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Toaru Majutsu no Index Novel Volume 17-18 Review


Touma and Index are enjoying their evening before dinner trying out Touma's kotatsu. Touma later gets a call from Tsuchimikado Motoharu that he and Index needs to go to England without explaining anything, and knocks them out using knock-out gas. The both of them as well as Sphynx, are taken to the airport with Touma's money stolen by Motoharu and exchanging with British Pounds. With them too late to board the last bus and train, and banks closed preventing Touma to change his money to Japanese Yen, Touma is forced to take Motoharu's offer. After waking Index and Sphynx up he explains to Index the situation, and later had her change to normal clothes. Index notes that though that they are going back to her city of birth, she doesn't really feel like it is her birthplace as she has no memories from before about a year ago. Here, Touma discovers for the first time since his own memory loss that Index too has lost their memories. They later find out that Motoharu has prepared for them to board Academy City's supersonic passenger plane, much to their horror. Seeing this, Index and Touma decide to board on a commercial flight—Sky Bus 365. Only Sphynx boarded the intended supersonic passenger plane and arrives in London before both of them.


Little did Touma and Index know that they will be involved in a terrorist incident on the plane. Touma initially agrees to the captain's plan on the crew handling the terrorist threat themselves, but becomes personally involve after Index is attacked by one of them. Enraged, Touma hunts down the terrorist and comes into conflict with the captain, who fear that Touma may endager the plane and the other passengers by his vendetta. Meanwhile, the Anglican Church and the Knights of England had their own plans, in which, using magic, they would force the airliner to land on a blocked off highway, and have the terrorist get taken out by the knights using their Robin Hood spells. Their plan goes awry when New Light, who had just found the Curtana Original, used magic to tamper the Anglican Church's magic on the plane in order to prevent the highway from being blocked off for the emergency landing of the plane. In response to this, Laura Stuart has Stiyl Magnus deal with the terrorist. He borrows a transport plane from the Royal Air Force and intercepts the airliner's flight.


The meeting opens up with a discussion regarding France's involvement in the bombing and the dangers of the Roman Catholic Church and God's Right Seat. The discussion later turns to the Sky Bus 365 terrorist incident and the mysterious tampering of the Anglican Church's magic on the plane using a long distance spell. Elizard shows Index documents for her opinion, to which she concludes that the spell that was used was a Norse spell, and goes detail regarding it, specifically it used by females. Seeing this, it is obvious to them now that the magician is a female. Elizard reveals that the magicians came from Scotland showing to them that are enemies not only outside the country but inside as well. Here they conclude that the magicians used the highway that was to be used as an emergency landing strip for the plane as the reason why they tampered with the magic, and that they may have a great objective to challenge the church. The meeting concludes with Elizard saying that they need to investigate the cause of the Eurotunnel bombing and deal with their external enemy the French; and second, find out what group this inner enemy magician belongs to, discover their objectives, and crush them if needed.


While Lessar is confronted by Touma and Oriana Thomson, Bayloupe becomes enraged by the commotion she is causing. She is later surrounded by Amakusa Christians and is approached by an armed Itsuwa. Refusing to be apprehended, Bayloupe attaches her horn and flips her case up. Itsuwa attempts to thrust her spear into Bayloupe's arm, but Bayloupe's tool bursts out from her bag and strikes the spear, knocking them both back. As the Amakusa draw their weapons, Bayloupe destroys the wall she was leaning on and flees into the station.


Itsuwa catches up with Bayloupe as she is climbing down from an empty platform. She throws a sign held by her Steel Glove at Itsuwa but it is sliced apart by her seven wires. As Itsuwa recognizes the symbol as being related to Thor, Bayloupe mentions how Thor used other tools besides his famous hammer Mjölnir, such as the steel glove - a more convenient weapon for girls like New Light. Adding that there are other aspects of Thor besides that of the lightning god, she swings her weapon, sending fragments of the floor at Itsuwa who dodges and then charges at her. In response, she swings it again, grabbing concrete dust in the air and flinging it at Itsuwa with explosive force, blowing her to the side. Bayloupe then jumps, grabs again and brings down the glove towards Itsuwa with an explosive impact. As Itsuwa dodges, she swings again to the side, knocking Itsuwa down with a direct hit. Thinking the fight is over, Bayloupe says she will use Gjallarhorn next if Itsuwa wants to continue, threatening to turn her to ashes with lightning if she moves. Grabbing the case and telling Itsuwa to enjoy the changes they bring about, she rides her glove into the tunnel at high speed.


Itsuwa would later meet up with Sherry Cromwell in the underground labyrinth to analyze the case. There, they discover that it is a spiritual item that is based on Skíðblaðnir. Itsuwa says that in her battle with Bayloupe, she determined that the case was not a dummy since she was protecting and carrying it fiercely and carefully. Sherry states that it may not be a dummy, and tells Itsuwa that she might investigate but suggests that she should go talk to Agnese first who is investigating New Light's base in Edinburgh. With that, she bids Itsuwa farewell, and says that she should head back aboveground and get rid of the rest of New Light. Itsuwa contacts Agnese as she makes her for the exit telling her of the new discovery. Agnese apologizes to Itsuwa for not getting any information on Skíðblaðnir, but states that they will now proceed to search information regarding New Light's plans through what Itsuwa discovered, and asks to confirm if they had only taken out one of the four members of New Light. Itsuwa tells Agnese not to worry as Kanzaki Kaori had just beaten Floris. Itsuwa later regroups with Kaori and the other Amakusa Christians after severing her connection with Agnese.


When Carissa's group arrives in Folkestone for the investigation of the Eurotunnel, Knight Leader notices the change of weight of his case and reports to Carissa that the Curtana Original has arrived. With that Carissa orders the invasion as she now has the Curtana Original she is now the rightful ruler of the United Kingdom,[29] while she has Index prove to her to that France is the one truly behind the "bombing" of the Eurotunnel. Index is later knocked out by Knight Leader as she is useful in proving France being the one who destroyed the tunnel. Carissa then immediately begins threatening France in order to force the Maiden of Versailles to answer.


Meanwhile, the Amakusa Christians, Intending to end the coup early, commandeer a sea plane from Hyde Park and drop Kanzaki Kaori into Folkestone. As Carissa and the knights are busy tracking down Villian who has escaped, the Knight Leader offers to face Kaori alone, which he later easily defeats. He later joins up with Carissa again after cornering her Villian, and is later tasked in executing her for the sake of the coup. However, she is rescued by the arrival of Acqua of the Back. He quickly escapes with Villian, and has her go to Amakusa Christians' temporary base in Folkestone. Acqua of the Back would later engage the Knight Leader and his knights in a battle, protracted by the hidden mechanics and ruses of their swords. In the end it is Acqua of the Back who would come out victorious, though the Knight Leader remains alive.


With the assistance of the Coven Compass and Selkie Aquariums, the Anglican Church forces enter London in separate groups and separate points of entry. Despite this, Carissa uses Curtana Original's dimensional debris to block the attacks of the mobile fortresses and to attack the Anglican Church forces. Touma's group is later forced to separate due to her attacks. He is the second to arrive at Buckingham Palace after Villian. After saving Villian from being attacked by Carissa, Touma is forced later to contend against not only Carissa and her sword, but against the Griffin Sky mobile fortresses she brought along after "purging" the knights. Touma is later saved by the arrival of Kanzaki Kaori and the rest of the Anglican Church forces. There, Kaori asks Index to analyze the Curtana Original, while she and the others fight Carissa.


Elizard however arrives just in time to relieve the forces against Carissa, fighting her own daughter herself with the Curtana Second. Elizard manages to hold her own with Curtana Second but it is clear Curtana Original still superior. With that, Elizard throws away her sword and uses the Union Jack spiritual item to distribute the power of the Curtana Original to the people of the United Kingdom and asking them through a communication spiritual item if they would like to help them save Carissa. Now with the aid of the empowered citizens in London, the magicians and knights present renew their attack on Carissa, who is too preoccupied in preventing the power of Curtana Original from being drained further. Because of this she cannot attack properly against them creating an opening for Touma after Index has finally finished analyzing it and used Spell Intercept on it to distribute its power. He has Acqua of the Back throw him towards her, and with his right hand, not only destroys the Curtana Original but punches Carissa in the face, finally ending her coup.


While the Amakusa Christians tend to the injured, the Knight Leader goes to Elizard after she recovers the Curtana Second and apologizes for his part of the coup and asks what they will do now. Elizard tells him not to worry about it his actions as he did what he must. Elizard tells him as well not to worry about the people discovering the truth behind the spell that empowered them, though says that even if they did discover that it was magic then they will just simply tell them that magic exists as there is no rule that says that magic should always be hidden.


He later goes up to Villian's side, looking around for Acqua of the Back. He tells Villian that he left because the Russian Orthodox Church has made their move according to a comrade of his, and is planning to stop the conflict in a different direction than through the Anglican Church. Hearing of the word "comrade" Villian says that she feels that she alone is still the only one doing nothing when everyone has gained so much the past 10 years. Seeing that Villian is hurt by Acqua of the Back's lack of farewell, the Knight Leader becomes angry at him for leaving with him with a difficult job. Villian notices, to which the Knight Leader then tells Villian Acqua of the Back's parting words to her, with some modifications of his own. He tells her that when the war is over Acqua of the Back would be able to hang his escutcheon in Buckingham Palace, but adds a part where it seemed like Acqua of the Back is proposing to her, surprising Villian and giving the Knight Leader a smug sense of satisfaction.


Carissa later comes to and finds herself 2-3 kilometers away from Buckingham Palace. There, she finds that though she is still holding the hilt of Curtana Original it has now been destroyed. Suddenly, Fiamma of the Right himself arrives before her. He mocks the defeated Carissa, revealing that he used his influence over the Roman Catholic Church to get the French government to cause unrest within the United Kingdom with the Eurotunnel incident. Carissa made his plan much easier than he had originally intended by distracting everyone with her sudden coup d’état. During all the fighting, Fiamma of the Right got a hold of the spiritual remote control for Index’s John's Pen mode that was within Buckingham Palace. Having achieved his goal Fiamma of the Right decides to just kill Carissa, but Kamijou Touma arrives right in time to thwart his attack. Fiamma of the Right is delighted to see that another major piece of his plan has come to him; though Fiamma of the Right says he won’t risk fighting Touma just yet since the remote control might be destroyed. For fun, Fiamma of the Right gives a little demonstration of his new toy and summons Index in John’s Pen mode to attack Touma and Carissa. Fiamma of the Right reveals he was after the knowledge of the 103, 000 grimoires held within Index, something that the remote control allows him to access. Fiamma of the Right takes his leave, saying to Touma that he is going to Russia in order to collect the "materials" and that he needs to call down an Angel—until then, Touma can hold onto Imagine Breaker.


Index later falls unconscious and Stiyl arrives shortly afterwards. Enraged, he yells at Laura Stuart, disregarding the position of superior and subordinate, asking how long she's going to continue tricking others and hurting Index. Elizard tries to relieve the tension, stating that many safety devices are installed on Index are necessary measures to guarantee her basic human rights. The Queen states that if there was no device that allowed them to control her from London remotely, the danger of someone abducting her would be too great, and that the alternative was cutting off her limbs and keeping her inside the Tower of London. The Queen says it was a necessary evil as she had the 103,000 grimoires inside of her, something that can't be dealt with by just Stiyl's feelings. Hearing this, Stiyl shoves Laura away in anger. Elizard tells Touma that since the Collar was destroyed, it was impossible to make any predictions using their original plan. The malfunction with her occurred because they did not test the use of the external controller since the Collar has been destroyed. She says that if Fiamma of the Right attempts to access her knowledge while in her current state, it may even do more harm to her body. Elizard picks Index up in her arms and states that they will look after her in London as they were the ones that created her framework in the first place, so they will carry out specialized healing and will attempting to cut off any interference from Fiamma. She points out however, that it will not be enough unless Fiamma is defeated and the long distance controller is destroyed, her safety cannot be guaranteed.


Touma then tells Stiyl that he going to punch Fiamma of the Right in the face and tell him to watch over Index. Stiyl gets angry at fist, but he agrees when Touma points out that Necessarius may do more things to Index and how Stiyl would better able to protect her than him from them.


Rating: 8/10

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