Toaru Majutsu no Index Light Novel Volume 20/Chapter 2

Title- Chapter 2: The Start of Attack and Counterattack. Angel_Stalker.

Volume 20

Previous Chapter → 1

Next Chapter → 3

Part 1 (Summary)
Lessar’s trying to remake her ‘deluxe gloves’ after it broke during Touma’s plan, and she can only manage to remake the ‘normal’ model before she upgraded it. She laments even if she had just record the theoretical numbers behind it it would be good, now she can’t even get the balance right. After that she found a secret entrance into Fiamma’s base. About 30mm of snow was piled up, but after that is moved there’s a 3m wide hole leading down. The tunnel’s been magically enhanced that even if a plane landed on top of the tunnel it won’t collapse. Touma hoped that it wouldn’t collapse on them if he touched it with his right hand, and Lessar says just in case don’t touch it with his right hand.

Lessar is about to slide down, but realised if she does her skirt will get flipped up and her panties will be shown to Touma – but Touma just told her to hurry up as he’s not interested. When they got down they see a rail track heading to the base, with five train carriages along with a train engine. Lessar’s surprised that there’s something like that down here, since Fiamma is someone that can even beat the Pope and the 2nd Princess with one attack, and doesn’t seem like the type to plot and make things like this and seemed more like someone that just blow things up if it gets in his way. Touma replied that originally Fiamma is someone that manipulates the Roman Catholic Church using his position as one of the ‘God’s Right Seat’, and him being manipulative is the norm.

Touma’s glad there’s a train here, since if they had to walk 40Km to get to Fiamma before the meet him Touma would be too tired to fight. They decide to hide in the carriages and wait for the transporters to get here, since if they activate the engine themselves it would be suspicious. While they are hiding Lessar asked Touma what’s that frog-mascot/charm thing he has on him, and Touma replied it’s Gekota, but he doesn’t know much about it either (TN: see volume 12 about Touma and Mikoto’s ‘Punishment Game’). Lessar muttered that it seemed a bit feminine and she might have to change her plans and work faster (on Touma), before looking at the symbols in the carriage. From what she can see there’s plenty of symbols, not just the basic Christianity ones and it’s complicated.

Lessar commented that Touma’s good at this, and he replied back during the civil war he snuck into the Knight Faction’s train on their way going to Folkstone. Lessar recalled Beyloppe saying that if she ever saw that Japanese guy again she’ll beat him to a pulp. Touma seemed a bit apprehensive about that, and asked how she ended up being captured by the Knights (TN: Baylop told him back in vol18, guess he forgotten…).

Soon after that some people came and loaded the carriages up, and started to drive off. Touma wondered whether they are Russian soldiers or magicians, and Lessar replied it’s probably people from the Russian Orthodox Church, according to their complaints on the artefacts piled up.

The two sits there on their way to the base, and Lessar starts saying it’s too hot. Touma forbid her to start using that skirt trick again, and Lessar replied she won’t in this situation since he’s expecting it. Halfway through her explanations she stopped and half a moment later Touma found out why. Because of her sweat her top is soaked through and he can see a tiny bra that barely covers anything. Lessar didn’t blush or even bother to cover up, only laments that her secret weapon she’s been keeping for a special occasion got wasted like this. Touma exclaimed just what the hell did she come to Russia for, and he was starting to get suspicious when she started to flap her skirt back then. Touma started to tremble (TN: whether out of anger or fear of what she’s planning is open to interpretation) and they are getting closer to their destination.

It took 20-30 minutes for them to reach the base, and Lessar told him it’s time to disembark while the others aren’t looking. They jumped down and hid near some crates that hid them from view, with Touma feeling nervous but Lessar is smiling widely in the suspense. After a while they decided to move but as soon as Touma stepped out he came face to face with a Russian mage slightly older than him. They both stopped in shock and it’s fortune in Touma’s misfortune that the Russian had his hands full. The Russian mage moved a moment later and Lessar striked at his throat using her elbow. Lessar told Touma to be careful, and Touma asked if the mage is dead. Lessar replied it might have been better if he were then she wouldn’t have to waste a valuable artefact (literal translation: sealing leg-cuffs) to subdue the mage, after she tied his legs up using metal wires. After that Lessar thought ‘things’ aren’t going well, that getting his attention bit by bit isn’t working and maybe she should be a bit more aggressive and sexy towards him.

The two of them got out of the underground into the square base that’s 10Km by 10Km in size. The centre is 7Km by 7Km, and 20m higher than the outskirts of the base. The interior is decorated like a Western castle, but it gives off a feeling like it’s made to imprison criminals. The two of them walks in the corridors with candles every few steps to light their way, and didn’t see any guards or patrols. Touma walked past a large room and heard Fiamma’s voice and the two peeked through the crack left in the doors. Touma remarked they actually managed to find their final target so easily and Lessar gulped. Steel frames cover the walls, with a high-class table and chair there that seemed out of place. On the table is a thick book that’s glowing lightly.

Fiamma’s talking with someone through the book saying his current location has its own magical purposes, and if he wanted a throne he wouldn’t have blown up St. Peter’s Basilica (TN: see volume 16 epilogue). To Fiamma, this place is even more important than Moscow. Fiamma says here is the best place to carry out the [Bethlehem Plan] (TN: Bethlehem is supposedly the birth place of Jesus, current-day it’s located in Pakistan).

Touma’s suppressing himself from charging right in roaring. Lessar’s translating the conversation for Touma, and Fiamma is saying regardless whether Roman Catholic Church or Academy City wins the Russian Orthodox Church won’t benefit either way. The victor of this war will decide whether the new age of Magic or Science will rise up. Touma’s thinking about the conversation but his mind went blank after seeing Index’s controller on the table as well. The person on the other side is saying Sasha Kruzkev is in the Elizerina Independent Republic, and Fiamma says that makes sense since no matter where they look in Russia they can’t find her.

Touma involuntarily wanted to rush out, but his mouth got covered by Lessar and then got hit hard on his artery. The person on the other side is a bishop from Russian Orthodox Church (TN: possibly Nikolai), and is making a deal that after it’s all over he’ll be the next Archbishop for Russian Orthodox Church. Fiamma agrees but warns if he asks for too much Fiamma can always kill him and then find someone else to do this. After closing the book and ending the conversation Fiamma took the controller and went to a steel window and flew outside.

After Fiamma left Touma grabbed Lessar’s collar and asked what is she doing, and Lessar asked she should be asking that since there’s another 2,000 magicians in the room along with Fiamma. Touma looked again and he realised he didn’t see them to begin with. Touma cursed, and Lessar says now they should head to Elizerina to prevent Sasha falling into Fiamma’s hands in order to buy time. Touma agreed, but warns Lessar she better not try to get in his way of saving Index.

Part 2 (Summary)
Shiage and Rikou is driving along, discussing the war situation. Rikou says Academy City’s planning something since they’re actively invading, while normally Academy City would just drag out the war and manipulate the world economy to make Russia unable to continue the war. Rikou’s planning to find the balance in the scales of the situation, so that even though Shiage’s a small piece if he can get in the right position to tip the scales they can then make demands towards Academy City.

Suddenly Rikou’s physical situation got worse, and Shiage panicked and stopped the car. After that a Caucasian man tapped on the windows, and Shiage reached for his hidden gun then lowered the window. The Caucasian was a tour guide before so he can speak Japanese, and is offering Shiage a “equivalent exchange”: taking Rikou to their village’s doctor, in exchange for some fuel since their electricity generator just ran out of fuel.

Part 6 (Summary)
Touma and Lessar is being escorted by several soldiers to see the leader of Elizerina. One of the guards asked if two of them have saved a group of people with a mother and her two children, one is a 1-2yr old baby and the other a 10yr old girl. The guard said that was his sister and her children, so it means those people have got to safety. That’s probably also the reason why though these guards are holding guns they aren’t pointing it at Touma and Lessar.

Elizerina (after she separated the country away from Russia people named the new country after her) is having a meeting with Touma and Lessar, planning on counter-measures against Fiamma. Elizerina is the twin sister of the Maiden of Versailles, and is also a magician. She’s called a ‘saint’ by the people (TN: not the ‘Child of God’ variant like Kanzaki), having beaten back Russian Orthodox Church to create this country.

Elizerina says her top priority is her citizens’ safety, since if they fight in the country many innocent civilians will get hurt, therefore her plan is to send Sasha back into Russia first then she’ll offer assistance to fight Fiamma. Touma says that’s alright, since all he planned on was to get info on where Sasha is, and just not being locked up in chains for no good reason by Elizerina is good enough considering the situation. Elizerina said though the scale and magnitude is different, guesses even Touma has something he needs to protect. Touma replied “Everybody does.”

Then suddenly, “Seriously, still having a strategy meeting at this stage, you people are beyond late.” After saying that Fiamma blew the windows in, breaking the emergency wards put up by Elizerina like nothing. Touma then got hit in the head by falling debris, and when he got back to normal and looked up he saw the roof was gone, and saw the 30-40km fire sword where the roof was. After commenting offhand it’s hard to aim when the size is too big, Fiamma brought the fire sword down onto Touma and others. Touma brought his Imagine Breaker up and blocked the sword *single-handedly* with his palm, while the building he’s in got turned to ash and the town got a gash right across it. Elizerina and Lessar can’t believe that Touma blocked something like that, while Touma’s not sure if he broke any bones in his hand after that.

After commenting Touma learnt something fighting in England (reference to his strategy against Carissa), Fiamma flew in front of Touma and attacked with the 3rd arm. Touma tried to block it, but his arm was still numb from that last attack. Elizerina jumped in to defend Touma, but both got blown back by the attack. Elizerina’s 2 guards saw Fiamma and attacked, but both got blown back, when one of them wasn’t even close to Fiamma. Touma crawled back up and tried to fight Fiamma, but Fiamma replied Touma’s the main course so he’ll need some preparations before he takes him on, and redirected his attention to Elizerina. Fiamma almost got his 3rd arm onto Elizerina, before Lessar charged in with her steel gloves and spear. Fiamma flung Lessar away as if brushing away cobwebs. Before Lessar smashed into a wall one of the 2 guards managed to catch her.

During this respite Elizerina started weaving another spell, and her hand started glowing. Fiamma laughed, saying how could anyone be foolish enough to try and use a spell based on the ‘Right Hand’ in front of ‘Fiamma of the Right’. Fiamma’s 3rd arm then glowed, as if to crush the insects before him as the light between the two sides is incomparable. Fiamma then brought his hand down to crush Elizerina.

A loud *clang!* resounded as Fiamma’s light smashed into Touma’s right hand as Touma charged in. Imagine Breaker can’t cancel it completely and the light flew off tangent, destroying many roofs off the nearby buildings. Then the two who both possess a special right hand, Kamijou Touma and Fiamma faced each other.

Lessar threw the remains of her steel gloves at Touma, knocking him out of the path of Fiamma’s 3rd arm. Fiamma then commented on how western magicians focus mainly on individuals, and the recent history that made it so. When Touma asked what is he trying to say, Fiamma stated basically if a large number of normal people who are unrelated to magic was about to get dragged into magicians’ conflicts, no magician would stay quiet and leave it alone. Touma then saw Sasha in the crowd coming in, and relaxed for a moment, before remembering that isn’t *Misha* the Archangel coming in to help. Fiamma then remarked how fortunate he is, to be able to achieve two of his aims so easily, and knocked Sasha out with one attack. Touma and Fiamma then is about to face off one on one, with no other help apparently coming in to aid any side.

Then Fiamma suddenly moved his head to one side, and the wall behind him cracked seemingly without reason. The normal people don’t know what happened, but Touma gulped in thinking that something can actually force Fiamma to dodge an attack.

Fiamma commented “What a nostalgic face”, and Touma turned around and saw Vent. Something is different about her, with the cross she wears on her tongue is different than the one he saw before – this cross looks like it’s made out of ice. Vent said she have no duty to help Touma or Sasha, but she had enough of Fiamma making Roman Catholic Church a mess. Then the two from God’s Right Seat clashed, at a level far beyond that of normal magicians.

Part 8 (Summary)
Vent and Fiamma stands facing each other, with everyone else not daring to interrupt in case they get caught in the fight. It turns out Vent can now somehow use ‘normal’ magic even being part of God’s Right Seat. Fiamma says without ‘Divine Punishment’ she stands no chance against him, but Vent replied even if she had it it would not work on someone as twisted as Fiamma. Vent then continued saying Fiamma’s not at full strength, with Fiamma replying that’s why he needs Imagine Breaker and Sasha. Vent then says Fiamma’s 3rd arm have limits in using its power, and almost reached its limit playing around with Touma, Elizerina and Lessar. Fiamma laughed, saying does she really think that’s enough to beat him. Vent said no, then says “what’s interesting is only going to start now.”

Fiamma then got blown several Kilometres away, by an anchor (20-30m long) made of ice that was shot from a sailing ship that popped up from the snow-covered clearing. Vent then says she have control over the Queen of Adriatic now (see Roman Catholic Church), then commanded a fleet several Km away to bombard Fiamma. Icicles several hundred metres in length, numbering in millions of spears, pierced where Fiamma is. The land got sliced up, ice and dust raged for Kilometres all around, and a giant mountain of ice blades is where Fiamma was. People in the crowd can feel the icy death even from where they are, and starts to pray. Vent then taunted Fiamma, saying maybe she wasted too much ammunition on him when he only have a half-completed right arm.

Fiamma replied he doesn’t go down that easily, and blew apart the ice mountain with a even larger fireball, showering everywhere with giant ice shards ripping apart the city. From where they are they can see Fiamma’s 3rd arm and Index’s controller glowing from several Km away. Fiamma says he can’t stop the physical form disintegrating, but he still managed to keep the ethereal power, thanks to Index’s knowledge. He also says there’s no longer such things like ‘Limits’ for him. Vent fired off even larger icicle spears against Fiamma, but:

“I don’t need destructive power.” *destroys every spear with one wave of his 3rd arm*

“When I can destroy everything with a touch, I don’t have to try and harm my opponent.”

Vent desperately starts a incantation while holding her mace, with Touma thinking she still have trump cards. But:

“I don’t need speed... When I can destroy everything with one blow, I don’t need to aim.” Fiamma suddenly appeared in front of Vent and smashed her jaws and sends her flying, then catches her cross on her tongue with inhuman speed, and it got torn off Vent’s tongue violently. While Vent screams with pain Fiamma says it’s not like she lost her whole tongue, and she still had the leftover powers from the Queen of Adriatic absorb some of the damage before it disappeared. Fiamma then revealed he can now use ANY symbolism magic that has anything to do with the Right Hand, such as Archangel Michael slayed Lucifer with his right hand, the Son of God heals with his right hand, and one need to record bibles with their right hand, plus many others.

Vent and Fiamma then talked about Angel Fall, how something like that only worked because something bigger went wrong, and the reason he wants Sasha due to the mix up of essence even among Archangels. Misha isn't a name for Gabriel but for Michael, meaning back when Kanzaki fought 'Misha' it was Gabriel's power and angelic body that descended but it's 'Michael' that fought her.

Touma likened Fiamma’s power to having ‘One hit KO’ in a RPG game (like Final Fantasy) alongside the other options like ‘Fight’, ‘items’ and ‘magic’, thinking it’s really unfair.

After Fiamma tries to leave with Sasha, Touma steps in to try and face off against him. Fiamma says Touma is just like him, crushing any in their way for what they believe is morally correct in spite of their own efforts. Touma refuted that, saying how can Fiamma believe he’s righteous when he caused so much pain to Index and even started wars. Fiamma then asked then is Touma, the one who’s stopping this, the righteous one? Touma says this isn’t about who’s right or not, it’s about not letting people like Index suffer – or anyone else suffer. Fiamma then pulls out the controller and said:

“Those words, can you repeat them in front of the nun that you kept wrapped up in lies?”

Fiamma then revealed his telepathic link with Index, and asks if he really believe what he’s saying then why does he keep up the act in front of Index. Fiamma then accuse Touma for protecting Index solely for his own selfish self-satisfaction. Touma feels like he can feel Index’s support being sliced away bit by bit. Fiamma then says he wanted to get Imagine Breaker as well, but he can’t carry both Sasha and Imagine Breaker at once, so he’ll leave for now. Fiamma tells Touma “Don’t die too easily, since I still need that Right hand.” Fiamma then caused a explosion, and by the time Touma negated it Fiamma is long gone.

Touma stood there in the clearing, with Fiamma’s words echoing in his mind: “For that woman, whether you are really saving her, I’m looking forward to seeing the answer to that question.”

Referbacks

 * In Part 1 Lessar commented on how Touma is good at sneaking around magicians, and Touma replied he's done this before during the UK civil war in the events of Volume 18.
 * Part 6: Fiamma replied Touma have improved his skills during the UK civil war in Volume 18
 * Part 8: The 'Queen of Adriatic' used back in Volume 11 is reconstructed by Vent and used against Fiamma.

New Abilities
Vent now have control over the 'Queen of Adriatic' spell, and can use 'normal' magic somehow despite being one of the God's Right Seat.