Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume8 Afterword
Afterword[edit]
If you picked them up one at a time, welcome back. If you bought them all at once, welcome.
This is Kamachi Kazuma.
I think I’ve now used everything I had built up regarding the Transcendents who began appearing around GT4. The main story already touched on a variety of issues, like why members of the same cabal had to work out each other’s powers like they had only just met, but did you all notice these odd aspects about them before reading GT8? When Aradia lamented that witch’s death in the GT6 flashback, it might have been in the age of smartphones.
Now, about the Transcendents. The orthodox method for a magician is to make all of their tools themselves, so they had to work with pattern paper, a sewing machine, a toolbox, and plywood to prepare for their big ceremony. When you imagine that, a magic cabal sounds kind of fun, like the preparations for a school festival. Maybe I could have created an amusing image for them if I had explored that further?
And speaking of the Transcendents, you probably thought Aradia got a lot nicer after she lost, but then I threw the truth at you. How about that?
But with that in mind, I like that she wrapped duct tape around her ankle as a sign that only Kamijou would understand. There can be more than one Aradia, so she did the same thing as attaching colorful tape to your umbrella’s handle so you’ll know which one is yours in the school or store umbrella stand. That harsh young woman kept her eyes on the definition of a Transcendent, accepted it, and then took another step forward. I hope you enjoyed that unspoken sign of affection.
Since Transcendent Mut Thebes was a punishment expert, I wanted an image from Egyptian mythology directly related to life and death, so I went with the phoenix. And I wanted to give her a spell that emphasized how to kill her target rather than the simple act of taking their life, so I ended up with what you saw. That weapon girl wears a skimpy dancer’s costume and has no blind spots. The weird and scary part is how, in the times and places where they actually held executions in the public square, the criminal’s death was seen as a form of entertainment. But I like the fact that she will ignore the purpose of an item and attack you with a propeller or boiler since she is a Transcendent of the magic side and thus doesn’t know or care much about weapons.
The Egyptian goddess Mut is supposed to have the vulture as her symbol, so I can only hope I did a good job of fusing the vulture that lives off of dead flesh and the phoenix that burns itself away and is reborn in the flames. …Then again, there are theories that the phoenix was never actually part of Egyptian mythology. But maybe that makes it all the more appropriate for a Transcendent?
While she executes people, that is only for her job and she is not a bad person herself. It’s a somewhat important point that she takes a more neutral stance. Deep down, she’s an easily-chilled girl who can create a unique way of eating four mochis. She only eliminates people based on the result of a majority vote, so her own opinion of the person doesn’t come into it. That said, she shows no mercy to anyone who gets in the way of an action once she has decided to take it, so she is a dangerous person all the same.
I also included martial law this time. Some of you might be wondering why they didn’t declare the Code Red that Academy City has to respond to terrorist attacks. Code Red is used to lower all the barriers and trap the terrorists in a small area, but I wanted to create a situation where everyone across Academy City was forced to remain at home (because otherwise a lot of people would have been killed by all that artillery fire going on). Since this happened from January 3 - 4, I was hoping it could coincide with that winter break feeling of being at home with nothing to do, but what did you think?
I give my thanks to my illustrators Haimura-san and Kasai Shin-san and my editors Miki-san, Anan-san, Nakajima-san, Hamamura-san, and Matsuura-san. This was the combat vehicle special. Because a mobile combat vehicle is just cooler than a tank or an armored vehicle! I wrote this with that love in my heart, so that vehicle ended up playing a bigger role than I initially planned. Like the thick beam seen in a vertical-scrolling shoot ‘em up. This couldn’t have made the illustrations easy. Thank you.
And I give my thanks to the readers. This was the Anna Sprengel festival! Kamijou already defeated her once in GT2 yet she’s gone this long without any real resolution, so I shoved her inside a cramped vehicle with Kamijou Touma so they could stew together. She had made so many suggestive appearances and hinted at so many things, but by throwing the term “villainess” over her head like a net and cooking her up like fried rice, I feel like her flavor changes in a strange way that causes her dignity to crumble away. In GT7, Kamijou said he couldn’t forgive her but that he didn’t want her to be killed. You can find his answer to that dilemma here. Take this, Miss Sprengel! No more hiding behind mystery for you!! Anyway, thank you for reading this far.
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.
The Rosicrucian cabal and the Bridge Builders Cabal have finally been linked.
-Kamachi Kazuma
