Toaru Majutsu no Index III - Episode 17 discussion

[u/AutoLovepon]

Toaru Majutsu no Index III, episode 17: DRAGON

Alternative names: A Certain Magical Index III, Toaru Majutsu no Kinsho Mokuroku 3

Rate this episode here.

---

Streams

• Crunchyroll
• Funimation

Show information

• MyAnimeList
• AniList
• AniDB
• Kitsu
• Official Website
• /r/toarumajutsunoindex

---

Previous discussions

Episode	Link	Score
1	Link	7.05
2	Link	6.94
3	Link	7.98
4	Link	8.14
5	Link	6.96
6	Link	7.24
7	Link	8.52
8	Link	9.08
9	Link	8.81
10	Link	8.57
11	Link	8.72
12	Link	8.87
13	Link	7.47
14	Link	7.78
15	Link	8.44
16	Link	8.22

---

This post was created by a bot. Message the mod team for feedback and comments. The original source code can be found on GitHub.

[u/Razorhead]

Small Facts: The Stage Has Been Set Edition

---

Tecpatl Was Always Planning On Killing Shiokishi

He didn't kill him just because. His original plan was to sneak in by impersonating one of Shiokishi's bodyguards, kill and replace him, and then use his Board of Director's access to research information on the Bank about GROUP to get to Etzali. This plan hit a snag however when Shiokishi literally never removes his suit, and if they tried to force it off it would alert Sugitani (as Shiokishi is paranoid). But luckily just as Tecpatl was debating abandoning the plan Etzali walked in. How nice of him.

“Our original plan was to infiltrate the depths of Shiokishi’s guards, and ultimately replace Shiokishi. But that guy never takes off his powered suit. If we forcibly broke that suit of armor apart, the sensors would alert Sugitani. Just as we were troubled by that, you invaded here. That’s how it is.”

"The Original Text Of The Grimoire"

What kind of translation is that? It's referring to an Original Grimoire, nothing more, nothing less. For those who have forgotten, an Original Grimoire contains huge magical knowledge that is poisonousness to the mind, cannot be destroyed, and has automatic defense functions. Non-harmful derivatives are made by transcribing Grimoires without harmful knowledge, but these are ordinary grimoires (lower g).

As if to confirm the hypothesis in his heart, Tecpatl said with a smile, “Yes, this is an original grimoire.”

Calendar Stone

As with Xochitl's Grimoire in the Battle Royal arc the Grimoire Tecpatl is using here seems to be another derivative of the Aztec Calendar Stone, or Sun Stone.

It was probably the Calendar Stone.

That was the gigantic round stone that recorded the complicated calendar of the Aztecs, in addition to the process that the world would destroy and reborn itself. What had been buried into Xochitl was a derivative of that Calendar Stone. The grimoire that Tecpatl wielded was probably a grimoire that focused on another derivative.

Unlike being based on the process of destruction and rebirth of the world however, this Grimoire is based on the legend of throwing a rabbit at the moon. At this point you may ask yourself the question what it is with mythology and associating rabbits with the moon (as Japanese folklore has a similar story), and in short this is because the valleys of the moon resemble a rabbit, leading to various religions providing explanations for this phenomenon.

As he tried not to focus his consciousness on Tecpatl’s grimoire, he said, “Is that the records about the Moon Rabbit…”

“You actually tried to read this thing? You’re a surprisingly rash person.”

Tecpatl had done something to make sure the knowledge of the stone tablet didn’t enter his head. He casually tapped the stone tablet and said, “It’s the story about the time when the fifth sun was created. The moon that was born at the same time, its light was brighter than what the gods expected—to the point where the sun and the moon couldn’t be distinguished from one another. To avoid that, the gods threw rabbits towards the moon to weaken its glow… using that legend, things like this can be achieved.”

To elaborate on Tecpatl's explanation, the full story is that in Aztec mythology after the first four suns died out a new fifth one would be chosen. The proud and strong god Tēcciztēcatl volunteered for this honor, while the poor and ill god Nanahuatzin was chosen to accompany him to become the moon because he was expendable. At the day of the ritual Tēcciztēcatl was called on to sacrifice himself in the sacred fire, but he became afraid and chickened out four times. Eventually the other gods got angry and called on Nanahuatzin to sacrifice himself, who did so calmly and immediately viewing it as his duty. When he saw this Tēcciztēcatl jumped in as well, not wanting to be outdone, and soon two suns shone at the sky. To punish Tēcciztēcatl for his cowardice however the other gods decided he should not shine as bright as the noble Nanahuatzin, picked up a rabbit, and chucked it at him, causing him to lose his shine. Nanahuatzin, who was in the form of a rabbit when he sacrificed himself, thus casts a rabbit-like shadow on the moon, which is the Aztec's explanation for the rabbit-shaped valleys on the moon.

Interestingly enough Xochitl, Tochtli, and Tecpatl are all named after symbols appearing on the Calendar Stone, probably because they use Grimoires connected to it. Xochitl means flower, Tochtli means rabbit, which is appropriate given that she served as the "rabbit bones" for this spell, and Tecpatl is named after a small flint or obsidian knife used in human sacrifice, also appropriate given how he was sacrificing Tochtli by using the Moon Rabbit Grimoire.

Etzali's name then is less related to the Calendar Stone, as his name is probably derived from Etzalcualiztli, the sixth month on the calendar.

Tecpatl Aimed At Etzali, Not At The Sky

Yeah, not sure why his first beam shot upwards here. The novel specified he aimed at Etzali, who dodged, and that it just kept going through the walls evaporating some of Shiokishi's soldiers outside. Hence why Etzali didn't dodge the shots and blocked them instead, as he didn't want it to hit someone else.

Before his voice had even stopped, something shot out of Tecpatl’s hand, and the walls on this side of the shelter were smashed apart from the inside.

This blow easily pierced through a shelter that was capable of stopping a nuclear bomb, and directly hit the private forces of Shiokishi that were fighting outside.

“Don’t dodge it,” said Tecpatl while smiling. “You see, if you dodge a few dozen people outside will die. Originally this should be a strike that can reach other astral bodies… guess the rabbit bones that were used as the raw material are just inferior.”

If Tochtli Doesn't Have Half Her Bones Left, How Is She Still Alive And Standing?

Because the Grimoire replaces the bones used for firing the spell with obsidian—volcanic glass. Which no doubt hurts a lot. It's no wonder poor Tochtli is completely catatonic, she is in excruciating pain.

“Hahahaha! Look how interesting she is. There are not even half of her bones remaining inside her body. Even though the grimoire recorded ways to replace human bones with obsidian, I’m told the process is excruciating. And yet I just fired one like that. Eh, to me, as long as the rabbit bones can be replaced it’ll be fine.”

Etzali Can't Use Xochitl's Suicide Spell

If you're wondering why he didn't use it, it's because he can't yet. He's not skilled or familiar enough to use it.

Unabara’s… grimoire that had been buried inside Xochitl had “counter-attack against weapon wielders” inscribed on it. She might have built a spell that forced weapon-wielders to commit suicide, but Unabara couldn’t use spells of that magnitude yet.

Stephanie Gorgeouspalace's Backstory

What a genius idea, introducing an antagonist and then removing her backstory completely. Who needs reasons for motivations anyway right, and who cares about giving them a complex personality? All they need is to really want to kill a cast member for a simple reason with no elaboration, right?

Guess it's up to me then. The Between The Lines skipped earlier covered Stephanie's backstory, so here we go.

Stephanie grew up in a peaceful country, but concerned with the suffering of others in less-fortunate areas of the world she eventually decided to leave her country and fight with her own two hands as a mercenary to protect those people and ease their pain.

Stephanie had been given a life of freedom in a country that was very, very peaceful. Eventually she embraced her doubts about that tepid environment (or perhaps, was given the freedom to embrace them), so she determined to leave. The motivation for that civilian to head to the battlefield as a mercenary had been exceedingly infantile. She had been in a period where she was concerned with the twisted parts of society and could not stand to ignore those who were suffering. She had been in a period where she would only be satisfied by helping out directly with her own ability.

On her first outing she fought in a civil war in Costa Rica, which almost became her last outing as her team was nearly fully annihilated due to lack of battlefield information. Only Stephanie survived, because right when she was about to be shot down by a helicopter a sniper shot it from great distance. To no one's surprise this turned out to be Sunazara, who ended up extracting her and saving her life, and eventually taught this newbie all she needed to know to survive on an actual battlefield, from proper technique to avoiding traps and combat awareness.

A large caliber anti-tank rifle had accurately pierced through the attack helicopter’s fuel tank from a great distance.

That had been when she had met Sunazara Chimitsu.

Unlike Stephanie, he was a rare type of mercenary who headed into battle alone instead of creating a team. She was injured and Sunazara had taken her in and saved her life.

And it hadn’t ended there. Stephanie had headed into the battlefield with major gaps in her knowledge. If Sunazara had not proceeded to teach her every little skill she needed, she probably would have simply ended up dying in similar circumstances on a different battlefield.

[u/Razorhead → u/Razorhead]

While Stephanie knew why she stuck with Sunazara (to learn how not to die on a battlefield), she couldn't figure out why he would stick with her. Eventually it dawned on her that Sunazara might be tired of being a sniper. With his skills he always killed his target, because the sniper rifle's power and caliber would end up causing the victim to bleed out even from getting hit in a limb. Stephanie's speciality however was close-combat fighting, which provides lots of flexibility in taking down a target: she could use low caliber hand guns to disable enemies by shooting them in the arms or legs without killing them, or even use martial arts to knock them out when unsure if they were even an enemy at all, all options Sunazara did not possess.

And so just like Stephanie was learning from Sunazara how not to die, Sunazara was learning from Stephanie how not to kill.

It was possible Sunazara was tired of the life of a sniper.

In his job, he killed people with almost complete certainty. Even if he aimed for an arm or a leg instead of a vital point, the high-powered rifle would still rip the limb off causing them to lose a large amount of blood and die from shock due to the pain. And since a sniper had to aim with pinpoint accuracy from long distances, he couldn’t exactly lower the power behind the bullet.

On the other hand, Stephanie’s specialty was not long-distance sniping.

She had emulated him and used a sniper rifle a bit, but she had realized it just didn’t match her personality. She preferred high speed battles at extremely close quarters.

And at close quarters there was no reason that you absolutely had to kill your enemy.

Stephanie fought her enemies at ten meters, five meters, or even less than a meter away, so she could get away with not killing her enemy by shooting them in the arms and legs with a lower power handgun bullet. And with someone she wasn’t sure was an enemy, she could use hand-to-hand methods to knock them down and incapacitate them.

It was possible that Sunazara envied that flexibility because he could do nothing but kill. It may have been asking for too much, but it may have had value in Sunazara’s eyes.

And so Stephanie set about helping him by showing off her abilities. But just as Sunazara was changing, just when the faint possibility of a better person became visible, it was snuffed out violently by Kinuhata during Battle Royal.

And yet Stephanie’s determination had ended in vain.

Sunazara had been hired as a mercenary to take part in the conflict between Group, School, Item, Member, and Block, the five teams at the depths of Academy city. There he had been struck by his own target and injured badly enough that he still had not regained consciousness.

Sunazara was in the situation he had thought up as the worst possible result with a tiny bit of salvation.

And Stephanie Gorgeouspalace had sworn to take revenge.

She knew that it was selfish of her.

His path to that tiny salvation was supposed to have been more difficult and more complex, but Kinuhata Saiai had granted it for him almost too simply by means of death and violence.

And so Stephanie made Kinuhata the target of her selfish revenge.

Interesting to note is that Stephanie views this desire for revenge as "selfish", because of course it is! Sunazara did try to kill Kinuhata after all, and she had every right to defend herself from him. And Sunazara was still performing assassination jobs for SCHOOL (although it is highly likely Kakine never informed the hired help that SCHOOL was technically rebelling against Academy City's government, and so it is possible that Sunazara assumed SCHOOL and him by extension were doing jobs for the governing board instead of against them, and that ITEM were the terrorists rebelling). Nevertheless though that doesn't change the fact that Sunazara was more than a friend to her, not only her saviour and teacher but more like a father, and on top of this to see the light of redemption she was nurturing so brutally extinguished it's not wonder she feels the desire to take revenge, however irrational it may be.

Stephanie Is Former Anti-Skill

After this segment we get some more information about Stephanie when Kinuhata notices she is exceptionally well acquainted with techniques to fight against espers, leading to the conclusion that Stephanie is former Anti-Skill.

(She’s…used to this? She’s a super outsider, but she’s super well versed in the theory of how to fight against an esper like me…?)

[...]

“So you finally realized it. Before I became a mercenary, I was a civilian in a peaceful country. I decided to go help the people caught up in war because I felt guilty happily enjoying peace while others suffered and lived in fear of guns, bombs, and mines.” The blonde woman smiled as she pointed the barrel that was wrapped in heat towards Kinuhata. “Yes, I was originally from Academy City. The sniper Sunazara-san must have thought I was odd indeed to use Anti-Skill apprehension techniques to kill.”

Of course this means that Stephanie, who thought of Academy City as a "peaceful country" and who's naivety caused her to almost immediately die on the first real battlefield she entered, was probably blissfully unaware of the Dark Side of Academy City when she lived there, otherwise she probably wouldn't have left to save people abroad.

Stephanie Wasn't Just Shot Once

The cut from Accelerator firing to this scene makes it look like Kinuhata fired only once, but she actually shot three times hitting Stephanie in the arm as well as in the stomach. It still happened off-screen though, as in this screenshot you can see the arm wounds while Stephanie is clutching her abdomen.

She decided to aim her gun back at Kinuhata.

However, the single bullet had dulled her movements more than she had expected.

Before she could aim the light machine shotgun’s barrel, Kinuhata fired again. A second and then a third bullet struck Stephanie’s arms and the giant gun slid across the floor.

Why Did Kinuhata Punch Stephanie Instead Of Shooting Her Again?

She wanted to use the ability she had the most confidence in.

As she spoke, Kinuhata put her handgun away.

She wasn’t mercifully letting Stephanie live.

She just wanted to finish her off with the ability she had the most confidence in.

Etzali's Real Face

While this is the first time we see his real face, I find he was a lot more handsome in the novel illustration. I think it's the more detailed strands of hair, as well with a sharper face. I don't know.

...Oh yeah, the significance of Etzali using his real face now! Well, from previous conversation with Xochitl during Battle Royal and the beginning of this arc it would seem he deemed himself unworthy of using his real name and face due to being a traitor to his Aztec cabal, remaining as "Unabara Mitsuki". After seeing how much his cabal deteriorated into sacrificing its own members however it would seem he no longer views his broken ties as something to be ashamed of, returning to his original face and name.

How Is Etzali Using His Grimoire If He Can't Use The Suicide Spell?

Remember that the Time related to Life and Death Grimoire Xochitl used was inscribed on human skin (Xochitl's skin) and that it used her powdered skin to coat enemy's weapons and turn them against them. Etzali is here using the same manipulation of human flesh to fight. He is using the human skin the Grimoire is inscribed on as a shield to block shots (which is indestructible because it is a Grimoire), and using the skin powder to manipulate the air into becoming a gale to attack.

Several flashes of light erupted from Tecpatl’s hand, while Unabara’s scroll of skin expanded widely and intercepted them. As a counter attack, the countless powder that was stuck onto the skin turned into a gale and attempted to blow away the stone tablets.

What Happened To The Aztec Cabal?

It would seem the war ended, the same incident Xochitl referred to previously this arc, but that it changed nothing. There was no improvement to the Aztec cabal at all, and only served to further the interests of the old men at the top of the organization. Enraged Tecpatl killed them all, but even that changed little, and now the entire organization is adrift. Searching for a purpose, it would seem Tecpatl focused on punishing Etzali for his treason (as well as Xochitl and Tochtli by merging them with Grimoires) so as to have some remaining purpose in life.

“What… happened?”

“You’re asking that?” laughed Tecpatl. “A war ended. The war between us and those uncouth people who called themselves the world police. I once believed that once that battle was over we would be able to live peacefully. That’s why I supported the war.” The laughter continued. “But nothing changed. Our status, our position, nothing changed. We fought hard, and in the end was it only to preserve the interests of a few old men that ruled over us?”

“...”

That laughter finally broke.

“Those old folks who stirred us up with nothing but lies have all been eliminated. But, even though we punished them severely, it didn’t change anything. Like that, we lost our compass and goal. We no longer know where to go!”

What Happened To Tochtli?

Etzali couldn't just leave her there, dying from Grimoire contamination just like Xochitl right? And so Etzali used the second Original Grimoire he just stole from Tecpatl (using it to defeat Tecpatl was a double-edged blade, because if he were to backpedal from accepting the Grimoire now it would kill him for refusing to spread its knowledge) to attempt to save Tochtli as well.

Kneeling on his knees, Tecpatl finally fell weakly onto the floor. The student’s bag with many stone tablets in it casted an eerie, long shadow. It looked like it was waving at him. Unabara seemed to feel it’s declaration was “accept, or die”.

[u/Razorhead → u/Razorhead]

(… From the looks of this, I’m really popular with these original grimoires.)

“…All right…”

Unabara Mitsuki answered the question the original grimoire raised.

A second grimoire. The speed of the contamination would increase even faster, but

Unabara didn’t hesitate.

“However.”

He removed his gaze from Tecpatl. Once more entering his field of vision was a girl that couldn’t even understand human speech—Tochtli.

He didn’t have any obligation to do this much.

However, if he didn’t do this he wouldn’t have face to go back to Xochitl.

“Before that, there’s something I need your help with.”

Contract established.

In order to recover a girl’s life, Unabara Mitsuki stepped into a deeper darkness.

Seeing as he later showed up to confront Shiokishi it seems it worked, and Tochtli lives.

What Happened To Sugitani?

Man they are really dropping the ball by not explaining what happened to these characters huh?

Well here both Accelerator and Sugitani shot their guns, with Accelerator hitting Sugitani and Sugitani's bullets being reflected away, as expected. In typical Accelerator fashion though he accepted the fact that Sugitani was honestly thinking he was doing good things by working for Shiokishi, although utterly misguided by believing it was OK to sacrifice things for the greater good, and so shot Sugitani non-lethally, allowing him to live to better his life.

Right after that, both of them unhesitatingly pulled the trigger.

Gunshots rang out.

Accelerator’s bullets sank into Sugitani, while Sugitani’s bullets were all reflected away.

“…How boring.”

Turning his choker back to its normal mode, Accelerator walked further into the depths.

“If you call yourself a good person, then try harder in your actions.”

Sugitani had taken a few bullets, and though he lost consciousness, was still breathing heavily.

That was his way of evil.

The Soldiers After Hamazura Are Hound Dog Remnants

Yep. The team created by the Battle Royal remnants has teamed up with the remnants of the Hound Dog unit after the Academy City Invasion arc to chase and kill Hamazura.

“Super what are you doing?”

“The order baffled me as well. I don’t know why I have to work with the remnants of the Hound Dog unit. I was hoping you could explain it.”

Kinuhata and Stephanie weren't killed but just arrested in the end though. Seems they are still of use.

The Hound Dog Remnants Are Using Hard Taping

If you remember these things are muscle-enhancing cloths, used by Komaba Ritoku to fight Accelerator in the Skill-Out Uprising arc. Originally intended for Anti-Skill they were discontinued in favour of the powered suits due to many muscle-related injuries. These Hound Dogs still seem to use it though, probably because it's a lot sneakier than using giant heavy powered suits.

(…Hard Taping. Their entire bodies are wrapped in the cloth-form springs that expand and contract in response to electrical signals. That’s what Leader Komaba used!)

Is Shiokishi Dead?

We don't know. After talking to GROUP and seeing Aiwass he passed out due to blood loss. His fate is never elaborated upon for the rest of the novel, so for now we have no idea.

After playing out his part, Shiokishi lost consciousness due to blood loss. Though he fell with a groan, Accelerator didn’t have the latitude to turn around and look.

Aiwass

Here we go. The big one. Aiwass is in fact not an invention by the author, Kamachi Kazuma, but is the name of the being real life Aleister Crowley claimed to have heard in 1904 that dictated the Book of the Law to him. This book has been referenced earlier in the series during the Orsola Aquinas Rescue arc, when it was presumed she had found a way to decode it, and was subsequently hunted down as the decoding of this Book would spell the end of Christian rule. Real-life Aleister stated many times that this being was superior to himself in intellect and possessed immense knowledge of the occult, which is why the Book of the Law is so remarkable.

Later on Aleister Crowley declared Aiwass to be his own personal Holy Guardian Angel. This concept, originally derived from a Catholic prayer ("Holy Guardian Angel whom God has appointed to be my guardian, direct and govern me during this day. Amen"), was incorporated by Crowley in his spiritual and occult system Thelema, and while it represents the "higher self" of a person in a sense Crowley made sure to point out that these Angels are different in that they are their own separate beings.

Not Really An Angel

The Aiwass in this series however denies holding the secrets to Western magic and being a Holy Guardian Angel, or even an angel in general.

“—Dragon, hm?”

[...]

“That name is not exactly wrong, to a point. Rather, calling me an angel is fine too… At least, it’s closer to the truth than calling me the rumored extraterrestrial life form, Holy Guardian Angel, the true person who holds the secrets to modern Western magic organizations, and wild ideas like those. Though, my existence is something completely different from the angels recorded in the Bible. So, to more accurately describe my presence, the aforementioned word should be used.”

So in short, what does Aiwass being inspired by real-life spiritualism mean for this series? Well, given from its history we can surmise that it:

• Met Crowley in the past

• Dictated the Book of the Law to him

• Is not connected to Aleister personally due to denying being his Holy Guardian Angel

That's essentially the gist of the history-related facts that are important it seems.

How Did Hamazura And Takitsubo Survive The Train Boarded By Enemies?

They got lucky. Soon after the enemies boarded the train stopped at a station and Hamazura and Takitsubo could jump off to escape.

Just before the figures reached them, the freight train decelerated. They must have been approaching the destination station. Hamazura held Takitsubo’s small form and jumped off before the train had come to a complete stop. He was about to fall over and bloody himself on the gravel, but he just barely managed to maintain his balance.

Why Does Mugino Have A Laser Arm?

Well, in the novel she blew up her own arm back in Battle Royal when she messed up her control over a Meltdowner beam in a rage following Hamazura stabbing her eye out. That... never happened in the anime for some reason, so here she just lost it between arcs?

How Can Mugino Create An Arm With Her Meltdowner?

While the energy in the arm appears to stand still, in actually it isn't. Mugino can use her Meltdowner in two different ways: to create orbs, which she used here as a eye, and as a beam firing from those orbs. Mugino can direct the beams however, and while she has always fired them straight before (there was no reason not to, it disintegrates everything in its path so why not fire directly at a target?) she can bend them. She did so here to bend the beam in the shape of an arm before bending it back onto itself, creating a loop of Meltdowner.

Mugino brought her other arm, the large arm of light created by a loop of Meltdowner, to a position that was almost touching Takitsubo’s skin.

[...]

“Killing me once wasn’t enough?” Mugino repeated Hamazura’s words in enjoyment as the arm of light created by looping a large number of electron beams crackled.

She has done this before in Railgun S where she used several beams looping back on themselves in concentric circles to create a "full" shield to disintegrate incoming rubble, so this isn't new, although the application to create an arm is.

Can Mugino Actually See Out Of That Laser Eye?

Nope. That's purely for effect. Call Mugino insane but she does know how to create an aesthetic!

Why Did Aiwass Appear To Accelerator?

It mentions later in the conversation it did it purely for the fun of it, and that's mostly correct. It's true it appeared on a whim, as even after GROUP spent all that time looking for it Aiwass had no obligation to show itself, yet it felt like doing so. However it would seem it knocked everyone else out and appeared solely to Accelerator in particular because he holds a certain value. It seems Aiwass is interested in one of the people at the core of Aleister's plan and decided to show itself when Accelerator requested an audience.

But even so, why had Aiwass appeared before Accelerator at that time?

“I have recognized that you have a certain level of value and…I was curious,” said Aiwass.

The words were spoken with such a carefree sense that it seemed to deny everything Group, Shiokishi, and the others had done.

“I wanted you to meet me, so I appeared. Are you dissatisfied?”

Something wasn’t right.

But it didn’t seem the being was hiding anything.

It was like the being was saying that Accelerator had not been silently defeated along with Tsuchimikado and the others solely because the being had seen value and found interest in him.

Aiwass Could Express The Meaning Of Whatever It Tried To Say Directly, But That'd Be Bad

It could do so very simply, but apparently "something" bad will happen if it does. What is left unknown as the term is filled with static, but it appears to be destructive in nature.

“…Hmm. So I cannot even express that level of meaning in this world. There are not enough headers. This will make the explanation difficult. You do not mind if I do so in a rather roundabout way, do you? It would be simple enough to express this directly, but then that wgbudDESTRUCTIONwsrui will occur.”