Dark Side of Academy City

The Dark Side of Academy City (学園都市の抱える闇) refers to the criminal underworld of Academy City. Reaching to the very top of the city's administration, as stated, it is often engaged in criminal enterprises, such as human experimentation, espionage, and assassinations. Much of the science side story lines is concerned with the characters struggle against the Dark Side of Academy City. Indeed, an entire story cycle is dedicated to this premise. The name refers to the contrasting image of what the Academy City wants to portray, a technologically advanced city filled with students wanting to become espers.

After the events of World War III, though many factions from the dark side have been forced to disband, this part of Academy City still exists.

Principles
Much if not all operations done within the dark side of Academy City is done in secret. This attribute has likely contributed to the unique subculture of the dark side of Academy City. An example of this unique culture is that those who have been sold into an organization can be hunted down by others if they attempt escape, as with the case with Nunotaba Shinobu. Another is when Tsuchimikado Motoharu's apparent "execution", where it is revealed that when agents of the dark side are convinced that someone is executed and dead, they will not go after that person again because they have convinced themselves as it is an etiquette of the dark side.

Espers are either used for experimental purposes or are recruited to the dark side of Academy City. Notable examples of this are Accelerator and Kinuhata Saiai, both were used for experiments in their younger days and later become operatives in the "Darkness" using their powers to aid their organizations. As the Board of Directors are involved, both Judgment and Anti-Skill are often powerless when it comes to dealing with the forces of the dark side, often with the higher-ups meddling through sheer bureaucracy and red-tape or the withholding of vital information. An example of this is when Anti-Skill is unable to enter Dangai University's Database Center during Skill-Out's attack of it.