On a second thought, I take back my word about the Lowstreet being serene.
"Hmmm, let me refresh my memory." I twirled my finger beside my head. "Ah, a newly appointed Urban Legend Syndicate, The Masked Butchers, am I right?"
Within an intersection of the alley, five people with a white flat mask that had some funny drawing on it tried to ganged up on me. The clothes that they were wearing weren't even consistent, they were probably not that serious of a Syndicate to begin with.
Oh right, I forgot about their main trait, which was obvious, the meat cleavers on each of their hands! Wow! So original! A group of butchers with masks, The Masked Butchers!
Of course, it was probably not what they called themselves, knowing that any kind of infamy could get any kind of title from people talking about it from ear to ear.
And just because some genius yapper took the obvious name, and people started calling them that, it became the whole group's identity after their activity got confirmed by the Associations or the Associated Offices.
"Man, aren't you all some kind of a mute." I heard one more person slowly approaching from the back. "Tho I admit, you all did have some brain for blocking my escape path with the knowledge of the Vascular.
"Sadly though, butchers aren't supposed to deal with a raging beast."
With Adust getting more and more comfortable with my input, the fight wasn't much of a stretch. After all, The Masked Butchers didn't even really know how to fight except for mindlessly swinging their edgy meat cleavers.
There were probably more of them, knowing that they got entitled with the threat level of Urban Legend. A little bit sad, now that I think about it again.
They were either newbies within the Syndicate or the mostly pitiful people who want some pocket money out of selling others' guts despite not really liking the idea of it.
I knew it because one of the Masked Butchers that I've just killed showed a sign of reluctance when swinging his cleaver.
"I'm only using one hand and my pinky really hurts, I don't know how much of a handicap you give if you all can't only do this much."
Every time there was a new phenomenon or a threat to the Hives or the City, they would be given a Threat Level by the higher up of the City's Associations according to their influence and how many rich people want them to be gone.
Yes, the Association with the likes of the Landsknecht and the other eleven remaining Associations, were the force behind whose and what that were getting hunted in this great veins of the City for money and fame!
"My my, I like how Adust cleanse herself after every battle. It seems like I won't need to maintain you as much."
It all started with unreliable gossip and stories of the people, by the people, and for the people.
When such information was heard by the members of the Associations and Affiliate Offices, the Offices who worked directly below the Associations—they would appoint the unconfirmed subject of the folklore as 'Urban Myth', meaning a threat that may or may not even be a threat.
After an Associated Patchers were sent, and it turned out to be a real deal, the threat would be promoted into an 'Urban Legend' as the basic foundation of their infamy within the City!
If that threat was in the form of a group or an organization, they would be classified as a Syndicate.
If it was a phenomenon, it would be classified as an Abnormality.
An individual won't get an extra classification, sadly.
Not to mention, it was not about the strength of the Syndicate or the person.
The aspect that determines the Threat Level is influence, and how much money was invested into their bounty. Sounds stupid and flawed, but it's just how it goes.
"03:07 AM, huh. It took me only one minute to take down an Urban Legend. Sparring with the Golden Beard made everything ten times slower than usual."
When an Urban Legend had managed to influence more than one District at minimum, they would be promoted into an 'Urban Dawn', this is the level where you would be taken seriously by the Association.
It marked the beginning of the powerhouse that would soon make society shout their name with either a glee or a scream.
If I didn't somehow stop Hans from pursuing the Streetlight Talons, I'm afraid that their whole team would be wiped out.
Still, it mostly depends on what kind of Urban Dawn for them to be focused or ignored.
And when the Associations suffered a huge loss in taking down an Urban Dawn, or when the Urban Dawn itself prevailed the unrelenting ordeal given by the Heads and the twelve Associations.
They would be promoted into an 'Urban Dusk'!
After this stage, it would take an immense amount of preparation and resources to get into the higher level threat.
When the time comes for an Urban Dusk to shine the whole City as one of the stars, they would be marked in the eternal history of humanity as an 'Urban Hope'.
At that point, its influence would be enough to reform the whole ecosystem of the City and the society.
Whether it was for the worst or the best?
Everyone can only hope.
"Phew, it only took two minutes to arrive at my apartment. Did I run too fast?
"It's a little bit disappointing that the gaping hole is still there though."
While progressing into an Urban Dusk could take years or even the entire lifespan of a single human, there were a lot more classification when a group or something had passed the mark of Urban Hope.
Even now, the amount of classification is still being added to the list to this very day, adapting to the development of the City's social ecosystem.
One of the most infamous classification that almost every grandma and their grandchildren knew of is 'Urban Messiah'.
It was mostly a thrown around joke of exaggeration and people seemed to misunderstand the importance of that term when it comes to a Threat Level.
Such a thing would only exist once in every hundred or even thousands of years, if I think about it logically.
Because if there was a single Urban Messiah managed to arise within the City.
The group at the very apex throne of the food chain, the Ouranos would cease to exist.