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An original fiction by Wax.

It happens in an isolated city, surrounded by a forest at the north and a gaping hole in the bottom. The city itself is cut in half by a landslide-caused fissure, now literally separating Downtown from the Upper-City.

This work presents examples of:

  • Badass Crew: The Black Squadron starts as a villainous example. They're a more fitting heroic example as extras during Part 3 (barring Yuna, who is gone by this point).
  • Death-Activated Superpower: They're called "death wishes". Three of them go off during the story, with the Downtown Commissar's and the Imperator's eventually causing the City's demise.
  • Downer Ending: The fic ends with the City falling down the bottomless cliff. Only Word of God confirms anyone but Ryoku as a survivor of the city going down.
  • Egopolis: The Imperator makes the city this progressively with time in Part 3.
  • Everyone Is Related: Everyone but four characters descend from the city's Founding Father. The other four descend from a friend of his.
  • Four-Temperament Ensemble: Most teams that appear. Though, they are not always together.
  • Go-Karting with Bowser: To a degree, though in the Upper City important stakes are put on Mario Kart style racing duels.
  • Leeroy Jenkins: In the beginning to Part 2, Yuuzou, Mei and Zero all directly strike back at the Star League. As the middle of it proves, they all lost.
  • The Mafia: There is a Downtown Mafia. Sometimes they're just called "the Families". Though, the Mafia is only background and gives much less trouble to the heroes than the Downtown Police.
  • Rotating Protagonist: In Part 1, Ryoku and Yuuzou switch main protagonist status. Every time one rescues the other, he gets captured for his trouble, and so until just before the midway point, where rescuing Mei and sidelining Ikura tips the scales in favor of the protagonists.
  • Solid Gold Poop: Blonde hair is so rare in Downtown that the few blondes in the setting (Ryoku, Ikura) are sometimes assaulted for it and/or hide it.
  • Sorting Algorithm of Evil: Averted: Season 2's Elite Mook Jordan has an Early-Bird Cameo at the very beginning and has his inner magic fully mastered, being the strongest character in the setting this side of the Imperator himself. Kasaru, his superior and The Dragon, is weaker than him until the end to Part 2.
  • Storming the Castle: The ending Part 2 is the invasion of Star League HQ, the Wand Tower. Part 3 mimicks it with the invasion of the Imperator's palace.
  • Traumatic Superpower Awakening: It's a rule here, with the deeper the trauma, the more powerful magic you can use. One's inner magic is only fully unlocked by near-death experiences, but emotional trauma or Training from Hell can partially unlock it.
  • Un-person: The Imperator attempted to do this with the entire Star League in Part 3.
  • Wacky Racing: The local form of lawful duelling.

Characters:

    The Konvicts 

Ryoku Sudou note 

The Hero. A Downtowner ever since he was conscious, he was abandoned at the age of one. His difficult life left him to handle himself from a very young age, working within the Mafia network to ensure himself a stable money income. His craftiness and magical power left him with great success in infiltration as well as force deployments, leaving him with an incredible reputation.

Tropes associated with Ryoku:

  • Awesome, but Impractical: His first fight with the Black Squadron, has him meet quick defeat because his hand-to-hand approach to fighting is this.
  • Beware the Nice Ones: Ryoku is the source of most kills in this fiction, despite being the nicest guy around.
  • Cerebus Callback: In Part 2, Ryoku is nearly killed by Type-10, a psychopathic murderer who can't talk beyond grunts and gasps. In Part 3, cue Primal Ryoku. Ryoku himself has a Heroic BSoD over having been a psychopathic murderer who can't talk beyond grunting.
  • Expy: To Himura Kenshin. Same ponytail, Nice Guy who you shouldn't piss off, and even the orange hair when under the influence of his Primal Magic.
  • Mr. Fixit: He built a kart himself with stolen spare pieces and metal chunks he melted himself. And he's 17.
  • Ninja: As "the One with the Mask". He drops the mask very early though.
  • Power Dyes Your Hair: From blonde to orange when influenced by his Primal Magic..
  • The Power of Love and The Power of Hate: His inner Primal Magic works on emotions, making it run on both tropes.
  • Split Personality: He keeps a grim, cynical side in check. When his Primal Magic empowerment reveals this side to the world, it's as a wanton murderer who can't talk.
  • Stepford Smiler: Ryoku is generally all smiles unless working with the Downtown Mafia, and has a helpful disposition. This is a coping mechanism for his life in Downtown, and his constant fear for his life.
  • Superpowered Evil Side: His Primal Magic-influenced self is cold and murderous, a persona which Ryoku constantly repressed during his childhood or with the Mafia. Though it's actually Ryoku's repressed self acting up.
  • Teen Genius: As a mechanic. He just manages as a fighter, a racer, and a magician. Until he finally "learns" his inner Primal Magic.
  • Took a Level in Badass: Each part has him take one. In Part 1, Mei teaches him about some magic elements, Level Grinding him up to par. In Part 2, he's able to rescue Yuuzou all by himself while previously he had to have Mei's support to get Yuuzou out of here at his own expense. And in Part 3, he gets his Primal Magic form.

Yuuzou note 

The Lancer, a cynical fugitive, constantly on the run in and out of the jail. He is out to settle a score in the Upper City, which is why the Black Squadron is consistently after him ever since he was thrown Downtown.

Tropes associated with Yuuzou:

  • Foil: Cynical, earthly, and tall in contrast with Ryoku's small, daydreaming, idealist nature.
  • Hell-Bent for Leather: Always wears the same leather pants.
  • Justice Will Prevail: Despite his cynicism, he's determined to make one thing right.
  • Limited Wardrobe: He's been wearing the single same outfit for two years, as a souvenir of the Upper City.
  • Screw This, I'm Outta Here: During the last arc, he leaves the City with Mei after Jordan blew up the Big Mall and did the same, because the power struggles will destroy the City like Downtown.
  • Shock and Awe: Gets his inner magic, which is this, in Part 2. Irony wanted his near-death-experience to be due to Electric Torture.
  • Tall, Dark, and Handsome
  • Unscrupulous Hero: He has little trouble killing to achieve his goals. Downtown Police mooks learn this the hard way, and so do the Star League men attempting to torture him.

Mei note 

A mysterious but benevolent and very powerful magician bound to Yuuzou for a long while, released by Ryoku and Yuuzou from the Police's grasp at episode 2. She backs Ryoku and Yuuzou up until she regains her strength, at which point she enters their struggles and starts joining the fights.

Tropes associated with Mei:

  • Big Good: For a big portion of the first arc, when she's able to be Mission Control via telepathy but still unable to fight.
  • Guys Smash, Girls Shoot: s a Battle Couple with Yuuzou, this dynamic is demonstrated, with Yuuzou being very physical and Mei fighting by using psychokinetic waves.
  • Limited Wardrobe: Same as Yuuzou, she hasn't changed clothes since she was thrown Downtown to not forget about what she was, and what she wants to reclaim.
  • Obfuscating Insanity: She faked the success of the Star Magister's brainwashing on her.
  • Pimped-Out Dress
  • Psychic Powers: She uses them to track Ryoku and Yuuzou, teach the former about magic, and when she recovers she uses them for battle.
  • Purple Is Powerful: Her eyes are purple.
  • Squishy Wizard
  • Tragic Keepsake: She was lost into the City at a very young age. Her necklace is the only souvenir she has of an older brother, though with time the photo that was inside has long faded.

Zero / "Type-0"

A young girl dumped by the Star League across the bridge that separates the two parts of the City. She was sent Downtown to be executed, but she was rescued by Mei before the Police got their hands on her.

Tropes associated with Zero:

  • Flowers of Nature: The evidence that her inner magic is Plantlife is that it grew naturally after her would-be death.
  • "Hell, Yes!" Moment: When Yuuzou and Mei not only realize that she's also capable at fighting, but that she has a bone to pick with the Star League, they start to see the end to their trouble.
  • Sue Donym: She gave her name as Zero because she didn't know another name by then.
  • White Mage: With Green Thumb instead of light magic, but it is her main role. She even provides food for the four Konvicts.
    The Black Squadron 

Ikura note 

A Downtown Police captain, and the Commissary's daughter. One of Downtown's most trained fighters, she excels at identifying and manipulating Battle Aura. She is the one to identify Ryoku and get the huge bounty he had on his head, but as she didn't manage to keep him jailed, she's threatened of execution for attempted extortion by her father.

Tropes associated with Ikura:

  • Braids of Action
  • Curb-Stomp Battle: Hands one of those to Ryoku and his Mafia boss as early as Chapter 1. While none of her future victories are quite as decisive, none outside of Yuuzou and later Ryoku poses a threat to her.
  • Dark Action Girl: Notably stronger in hand-to-hand fighting than any single other girl in the setting. And with magic in her arsenal, she's capable of quick kills on Mafia heads as her first appearance suggests.
  • Et Tu, Brute?: She's dejected when her father gives her the death sentence for extortion because Ryoku evaded jail within days.
  • "Well Done, Daughter" Girl: She wished her father would express pride over anything she does instead of wanting her dead for failing him even once.

Yuuna note 

Mei's rival for longer than even Yuuzou remembers, she was sent to guard her in Downtown's jail until Mei was dead. She tries to undermine Mei directly rather than having to do with any of the other Konvicts, but she tends to break from Kuraj's orders to do so.
  • And Then What?: Yuuna has an identity crisis during Part 2 after Mei returned to the Star League. When the Konvicts see her, she has become "a noble with an empty life", as she describes herself.
  • Elegant Gothic Lolita
  • Fiery Redhead: Though most of her hair is dyed black.
  • Screw This, I'm Outta Here: When Yuuzou and Mei leave town, she's quick to follow on their trail.
  • The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: To Mei. Except during Mei's brief return in the Star League.
  • Tomboy and Girly Girl: The Girly Girl to Ikura's Tomboy. Despite her fiery attitude in contrast to Ikura's cool-headed demeanor, she is the one who takes care of her appearance and wears dresses.

Gouhei note 

A former indicator of Kuraj, he's a street crook who lived by himself. Famed in the streets for his strength, he's unknowingly to all cooperating with the Black Squadron. He beat up Yuuzou several times already, but the Konvicts realize his affiliation a bit late.
  • The Brute: He's as much of an asskicker as Ikura.
  • Hot-Blooded
  • Loophole Abuse: He abuses the Downtown laws that commoners can be recruited by policemen to drive their cars without license.
  • Sir Swears-a-Lot: In contrast to his more-educated teammates, he's even worse than Yuuzou in regards to etiquette. Which is why he's never speaking to the Police aside from the Black Squadron.
  • Tattooed Crook: Not that he shows off the tattoo, but he has it.

Kuraj

The Black Squadron leader, and one of the highest-rankers in the Downtown Police. He's often at odds with the Commissary due to his choice of companions. Tall and imposing, he tries to intimidate the Konvicts out of action while he investigates about the reasons they get so much focus from the Downtown Police.
  • Aerith and Bob: The only character with a very unreal non-numbered name. His name is a butchering of the word "courage" as pronounced in French.
  • Anti-Villain: In Part 3, he reforms the Black Squaddron under the Imperator by his orders, but tries to undermine him from his position. He eventually succeeds in killing him.
  • Bastard Understudy: It's a known reason why the Commissar doesn't like him, not that he can do anything about that. Subverted when he does pull off the kill on the Imperator as he fully announces a rightful order to everyone in the Imperial Stadium. Though, the Imperator had other plans.
  • A Father to His Men: He protects his Black Squadron at all costs, providing Gouhei and later Ikura immunity to death sentence through threats.
  • Generation Xerox: When he realizes the Burgmaster's intentions, he notices how similar their agendas were. This is also the moment where it's revealed that the Burgmaster was his father.
  • Nerves of Steel
  • The Starscream: He has been this to three persons: the Downtown Commissary, the Burgmaster, and Rangiku.
    The Star League 

Type-10 / Jun Sudou note 

An emotionally-unstable Star League magician, she's actually mind-controlled by a parasite (which is the actual "Type-10"), her real personality only surfacing in brief lapses. When brainwashed, she disguises as the Steel Serpent, a poison-wielding mass murderer who spreads terror through the working class sector of the Upper-City. She is actually Ryoku's long-lost twin sister who was kidnapped and forced comatose by the Star League.

Tropes associated with Type-10:

  • Ax-Crazy: In the Part 2, where she's an antagonist.
  • Brainwash Residue: Her first semblance of speech is her parasite's trademark hissing sound.
  • Demoted to Extra: Part 3 has her get raised by Kasaru since, with her parasite killed, she's essentially a teenage girl with the mind of a one-year-old kid.
  • Demonic Possession: Type-10 is the parasitic symbiote, and is often in control of her until Kasaru kills it just before doing so on the Magister.
  • Laser-Guided Amnesia: She forgets a lot when her parasite is killed, to the point she barely remembers how to talk.
  • Long-Lost Relative: She's Ryoku's long-lost twin sister.
  • Poisonous Person
  • Self-Made Orphan: While possessed, she kills Baron Sudou who, unknown to her, is her father.
  • There Are No Therapists: To his credit, Kasaru tries hard. The Magister himself has worked against him though.

Jordan

A gung-ho Star League agent, he promptly reveals himself as the leader to the pillagers that used to ransack Downtown. Despite looking frail, his raw magic power is quite high. In his tender youth, he used to survive with Ryoku in the No Man's Land until he eventually snatched a pillaging squad leader's quad and followed the others.

Tropes associated with Jordan:

  • Combat Pragmatist: If he can't achieve victory in a straight-up fight, he always packs Star Grenades, ready to throw them to sow destruction as a way to escape lost battles.
  • Curb-Stomp Battle: Ryoku's last mission with the Mafia was to snatch the latest Predator 3-wheel scooter model, but Jordan promptly roflstomped him and left Ryoku with the older model he had used to beat him with.
  • Disaster Scavengers: The Star League pillagers he leads. Ryoku even meets him in a flash once, but both forgot who the other was.
  • Evil Laugh: Fond of delivering those.
  • Irony: The most immoral and assholish of all characters has Dream magic as his inner magic.
  • Put the "Laughter" in "Slaughter": Very fond of wading through the horrors of Downtown while laughing.
  • Screw This, I'm Outta Here: After the Star League is destroyed. Unlike Kasaru raising Jun and Shiki joining him later, Jordan just blasts his way out of the town, proving that he was completely untouchable and the Imperator wasn't infallible.

Kasaru note 

A cunning and gifted Star League high-ranking mage, as well as Type-10's self-appointed personal therapist. He tries to get her to open to him as he knows something's wrong with her. He's actually biding his time to take over the Star League, and kills the Magister after the Konvicts defeat him, only then learning the truth.

Tropes associated with Kasaru:

Type-4 / Shiki note 

The fourth clone of an experiment by the Magister to make the most powerful mages, she's the next-in-line to inherit the Star League. Arrogant and snobbish, she's also strong enough to beat Mei in direct magic power, which is what led her to her high status. As Kasaru finds out in the secret Star League documents after the Magister dies, she's genetically a Child by Rape and was almost killed at birth.

Tropes associated with Type-4:

  • An Ice Person: Not in behavior.
  • Artificial Human: And she's far more willing than Zero to admit it.
  • Asskicking Leads to Leadership: Next-in-line to inherit the Star League, because she's so powerful. Outpowering Mei's magic proves it.
  • Black Magician Girl
  • Daddy's Little Villain: To the Star Magister, though when he dies she quickly copes with it and unites with Kasaru against the Imperator.
  • Four Is Death: "Yours, in fact.", as she says in a one-liner directed at Mei, though she fails to back it up.
  • Little Miss Snarker
  • Meaningful Rename: Inverted: the rename from Type-4 to Shiki in Part 3 serves no point whatsoever.
  • No-Sell: She refused to obey to the Star Magister's Death-Activated Superpower mind control.
  • Secret Weapon: To the Star League in Part 2. Few knew of her existence before she showed up.
  • Spoiled Brat
  • Squishy Wizard: The epitome of it. She has power on par with the Star Magister himself, enough to overpower Mei and Yuna (the other two magic specialists), and to fight off the Star Magister's mind control without help. However, as a little girl that was never exposed to the outside world, she's very easily physically harmed.
    The Imperials 

Hijiri note 

A noble from the nearby region named Kitamori, she's the daughter of a local duchess who was forced to commit suicide. She flees murder attempts by going south, but it only leads her to the City. She's tricked by the Star League at first, but eventually joins the Imperial Magus Division against them.

Tropes associated with Hijiri:

Shisui note 

A young hermit, renowned for defending the Imperator against a planned coup two years ago. He lives within a cave hidden in the sole lake the city has.

Tropes associated with Shisui:

  • Big Damn Heroes: How he saves Hijiri from the Star League's betrayal of her.
  • Ineffectual Loner: He is with the Imperials In Name Only, and is especially wary of Ban and Rangiku.
  • Old Master: Behaves like one despite being only 19. Given the Crapsack World the City is, everyone is perfectly fine with him being experienced at only 19 years of age.
  • Persona Non Grata: Becomes this after refusing the Puppet King treatment. When the Imperator thwarts his rescue of Hijiri, he forces Shisui under his service as a nobody.
  • Puppet King: Defied. Shisui refused the Imperator's promotion of him to the Burgmaster's place.
  • Real Men Wear Pink: He has pink hair.

Ban note 

An Imperial Magus in-training, he is also the Burgmaster's son, and a local TV star with his own show: "Ban's Ban", which mainly consists in him making humorous failures. Behind that hides a cunning mind and a wide network of relations.

Tropes associated with Ban:

  • Boisterous Bruiser
  • Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: His own show features him getting roughed up or failing hilariously at everything he does. Nobody expected him to be even remotely competent, and he proceeds to make the Star Magister's death wish completely useless all by himself.
  • Kung-Fu Wizard: Assisting to his show filmings only shows Ryoku and Zero that he can take a lot of punishment, as he doesn't take stunt doubles. He's also strong both physically and magically, though a Master of None.
  • Magic Knight: His title as an archmage, though he doesn't use weaponry, taking him out of this trope to the above.
  • The Worf Effect: Inflicts this on all but one of Shiki and Zero's sister-clones. While Shiki broke out by herself and Zero was snapped out of it by Mei, there were still about six of them murderously targeting the Imperator. He kills five out of six, and even adds some more flashiness to his action, much like killing one with a Spinning Piledriver.

Rangiku note 

The Princess herself, since she's the oldest of the Imperator's offspring. Kuraj is her bastardized younger brother. She plots to take over the throne "early" because of the Imperator's growing unpopularity, and of course she doesn't want the Konvicts to interfere.

Tropes associated with Rangiku:

    Secondary Characters 

Luigi

A Downtown Mafia and a fighting aficionado, he was "The Man With The Mask"'s last employer. He organized street fights in Downtown, but Ryoku only ended up seeing him meet his death.

Tropes associated with Luigi:

  • Curb-Stomp Battle: For all the talent he claims to have, Ikura killed him off in two attacks.
  • Killed Off for Real: At Chapter 1, no less.
  • Solid Gold Poop: The one enforcer of this trope. When blonde Ikura steps up to fight him, he immediately thinks of taking her hair.

Type-1, Type-2, Type-3, Type-5, Type-6/"Rikki", Type-7, Type-8, Type-9

Clones from the Star League that also double as the Star Magister's Bodyguard Babes. Products of the same cloning experiment that created Zero and Shiki.

Tropes associated with them:

  • Bare-Fisted Monk: Type-5 was just physically strong, and rioted in the rich district of the city in order to reach the Imperator on a formal visit. However, she ended up attacking the Konvicts, and Shiki killed her.
  • Cold Sniper: Type-3. She ends up sabotaging her own plan due to going insane, by attempting to shoot the Imperator, but Ban intervenes.
  • Death by Origin Story: Type-1 and Type-7 are both long-dead.
    • Type-1 was siamese with Zero, and when they parted, she died instantly.
    • Type-7 was murdered by Shiki during a test training.
  • Noble Demon: Type-9 openly challenged the whole Tops Police to battle. However, Ban came along, shielded the few shots directed at him, and buried her.
  • Suicide Attack: Type-2's plan of choice is crashing her kart right in the Imperator at high speed. She crashes into a wall of dirt summoned by Ban and dies in the accident. Type-8's plan was to infiltrate the High Palace and explode when the Imperator sat on his throne. Ban finds her and bashes her head in during her infiltration.
  • The Worf Effect: They're talked up as potential threats to the Imperator himself by Shiki considering they're six, but since each works on her own and progressively gets crazier, Ban single-handedly kills all but one of them, whom ironically Shiki herself kills.
  • You Got Murder: Type-6 disguised herself as a delivery girl named Rikki to hit the Imperator by surprise. Ban came to receive her and killed her.
WARNING: Unmarked spoilers ahead!
    Others 

The Downtown Commissar note 

The Imperator's youngest son, left to manage the entire Downtown. Since he doesn't care about his territory, he does almost nothing for the people, leaving the Police out of most things. Though, it's matters from above that eventually claim his life, with Yuuzou and Mei's attacks leaving him open to be assaulted and killed by Ryoku. With him, the whole Downtown dies.

Tropes associated with :

Baron Sudou note 

Leader to an underground resistance, he was supposed deceased for 16 years. Only Yuuzou gets to meet him, because the moment he hears one hint about his abandoned twins son and daughter, he wanders the street to meet them, meeting his untimely end at the hands of Type-10 who, unknown to him, is his daughter.
  • Black Sheep: The only good guy who descends from the City's Founding Father.
  • Felony Misdemeanor: He was blacklisted and marked for death for his attempt to reinstate family names (when he adopted Sudou, the name of the manor he lived in, as his family name).
  • Generation Xerox: Lampshaded by Yuuzou, who notices how similar Ryoku is to him, and Ryoku really is his son.
  • Nice Job Breaking It, Yuuzou: If Yuuzou didn't note the physical resemblance between him and Ryoku, he wouldn't have wandered in the open and died.
  • We Hardly Knew Ye: He dies less than a day following his first appearance.

The Star Magister

The leader of the Star League, and the Imperator's little brother. He runs various experiments to increase his magic power and become eternal, in an attempt to outlive the Imperator and take his place.
  • Ax-Crazy: What his Death Wish eventually made everyone affected.
  • Cold-Blooded Torture: Shiki mentions having gone through that at his hands to unlock her inner magic. She's scarred enough to remember it, even though it happened immediately following her birth.
  • Evil Old Folks: 55 years old, and contending with the Imperator for the title of biggest jerkass of the whole family.
  • Mind Control: His Death Wish. However, since he's dead, he's unconscious and therefore the results become unpredictable and based on his desire, to kill the Imperator, with his hatred of the Konvicts and Kasaru throwing him out of control.
  • Psychic Powers: His main power. Even beyond death, he has all his daughter-clones attempt assassination on the Imperator, though with his grip on life gone, screws progressively go loose.
  • Take Over the World: Intends to have the Star League take over the Imperial Magus, then using them to strip the Imperator of his powers by threat and/or kill him. Jordan and Type-10 unwittingly drew too much attention to the Star League instead.

The Burgmaster

The Imperator's oldest son, and the leader to the Tops Police. He opposes the Konvicts' messing with the order, but is also mounting a coup against the Imperator.

Imperator

The self-glorified major figure of the City. He legally changed his name to Imperator to signify his status. He plotted to assume absolute control over his city, which he seized from his father.
    The City's Founding Father 
The founder of the City, he isolated his population from everything and built the City aside a huge cliff.

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