Danmachi: The Multiverse Portal

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"What is this?"

August stared at the person Lili had dragged back. The two of them had gone out for a walk and somehow returned with a captive...

The captive seemed to be a man.

"A local specialty of this world," Lili announced. "A MAGUS."

She pushed the man forward. He was tied up so tightly he could hardly move. More importantly, there was a strange pattern on the back of his hand.

"Command Spells?" August blinked in surprise. They had only just left the factory, but already managed to capture a magus chosen for the Holy Grail War.

"Those are Command Spells??" Commander James leaned closer, his eyes widening when he saw the markings.

"And we found this—" Hestia smiled and produced a small key.

August froze again.

"The key to the Gate of Babylon..."

One short trip, and they had taken everything. Hestia and Lili hadn't just captured the magus meant to summon Archer—they had stolen his summoning catalyst along with him.

They showed the man no mercy...

"WOW." Commander James stared at the key with open admiration, only to realize something a moment later. "Wait. If this guy is here and you took Goldie's catalyst, who's supposed to summon him?"

"..." Everyone fell silent.

He had a point.

"We only grabbed him because he happened to be there," Hestia said with an innocent smile. "What matters is that I've already figured out how the Holy Grail War summons Servants."

She pointed to the Command Spells on their captive's hand.

"You figured it out already?" August had expected her to need more time—yet one trip had been enough for Hestia to unravel the entire summoning ritual.

"Does that mean we can summon Servants now?" Commander James asked.

Having Servants on their side seemed helpful. August saw no reason he should be the only one fighting.

"No." Hestia rejected the idea at once. "Most of you don't have enough magical energy to sustain a Servant."

She reached down, grabbed the captured magus by his collar, and hauled him closer.

"The Command Spells connect their bearer to the Holy Grail War and allow them to perform the summoning ritual. But the person conducting that ritual is supposed to belong to this world. We're outsiders. I'm a Goddess, so summoning a Servant wouldn't do much for me. That leaves August. Out of everyone here, he's the only one who qualifies."

Hestia crossed her arms, sounding rather disappointed.

Had the conditions allowed it, she would have happily performed the ritual herself. Unfortunately, the system imposed too many restrictions.

"Putting aside the lack of magical energy, forcing the ritual could expose your bodies to possession by something powerful..." Hestia continued.

"...The modern magi of this world pose little threat to you. The same applies to most unusual humans. But this world still has Gods. If one of them descended through the ritual and used your body as a vessel, you might stop being yourself."

There was another problem.

"None of us belong to this World, so we don't know whether the Command Spells will even recognize you. Your bodies contain almost no mana—and the physical energy running through them might disrupt the summoning formula before it can activate."

Hestia was not exaggerating the danger.

"August has resistance to both Space and Time. Those abilities give him a much better chance of enduring the ritual. He also has enough magical energy to keep a Servant active."

After considering everything, August was still their only real option.

"And if anything goes wrong during his summoning, he can kill himself and resurrect afterward."

Hestia explained that his ability to resurrect was their last safety net.

"That's true."

Commander James accepted the reasoning. Everyone knew what August was capable of—

The rest of them possessed no magic and had no protection against divine possession. Even if they developed mana later, using an unfamiliar summoning ritual without proper safeguards would be asking for trouble. None of them wanted to step into a magic circle moments after entering this world, lose control of their body, and drop dead.

That would be a pretty embarrassing way to end their expedition.

"Forget it, James." The Chief of Logistics emerged from the factory and waved the idea aside. "Servants are unpredictable. We're running an army, not placing bets."

Even though the Servants in this world were very strong—the army did not see a need for them. Magecraft was still a mystery, and relying on a weapon they barely understood could cause more trouble than it was worth.

The Chief of Logistics was not willing to take that chance.

At least August had a Goddess watching over him. The soldiers did not have that kind of protection. They preferred to trust their own abilities. If their weapons ever became strong enough, they could face the Servants head-on and defeat them on their own.

"Still, keeping this magus here might cause trouble," the Chief of Logistics added.

He had been around long enough to recognize someone important. Anyone involved in the Holy Grail War was bound to have eyes on him, and if he disappeared, sooner or later, someone would come looking.

"I'll erase his memories before we let him go," Hestia said. "When the time comes, he'll carry out the summoning as planned."

She had no reason to stop the Holy Grail War. Her interest lay in the summoning system itself, not in controlling what every participant chose to do.

"You should also examine this world's Magecraft," Hestia suggested. "My magic was too difficult for you to study, but their techniques are different. Humans created and developed them, so you may be able to understand them."

The magi of this world had spent generations improving their own systems. Magic Circuits, equivalent exchange, energy conversion: many of their methods resembled technologies that human science might eventually decipher.

"That's a good idea!"

Commander James no longer felt disappointed.

They might not be able to summon Servants themselves, but the summoning system and the Magecraft behind it were still worth studying. Their country had already encountered several forms of supernatural energy—and while mana did not exist naturally in their world—the researchers had grown used to working with unfamiliar power systems.

"Do you want the summoning formula?" August asked.

He walked over to the captive and studied him.

"We should scan him first. It looks like he has Magic Circuits. We can use mana to activate them and see what happens."

Since they already had a magus in custody, they did not want to waste the chance. Even Hestia did not have Magic Circuits. But in this world, humans, mixed-blood species, and even certain animals could be born with something similar.

"Good."

Commander James had no objection. He summoned a medical team on the spot.

The soldiers took off the man's clothes, put him under special equipment, and activated his Magic Circuits while the researchers took notes. The factory already had portable X-ray machines and other scanners, and the team wanted to record as much as possible.

The captured magus was fully examined before he even woke up.

Meanwhile, August took possession of the Command Spells.

As soon as all three marks showed up on the back of his hand, he understood why Hestia said no one else could use them.

These were no ordinary magical markings. They were crystals of energy formed by the universe itself. Their power did not come from the planet's Greater Source, the mana gathered and released by the World, but from somewhere beyond it.

The moment the foreign energy entered him, nausea twisted through August's stomach. The Command Spells had barely settled on the back of his hand, yet his entire body jerked as if something alien had penetrated beneath his skin.

This World was rejecting him...

August's expression tightened. There was no mistaking the pressure bearing down on him.

"So I really am the only one who can use them."

For the first time, several of his passive abilities were being pushed to their limits at once.

[Spatial Resistance]

[Temporal Resistance]

Those two abilities kept August in place, stopping the planet's timeline and nearby dimensions from absorbing him or forcing him out.

"Damn. This World really hates outsiders."

August gritted his teeth. If his resistance gave out, the World could eject him from the universe on the spot.

"KEEP FIGHTING, LORD AUGUST!!" Lili cheered from the sidelines.

Watching him struggle against the World itself had her practically glowing. Now this was how someone from another world ought to make an entrance. Anything less would have been disappointing.

"Easy for you to say..."

August rolled his eyes at her.

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