Vampire

Vampires in Touma's imagination

Vampires surrounding Himegami in reality.

Vampires (吸血鬼, Kyūketsuki^?) are mysterious beings who surpass humanity and consume blood in the Toaru Majutsu no Index universe. According to Stiyl Magnus, the numbers of vampires in this world, their exact powers and their locations are all unknown. Only that they definitely 'exist', since something that can kill them, Deep Blood, exists.

Vampires are fearsome creatures to magicians, as shown when Touma first heard it from Stiyl and asked him if he was serious. Stiyl replied by calling Touma 'a fortunate person' to be able to think he's joking about vampires. Their very existence is a source of intrigue and curiosity for the Magic Side, and are highly sought out by magicians. Conclusively proving their existence is even referred to by Stiyl Magnus as the wish of whole world.

Himegami Aisa is currently the only character shown in canon to have seen vampires and lived. Everyone else who has seen a vampire has died, according to the Magic Side's records.

Appearance

Unlike vampires in some other works of fiction, the vampires in the series look and act like any normal human being, who can laugh, cry or get angry. The only known difference is they drink blood and are immortal.

Vampires, when drinking Himegami's blood, turn into ash, although it is unknown if this is how all vampires die or it is only limited to the effects of Himegami's Deep Blood.

Principles

According to the light novel, vampires are referred to as the descendants of Cain, the brother of Abel and son of Adam and Eve, who was forced to wander the earth as punishment for the murder of his brother. There is no background in the Toaru Majutsu no Index universe as to why vampires are called Cain's descendants, despite having his descendants detailed fairly well in later accounts in the Bible.

It is unknown what abilities vampires possess as all vampires who are revealed immediately die after coming into contact with someone who has Deep Blood. The only ability that they are confirmed to have is the ability to turn humans into vampires. However, Aureolus Izzard states that vampires are immortal, which is the reason why he planned to use Himegami Aisa in order to capture one and have them turn Index into one. Since they're immortal, they can store infinite information in their brains without their bodies breaking, and as such, Aureolus wanted this specific property of vampires to save Index and end the need for erasing her memories (he was unaware that the need for memory erasing was actually the result of a spell).

Furthermore, because of their immortality, alchemists sought out vampires for this specific attribute. If they can replicate the vampire's immortality, they would be able to finish the chant that would allow them to completely simulate the world in their mind, and allow them to will their thoughts into the real world, eventually allowing them to control it, Ars Magna.

Vampires are also apparently immune to classical vampire weaknesses such as crosses and sunlight or at least cannot be defeated using them, and are referred to as something that can cause a nuclear level global calamity, much like Saints. It is also thought vampires have a unlimited amount of mana due to their immortality and are thus unsurpassed in magical prowess. As a result, it is considered to be impossible for any human to survive a magical battle with them, which is believed to be the reason no human other than Himegami Aisa has ever seen a vampire and lived. Also, Stiyl stated that if you cut out a vampire's heart and store it in a magic sword the vampire will still be alive, and the sword will become a living magical artifact.

At least one attempt has been made at a biological interpretation of a vampire. According to this interpretation, when stories say that victims of vampires experience pleasure as a result of having their blood sucked, this phenomenon is blood loss ecstasy rather than the result of magic, with the theory being that if blood is rapidly removed without triggering a person's sense of pain, the process creates an illusion of feeling good.

Chronology

Toaru Majutsu no Index

Deep Blood Arc

Main article: Deep Blood Arc

Himegami Aisa with the corpses of vampires at her feet.

The magicians in the series have yet to ascertain their existence since they are like normal human beings. Himegami Aisa, who has Deep Blood, is the only person revealed to have ever met vampires, as vampires die immediately after appearing before her. Since vampires are still people with emotions and the fact that people close to her have died as they were turned into vampires, Himegami has great disdain for her ability and does not want it to kill anyone else. As a result, the reason why she went to Academy City was to find a way to remove it. However, this could not be done, so she decided to allow Aureolus Izzard to use her to attract a vampire, as he needed them to save Index, so that her ability could be used to save someone instead of killing people.

After the defeat of Aureolus, Himegami was given a cross necklace by Necessarius to seal Deep Blood. Vampires have not been mentioned in Toaru Majustsu no Index ever since then, and no vampire character has actually appeared in the present in the series.

Toaru Kagaku no Mental Out: The Queen's Play

Main article: Toaru Kagaku no Mental Out: The Queen's Play

When Otonari Hibiku used her esper ability, Mind Anaphylaxis, to induce internal bleeding in her victims in order to make them experience blood loss ecstasy and relieve their stress, she was following a theory based on a biological interpretation of stories about vampires in which victims experience pleasure when bitten and having their blood sucked (as noted by Makigami Komaki and Shirai Kuroko during their investigation into the case).