Vento

General

Vento of the Front (前方のヴェント, Zenpō no Vento?) is a character introduced in Toaru Majutsu no Index. The only female member of the secretive God's Right Seat, Vento of the Front displays a fearsome appearance that suits well with her attitude and power. She is the first member of God's Right Seat introduced, making her one of the most powerful magicians in the series. She is the main magic side antagonist of the Academy City Invasion Arc, as a counterpart to the science side's antagonist Kihara Amata.

Etymology

Vento's assumed name is the Italian word for "wind".

Appearance

Vento of the Front is usually clad in yellow which is accentuated by the color brown. She wears a yellow kirtle with the symbol of the cross over a brown collared undershirt reaching up to cover her hands, in combination with removable yellow sleeves that goes from her wrist to her upper arms. Vento also wears brown hosiery and yellow shoes. Finally she covers her head with a yellow headpiece. Central to her outfit is a thorn design theme, which covers a piece of brown cloth which is part of her head wear as well her wearing a thorn belt around her waist. Vento of the Front is described as having a virgin-like figure though this is ruined by her self-presentation, with her heavily pierced face and heavy make-up. Though sometimes hidden, she carries a chain that was pierced at the bottom of her tongue with the Cross of Divine Punishment attached to it. Coupled with her demeanor and personality, this was willingly made by Vento of the Front as to give people a negative impression of her and makes it easier to trigger the Divine Punishment.

Personality

Vento of the Front has a very spiteful personality as a deliberate attempt to provoke someone to trigger Divine Punishment. She is shown to be very assertive and impatient and has shown little respect to people of authority such as the Pope when coercing him to immediately sign a document that will make Kamijou Touma an enemy of God. Vento of the Front is also shown to be very sarcastic and delves into taunting when talking to an opponent such as Aleister Crowley or to Touma during her first battle with him. Vento of the Front's most prominent character feature is her highly negative disposition towards science due to the nature of her brother's death, for which she blames science. However, because she chose to act and look to provoke animosity, she willingly allowed herself to be isolated from others, where even the possibility of being given good will is suppressed by her actions. This is due to Vento of the Front blaming herself for the death of her brother who chose to die so that she may live, she subsequently decided to blame science for his death because it was a convenient scapegoat for her. Vento of the Front knows this as well, and acknowledges the disdain her own looks brought upon her by her spell. Vento of the Front also seem to have a low opinion on non-Catholics, calling them "heathen monkeys".

Background

When she was a child, she went with her younger brother to an amusement park, however, an accident occurred during one of the attraction's test runs which severely injured the two siblings. During their treatment it was discovered that they both had the extremely rare blood type B Rh negative. With blood donors scarce and the doctors unable to save them both, her brother chose to sacrifice his life in order for her to live. Because of this, she hates science. She later becomes a member of God's Right Seat, and dons the name Vento of the Front.

Abilities Part 1

She is blessed with the nature of "God's Flame" and is aligned to the Archangel Uriel after purifying her body from the Original Sin, as such she lost the capability to cast human magic but gained the capability to cast angelic magic. Though when she fought Fiamma he remarked she can somehow use 'normal' magic once more, from her first attack towards him and how she rebuilt the core crucifix of 'Queen of Adriatic Sea'. Divine Punishment Divine Punishment (天罰術式, Tembatsu Jutsushiki?, lit. Damnation Arts, Yen Press: Divine Judgment) is a large-scale suppression magic spell which applies the logic that no one should bear any menace towards God, if so, punishment will apply. As explained by Idol Theory, using the significance of being pierced by steel in Christianity, such as the piercings on her face that bears the attribute of the nails that pierced the Son of God to the cross, and the hammer that she carries which bears the attribute of the hammer that nailed him to the cross. Because of this Vento of the Front can symbolically mimic the Son of God's body during his crucifixion, as such she is practically substituting herself as God for the Divine Punishment to work. In combination of her now already intimidating looks, she uses provocative speech patterns as well to incite hostility to successfully trigger Divine Punishment. This magic literally strips people of their consciousness if they ever bear any ill will to Vento of the Front. The spell is a large-scale one considering that it can affect anyone in the world, regardless of distance or knowledge of Vento of the Front. For example a person hears on the news that an intruder (Vento of the Front) has invaded Academy City and the person bears ill will to the intruder, then that person will activate and receive Divine Punishment. The spell works by stripping away oxygen inside the victim's body, leaving the minimum necessary amount as to not hinder brain and organ functions.

Abilities Part 2

Forcing the physical body to go into a state like an animal's hibernation period in order to preserve survival. It is also stated by Index that there may be certain stages in response to hostility given to the user such as depriving consciousness, body-binding, and even preventing interference from the outside. Resuscitation through regulated oxygen supply to victims is impossible as such the only possible way for revitalization is when the magician deems that punishment is no longer needed, or when the core of the Divine Punishment is destroyed, which is the cross that is at the end of the chain that is attached on Vento of the Front's tongue at which point Vento of the Front will no longer be able to use Divine Punishment. Kamijou Touma is immune to the spell due to his Imagine Breaker, while a Pope-class Walking Church can also render it's user immune from Divine Punishment. Kihara Amata is shown to be unaffected by Divine Punishment upon meeting Vento, even as he ordered Hound Dogs to kill her. This phenomenon stems from Kihara Amata's own personality; though he desired to kill Vento, he felt none of the hostility that is normally associated with the intent to kill, comparing killing people to pulling out weeds. Vento of the Front herself states that he is truly rotten to the core or at least similar to her. Other spells Wind Hammer: Vento of the Front with her barbed hammer. Vento of the Front uses a barbed hammer that represent the hammer that nailed the Son of God to the cross. Here, she summons at the same time a big hammer made of air to bludgeon her opponents using a complicated pattern derived from sweeping her barbed hammer on the movements of the chain attached to her tongue, which traces the desired trajectory of the wind hammer. The movements of the air is stated by Touma as following the principles of fluid mechanics.

Abilities Part 3

La Regina del Mare Adriatico: As of Volume 20 she modified the Queen of Adriatic Sea on top of Biagio's original modifications, and she now has the power to summon parts of the guardian magical armada to wherever she is. This is shown by a cross made of ice and shaped like a anchor pierced onto her tongue in the place of the cross that uses 'Divine Punishment' that was destroyed earlier. Vento explains this as her element is wind and wind is a crucial part of sailing, so she has partial control over spells that are water-based. However her ability to control the Queen of Adriatic was destroyed when she fought against Fiamma, when he ripped the cross out of her tongue.