Bakehara is known as the city of magic and monsters due to the spirits commonly found there. Some are content with living peacefully, while others forcibly possess humans to become rampaging Witches. Thankfully the Link Strikers are there to uphold peace by exorcizing them with their technology.
After surviving being attacked by a Demon, Yuriko Tsuki learns that she has become a Mage, beings that managed to create a symbiotic relationship with a spirit granting them magical powers. They were once protecting the city by absorbing the excess energy of Witches and upheld the cycle the Links broke ever since. Deciding to protect her friends and restore the cycle, Yuriko dons the name Mage Eclipse and begins to fight Witches on her own, even if it puts her at odds with the Links, not knowing that one of them is her friend Emiko.
Link and Mage is a magical girl-inspired story written by Dakra-Dhark. It can be read on DeviantArt here
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This work contains examples of:
- A Day in the Limelight: The second half of Chapter 13 focuses almost entirely on Mary and Akashi as they fight their first Witch.
- The Bad Guy Wins: The story features “Bad End” chapters in which the heroes lose against the respective villain of the chapter.
- Big Damn Heroes: When being attacked by Kanashimi again in Chapter 11, Yuriko is saved by Mary and Akashi, who had been secretly trained by Yuna to fight as Mages.
- Brainwashed and Crazy: Familiars and occasionally also the Witches themselves.
- Color-Coded Characters: The four main girls. Yuriko is purple, Emiko is pink, Serena is blue and Kaeya is green.
- Forced Transformation: Witches are formed by Spirits forcibly making a contract with a human and taking over their body, which results in a transformation to suit that spirits. Witches can also use their powers to turn others into their Familiars.
- Magical Girl Warrior: Both the Links and the Mages, thanks to the action focus during fights.
- Magic Versus Science: There is a clear animosity between the Links, representing science, and the Mages, representing magic. Mages dislike Links for disrupting the spirit cycle and treating them like Witches. Links are explicitly taught in training not to trust Mages, though the reason is yet unclear.
- Mind Control: Usually employed by Witches to turn humans into Familiars.
- The Mind Is a Plaything of the Body: Being physically transformed into a Familiar also comes with the fitting mental change. In regards to the main characters their outfits show amount of control a Witch has over them. Once their outfit has fully turned into that of a Familiar, they're also fully under the control of the Witch.
- Monster of the Week: True to its magical girl inspiration, each chapter has a new Witch terrorizing the city.
- Not Quite Back to Normal: When becoming a Mage someone's body takes on a few traits of the Spirit they bonded with. From what was shown so far though, these seem to be more pronounced in those that had been Witches.
- Reforged into a Minion: Witches can use their powers to turn others into their loyal minions, called Familiars. It can be expected for at least one of the main characters to get this treatment each chapter.
- Science Destroys Magic: By forcibly exorcizing the Spirits of Witches the Links disrupt the natural cycle of Mages stopping Witches to become fellow Mages that can defeat them when they turn into Demons from absorbing too much energy.
- Transformation Sequence: As a staple of the genre they're of course included for both Links and Mages, even if they're rarely fully written.
- Turning Back Human: Following a Witch's defeat their Familiars turn back to normal. This applies also to Witches if they're exorcised.
