Toaru Majutsu no Index: New Testament

Volume 10, Afterword

If you bought each volume one by one, welcome back. If you bought them all at once, welcome.

This is Kamachi Kazuma.

We’ve finally reached the tenth volume since the New Testament label was added. As mentioned in the previous volume’s afterword, this had the highly irregular three-part structure, but I thought it would make a good ending to settle everything with Othinus.

“I will protect you even if I make an enemy of the world.” Such a hackneyed, overused, and unarguably cool phrase. This volume’s theme was trying it out for real.

That made this volume about a boss rush. I focused on breaking through the center of a true hell in a world with no redos and on Kamijou Touma taking his revenge after doing nothing but lose in the New Testament series. With Marian’s Dáinsleif, Almighty Thor after he broke from the shell of the lightning god, and Magic God Othinus’s crossbow that once took the life of the protagonist, I added in everything I could that had been built up in New Testament.

In New Testament 9, Kamijou Touma learned he was not a hero of justice but a normal high school boy, but in this volume, I wanted to show that being a normal high school boy doesn’t mean he can’t challenge the world.

Even as he shivers in the cold, is soaked in blood, and exchanges blows with the allies he had previously relied on, the protagonist continues to fight for a single girl. How did you like it?

- Chapter 9: V.S. “The One who Bears White and Black Wings and Opposes the World” — Round_01.

When you hear the term “boss rush”, you might think the enemies will gradually grow stronger at each new stage, so I immediately sent in one of the strongest. I even showed a superweapon hidden in the shadow of Endymion to make even his entrance exciting.

I also immediately used the badly damaging attack method of using the left hand to swing a weapon on top of the right hand to show that this would be a truly hellish boss rush.

I quite like Amano Kaguya who is neither good nor evil and views the earth’s events from an outsider’s perspective, but I’m not sure I’ll ever have a chance to really use that in a story.

- Chapter 10: V.S. “The Fury of Two Billion” — Round_02.

After Academy City’s #1 comes the Agnese Force. I figured that sequence would have you laughing and asking what Agnese could possibly do, so I used the surging inflation spell that multiplies personal magic by two billion to quickly corner Kamijou.

My main purpose was to show at an early stage that letting your guard down for an instant would get you killed this time. Or to put it more simply, I wanted to write a scene of Kamijou spinning through the air and dislocating his shoulder!

- Chapter 11: V.S. “The Nuns Wavering in God\'s Majesty” — Round_03.

Now for the Russian Orthodox Church. Their power aside, the important point with them was being the first opponent in the boss rush that Kamijou barely knew and thus would show no kindness.

The Seven Deadly Sins spell they used is meant to weaken pagan gods by defining them by one’s own set of rules, so it is a lot like Ollerus’s fairy spell. However, the Seven Deadly Sins spell would probably tend more in the demon direction (Their power is looked down on, but they remain a symbol of fear. In some cases, they become seen as an even greater force.), so it might have led to Othinus retaining her powers and gaining an even crueler personality.

- Chapter 12: V.S. “The Four Demon-Slaying Swords” — Round_04.

After the Romans and Russians, it’s the Anglicans. The last of the three Christian groups has the most vertical freedom. Regardless of his right hand, Kamijou Touma fundamentally cannot defeat a Saint, so he chose the frightening tactic of taking the path with a 100% chance of death.

The difference between him and Bersi is that he (in a way) completely trusts Kanzaki Kaori. The most important point is how the Priestess looks somehow happy even as watching spoiled Kamijou throws off her pace.

- Chapter 13: V.S. “The Blacksmith who Releases the Magic Sword” — Round_05.

Dáinsleif was never truly used in New Testament 4, but now it attacks at its full specs. Partially calling in all sorts of hells and endings seems like complete inflation of power to me, but I decided to go for it anyways because the dwindling of people’s faith acts as a sign or omen of coming destruction in a lot of religions.

By the way, as I wrote this, it scared me how quickly the user would run out of their stock of summons when using this attack.

And if Marian had not made a limited barrier before the battle, something similar to Angel Fall in the old Volume 4 might have happened.

- Chapter 14: V.S. “The Police of the Front Stage” — Round_06.

The opponent Kamijou Touma completely lost to was not a monster from the magic or science sides. It was a normal soldier who had gathered as much normal power as possible. This functions as an important brake in this series. If he can ever defeat someone like that without thinking, the series is as good as over.

The ghillie suit is a truly terrible combination from a moe perspective and it’s a pain to describe in detail, but I really wanted to put one in somewhere!

Sergeant Ingrid’s sneaking was partially a way of showing how skilled she was, but then it was made fun of by Lessar and Vasilisa later. That is another important balancer in this series.

- Chapter 15: V.S. “The Merciless Scientific Vanguard” — Round_07.

The rush of Five Overs. There was no way he could win, so I made some drama as they ran away. The theme of this chapter was a reckless elopement. I was trying to make the hopeless situation seem as refreshing as possible by bringing up far-off dreams such as the bakery and flower shop.

- Chapter 16: V.S. “The Heaven-Sent Child Loved by Electrons” — Round_08.

In a way, this was another revenge match from New Testament 9, but this time it happened with Kamijou losing.

The main point here was Mikoto defeating Kamijou’s argument with a similar yet different argument to the Will’s in the previous volume. The gist of it was “from whose perspective is it a perfect world?”

Kamijou could only overcome the ultimate argument with his selfish desires, but Mikoto saved him in a different way than the Will by pointing out that everyone else has their own selfish desires and it’s too simple to think mechanically forcing salvation on everyone is the best option.

By the way, the final attack was because I decided to go with a “special attack hidden behind seemingly kind and accepting behavior” similar to rubbing their head and exploding, kissing them on the forehead and exploding, or hugging them and exploding.

- Chapter 17: V.S. “The Master of the Library and the Magic Queen” — Round_09.

Kamijou Touma’s tension lessens the closer his relationship with the person is and that showed its true value here. ...I just wish there had been a character there to make fun of Birdway for loving her big bro so much!!

And since I was making Birdway into a pseudo magic god, I kind of regret not giving her the costume along with the lance.

- Chapter 18: V.S. “The One who Opposes the Magic God” — Round_10.

As any reader who has made it this far could probably guess, getting off easy for two or three battles is a sign of things are about to get much worse. This time it was Silvia going yandere after Ollerus’s defeat. She went all out with breaking a large tree through his body and throwing over the bag of blood he had become to restrict the actions of her partner. She was so angry that she went for hand-to-hand while completely ignoring her well-reasoned spell using a clothesline shown in New Testament 6. She likely wanted to feel the sensation of his flesh being smashed to fulfill her desire for revenge.

On the other hand, Brunhild was (scarily) calm. Kamijou and Othinus gave up on talking right away, but she is the type who can be reasoned with. If they had persuaded her, the battle may have developed in a different direction.

If Kamijou is the current one who understands Othinus, then Ollerus is the one who best knows her past evil deeds that are wrapped in mystery. First she took his chance to reach the level of magic god and then she took the special power remaining in his body. Othinus had twice taken everything from him, so I thought him forgiving her would hold an important point in this story.

Ollerus had lost all his power, but I made sure he did not let that weakness show. The important point is how lonely he is as the one who could not understand her.

- Chapter 19: V.S. “The Hammer-Wielding Almighty God” — Round_11.

Almighty Thor defeated Kamijou in an instant at the end of New Testament 6, so I think this was an important revenge match for him to overcome.

He said not to view his ability as mere teleportation, but Musujime Awaki might be able to do something similar in her perfect mode. It isn’t for nothing that she was determined to reach Level 5 if not for her trauma.

Thor looked up to Kamijou Touma not for the power in his right hand but for the environment he is placed in and how bravely he chooses to throw himself into that environment. Thor automatically evades all attacks and takes the optimal position, but that means he must abandon the weak and his allies and only he can hide in safety if something happens. With all that and his conflict with “brooding” Touma in New Testament 5 and 6, it hints that what he truly longs for is not the strongest sword but the strongest shield.

Kamijou became a “battered shield” after he made decisions that anyone could have made if they thought about it and ultimately made an enemy of the world to save a lonely goddess. To Thor, he may have looked like a giant mountain after gradually gathering up all of those experience points. To that “obsessed mountain climber”, he must have looked like the greatest peak.

- Chapter 20: V.S. “???” — Round_12(Secret).

In that cold world where everyone had announced they would kill Othinus, who would the final enemy be? After a lot of thought, I decided on Magic God Othinus herself rather than some other murderous person.

She decided a monster like herself should not be saved.

To Kamijou Touma who wanted to save that girl no matter what, no other enemy could have been as powerful. And when she became his enemy and rejected salvation, there was a line I definitely wanted to have him say: Don’t run, Othinus.

That isn’t a line you would normally hear from a protagonist to a girl who is almost entirely cornered, but Kamijou himself chose suicide in New Testament 9. Because he knew how she felt all too well and because he understood her, he was able to speak more harshly. I thought that would express their strong bond better than some flowery words.

With Othinus as his enemy, the final barrier he had to overcome was of course the crossbow. He was only able to be pushed onwards in New Testament 9, so I wrote this while thinking he could only stand on his own once he overcame this attack.

Also, the president’s speech was exciting, wasn’t it!? A bit sad that it would be changed to a headmaster or board chairman’s speech in a school story.

Speaking of the speech, I used it to stretch out the beginning of the fight because a drawn out battle against the crossbow was impossible. I was trying to make it like a duel in a Western or jidaigeki. That’s also why there was almost no dialogue between Kamijou and Othinus in the battle scene.

I wrote this while swearing I would give the volume a happy ending, but I still gave that punishment to view the happy world in the very end. Just hearing that may sound like a light punishment, but if you re-read New Testament 9, you should find its true value and see humanity’s ironic counterattack against Othinus.

It was a happy ending but it had what could be seen as the ultimate punishment, so I will end this with a line from the novel.

“Despite all that, you chose to face the world, Othinus.”

I give my thanks to my illustrator, Haimura-san, and my editors, Miki-san, Onodera-san, and Anan-san. Writing nothing but exciting battles increases the amount of work and the readers will gradually get used to it, so this had to be another difficult volume for them. Thank you very much.

I also give my thanks to all of the readers. I’d been holding off on “I’ll destroy that illusion” since starting New Testament, so how did you like having it released here? This was a story of hope where the small bits of good make up the majority even when the world seems harsh and filled with hostility and hatred. I hope you enjoyed it.

It is time to close the pages for now while praying that the pages of the next book will be opened.

And I lay my pen down for now.

By the way, how did you like her lovestruck side?

-Kamachi Kazuma