl states that it's time for Touma to do something and runs away. But Touma realizes that his power is not enough to counter that many separate magic spheres and runs away as well, catching up to Stiyl who argues with him about why he is running away.

Back with Touma, Aisa has finished her first-aid on the girl. Touma commends her skill as a doctor, but Aisa says that she is more of a magician and shows her wand to him – an electric police baton. Touma advises her to escape from the school, but Aisa tells him that she is not being held against her will and that she has her own objective for staying in the school. She tells Touma that she is there in order to avoid attracting and killing vampires with her blood. She tells him that vampires are just like regular humans and she doesn’t want people to die because of her. She says that she made a deal with Aureolus: he will cure her of her ability to kill vampires, in exchange for luring a vampire to him which he somehow needs to save someone. However, their conversation is cut short by the arrival of Aureolus Izzard himself. In a flash, Aureolus is suddenly face-to-face with Touma for no apparent reason. Touma tries to attack him at point-blank range but somehow misses. He tries again, but this time Aureolus somehow moved to a considerable distance away from him. Aureolus tells him to fade away but is cut off by Aisa. She tells Aureolus that Touma does not know the significance of Deep Blood, and came to the school to rescue someone he had met just a few hours ago. She tells Aureolus that if killing civilians is his objective, then she will quit and kill herself. Because of this, Aureolus does not kill Touma. He takes out a large needle from his pocket and stabs himself in the neck with it, then tells Touma that he will forget everything he learned here in the building.



The scene cuts to the outside of the school. Index had followed the magical aura from the runes around Touma's apartment to the building. She enters the building while Touma and Stiyl are sitting on playground swings in a nearby park, dazed and confused, remarking that they had a vague feeling that they had forgotten what they are supposed to be doing. However, when Touma scratches his head with his right hand, he remembers everything that occurred in the building. Touma then instructs Stiyl to close his eyes and stick out his tongue, because he knows of a charm to erase his doubts. Stiyl somehow obliges, but is then punched in the jaw by Touma – which dispels his memory loss – as revenge for using him as bait a while ago.

Inside the building, Index comments that there is a seal set up to prevent intruders from escaping. Aureolus greets Index (and implies that they had met in the past while doing so), who reacts as if she doesn’t know him. He commands Index to sleep, which renders her unconscious.

Stiyl and Touma return to Misawa Cram School just in time to see the remaining forces of the Thirteen Knights of the Roman Catholic Church guarding the entrance. The knights pull out their swords and invoke the real Gregorio Choir. Stiyl muses that the 3,333 monks are probably sending their prayers from. Touma asks what they are doing and Stiyl tells him that they are going to bombard the school.

Clouds gather above the building, as lightning and thunder roar out. Suddenly, a large flash of lightning strikes the building and it slowly collapses. However, the collapse suddenly stops in mid-air and the building inexplicably begins to rise and repair itself, as if time were rewinding, while the knights look helplessly on the tremendous power of Aureolus Izzard. Stiyl states that what he is seeing is the true power that Aureolus has – Ars Magna. Touma then notices a familiar head dress on the ground with a cat underneath it, and suspects that Index has somehow gotten involved in this. Meanwhile, Aureolus carries an unconscious Index into his office and gazes down fondly at her.

Adapted From

 * Chapter 2 Parts 3-7 & 9 & Chapter 3 Parts 1-3

Major Events

 * Touma meets Aureolus and does battle with him, though they are interrupted by Aisa.
 * Aureolus abducts Index.
 * The Thirteen Knights of the Roman Catholic Church is completely defeated by Aureolus.

Character
By order of appearance
 * Kamijou Touma
 * Stiyl Magnus
 * Index
 * Himegami Aisa

New Characters

 * Glasses Girl
 * Aureolus Izzard

Abilities

 * Imagine Breaker - Kamijou Touma
 * Fire Magic - Stiyl Magnus
 * Rune Magic - Stiyl Magnus

New Abilities

 * Unnamed magic seal surrounding Misawa Cram School - Aureolus Izzard
 * Unnamed magic spell that controls the minds of students - Aureolus Izzard
 * Gregorio's Chant Replica - Misawa Cram School Student Body and Aureolus Izzard
 * Gregorio's Chant - Knights of the Roman Catholic Church
 * Ars Magna - Aureolus Izzard

Locations

 * Academy City
 * Misawa Cram School
 * Kamijou Residence

Trivia

 * This episode introduces the Roman Catholic Church as a religious faction as well as the 13 Knights of the Roman Catholic Church in the Toaru Majutsu no Index universe. Though not implied in this episode, the defeat of the knights as well as Aureolus Izzard's reversal of the Gregorio's Chant, severely weakened the Roman Catholic Church's power.
 * This episode features espers using magic for the first time, and showing the dangerous effects it causes to the esper.

Referbacks

 * Stiyl refers to Touma blocking Index's Dragon's Breath from episode 6.

Cultural References

 * Gregorio's Chant may refer to the, which is a form of liturgical music in Western Christianity Masses and rituals as primary accompaniment.
 * is mentioned in this episode, which is one of a class of celestial beings mentioned once in the Hebrew Bible, in . Later Jewish imagery perceived them as having human form, and in that way they passed into the ranks of Christian angels. In the Christian angelic hierarchy, seraphim represent the highest rank of angels.
 * The three girls that are given focused in the cafeteria has been implied to be cameos from the, specifically, Haruka Amami, Chihaya Kisaragi, and Azusa Miura.
 * is mentioned in this episode during the Misawa Cram Schoolgirl's incantation of Gregorio's Chant Replica. Here, it is referred to as a fiery place which the souls of those who have died in grace must expiate their sins.
 * The for, ♄, is seen during this episode.
 * Touma referenced  – a creation of the famed, when he asked Aisa if she was 'a certain unlicensed doctor'.
 * Ars Magna is latin for "Great Work".

Differences in Adaptation

 * Aureolus Dummy, who appears in the novel when Stiyl disables the control mechanism of the Gregorio's Chant Replica, was cut out in the anime.

Animation Trivia

 * The glass breaking animation as well as its accompanying sound that is played when the second half of the anime starts, is played during Touma's conversation with Index on the phone.
 * A different sound is played instead of the sound that plays whenever Touma dispels something, when Touma touched his head after Aureolus wiped his memory.
 * When Touma tried to punch Stiyl in the playground, he runs for a few seconds towards him. However, it is shown that there is only a short distance between them, and there is no need for Touma to actually run as there is no room.