Punishment Squad

The Punishment Squad (討伐 部隊 Toubatsu Butai) is a special task force of the Holy Office of Index which executes extremely crucial and dangerous missions given directly by the pope Johanna. The group included the subset of the Trinity, another special task force. In their last mission, they failed to eliminate their target, Lieselotte Werckmeister, and lost their lives. Fortunately, their leader Georgius managed to seal Lieselotte away in the end, although with the cost of his life as well. They were later resurrected by Misao Kusakabe, who bound their souls into the bodies of the Larvaes and stripped of their memories to protect the seal. They are protagonists of Before Story Arc.

Georgius of the Rainbow

 * Main article: Georgius

Georgius is the leader of the Punishment Squad. He is a Saint and also the strongest of Index whose power was unrivaled for half a century. Due to a curse in his family line in which family members are born without eyeballs, his body was replaced by an artificial one which also gives him a boost of magical power. After performing his final spell, he was called back to life as the Black Knight Avaritia.

Samson of the War Hammer

 * Main article: Samson

An ex-Saint of Index and a close friend of Georgius. He is an experienced close range fighter and a formidable warrior. He is from North Africa. After the battle with Lieselotte, he was called back to life as the Black Knight Gula.

Sebastianus of the Holy Bone

 * Main article: Sebastianus

Sebastianus is the second ex-Saint of the Punishment Squad. He is originally the largest relic from the Chinese Nestorius church and was known as the Silent Inviting Hand within the martial art world of China, under the Jesus Association; he was protected by Index, people within Index also called him the Living Holy Relic. His attack and defense had strength that equaled to spells cast by magi, therefore he can fight hand-to-hand against magical artifacts without aids, a feat that seem like a miracle. After the battle with Lieselotte, he was called back to life as the Black Knight Ira.

Irene of the Dragon Skeleton

 * Main article: Irene

She is a surviving Ophian, a branch of Christianity that was under the influence of Gnosticism and was established even before the Coptic and Alexandria church. For a long time, she has been protecting the indigenous Copts, Christians and other people of the Evangel from the Islams. She fought indiscriminately against all enemies that went against her. Seeing this, Index sent out Georgius' group to fight her. After losing to Sebastianus, she fell in love with him. After the battle with Lieselotte, she was called back to life as the Black Knight Invidia.

Benedictus of the Bookshelf

 * Main article: Benedictus

Benedictus is the prototype of Index's ultimate weapon. He and his sister used to live in Mt. Elbrus of the Caucasus range. Benedictus' real body was only his head, from the neck and under were replace with an artificial body called Batraz to amplify high speed chanting and the power of his attack spells. As the artificial body research of Index progress, he and his sister often use a giant artificial body call Uastyrdji for combat situation. After the battle with Lieselotte, Benedictus and his sister were called back to life as the Black Knight Acedia. They share the same body whose functions are identical to that of Uastyrdji.

Scholastica of the Bookshelf

 * Main article: Scholastica

Scholastica is Benedictus' younger sister. Unlike her brother, her form is in fact a hologram projection which is control directly by her mind. Her true body was entirely discarded and her psyche was transferred into an orb-shaped artificial body called Dzerassæ; the orb rest firmly on Benedictus' chest. This orb also contains all of his spell books and relics; therefore, Scholastica's existence is closely connected to Benedictus' source of power.

Ursula of the Bookshelf

 * Main article: Shiori Momono

In the anime adaption, one flashback shows that Ursula is also a member of the Punishment Squad who participated in the mission against Lieselotte. Although Ursula never confirmed herself to be a fellow member, the fact that she knows exactly how other in the team sealed away Lieselotte implies that she was either too weak to execute the spell or special circumstances such as injuries from a previous fight prevented her from joining their last battle.

Misao Kusakabe

 * Main article: Misao Kusakabe

Misao is not an official member of the Punishment Squad nor does she have any relationship with Index; she only followed the squad because she loved Georgius. However, her strength as the most powerful female Onmyouji in the history of Japan helped the squad complete their mission in their most difficult times. Misao was the only survivor after the battle with Lieselotte in Ayame Hill, but chose to have a Black Knight form so as not to be the only one different from others.

Trivia

 * Ironically, in their battle, the order of their death is nearly the same that the one of their deaths when they were Black Knights.
 * Amongst them, only Misao, Sebastianus and possibly Irene are the only one who really fought against Lieselotte herself in the battle.
 * Strangely, except Georgius and Misao almost everyone died because a love for a person: Samson died because of his sinned love for Misao, Benedictus died with thought having killed his sister (who was the only person he loved) Scholastica died by the betrayal of Misao about cranes, and Irene died with hope that her lover Sebastianus was still alive. Even Misao nearly died by her own weapons (even though she could escape from illusions).