You are looking at the HTML representation of the XML format.
HTML is good for debugging, but is unsuitable for application use.
Specify the format parameter to change the output format.
To see the non HTML representation of the XML format, set format=xml.
See the complete documentation, or API help for more information. 
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<api>
  <query-continue>
    <alllinks alcontinue="Characters" />
  </query-continue>
  <query>
    <alllinks>
      <l ns="0" title="Background Music" />
      <l ns="0" title="Balancing.json" />
      <l ns="0" title="Camera Move Action" />
      <l ns="0" title="Camera Return Action" />
      <l ns="0" title="Change Layer Visibility Action" />
      <l ns="0" title="Change Object Status Action" />
      <l ns="0" title="CharacterPortraits" />
      <l ns="0" title="Character Pickup Action" />
      <l ns="0" title="Character Pickup Tutorial" />
      <l ns="0" title="Character Unit Files" />
    </alllinks>
  </query>
</api>