Fanfic / Soul Eater: Troubled Souls

If you could change the world, how and why would you do it?

“Why can't I shake the feeling this won't be the first time I'll be contemplating about the future?”

—Death the Kid, Act 1 Chapter 1

Soul Eater: Troubled Souls is a Soul Eater fanfic written by Grade-AMasterpiece, who goes on this wiki by the handle of erazor0707, that can be best described as an Expanded Universe fic, bringing in a new conflict in order to shed light on various aspects of the universe. Set after the Baba Yaga Castle arc, the story starts on Monday, January 1st with Maka and company fighting the Monster of the Week in Madagascar. When Maka gives Lord Death the progress report, he suspects that the loose ends of the world's history may be getting tied up somehow, somewhere. From there on, new faces begin to show up and the plot begins to unravel bit-by-bit.

The story can be found on different accounts of the same name. His Archive of Our Own account includes all the acts as well as other parts of the "Novus Ordo Mundi saga" consisting of itself, an ongoing side-story called Soul Eater: Saeculum that details and/or explains things glossed over in the main story proper, and the prequel Soul Eater Zeta. Finally, the story is also on his FanFiction.Net account in separate stories ^Links Act 1, Act 2.

The author says it will be a long story. It has an extensive character page, is divided into Acts, and is further broken down into various Story Arcs as you'll see below.

Act 1

• Introduction Arc (Chapters 1-7)
• Joint Resonance Training Arc (Chapters 8-18) ^note Chapters 19 and 20 are standalone
• Cobra Island Arc (Chapters 21-35)
• Chicago Gang Arc (Chapters 36-47)
• Act 1 Epilogue (Chapter 48)

Act 2

• Monotone Princess Arc (Chapters 1-current)

After a period of dormancy, the author announced on both Acts that he will rewrite Act 1 almost wholesale in a new edition called "Act 1.5" and continue Act 2 from there.

Note: Some spoilers may be unmarked. It is generally recommended to read the story and then come here. The fic also assumes you read the manga and watched the anime.

Tropes:

Tropes A-C

• Absurdly High-Stakes Game: To figure out how to curse somebody, Medusa subjects the protagonist to a series of four of these. In summation, they are: destroy all cobras even though they constantly regenerate and can multiply, get through an elaborate maze full of traps with no directions on time, solve an excruciatingly difficult puzzle, and finally survive fights with full-powered doppelgangers. The stakes are powers and abilities, personality traits, and their lives.
• Abusive Parents:
  • Medusa’s abuse of Crona is given a little more depth. In addition to the acts we know about, she forced him/her to murder a defenseless old man and an Evil Human implied to be his/her father.
  • Noel’s parents. Quote narration, “his [parents] wanted to see how good a stress toy he was.”
  • It is unsure if Nayumi’s folks engaged in physical, psychological, or emotional abuse, or a combination of them all, but they are responsible for turning Nayumi into a jaded nihilist full of emptiness prior to her meeting of Marcellus and the Ricardsens.
• Academy of Adventure: The DWMA naturally.
• Action Girl: Maka, Kim, Rowena, Meredith… Pretty much the whole female population in this World of Badass.
• Action Prologue: Act 1 Chapter 1 has Maka, Black☆Star, Kid, and Crona rounding up Madagascar Trees, followed by Caius slaying Scorpio in Death City.
• Action Survivor: Klemens has this attitude. He is aimless, is thrust into situations without 100% commitment, and is not yet convinced of the Academy's cause, so he is just doing his best to survive and get stronger at Madeline's insistence.
• Adaptational Badass: An increasing number of canon characters show more skill or competency than their original counterparts, which is saying something. They are even gifted more techniques and moves than normal, especially those who lacked them. Justified in many cases by the post-anime canon storyline.
• Adaptational Heroism:
  • Like in the anime, Crona and Ragnarok, in this story, are full-fledged protagonists.
  • Mifune is strictly a good guy rather than an Anti-Villain.
• Adventure Towns: Usually, a Monster of the Week hides out or is particularly active in one city or town. Inevitably, students go out to the location to eliminate the target. Although, Chicago in particular is the setting of a major arc as opposed to being a “place of the week.”
• Aerith and Bob: Perfectly normal names (Rowena, Noel, Gregory) exist alongside the uncommon (Caius, Tsuji, Autumn) and the plain fictional (Cancer, Gilgamesh, Kujira).
• All for Nothing: Throughout the endgame of the Cobra Island Arc, the core strategy of the group, the ones suited for combat at least, is to preoccupy heavy-hitters Medusa and Free while another portion goes to retrieve the crystal ball from a fleeing Eruka and Mizune sisters. The characters responsible for the duty of the latter, Tsuji and Caius, face roadblock after roadblock. Through a miracle, however, Tsuji is left with nothing between him and the crystal ball. Unfortunately, Tadpole Jackson is there to tackle Tsuji and send the crystal ball down the waterfall, foiling the heroes’ plan. Ultimately subverted because of foreshadowed outside interference.
• Almighty Janitor: Anel Ying Panderson is literally Parponera's janitor but, unbeknownst to anyone in the group save Ponera herself, is a male Witch who uses Summon Magic, and is powerful enough to hold of Kid and Blackstar long enough for Alone to escape.
• All There in the Manual: Grade-AMasterpiece has a whole section in his DeviantArt gallery dedicated to the additional elements and the Original Characters introduced in the story, meant for easy access to brush up on or familiarize yourself with the content. This includes commissioned artwork of his OCs.
• Altar Diplomacy/Marriage of Convenience: Marcellus’s parents, Portis and Morgan, used to be leaders of two entirely different gangs. Portis headed the Chicago Underground Association, a large and thriving gang that was full of inexperienced members despite its prestige and power. Morgan was the matriarch of the de Niro family, a very small gang full of tenacious and experienced veterans. To solve both of their problems, they married. The de Niro family assimilated into the Chicago Gang, and both leaders now hold equal authority.
• Always in Class One: So far, all of the main, school-aged OCs (Caius, Claudia, Rowena, etc.) have ended up in Stein’s class, Class Crescent Moon, with Maka and her friends. It should be noted a few side OCs (Madeline, Meredith, etc.) belong to other homerooms.

• And I Must Scream:
  • During his time sealed in the crystal ball, Ragnarok is alive and conscious the whole time, sensory perception and everything.
  • A person or thing resurrected via the outlawed Reanimation Magic loses all of its free will and is stuck in an eternal limbo between life and death until they are slain once again. The caster can freely modify and manipulate the poor soul however choose they to boot.
• And Your Little Dog, Too!: Medusa does have an overarching goal as revealed near the end of the Cobra Island Arc, but she prioritizes killing Maka and everyone else on the titular island to begin a massive uproar to throw the DWMA into disarray and chaos. Sure enough, the very first thing she does upon their arrival is curse Caius, who had never even met her and had nothing to do with past conflicts, a sentiment later extended to the other original protagonists.
• Animesque: Facefaults, sweatdrops, and Blank White Eyes have been described among other things. Later chapters and reedits are steering the fic away from this direction.
• An Offer You Can't Refuse: Cancer and Henderson persuade Portis to accept the Anria as payment for his gang’s services instead of money. Prior to that, Kujira convinces the two of them to help the Other Side Gang take down the Chicago Gang with the promise Cancer will receive the benefits of both services.
• Apocalypse How: The details are sketchy right now, but “create a new world” with Project Omega could imply anything from a Class 3a, 3b, to a Class X. Or, more mundanely, literally creating a different world nobody approves of.
• Applied Phlebotinum: Magicite, a crystal some of Cancer’s old comrades stole from witch researchers that helped her create the first Anria.
• Appropriated Appellation: "Gigant" is coined when Crona, Ragnarok and Hiro are fighting an awakened Paraponera coccoon.
• Arc Hero: Generally speaking, major recurring protagonists who aren't Maka or Caius still share an important role and get proportionate focus from the plot. See A Day in the Limelight for further information.
• Arc Number: 2. Notably:
  • The Vladingham Family Massacre occurred on the second month on its second day (February 2nd). 122 Vladinghams were present on that day, as were 22 visitors.
  • Cancer’s first appearance since said massacre happens on the second week of January on Tuesday, the second day of the week.
  • The Lucrenian Clan Incident happens 223 years ago and, of the 222 Lucrenians living at the time, half perish.
  • Overall, quite a bit happened two years ago. Caius becomes the “Last Vladingham”; Marcellus meets Nayumi, runs away from the Chicago Gang, and they meet the Ricardsens; and Claudia is expelled from her old school.
• Arc Villain:
  • Introduction Arc: None.
  • Joint Resonance Training Arc: None.
  • Cobra Island Arc: Medusa.
  • Chicago Gang Arc: Walena.
  • Act 2's first Arc seems to be focusing on Noah and Ponera.
• Armies Are Evil: Novus Partus’ main fighting force, the Anria, are as evil and destructive as they come.
• Arrow Catch: Stein does this to Tsuji during the field exam. The arrow in question was fired via Marcellus’s Longbow Form. Kim, Jackie, Marcellus, and Tsuji were floored.
• Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: According to Excalibur in Act 1 Chapter 20, some of the stuff he and Clarent did together was they “saw Gawain fight the Green Knight, Lancelot slay a dragon, courted the Lady of the Lake, and called the court jesters ‘fools’ in perfect unison.”
• Artificial Human:
  • Project Omega is an artificial lifeform/monstrosity with a rather lofty plan behind its creation.
  • In one last attempt to sway and break Crona, Medusa reveals his/her true origins – Crona is a genetically engineered lifeform taken from her and the father’s genes.
• Ascended Extra:
  • Kilik, Ox, and Kim are pretty much just as important in this story as Maka, Black☆Star, and Kid are. The author even gives either them or their partners extra info to flesh them out. See their entries in the character page for details on that.
  • Tom is a very minor character introduced in Soul Eater Not!. Here, he is apart of Class Half Moon and appears to be on the same team as Meredith and Audrey.
  • Marlon is character introduced in a flashback who essentially allows Mifune to meet Angela. In this fic, his boss is the true leader of the De Niro Family, Morgan Ardsen, the wife of the Chicago Gang don, Portis. His assignments are to track down Marcellus and Angela.
• Asshole Victim:
  • So Gestas is forced by Cancer and her project to be a lure for the DWMA and ultimately gets killed by Maka. Oh, well. The kid was a jerk and a bastard anyway.
  • Medusa’s almost perfect plan is torn down, she loses an eye, and is butchered in her last battle. No sympathy here.
• Ass-Kicking Pose: Right before Maka and the cast fight Gladiolus, she and the rest of the Meisters strike one of these each.
• As You Know: Stein explains to Noel, a fellow faculty member and therefore someone who knows the process already, the two methods through which a student can enroll into the DWMA: by orientation, the traditional way, and by recommendation, which are basically entrance exams taken after a prospect is presented.
  Noel: Well, aren't you just an encyclopedia?
• Atlantis: Atlantis is the homeland of the Lucrenian Clan. 223 years prior to the beginning of the story, the Lucrenian Clan Incident occurred which resulted in the deaths of half of the inhabitants. After the attack, the Witch Council ordered the eviction of the surviving Lucrenians. Afterwards, a barrier was placed around Atlantis, preventing entry forever after.
• Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever:
  • Gladiolus is the first example in the story. Ironic because its name means “small sword” in Latin.
  • Then there’s the collective transformation of the Deep Ones, Yog-Sothoth. The most eldritch example by far.
  • The next one is Atlas.
• Back-to-Back Badasses:
  • Maka and Caius against the Gemini, Project Omega, and Kathi during the field exam.
  • Class Crescent Moon (and presumably the other classes offscreen afterwards) were assigned into Action Duos for the Joint Resonance field exam, inevitably leading to this.
• Backstory: Quite a few have one, and quite a few are tragic. The Kumbaya Circle is dedicated to revealing some of these among the main cast. Soul Eater: Saeculum assists in fleshing out the background of individuals – Marcellus, Nayumi, and Caius are three such examples.
• Badass Bookworm:
  • Maka Albarn, of course.
  • Her Spear Counterparts, Caius Vladingham and Ox Ford.
  • Kathi Rumeri. What did you expect? She’s a librarian and the Book Club head. It’s made clear that if Kathi wasn’t told to hold back, or if she just didn’t stop when Donum Dei was activated, she could have beaten Maka and Caius at the same time. She didn’t use a Demon Weapon, by the way.
• Badass Family:
  • Legacy Families. These are families or clans instrumentally impactful to the DWMA. Lord Death grants five legacy families in particular a special title, calling them the 5 Great Legacy Families:
    • The Olmett Family. Not only have they been around since the original generation of Academy students, but they are responsible for setting combat standards. This includes Meredith and Luther, a pair of Combat Pragmatists with an efficient fighting style.
    • The Vladingham Family. Known for winning the organization many critical battles and are war heroes. Caius is the last scion of this family, a pyrokinetic lancer with the goal to murder the powerful Big Bad by himself.
    • The Nakatsukasa Clan. They discovered Soul Resonance, the most fundamental part of Meisters and Weapons. Also, according to Isaiah, they set the standards for the roles of Demon Weapons. Tsubaki is apart of them, and she is an Action Girl of a Demon Weapon who is adept at applying assassination when her hand is forced.
    • The Moncharmins. This family has used their wealth and affluence to help expand and develop the DWMA. Claudia, Claude, Diana, Roger, and Francis belong to them, but the latter two are the only ones who have gotten in a fight and showed the strength befitting the title.
    • House Shuzen. The first individuals to create Death Scythes. Jarrett bears the surname, but he hasn’t done enough to see if he deserves the family name.
  • Legacy families are hardly the only ones deserving to be a Badass Family. We have the Ricardsens. The father, Noel, boasts immense physical strength and the Enchanted Eye and can keep up with Black☆Star and Kid at the same time while holding back. The daughter, Rowena, also has superhuman strength and is an Action Girl who can subdue many foes through pure brute force alone. The son, Tsuji, is an archer with incredible aim and speed who can mow down scores of foes with well-placed shots. Although she is dearly departed, the mother, Rosalind, is shown to be a Lightning Bruiser that beat downs and kills enemies with a shield.
  • The de Niro family, a faction of the bigger Chicago Gang. This gang was apparently badass enough to fend off their much larger opposition despite being small and scrappy.
• Bait-and-Switch Gunshot: The ending of Act 1 Chapter 37. Marcellus closes his eyes, fearing Clarke and the other gangsters are about to kill Tsuji dead like a firing squad. The gunshots go off, but Marcellus never hears Tsuji’s body drop. As it turns out, Tsuji dodged all the bullets. You have the Enchanted Eyes to thank for that.
• Beat: Usually indicated by a series of ellipses. Most of the time, Hilarity Ensues.
• The B Grade: Discussed, and the concept is an essential part of Ox’s backstory and motivation.
  “The B Grade… Some say it’s perfectly acceptable, proof that one succeeded in something difficult. I, however, disagree. It’s a stain. A stigma. You could’ve gotten an A if you applied yourself more! Worked harder!”
• Big Bad: Cancer Lucrenian.
• Big Bad Ensemble: Lord Death and his higher-ups have identified three primary threats: Massacre Queen Cancer Lucrenian, Arachne the leader of Arachnophobia, and Kishin Asura.
  • In Act 2, Paraponera and Noah join the ensemble.
• Big Bad Wannabe: Shaula.
• Big Damn Heroes:
  • When Maka gets cornered by the Gemini, here comes Caius to provide quite the distraction so that she can recover Soul.
  • Maka returns the favor in Venice when 00000Ω is preparing to break Caius in half.
  • Caius did this even before the story started. In Act 1 Chapter 9’s flashback, he saves Claudia in this manner.
  • Soul pretty much saves the story from ending in Act 1 Chapter 7 when he tackles Maka and Caius out of the way of Cancer’s needles.
• Big Fancy House: The Moncharmin manor.
• Big "WHAT?!": Maka and Claudia let out one at the same time when they find out they’re working together.
• Bilingual Bonus/Gratuitous Foreign Language: There’s quite a few phrases and words translated to a different language, especially Latin and French.
• Bizarre Alien Biology: The Anria are supposed to be crystalline or rocky things that look animalistic, humanoid, or some unidentifiable combination. Yet, they sport a functioning eye that doubles as their soul, have teeth, can eat even though they're inorganic, and have some misamic substance that can leak out of their mouths.
• Blade Reflection: Another staple in canon - the faces of weapon usually appear on their blades. Although some use different surfaces. Marcellus, for example, has a crystal ball for this purpose.
• Blame Game: Cancer, Soriano, and Walena degenerate into this in Act 1's epilogue. Soriano blames Cancer for the heavy toll he and his gang took, claiming it wasn't part of their deal, and that it'd be worse if Neptune/Kujira, her sister, wasn't one of his underlings. Cancer points the finger right back by arguing she did keep her end of the deal, but Soriano is in no condition to uphold his and is looking to protect his ego. Walena charges in and demands compensation from Cancer. Henderson steps in and points for how stupid it is for her to complain; what happened to her is the result of her own machinations and mistakes, not Cancer, because in the grand scheme of things, she contributed little to the Other Side Gang or Novus Partus. Kujira eventually snaps and tells everyone to get a grip and look at the real picture.
• Block Puzzle: The third game on Cobra Island has Maka and company try to solve a puzzle on an extremely large platform. The puzzle consists of an intricate system of both sinuous and nonlinear pathways and is divided into sections by walls that must be taken down before you can get to the end. How to take down these walls? Push two boulders into specific locations. There are four walls, and it is implied those pushing the boulders can’t tell whether or not they are going in the right direction.
• Blood from the Mouth: Commonly in fights.
• Boxing Lessons for Superman: In Arc 2, Crona goes to Mifune for swordsmanship training so he can gain more skill and not have to rely so much on the boost from his Black Blood.
• Breather Episode: The standalone Act 1 Chapters 19 and 20 serve as this, acting as cushion between the previous two arcs and the Cobra Island Arc.
• Brick Joke:
  • In Act 1 Chapter 10, when Patty very directly introduces herself to the Ricardsens and the Ardsens and lists off some of her interests…
  Patty: I like giraffes, chocolate, sunny days, long walks on the beach, drawing, coloring, playing games, singing, fighting, shootings things—
  Nayumi: What was that last part?
  Patty: Sugar.
  <In Act 1 Chapter 22 at the Kumbaya Circle>
  Patty: I like coloring, giraffes, flowers, eating, and…
  Tsuji: Sugar?
  • In Act 1 Chapter 22, Free is alternating between a surfer-dude accent and a pirate accent to disguise his voice. Mizune, very irritably, tells him to either pick the sea or the beach. In Act 1 Chapter 24, he sticks to the pirate accent and even tells Mizune he settled for the sea.
• Brought Down to Normal: Why the Ouroboros curse is so deadly. It subtracts an ability or personality trait from the person cursed, and it’s usually one that makes or breaks a combatant. They either can’t fight at all, or can fight but with a severely limited skillset.
• The Bully: The Correctional Class seems full of these.
• But Not Too Foreign: In this story, Kilik is both Dominican and African.
• Canon Welding: Both Soul Eater and its spinoff Soul Eater Not! are featured prominently in this story. Similar canon-welding occurs with the anime and manga of each source material.
  • Act 2 introduces characters from the "Monotone Princess" game, including a Composite Character of Grimoire/Noah.
• The Clan: The Vladingham Family, the Lucrenian Clan, and the Olmett Family.
• Cape Snag: During the field exam, Kathi throws Soul (in his scythe form) at Maka, causing him to pin Maka’s long coat to the ground and inconvenience her for a moment.
  • Maka’s coat gets pinned to the ground in Act 1 Chapter 27. This time, it is Played for Drama because Crona is one the responsible and she is trying to escape because she lost her courage.
• Cerebus Call-Back: In Act 1 Chapter 1, Black☆Star unceremoniously drops in and defeats a Madagascar Tree before Maka could use Witch Hunter on it. He is utterly oblivious of his Kill Steal. This one is Played for Laughs. Come Act 1 Chapter 39, Tsuji does the same exact thing to Black☆Star, and this does make him realize that, yes, he looked that bad in the past. This one is Played for Drama because it’s meant to show Tsuji is failing his Enchanted Eyes trial.
• Chaos Is Evil:
  • One of Marcellus’s personal beliefs. He hates anarchy and would rather be in a controlled, more orderly environment. It is one of the reasons why he hates gangs and the lawless world they reside in.
  • Medusa’s scheme will wrought an unholy amount of chaos and disorder upon the Academy. She is an utterly depraved individual.
• Charles Atlas Superpower:
  • Black☆Star’s immense strength, stamina, and speed comes from being practically obsessed with training and getting stronger. For comparison, Black☆Star is as fast as Tsuji and close to being as strong as Rowena, both of whom are specialists in speed and strength respectively.
  • Caius is capable of impaling and knocking around monsters and Kishin Eggs larger than him. Bifurcation and dismemberment aren’t any more difficult for him either.
  • We don’t know how Rowena got so strong, if it’s really inherited from her dad, if she trained really hard before she came to Shibusen, if she has a secret enhancement, or if there’s something else entirely. We just know she’s really freaking strong.
• Chekhov's Classroom: A whole arc is dedicated to one big lecture on Joint Resonance. Stein spearheads the lessons by bringing in Noel, who apparently knows more about it and the underlying principles. Before everyone else completely masters it, Maka and Caius use it well in the first fight ever against Project Omega. Various Joint Resonance make sporadic appearances afterward.
• Child Soldiers: The term “child soldiers” is used as a tongue-in-cheek insult to the students of Death Weapon Meister Academy by their usually nonhuman, older adversaries either in narration or in dialogue. Hard to argue because, yes, they are technically this.
• Colossus Climb:
  • Black☆Star, Tsuji, and Rowena had to the fight the midsection of the titanic Anria, Gladiolus.
  • Black☆Star does it again against Atlas, starting from the arm all the way up to its ear to give it the final blow.
• Comedic Underwear Exposure:
  • Maka’s skirt gets flipped via a vent activated by Young Thief Gestas.
  • Anya’s panties get exposed while she, Tsugumi, Meme, and the Vanderbilts are riding atop a speeding vehicle, thanks to the rushing winds.
• Combination Attack: What a successful Joint Resonance will result in. It can be even more powerful than a Chain Resonance. The results of Joint Resonance have a wide range possibilities, including a simple Power-Up to a Wave-Motion Gun. Every Joint Resonance has the following has the Meisters and Weapons get an aura of the other’s wavelengths while it’s active, which glow profusely during and after a successful unity becomes complete. Speaking of which, the Souls themselves become one giant Sphere of Power when Joint Resonance unites them.
• Composite Character: Grimoire was created for the Monotone Princess game, with the design being reused for Noah in the manga by the author. Here they're the same person.
• Continuation Fic: Implicitly. The Soul Eater anime ended after the Baba Yaga Castle arc, but the manga kept going. The fic begins sometime after that divergence point, while combining the events of each medium in the most comprehensive but logical way, and keeps on going from there, alluding to a possible future encounter with Arachnophobia.
• Continuity Nod: There are plenty of references to the canon series and the fanfic’s prequel sprinkled throughout the story, mostly dropped in the narration or in conversations. Most notably, in Act 1 Chapter 1, there is a mention that evil activity was low a little more than two decades ago. Soul Eater Zeta is set 23 years ago, and it’s been said there activity of Kishin Eggs is low. Act 1 Chapter 2’s classroom lecture is just a giant one that establishes continuity with respect to the Baba Yaga Castle invasion and its aftermath.
• Cosmic Horror Reveal: The subplot of the Chicago Gang Arc. The Enchanted Eyes' history is about a personal war between two Eldritch Abominations. Luckily, one of them is on our side, and one of the main heroes gets to understand it. He gives the hope the villainous one can be beaten.
• Crapsaccharine World: Make no mistake, the Soul Eater universe is still full of eccentric characters and wacky moments, and the fic does its best to respect the tone of the original series. However, the expansion of history and world building introduce happenings that cast the world in a different, darker light. For example, the Period of Destruction colored Free’s view of Grim Reapers, had humans like a former Japanese prime minister reaching out to Witches, and is overall said to be a very bloody conflict. Not only that, there exists gangs out of the purview of the Academy that commit evil acts with impunity.
• Creepy Crows: The Sister of the Gemini manifested as a raven monster. Doubles as a Feathered Fiend.
• Cult: The Deep Ones of Act 1 Chapter 16 are a Kishin-worshipping cult who rule Innsmouth through fear and intimidation. Anyone, particularly outsiders, who tries to help the citizens out is a goner.
• Crystal Ball: Every witch has one. A crystal ball conjure an image from a long distance and allows them to observe an event as well as communicate and receive audio. For Medusa, hers is the conduit for Ouroboros. Cancer uses her crystal ball for a transporter machine to get to places from Subterrene.
• Curse:
  • Medusa's Ouroboros. After she identifies which power, skill, or personality trait is most instrumental to a person, she has one of the many vector snakes hidden in Cobra Island bite the person in question. Ouroboros proceeds to remove the abstract concept and store it in Medusa's crystal ball.
  • The negative effects of the Enchanted Eyes are called a curse by scholars. Because All Myths Are True, there is some truth to it, but the real answer is even darker than that.
• Curse Cut Short: Happens to Tsuji when he is falling through trees in the Amazon.
• Cute Indignant Girl Stance: In Act 1 Chapter 6, Claudia is described as assuming this pose ("Claudia stomped on the ground with one foot, both arms down, and her knuckles up") because her weapon meister, Caius, refuses to go shopping in Ireland after killing their target. Naturally, it's Playedfor Laughs.

Tropes D-F

• Darker and Edgier: To a certain degree compared to the original manga and anime. For example, in the manga, Mosquito slices off only one of Kid’s arms. Here, Kid’s shadow blasts both arms clean off. Also, the Kishin Eggs and Evil Humans seem to be more dangerous and crafting than you’d expect. The Gemini comes to mind.
• A Day in the Limelight: Just about every arc puts a character or two at the forefront, getting more focus than the rest to address flaws, background, vendettas, and whatnot. This formula isn’t necessarily strict. While it may be one character’s time, others can and will get some development themselves in the same arc. In fact, that is how most of the antagonists get fleshed out.
  • Introduction Arc: Caius.
  • Joint Resonance Training Arc: None ^note All named characters are partnered with one another to try and master Joint Resonance. You can argue everyone gets a little focus.
  • Cobra Island Arc: Crona and Ragnarok.
  • Chicago Gang Arc: Tsuji and Marcellus.
• Death by Adaptation: In the manga, Medusa lived long enough to enact the final part of her plan in the last arc. Here, she dies in the only and one arc she appears in.
• Deadly Game: On Cobra Island, Medusa subjects Maka and her crew to a series of four different games. As each pass by, whether they win or lose, she robs someone of either their personality characteristic or a combat ability in an effort to weaken the team before they reach her. While the first three games aren’t all that deadly, the forth has many of the characters get critically injured.
• Death Seeker: In Act 1 Chapter 23, Atlas is heavily implied to be this as a result of Medusa's ministrations. This is expanded on later in Kim’s fight against her. Turns out Atlas is an undead creature reborn from a forbidden magic called named Reanimation Magic. It was used as a puppet against its will by Medusa.
• Deserted Island: Cobra Island is described as having no signs of life, excluding plant life. It even lacks the typical jungle noises.
• Difficulty Spike: invoked As Kilik and Rowena progress through the titular runaway train in Act 1 Chapter 15, the enemies get progressively tougher and take more energy to beat until they reach the end. Rowena lampshades the whole setup, likening it to Final Fantasy.
• Divide and Conquer: An essential part of Medusa’s and Shaula’s brief collaboration with one another. In order to weaken the DWMA’s overall military, Medusa isolates the school’s best students (Original Characters notwithstanding) on Cobra Island as Shaula strikes the home base directly.
• Double Standard: Rowena and Tsuji think about this in regards to Maka’s feelings about her mom and dad. The narration also reaffirms that Crona thought the same thing once in an anime episode.
  The Ricardsen Twins: So you love the mom who ain't even here and hate the dad who's around?
• Driving Question: Two that go hand-in-hand. This first is “What exactly is Project Omega?” We gradually get what amount to breadcrumbs of information that are very loosely connected or explained. That makes Project Omega one of the story’s biggest mysteries. The second is “What is the scope of Cancer’s machinations?” She is responsible for the Vladingham Family Massacre, the creation of Anria, and the development of Project Omega, so she is a pretty big figure in the fic. We know her motives but not the reasons behind them
• Dynamic Entry: In the Holland mission, Rowena arrives out of nowhere to help Crona by utterly flattening an Anria and leaving it in a crater. It’s both funny and awesome.
• Eaten Alive: It happens off-screen, but Liz is freaking out in the prologue because a Madagascar Tree ate Kid and, by extension, herself and Patty. Because Kid regroups with the others completely fine, it was probably a case of Swallowed Whole.
• Effortless Amazonian Lift: Even though it was stated Crona’s gender is ambiguous by the author, in the prologue, he/she manages to carry around three Madagascar Trees while impaled on Ragnarok without trouble.
• Eldritch Abomination:
  • The Anria, monstrous and animalistic creatures seemingly made of rocks and crystals. Special mention goes to Gladiolus, a titanic Anria made of several of them. They are of a Lovecraft Lite variety.
  • The Deep Ones of Act 1 Chapter 16 are a more traditional example. No surprise, considering the inspiration behind the chapter. They even perform a Fusion Dance that's even grosser.
• Establishing Character Moment: Quite the introductions we have here.
  • Caius Vladingham is established as badass and Troubled, but Cute in the very first chapter, introduced throwing a small pebble in Scorpio’s face, talking down to it. He then defeats it in only a few blows. He has a brief flashback to two years ago that shows he is the survivor of some deadly attack, and he muses how he doesn't have friends but acquaintances. Claudia is established as an Ojou or Proper Lady with a hopeless crush on Soul when she squeezes lemon on Scorpio's Kishin Egg Soul before she eats it. She calls up her driver so she and Caius can exit via carriage and slowly starts to ramble about, you guessed, Soul Eater.
  • The Ricardsen Twins are established as skilled yet being rookies. Tsuji headshots several of the Flatheads from atop a building, using a bow and arrow. Rowena flattens one of them along with a dumpster accordion-style, including J. Worski himself. They talk smack all the while. This is an unofficial mission to ascertain if they have the gall to go on actual missions.
  • Ignoring her name-only cameo in the prologue, the introduction of Cancer Lucrenian establishes her as a cunning Big Bad by standing in the middle of water like Jesus himself, only to summon a staircase of water and walk up it to approach Young Thief Gestas. She brings out this creature hidden in the shadows and ever so calmly instructs him to lure the Academy to Venice. Gestas does not disobey. When do they come, she attempts to kill them right off the bat but fails, only to force them into a Sadistic Choice.
  • Heck, Maka and company have quite the intro, all things considered. It reiterates their respective dynamics, what with kill-stealing Black☆Star from his longtime pal Maka, Kid shooting down a monster while yelling “DISGUSTING”, and Crona appearing all meek and everything but carrying three monsters on a sword without issue.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Despite being major antagonists, Cancer and Neptune are sisters and genuinely care for one another even if the former is rather aloof about it.
• Evil Is Not Well-Lit: Cobra Island, the birthplace of Medusa and the setting of the titular arc, has many rooms and corridors described as being dark or dim. In fact, to encounter an area or room with sufficient lighting is a bit of a surprise.
• Evil Makes You Monstrous: In-story, the Flatheads are quite inhuman-looking compared to their leader J. Worski.
• Evil Smells Bad: In Act 1 Chapter 16, Ox and his accompaniment frequently comment about how awful Innsmouth smells. As they get closer to unraveling the mystery and addressing the problem, they find out Innsmouth smells bad because the Deep Ones stuffed dead, decaying bodies in some of the boarded buildings.
• Evil Tainted the Place: The town of Innsmouth is ruled by an iron fist by the fearsome and terrifying Deep Ones. The residents fear them and flee when they strike. The whole town is in a messy state of decay and reeks of a foul smell. Once Crona and Ox extinguish the Deep Ones, they are met with applause and praise, implying this trope can finally be averted for the remaining townsfolk.
• Evil Wears Black: Cancer wears black, Medusa wears her original outfit, and most of the uniforms of the gangs include the color black, adding people like Kujira and Marlon to this.
• Expecting Someone Taller: Jacqueline mentions that Tsuji doesn’t act like what she expected of Noel’s son.
• Face Death with Dignity: One of the 1000 provisions for Excalibur requires a meister to do this trope.
• Facepalm: A lot of people do this a lot of times. It seems to be the author’s go-to reaction is describing someone’s exasperation or frustration.
• Fantastic Fighting Style: This story introduces one called Soul Fist. While it's better associated with the Olmett Family, anyone can learn it once taught by the right person. It's both a martial art and a technique, cloaking the user in his or her own soul wavelength and pushing the body's physical abilities beyond their normal limits.
• Fantastic Rank System: Came from canon but is expanded upon just a little bit here too. Meisters and Weapons can be, from highest to lowest, Three-Stars, Two-Stars, or One-Stars. Students from the NOT Class are given a rank of Zero-Stars to denote the fact that they can’t go on missions.
• Feather Flechettes: The Sister of the Gemini’s main method of attack.
• Fire-Forged Friends: Caius with Maka and Soul. Tsuji and Rowena with the main cast as a whole.
• Flare Gun: Maka used one in Act 1 Chapter 2 to call for assistance against the Gemini. A cufflink version is used by Crona in Act 1 Chapter 11 when he/she and Rowena faced trouble against Gladiolus.
• Foreshadowing: Almost everywhere.
• Formula-Breaking Episode: While Act 1 Chapter 12 starts off with some hijinks courtesy of the main EAT cast, the bulk focuses on the NOT class.
• Four-Temperament Ensemble:
  • Tsuji, Rowena, Nayumi, and Marcellus.
    • Rowena is Choleric, a woman of great strength who is passionate about what she does.
    • Tsuji is Sanguine, an energetic source of comic relief who loves proving his aiming prowess over and over.
    • Marcellus is Melancholic, preferring to be relaxed and offer thoughtful, analyzed insight.
    • Nayumi is Phlegmatic, very sweet and her former profession as a jewel thief covers quietness, stealth, and elegance.
  • Maka, Soul, Claudia, and Caius.
    • Maka is Choleric, an independent strong woman who focuses on her goals and never backs down.
    • Soul is Phlegmatic, compassionate and easygoing as always.
    • Claudia is Sanguine, a talkative and energetic little girl
    • Caius is Melancholic, a Sole Survivor full of deep thoughts but is very vengeful.
• Four Is Death:
  • Crona is having a nightmare/flashback in Act 1 Chapter 18. He/She is ordered by Medusa to kill an old man, and it takes four strikes to kill him.
  • Maka the cast go through door number 4 on the maze level on Cobra Island. Act 1 Chapter 26 reveals Medusa has a total of four “games” waiting for them.
  • The fourth game on Cobra Island is the deadliest of them all, forcing Maka and friends to fight dark carbon-copies of each other who are out to kill, torturer, and belittle them. Some win, some do not.
• A Friend in Need: In Act 1 Chapter 8, not only does Maka, Soul, and Claudia preach about the positives of camaraderie to Caius, who before spurned any attempts at befriending others because of his issues, they essentially reassure him they are ready to accept the burdens that come from it — the machinations of the Big Bad. The three give him the strength to move forward.
• Friendship Moment: The entirety of Act 1 Chapter 22 serves as this. The main cast is engaged in a Kumbaya Circle where most of them exchange their backgrounds with one another. This is the beginning of them all becoming close friends.
• Full-Potential Upgrade: Something that automatically occurs for owners of the Enchanted Eyes. The power granted by the Enchanted Eyes is so potent that, for a Meister-Weapon pair, the Demonic Wavelength actually bleeds over to the other partner even if they don’t exhibit the trait themselves. This usually changes some or all of parts of the normal Meister or Weapon, and the degree varies with each person.
• Fusion Dance:
  • The Brother and Sister of the Gemini can combine into a singular form for extra power and are killable only in this form.
  • The special ability of the Anria Gladiolus is that it can split into separate Anria that can act independently. Eventually, they reconvene and transform into their massive, original form.
  • The Deep Ones all merge together in the climax of the Innsmouth mission to create Yog-Sothoth.
  • Medusa’s experiments with the Black Blood are designed to make it so she can fuse and resonate with Kishin Asura via Madness.

Tropes G-L

• Gambit Pileup: Schemes and gambits run amok from almost all sides during the Chicago Gang Arc. Here's the breakdown: Initially, Cancer and Henderson seek out the Other Side Gang and Chicago Gang for mechanical parts and technology for Project Omega and their base. Kujira, who is Cancer's older sister Neptune, convinces her to help out the Other Side Gang under the promise they'll provide everything if their rivals are eliminated (with Soriano's approval). So, Cancer and Portis strike a deal with the Anria as payment — Cancer is planning to pin the Anria on the Chicago Gang knowing the Academy will take care of them. Portis, however, wises up, goes to talk to Lord Death directly, and gets himself out of trouble while pinning the Anria on Soriano while mentioning Cancer. Meanwhile, Walena is trying to turn the Chicago Gang territory into her own utopia for herself and her younger sis. Now, who emerges the winner? The heroes. ^note The combined efforts of the DWMA, the S.W.A.T. Team, and the Chicago Police Department leaves the Other Side Gang in shambles and displaced. They also band together to defeat Project Omega and put a tracker on Cancer; not to mention, they obtain a wealth of information about Novus Partus, the Anria, and Project Omega. Meanwhile, Novus Partus may have taken a hit in their Anria reserves, Walena was singlehandedly defeated by Tsuji and Marcellus, Cancer has no surveillance to make inferences and improve Project Omega, and the Chicago Gang has been killed off (except for Left and Right) and their territory devastated.
• Gangbangers: The Chicago Underground Association and the Other Side Gang are the most prominent, most important gangs. Marcellus used to be a member of the former while Kujira, Cancer’s sister, is presently a high-ranking member of the later. Marlon and the De Niro family serve as a branch of the Chicago Gang. The only independent gang is J. Worski and the Flatheads, a Detroit-stationed one that is shut down by Rowena and Tsuji in their first appearance.
• Gangland Drive-By: During a hit on Morgan and Marcellus, a set of members of the Other Side Gang chill at cross-section to gather themselves after they escape. Once Portis commands the Chicago Gang to retaliate following Morgan's demise, this same set is brutally gunned by a group of Chicago Gang members blazing by in cars.
• Gayngst: Jackie is bisexual, but the same idea applies, she's afraid of how her traditional family will react despite the fact that she's interested in Tsuji.
• Gemini Destruction Law: This is main reason why the Brother and Sister of the Gemini were such a difficult Kishin Egg to locate and kill. They are actually two entities which had to be destroyed in their combined form or else they would keep coming back. Maka and Caius found attacking them separately is a fruitless endeavor because the “killed” half would simply find the other, recombine, and then split again into two beings good as new. To make matters worse, the separate halves are big on working together to survive.
• Genocide Backfire: This gets lampshaded when Paraponera is discovered and it's commented how a lot of the Academy's recent enemies are survivors of groups they eliminated in the past.
• Genocide Survivor: Cancer and her sibling survived an episode of genocide named the "Lucrenian Clan Incident" that marked Cancer's Start of Darkness.
• The Glomp:
  • Nayumi and the Pot Twins do a celebratory one to each other at the end of Act 1 Chapter 12.
  • Maka gives Crona one after he/she beats Medusa.
• Gratuitous Latin: Latin is used practically everywhere. From the names of Caius’s techniques to the name of the main villainous organization.
• Great Offscreen War: Death Weapon Meister Academy and the Witch Society have been in opposition for a long time, but their conflict hit the nadir in a time called the Period of Destruction. Lord Death claims it is the darkest and bloodiest period of war between them. Three whole centuries of on-and-off bloodshed; for reference, both World Wars began and ended during the Period of Destruction. Other notable events include the Lucrenian Clan Incident that plays a vital role in Cancer’s and Kujira’s lives and the defensive purge of the Immortal Clan necessitated from their attack on humanity.
• Ham and Deadpan Duo:
  • Tsuji is the brash, wisecracking Ham to Marcellus's cool Deadpan.
  • Claudia is the theatric Ham to Caius's restrained Deadpan.
• Harmful to Minors:
  • A little girl got killed by the Brother of the Gemini.
  • Medusa sic’d two snakes on Pot of Fire and Pot of Thunder so that group couldn’t complete the maze level in time. This was after right a curse robs Kilik of his ability to synch soul wavelengths with them.
  • This can also apply to the characters before they joined the Academy. Caius was 14 when the massacre happened. Then, there’s the emotional damage done to Nayumi (when she was 12) and Marcellus (when he was 15) as Saeculum shows. Rowena and Tsuji at ten were almost killed by a Kishin Egg right in their very homes.
• Hearing Voices: Once a person unlocks the Enchanted Eyes, he or she will start, well, hearing voices. It is said they are benevolent and are trying to keep them on the right path because all sorts of temptation and vices are trying to get owners killed and Driven to Madness. An evil one is responsible for that last part. It even changes up its tactics with Tsuji, disguising itself as the good one when he was warned in advance. The good one is even fainter and desperately trying to reach him before it's too late.
• Heroes Unlimited: In the prologue, Lord Death tells Maka it is possible she and others will be fighting alongside people they don’t know as times goes on and evil runs amok. Sure enough, to fight the Gemini in Madrid, Maka and Soul have to team up with Caius and Claudia, who are working together with someone for the first time ever, and this is their first time working together as a whole. Lord Death’s point is reiterated during the Joint Resonance Training arc by Noel. It keeps going from there.
• He’s Not My Boyfriend: Immediately following the skydiving in Act 1 Chapter 3, Liz and Patty think Maka and Caius are dating even though this is their first time seeing the latter (though that’s probably why). Maka frantically denies the claim. It’s still a minor form of Ship Tease.
• Hidden Depths: You think you know a character, then something is revealed, whether a hobby or a characteristic, that changes your perception of them. See character pages for details because there’s too many to list here.
• Hollywood Genetics:
  • Vincent, Autumn, and Damon Vanderbilt. They’re triplets, but they have different hair and eye colors. The eye color part no longer applies when Act 1 Chapter 23 reveals they wear color contacts and all of them have red eyes.
  • Rowena and Tsuji Ricardsen. They also have different hair and eye colors. Their profiles mention they do have some resemblance to each other and have identical physical proportions like height.
  • Meredith and Luther Olmett. One has pink hair, the other black.
• Hollywood Skydiving: Maka, Soul, Caius, and Claudia resort to skydiving to the Academy after the returning from the Madrid mission or else they’ll be late for first period. Despite all of them being first-timers, expert skydiver Kevin doesn’t accompany them, only providing instructions. After Maka falls beyond the altitude for safe landing due to a malfunction (a reason why experts should be with novices in the first place), requiring Caius to help her out, they both still land safely in spite of the delay.
• Hope Spot: Quite a bit. No surprise, considering the story revolves around the concept of hope.
  • The Cobra Island arc in particular has these by the bucket-load.
    • The first game the protagonists face requires beating hordes of endless, regenerating cobras in order to save their captains from cages gradually becoming alit with magic fire. As time runs short, Marcellus decides to exploit a loophole and tells Tsuji to shoot down the cages at the spot where the fire originates. Tsuji, who is more than capable of doing such a task, becomes the second person to lose his powers (his aim, specifically) right before he shoots, making him miss and the gang lose the game.
    • The second game involves a maze. Despite one notable setback, Maka and company literally have the end in sight with plenty of time to spare. Then, the Ouroboros curse forces the Pot Twins to separate from Kilik, and two giant snakes threaten to kidnap them. Everyone stops to save them, but it eats up their remaining time, making them lose yet again when they could’ve won.
    • In the third game, the heroes must complete a large puzzle filled with confusing pathways by pushing them two heavy boulders into specific spots to take down a series of walls within the puzzle so that they can continue to the end. Once Rowena and Black☆Star, the only two people who can move the boulders easily and at a rapid pace, are Brought Down to Normal, that’s pretty much game over for the group. This one is so bad that Kid doesn’t even decide to improvise with their remaining resources. He just waves the white flag (er, handkerchief) in surrender.
    • Despite the fourth game being the most dangerous, there is actually an epic aversion. Everyone must fight against shadows of the Meisters, which are not held back by loss of characteristics, abilities, or by morality – they even know moves that even the real deal do not. Some people make it out relatively fine, but Maka, Caius, Tsuji, and Rowena are left critically injured. Right when Kim is ready to heal them, Medusa uses Ouroboros to take her Regeneration Magic. She, however, thought ahead and made healing potions so that everyone can fight at max health. Take that, Medusa.
    • Turns out the arc’s climactic battle has the cruelest one of them all. While Kim keeps Medusa occupied and Kid deals with Free, Caius and Tsuji are assigned to retrieve the crystal ball containing everyone’s personality traits and powers. Tsuji manages to get the slip on Eruka and Mizune and surfs down a river carrying the crystal ball. At the mouth of it, which bears the waterfall Eruka was told to deposit it, Tsuji actually retrieves the crystal ball… only for Tadpole Jackson to knock him into the water and cause the crystal ball to wash down the waterfall. This reduces Tsuji to tears of sheer despair, right after his usual confidence was briefly restored.
• Hypocrite: One of the poachers in Act 1 Chapter 12 decries all the effort Tsugumi and pals are putting in to saving a dog. Autumn calls him out.
  Poacher: JEEZ! All this for a damn dog?!
  Autumn: Look who’s talking.
• I Have Many Names: Kid and Lord Death are synonymously referred to as Reapers, Grim Reapers, Shinigami, Gods of Death, or Death Gods.
• I Let You Win: The instructors that the Crescent Moon Class fight in Act 1 Chapters 17 and 18 were specifically told to hold back. They're supposed to evaluate the students, after all.
• I Shall Taunt You:
  • Medusa. Constantly. Especially in her confrontation with Kim. She cannot comprehend why Kim of all the available fighters thinks she has a chance and voices her opinion without rest.
  • Clarke goes on about the superiority of guns and how archery is an outdated relic of the past, pressing Tsuji’s Berserk Button.
  • Eruka foolishly lets her witch pride get ahold of her and elects to mock Tsuji for losing the crystal ball.
• In Their Own Image: For Cancer, the Project Omega plan also falls under this. By completing it to give birth to a Destroyer Deity, she aims to Restart the World and Kill the Gods so she can rebuild the world into something more in line with her beliefs. The beliefs of an amoral nihilist like herself.
• In-Universe Game Clock: Non-video game example. The story keeps track of dates. The beginnings of most chapters have “Month, Day, Week” written followed by the actual date. So, when something important is announced for a specific date, it really will happen on that date. For example, the field exam happens precisely a week^note  Month 1, Week 3, Day 5 (Friday, January 19th) after it is announced^note  Month 1, Week 2, Day 5 (Friday, January 12th).
• Inevitable Waterfall: The river on Cobra Island has a large waterfall at its mouth that leads to the ocean. Eruka and the Mizunes are assigned by Medusa to deposit Medusa’s crystal ball there so none of the protagonists can get it and therefore get their powers and personality traits back. Tsuji miraculously gets the crystal ball before it is washed down the waterfall. Unfortunately for him, fate had other designs.
• Infectious Enthusiasm: For a short moment, in Act 1 Chapter 12, Damon’s optimism was rubbing off on Tsugumi.
• Island Base: Cobra Island acts as one for Medusa in the titular Story Arc. She is huddled up in the snake monolith that takes up most of the island. It is also her place of birth. She's dragged Maka and the others to the island to enact the beginning of a revenge scheme.
• It Began with a Twist of Fate: Rowena and Tsuji are brought into the adventure by pure chance after deciding to go on a group mission to Holland with Maka, Soul, and everybody else. In another twist of fate they are among the random students selected to go on a VIP mission to Cobra Island. Lastly, Caius arguably brings the canon protagonists into his ongoing conflict with Cancer the minute he joins the group. The chain of events that follow must be read to be believed.
• Japanese School Club: Technicalities about the DWMA being in America aside, the school institutes school clubs, extracurricular activities, and sports as an outlet for the student body other than combat and training. They have all the ones you would expect (Student Council, Drama Club) and some unexpected ones (Medical, Pediatric).
• Jaw Drop: Usually when someone is WTFing at something.
• Kill It with Fire:
  • St Elmo's Fire, a Joint Resonance done by Kim and Tsuji, uses a ton of fire. Woe betide those on the receiving end of it. Unless you're Franken Stein.
  • Some of Caius’s Soul Blaze techniques qualify. Regnum Dei, for example, apparently immolates a foe physically and spiritually.
• Kill Steal: In Act 1 Chapter 1, Black☆Star KO’s a Madagascar Tree that Maka was about to use Witch Hunter on. She let it go but wasn’t amused.
• Knight of Cerebus:
  • Cancer’s introduction finally sets up the main conflict and gives a preview of her caliber as a villain. You certainly qualify when one of your first actions is trying to preemptively kill main characters.
  • Medusa has the pleasure of being the Arc Villain of the first entirely serious story arc, one that contains real dangers and serious developments.
• Last of His Kind:
  • Caius. The Vladingham Family was killed off two years prior to the beginning of the story by Cancer Lucrenian. He's the sole survivor (although barely if that little flashback at the end of the prologue is anything to go by). His moniker is even "The Last Vladingham".
  • It's implied Cancer is what's left of the Lucrenian Clan.
  • Ponera. She's the princess of the Paraponera Clan, who was wiped out at the end of the Period of Destruction when most of the fighting ceased for conspiring with remnants of the Immortal Clan.
• Late for School: In the beginning of Act 1 Chapter 2, Maka and Soul are running their asses off to make sure they aren’t late for Stein’s class. Probably in acknowledgement of the particular meaning of this trope, Maka has a piece of toast in her mouth. The funny thing is Black☆Star runs them over once they get to school.
• Our Dragons Are Different: Khmer Dragon. It’s actually an improved, Soul Resonance version of the Black Dragon.
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall: In Act 1 Chapter 12:
  Finally, Claudia reacted, but not with words or hysterics. She slowly walked over to the nearest corner and sat in front of it. She was so depressed that it seemed like the area around her turned black and blue. Caius, Marcellus, and Nayumi simply watched on, wondering how the heck could someone be so sad the air around them changed colors.
• Let's Split Up, Gang!: Notably averted once Maka and her group first enter Cobra Island, an eerily quiet and abandoned island. This trope was suggested, but Marcellus convinces everyone not to.
• Le Parkour: Roof Hopping, Wall Run, Wall Jump… Quite a few of the athletic fighters do this.
• Lightning Glare: Happens with Black☆Star and Tsuji when they are arguing in Act 1 Chapter 11.
• Like Father, Unlike Son: Noel Ricardsen,a Demon Weapon, is a cynical adult who makes no attempts at making friends with his coworkers having been embittered by his past. His son, Tsuji, is a Meister who is enthusiastic, very open, has a large group of friends, and is optimistic. Lampshaded by Jacqueline when she first meets Tsuji.
• Literal Cliffhanger: Of a sort. The main characters are left hanging for dear life over a pit of snakes in Act 1 Chapter 26.
• Literal Split Personality: The Gemini is expressly called a “two-in-one”. The monster consists of a “Brother” and a “Sister” that can act independently and have their own individual skillset. When apart, their soul wavelengths can’t be detected and are immune to being killed. They just reform automatically. When they do their Fusion Dance, the Gemini is more powerful but can actually be killed for good.
• Lovecraftian Superpower: Everything the Deep Ones and Yog-Sothoth do in Act 1 Chapter 16 in terms of fighting ability. Again, no surprise there.
• Lucky Charms Title: Averted with respect to a certain character’s name. In this story, Black☆Star’s name is without the star, leaving it as “Blackstar” instead. Word of God says formatting issues and typing ease are the reasons why.

Tropes M-S

• Mad Scientist Laboratory: Cancer has two within Subterrene. The engineering lab and her sanctuary, the latter being the main hub and where she stores Project Omega's soul.
• The Mafia: The Chicago Gang has distinct, mafia-like undertones, being an organized industry with a don and a matriarch at the helm. The members are also rather formal, and there is a heavy emphasis on business and related practices.
• Magical Eye: The Enchanted Eyes. In Act 1 Chapter 17, Stein gives a brief overview about them. It’s a dangerous bloodline skill that grants the owner a Demonic Wavelength upon activation. It is said a person with it loses a small part of his or her humanity in exchange for power. The eyes are normally dormant and requires a person to be in a state of extreme duress in order to first awaken it. Features include Hellish Pupils, Black Eyes of Crazy, and Glowing Eyes of Doom. The subplot of the Chicago Gang Arc focuses on the Eyes in more depth and explains the lore behind them. Presently, four characters are revealed to have them — Noel, Tsuji, Shannon, and Left.

• The Maze: The second trial Maka and the others face on Cobra Island is a maze. At first, they had to pick one out of four doors to enter the maze and then go through it, which has all sorts of traps and tricks waiting for them. However, some of the group members use their abilities to make the task relatively easier.
• Mechanical Abomination: Project Omega's Second Form is depicted as such. It is a massive monstrosity made of mechanical parts, synthetic flesh, and a single red eye that spends most of the time shrugging everything thrown at it from all sides. Its destructive potential keeps everyone on high alert. To top it off, Stein, Crona, and oddly enough Rowena seem to lose their minds when they first look at the thing.
• Mechanical Monster: Project Omega's First Form is a powerful prototype whose simple presence utterly intimidated Young Thief Gestas and even Caius. It was strong enough to beat Maka and Caius with no effort, and Cancer ouright threatens to raze the whole of Venice, Italy with it. After its defeat, Cancer makes a new body for it, but it evolves into something more sinister.

• Melodrama: Parodied in the beginning of Act 1 Chapter 12 between Claudia and Caius. In other situations, Claudia seems melodramatic normally, such as when she “recovers” from Black☆Star sneezing on her.
• Metronomic Man Mashing: Roger does this to Gilgamesh in Act 1 Chapter 11 briefly.
• A Million Is a Statistic: It's jarring to see that, despite it happening since midway through the Cobra Island arc, nobody has noticed Bermuda and its population are in some deep, deep trouble.
• Monster of the Week: The Introduction Arc used this formula for some time, bringing in Kishin Eggs and/or Evil Humans for time to time, but the main focus was about examining Caius's and Claudia's character with Maka and Soul aiding that purpose. Then the introduction of Cancer and Project Omega jacked up the Sorting Algorithm of Evil. The next arc, the Joint Resonance Training one, follows it too, but not so much thereafter.
• Mooning: Young Thief Gestas does this to Maka, Caius, Soul, and Claudia. They are squicked out.
• Necromancer: The practitioners of Reanimation Magic (though noted as being separate from Necromancy proper). It allows one to resurrect a dead or half-dead being, customize it to your liking, and acquire yourself a minion. The trade-off is that said minion loses all of its free will and is stuck in an eternal limbo between life and death. Its practice is seen as an In-Universe Moral Event Horizon – neither Lord Death nor the Witch Council condones it for its inhumanity, and the Warlock who created it was executed for it.
  • Medusa is one such user. She uses this spell on Atlas as a Red Herring, even giving it back its soul to make sure it is still registered as living to the others.
• Never Found the Body: In the Kumbaya Circle, Caius mentions that not all deaths in the Vladingham Family Massacre were confirmed. There were a few missing and/or unidentified bodies, including his aunt Katrina and sister Phyllis. Alexei and his father Vladimir were also among these people but were found later, confirming their deaths.
• Nitro Express: Although In Act 1 Chapter 15 Kilik and Rowena are attempting to stop a vehicle capable of explosive mass destruction, rather than transport it safely.
• No-Holds-Barred Beatdown:
  • 00000Ω was pretty much destroying Caius by the time Maka arrives to help. She got beat up too for her troubles. Joint Resonance saved them.
  • The Correctional Class didn’t take any time beating Spirit up so they could be without a supervisor.
  • Mizune is also pretty merciless in her curbstomping of Tsuji and Caius.
• Not Quite Dead: Maka, Stein, and Marie told Crona and Ragnarok Medusa died when Maka expelled her Rachel’s body, just like in the anime canon. As you have probably noticed on this page already, Medusa survives.

• Obsessed with Perfect Attendance: The first chapter reveals Maka has a perfect attendance record and, while in a haggard morning rush with Soul, is very adamant in keeping it.
• Odd Friendship: Admit it, how many fics do you see where Crona and Ox work as partners and get a burgeoning friendship?
• Oddly Small Organization: Novus Partus, at first. When the organization was officially named, it was just Cancer and Henderson. Averted with time; the Anria grew stronger and more numerous, forming their main army, Novus Partus allies with the Other Side Gang, and of course new members come.
• The Omniscient Council of Vagueness: The Witch Council.
• One-Gender Race: Avoided with Witches and Warlocks, they seem to be rare, but there male Witches, like Paraponera's janitor Anel Ying Panderson, and female Warlocks, but they are apparently subject to discrimination.
• Only in Florida: In one mission, a monstrous runaway train is trying to cause as much destruction as possible as it goes on a joyride down a high-speed rail. It takes a humungous amount of effort from both the Academy and emergency personnel to bring it down. Property damage happens, and a couple lives are lost. Guess where it happened? Even better, guess who quotes this trope word-for-word?
  Kilik: So, we have an ugly train monster that can roll right through stuff, breathe fire, and can cause a citywide panic?”
  Nayumi: Only in Florida.
• Only Known by Their Nickname: Kilik’s real name is Kirikou, but everyone calls him Kilik instead. The writer probably did this to acknowledge both the original and the dub name of the character.

• Orwellian Retcon: The writer constantly goes back to edit, readjust, and add little bits of information to the story.
• Ouroboros: Medusa creates the ultimate Cursing Magic spell just for the Cobra Island Arc, and it has this as its name. Vector snakes bite members of the cast and strip them of their main ability or personality trait that defines them as a fighter. The snakes are actually wrapped around a limb, biting its own tail to create the image of ouroboros.
• Patchwork Fic: The continuity of the fanfic has it combining how the Baba Yaga Castle arc plays out in both the anime and the manga. Some stuff will be changed or rearranged to accommodate the story obviously. The Lost Island mission was a failure like in the manga, Medusa’s deal seemingly went on like it did in the anime. Kim was affected by the Moral Manipulation Machine and exposed as a witch like in the manga. Black☆Star challenges Mifune like in the manga but the latter survives and goes on to become a teacher like in the anime. Finally, Maka, Soul, Marie, and Crona fight on Medusa like in the anime.
  • In addition, both Lord Death’s list (manga-only) and the concept of Kishin Eggs (anime-only) exist in this story.
  • Taken to whole new level when the fic implements the non-canon video game, Soul Eater: Monotone Princess, at the start of Act 2.
• Playing with Fire:
  • As in the original material, Jacqueline and Pot of Fire are two weapons that have fire powers.
  • This is the specialty of the Vladingham Family, called "Soul Blaze," which allows them to generate powerful blue fire on their bodies or wreathe their weapons in these flames for extra damage and power.
  • Tsuji gains this ability through the use of the Enchanted Eyes. Though, the more appropriate term would be "Playing With Hellfire".
• Playing with Syringes:
  • Cancer regularly does this involving both the Anria and Project Omega. She's more than okay with jeopardizing innocent lives if it means their furtherance.
  • Everything Medusa has done scientifically (particularly to Crona and Ragnarok) is so she can perfect the Black Blood, fuse with Asura through a special resonance, and control Madness itself and thus the world.
• Power of Trust: This is an essential component of Joint Resonance. In order for it to work, all involved people (Meisters and Weapons) must be willing to work together or at least tolerate one another. All it takes is just one person who isn't sold to the idea, bears animosity, or just doesn't care to cause the entire process to fail.
• Positive Friend Influence: The kindness of Maka, Claudia, and Soul (especially the first two) catalyzed Caius into becoming a better person.
• Pull the I.V.:
  • Tsuji is staying in the Dispensary after a very bad incident the week before. He's been getting treatment, healing from Kim, and hydration since then. At the point where he has to remove the I.V. so he can go to Chicago with his dad to help Marcellus, it's just replenishing water in his system. As for the wound, he takes some of Kim's healing vial, though that was meant to cure bodily grogginess.
  • Kujira is a straighter, villainous example. Hours fresh off major optic surgery, she hears a distress call from the Other Side Gang and elects at that moment to go to Chicago, taking out the IV and all. Bizarrely, she's good at biology, so she should know at least a little something about that. Mitigated in the very next chapter which shows she took time to dress the I.V. wound.
• Punched Across the Room: In Act 1 Chapter 12, Black☆Star challenges Noel to appease his own ego. When he moves to strike, Noel swats him away. Before Black☆Star even realizes it, he is sent through three different walls. It's implied that isn't the first time Noel has done that to a student.
• Punishment Detail: Audrey and Shannon are introduced into the story doing a remedial lesson mission as punishment for something they did. Though, they had help from fellow Half Moon classmates.
• Quizzical Tilt: A common gesture among certain characters to express confusion or curiosity.
• Race Against the Clock: The maze of Cobra Island, the second level the protagonists face.
• Rape, Pillage, and Burn: On a country-wide scale. Cancer and Henderson effectively isolate the British Overseas Territory of Bermuda from the rest of the world. Then, Cancer sends out all of the Anria to go wild on the surface. They destroy villages and prey on the residents, presumably to eat their souls. Not only did Cancer order this to strengthen Novus Partus’ main fighting force, she wants to see if any of them will develop like Gilgamesh did.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: Scorpio, the Brother of the Gemini, Henderson, Project Omega, the Vanderbilts.
• Red Sky, Take Warning:
  • Upon seeing the now-crimson skies after an overnight ship ride, Kid immediately knows his group had arrived at Cobra Island.
  • The skies also turn red when Shaula and the Traitors attack Death City.
• Red Herring:
  • Cancer and Project Omega used Gestas as bait for the Academy.
  • Medusa one-ups Cancer by using two in the form of Krysa and Atlas.
• Reforged into a Minion: Reanimation Magic allows the caster to custom-modify a poor soul of their choice.
• Refuge in Audacity: This trope is the main point Henderson and Cancer make to Portis for why he should consider using the Anria. The police department expect normal human beings conducting illegal activity, not one-eyed rock creatures they can’t do anything about.
• Resurrective Immortality: One of the things that made the Gemini quite deadly was that if you can kill one half of it, they just recombine, and can split up again without a hitch. As long as they were apart, the monster couldn’t be killed decisively.
• Retcon: The author edited Act 1 Chapter 24 again, and this time he erases the existence of Original Character Matthew and replaces with Tom. Tom is an obscure canon character that appears in the Battle Festival arc of the Soul Eater Not manga. In line with this, the Demon Grappling Hook, Thornton, has been changed to a foil, a type of fencing sword.
• Rhetorical Question Blunder: When Lord Death is lecturing the Correctional Class students involved in the raid on the Academy, he asks what was even the point, all things considered. Andy answers because they were bored. Lord Death chops him.
• Riding the Bomb: Black☆Star, Maka, Kilik, and Rowena ride Caius’s Deus Iratus missile to help them get higher up Atlas.
• Rule of Cool: It was a driving force in canon, and it’s sure as hell here.
• Runaway Train: Act 1 Chapter 15. Exactly What It Says on the Tin.
• Sadistic Choice: In Act 1 Chapter 8, Cancer gives Maka, Soul, Caius, and Claudia an ultimatum. If they leave, Venice will be destroyed and souls will be taken. If they stay, they'll be killed slowly and painfully. Luckily, they got their heads in the game and were able to Take a Third Option.
• Said Bookism: Even in the edited chapters, it’s present in at least a few lines. Here’s one example in particular:
  “Yeah! We're going to make the best dog-catching team ever!” Damon asseverated excitedly
• Scary Shiny Glasses: In Act 1 Chapter 2, Stein goes to the Correctional Class homeroom for Noel. He doesn’t know this yet, but he is away at the time. He knocks on the door and hears the students on the other side scrambling to fix things up. Stein enters and a disappointed student points out it’s not Noel. Cue Stein’s glasses glinting as he looks at said student.
• Second Hour Superpower: Joint Resonance provides a substantial boost in strength for any practitioners who know the technique, which happens to be pretty much the whole EAT class if Noel intends to keep his promise. Hilariously, Joint Resonance is mastered by all in the second arc.
• Semi-Divine: Fire and Thunder turn out to have the essence of Gurzil, the sun god of the Huwwara people of Libya and Shango, the god of thunder and lightning of the Yoruba people of Nigeria, respectively.
• Sensor Character:
  • Marcellus Ardsen has an ability called Wavelength Sonar. More specifically, Marcellus manipulates his own soul wavelength and emits it in the form of sonar waves. When they come into contact with other stuff, the wavelengths of those other people will bounce off his own like a sort of echo. Things like animals only very faintly appear on radar.
  • Nayumi Ardsen has something called Wavelength Radiation. Concentrating her wavelength so that it’s sensitive to infrared radiation, Nayumi is able to detect the heat signatures of living objects. This has advantages over Soul Perception and Marcellus’s Wavelength Sonar in that she can still detect organisms that are protecting their wavelengths
• Shadow Archetype: Invoked and Exploited. Medusa and Free use a combination of Ouroboros and Spatial Magic to isolate the main cast each in individual abysses of darkness. Awaiting them upon waking up are literally shadows that reflect their inner insecurities, faults, and flaws that they, and probably others, ignore or never knew they had. The shadows have no compunctions delivering “The Reason You Suck” Speeches that air out said things. They also dish out a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown on their real selves, which Medusa wants because, in case they survive, they will be broken psychologically and physically.
• Shmuck Bait: Tsuji and Rowena didn't believe Kid about Excalibur. They do now.

• Shrouded in Myth: As cut-and-dry it may appear, it’s becoming increasingly obvious that the Vladingham Family Massacre has more importance than being simple backstory for Caius. Why did Cancer kill them off? Nobody knows. Even she refuses to kiss and tell. Then, there’s the information that all of their deceased’s souls were taken and some bodies are missing/unidentified. Kid certainly thinks there’s more below the surface. Maka even postulates that the massacre and 00000Ω might even be connected somehow.
• Shown Their Work: “Runaway Train” takes advantage of a cancelled railroad project called the Florida High Speed Rail as the mission setting. If you research it and read the chapter, you can tell the author paid attention to detail.
• Shout-Out: Aplenty. Check ‘em out here.
• Sibling Team: The Ricardsen Twins are the most prominent example, Meredith and Luther are another, and the Vanderbilt triplets are some more. Appears to be a recurring theme.
• Siblings in Crime: The Twin Gentlemen, the Brother and Sister of the Gemini, Left and Right, and Cancer and Neptune.
• Simple, yet Awesome: How Tsubaki and the Pot Twins dispatch their meisters’ shadow when they are unable to. Tsubaki stealthily uses Prehensile Hair in the form of a chain-scythe to slit the throat of Black☆Star’s shadow while it’s busy talking. Pot of Fire breathes fire on the face of Kilik’s shadow to debilitate it while Pot of Thunder gives it an electrically-charged wet willy in which the shocks goes directly to its brain.
• Sore Loser: In Act 1 Chapter 24, after Soul calls out Krysa on how rigged the “game” was, she basically calls him and everyone else this.
• Soulless Shell: The effects of Reanimation Magic means whoever or whatever is brought back by the caster will be resurrected as this. It's still possible for the caster to return their soul, assuming they have it, but that's the least of their worries.
• Spared by the Adaptation:
  • In this story, Mifune never died during the Baba Yaga Castle arc, and he works at Shibusen now, much like how the anime ended.
  • Justin’s still around too.
  • Even the villains get special privileges too. All three of the Gorgon Sisters survive beyond the point where their deaths canonically occur, be it based on the anime or the manga.
• Spotlight-Stealing Squad: Due to a different writing strategy, Tsuji and Marcellus are this in their arc of focus. They are firmly in the spotlight and several characters that also get development is a result of an interaction with them (Audrey and Shannon being the standout example). This also has the side-effect of putting others Out of Focus (Crona has at least the excuse of being fresh off major Character Development, Kid not so much).
• Standard Evil Organization Squad: Novus Partus.
• Staring Down Cthulhu: Maka and Soul give their speech while staring down Project Omega as it readies to blow them to smithereens.
• Starter Villain: The Brother and Sister of the Gemini are rather significant for the first of a Monster of the Week series. They discuss the prevailing theme that, sometimes, you just have ignore differences and work together to achieve a common good. Being in sync is imperative for teamwork in general. The lesson in that chapter is reinforced in the future.
• Stations of the Canon: Zigzags, but largely an aversion. It adapts and references canon material, sure, but there are notable deviations and reinterpretations.
  • As said before, the Baba Yaga Invasion combines the events of both the manga and the anime but ends with both Arachne and Kishin Asura getting away, avoiding either conclusion.
  • The Not! finale is altered in way that it’s different from both the anime and the manga versions. The fight between Shaula and NOT girls with Akane is, for the most part, similar to the latter. Things diverge when Shaula whips up Summoning Magic to bring up scorpions to cover her escape. Spring Bird Attack happens, referencing the anime, and is more destructive than either canon depiction. All canon adherence is thrown out the window when Shaula survives that, leading up to encounters with Lord Death, the Death Scythes, and her older sister, Medusa. Oh, and she lives through all too!
  • Kid’s fight with his shadow mimics some of the developments that occur in his rematch with Mosquito in the manga. The shadow itself also bears Kid’s mentality when he was infected with madness, also in the manga. Later on, Crona’s fight with Medusa shows subtle nods to her death in the manga – she offers (false) kindness and Crona butchers her for it. Unlike the source material, this is not a Thanatos Gambit, this is Medusa losing.
• Straw Nihilist:
  • Cancer Lucrenian is disgusted with the world and her whole motive is to complete Project Omega so it can destroy it. She sees the world as self-destructive and full of lies, discrimination, and injustice. She wants nothing more than to create a new world without these flaws and, especially, one without hope.
  Cancer:: So naïve to the ways of the world, so full of optimism and hope. I, however, have seen the world for how it truly is. Despair is the only truth in this world of lies and hypocrisy. This world is not worth the dirt we walk upon. Unless it is destroyed and remade properly, it will remain that way, a diseased mire, and everyone – humans, witches, and other creatures alike – shall continue to dance like court jesters to its incomprehensible whims. If you live long enough, you shall see it sooner or later, even if I must be the one to teach you that.
  • Walena Devilana. She holds the view "The world has neither justice, god, nor order" and sneers that "It's all nothing but wretched extravagance."
  • Heroic example in Nayumi Ardsen before she Took a Level in Cheerfulness. In short, she thinks nothing matters and everything is pointless. Their fates were determined at birth and there is nothing people can do is stop it. Every attempt to change fate is a pointless endeavor that leads to distress.
• Suddenly Voiced: Pot of Fire and Pot of Thunder (collectively referred as the Pot Twins) don't speak very often, if at all, in canon. Here, they have speaking roles. Probably for the sake of convenience.
• Summon Magic: Anel Ying Panderson, Paraponera's male Witch janitor, specializes in this kind of magic.
• Summon to Hand: A function of Marcellus's Javelin Form is that, after Tsuji does Meteor Javelin, it will reappear in his hand after each use of the attack.
• Super-Strength: While many characters display a certain degree of high strength, two Original Characters - Noel Ricardsen and his daughter Rowena - explicitly have superhuman physical strength. For example, Noel can swat people through several walls and Rowena easily wields an extremely heavy sledgehammer about as tall as she is.
  • Meme is physically strong enough to stunt a large, summoned scorpion with her blows.
• Swiss-Army Weapon: An ability called Mode Change means certain Weapons can convert the appearance of their weapon forms into a related state, known as a "Form." It’s not quite like Tsubaki’s unique multi-form trait because their Forms need to be at least similar in purpose and/or design. Marcellus and Nayumi are the only two people with this ability. For Marcellus, all Tsuji needs to do is some manual adjustment. For Nayumi, she and Rowena need to conduct a Soul Resonance first before the manual adjustment. See their own entries for more information.
  • Demon Bow Marcellus has Forms that include a regular bow (his Default Form), a longbow (Longbow Form), a javelin (Javelin Form), and a crossbow (Crossbow Form).
  • Nayumi’s Forms include a morning star, a broadax, and a meteor hammer. This does not include her default weapon form, the Demon Sledgehammer. Her Forms have an elemental theme to a certain degree.
• Sword Drag: Not just a sword, but almost every bladed weapon featured.
• The Syndicate: Whereas their rival, the Chicago Gang, functions like The Mafia, the Other Side Gang is this trope instead. They are a mysterious criminal empire that works like a unit (even knowingly employing a witch) and tend toward the shadier aspects of gang lifestyle, typically going around in hoods and coats, and are somewhat informal in nature compared to the more organized Chicago Gang.

Tropes T-Z

• Taking Over the Town: A large-scale variation. After learning from Gilgamesh Anria can potentially evolve, Cancer and Henderson cut off Bermuda from the rest of the world. While they don't exactly loot the place, they do have the Anria run wild over all the country, kill their citizens, and eat their souls to provoke said evolution.
• Talking Is a Free Action:
  • The Brother and Sister of the Gemini just stand there and watch as Maka, Soul, Caius, and Claudia settle on using Chain Resonance. It’s somewhat mitigated by the fact that the Brother said it’s better to counter their attack and kill them in the ensuing chaos, but still…
  • Happens again with they confront Project Omega in Venice. The thing just… stops advancing and decides to listen to everything like it’s watching a soap opera. This is lessened by the fact Project Omega was just in a prototypical state, but realistically, it had them dead to rights.
• Talking through Technique: The very first lesson Noel teaches when we first meet him. He makes the Crescent Moon kids spar in an attempt to make them more keen on analyzing and understanding their opponent just by looking at their fighting style and form.
• Technicolor Fire: The wavelength flames produced by Caius's Soul Blaze are described as either blue or purplish-blue. In actuality, all Vladinghams like him can use such fire. It’s even an innate ability, though one that requires practice.
• Theme Naming: The streets of Death City as shown in Act 1 Chapter 12. Names include Death Row Street, Death Toll Lane, Dead Air Road, and Dead Center Highway. The edited Act 1 Chapter 6 introduces another one named Rigor Mortis Street, adhering to the death theme.
• There's No Kill like Overkill: What Crona, Ox, Harvar, and Ragnarok resort to doing to finally put down Yog-Sothoth. Cue Joint Resonance: Heaven Piercing Roar.
• Thriller on the Express: To prepare for the field exam and to try and master Joint Resonance, Kilik and Rowena accept a mission that involves trying to fight off a Kishin Egg that’s possessed a train. This happens in Act 1 Chapter 15, aptly entitled “Runaway Train.”
• Town Girls: Maka, Kim, and Rowena – Rowena is Butch, Kim is Femme, and Maka is Neither.
• Town with a Dark Secret: Innsmouth. Don't be surprised.
• Troll:
  • When Class Crescent Moon is celebrating a successful field exam, Stein gleefully assigns a paper on the very same stuff when the students thought they were done.
  • Young Thief Gestas is this, full stop, in the edited Act 1 Chapter 7.
  • One of Medusa’s games is a puzzle for crying out loud! Right after the gang completes a maze full of death traps.
• Trouble Magnet Gambit: Cancer’s plan to be rid of the Chicago Gang essentially boils down to her making it seem like they are the ones under control of the Anria and sit back and watch the DWMA take care of the rest.
• Uneven Hybrid: Back when Stein was watching Noel test Kid and Black Star, he talks about how the Enchanted Eyes are said to take away part of one's humanity in exchange for power. According to Voice, the progenitor and creator of the Enchanted Eyes, he's right. The exact fraction or percentage is unknown, but owners of the Eyes do indeed lose some of their humanity and it's replaced with an "equivalent" that acts as a conduit for the Enchanted Eyes. This "equivalent" is different for each individual. So far: Noel is demonism, Tsuji is vampirism, Left is lycanthropy, and Shannon is currently unknown.
• Underwater Base: Subterrene.
• The Unintelligible: Yog-Sothoth. Nobody knows what it’s saying. Not even the readers.
• [Verb] This!: The poacher that drove the van in Act 1 Chapter 12 slams the door into Vincent’s face saying “Accelerate this!”
• Villain Ball:
  • Really, the Gemini could’ve killed Maka but for some reason let her use a flare gun to signal her teammates. Even then, when Caius arrived to help, they still had the upper hand but decided to let them talk something over. See Talking Is a Free Action for more details on that.
  • Clarke of the Chicago Gang. He scores a free shot on Tsuji. That should have been game for him right then and there, but no; Clarke wants Tsuji to suffer for breaking and entering his home turf. Even worse, he successfully shoots Tsuji a second time just to prove a point. That last one is so bad even a colleague asks Why Don't You Just Shoot Him?.
  • Ponera gave Killbell a notebook full of info on everyone important in Paraponera because he's forgetful, which Maka takes after she defeats him. This is lampshaded when Noah finds out.
• Villain Episode:
  • Act 1 Chapter 19 deals with Cancer and Henderson figuring out their next move with Project Omega. Their debating leads to them to seek out two powerful gangs, the Chicago Underground Association and the Other Side Gang, for their individual services. The meetings aren’t that simple; Cancer winds up entangle in a deal that sets the stage for the Chicago Gang Arc.
  • The large majority of Act 1 Chapter 28 stars Medusa, Shaula, and their relationship. Though, you might be distracted by Lord Death briefly in action.
  • Act 1 Chapter 36 is half exposition about the the Period of Destruction and half a look into the workings of Cancer, Soriano, and an interrogation between Portis and Marlon. The latter part gets more focus.
• Villain Team-Up:
  • Medusa and Shaula are working together in the Cobra Island Arc. That said, it’s all but said they plan on backstabbing each other and taking all the glory once the other is offed.
  • Cancer is in league with the Other Side Gang and their boss, Soriano, to oust the Chicago Gang.
• The Voice:
  • Voice, the creator and the progenitor of the Enchanted Eyes. In the story, his agenda is to speak to the owners of the Eyes and put them on the righteous path to help them master and overcome the eldritch, arcane power that comes with the Eyes. Basically, a benign example. At least, in the present.
  • The Curse of the Enchanted Eyes, a collective consciousness responsible for the Enchanted Eyes' reputation for being cursed. They, on the other hand, vie to do Voice's former role as a punisher and drive people to madness and eventually lead them to death or ruination. In the story proper, they take advantage of precautionary advice given to Tsuji and pretend to be the benign voice, leading Tsuji on the wrong path beneath a disguise.
• Weak, but Skilled:
  • Kim is not as smart as Ox, nowhere near as powerful as Kilik, and her magic hinges on support more than offense. Therefore, Kim relies on sheer wit and Jacqueline in battle to stay ahead of the game.
  • She does not possess a Meister’s physique, much less her own, but Tsubaki is very good at applying her ninja and assassination skills
• Wham Line:
  • Act 1 Chapter 21 has one. Yeah, that innocent filler chapter when everyone is running around applying for sports and stuff? Look at this: “Yes, Lady Medusa. I put the mission where it needed to be. Nobody saw me.” Medusa is still alive!
  • This exchange in Act 1 Chapter 27, mixed with a Shut Up, Kirk! moment:
  Tsuji: I guess you ain’t got the guts to face us yourself, so you made some elaborate plan or whatever. Well, congrats, Medusa! You’re both a snake and a coward!
  Medusa: You’re in no position to be giving me lip, Ricardsen. Especially when I have stripped you of your precious aim.
  • During Crona's flashback to killing an Evil Human leads to this gem from Medusa...
  Medusa: (to the Evil Human) You should feel proud. Your genes helped me create the perfect subject.
• White Gloves: Rowena and Caius. Maka, too, as in canon.
• Wide Eyes and Shrunken Irises: Another described occurrence, usually conveying shock or surprise.
• With Friends Like These...: The crazy dynamics and interactions between the main cast have shades of this. Lampshaded by Soul and Maka.
  Soul: Why do we know such strange people, Maka?
  Maka: I would like to know myself, Soul.
• Worldbuilding; As expected of a fanfiction that expands the Soul Eater universe and lore.
  • Most notably, the system of the Academy gets new features that fit like a glove. This includes mission ranks, homerooms other than Class Crescent Moon, classes other than ones about souls, and a disciplinary system. The OCs also provide more faces in a school with presumably a large number of people.
  • The Period of Destruction grants some insight into the DWMA’s long conflict with the Witches. It is considered the bloodiest and dark time of combat between the two factions. Moreover, it is mention in canon the Japanese prime minister must be an Academy graduate. The story explains why: the one during World War I sought the aid of Witches during the Period of Destruction.
• World of Badass: Said best by Soriano.
  Soriano: To survive in this type of world, you got to be one badass dude. And to the call the shots, you got to be even badder than that. That’s the nature of the beast.
• World of Snark: Claudia and Nayumi are Little Miss Snarkers, Caius and Klemens are Gentlemen Snarkers, Marcellus is a Non-Action Snarker… let’s just almost everyone has dropped at least one sarcastic line.
• World's Smallest Violin: There’s apparently a freaking phone app for that in-universe! Nayumi and Tsuji play it in response to Caius and Claudia’s Melodrama.
  Nayumi: Aww. Tsuji, let's play them a tune from the world's smallest violins.
  Tsuji: Word. (he and Nayumi take out their iPhones as if doing something completely different)
  Kid: (not impressed) Could you two be a bit more considerate?
  Tsuji: We are.
  Nayumi: We're using the World's Smallest Violin app on our iPhones. See? (she and Tsuji show the apps to Kid that show the world’s smallest violin)
• Would Hurt a Child: They don't actually hit her, but those thugs were strangely willing to mug Claudia, who was only 12 at the time, in Act 1 Chapter 9's flashback.
• Would Hit a Girl: All over the place. Not that that’s a bad thing. After all, there is a plethora of very strong and powerful women in this setting and holding back against them is a terrible idea. Not to mention, the Academy’s main enemies are a predominantly female race.
• Written Sound Effect: To list a few. Like with the Animesque features, re-edits and later chapters are using this with less frequency.
  • CRASH!
  • WHAM!
  • MAKA CHOP!
• You Are Not Alone:
  • Maka and Soul ram this point home to Caius during their first fight with Project Omega.
  • Crona is ripped away from his/her minor Heroic BSoD at the climax of the final fight against Medusa by Maka and Ragnarok letting Crona know they and everyone else are with him/her.
• Your Soul Is Mine!: Duh.

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