Danmachi: The Multiverse Portal

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As the Artemis Familia took on the legendary queen, August found himself up against two heroes he was much more familiar with.

Hestia pulled Lili away from the middle of the battlefield, and Olga Marie went with them to give August space to fight. Now, he stood facing Alcides and Gilgamesh.

"Show me what you're capable of, outsider." Gilgamesh crossed his arms and watched August with clear interest.

"..." Alcides quietly spoke with his Master, but the King of Heroes ignored him. If this human from another world wanted to stand among legends, Gilgamesh would judge him himself.

—•——•——•——•——•——•—

The golden portals of the Gate of Babylon opened behind him.

"WOOSH!" Countless weapons emerged and launched toward August in a glittering storm.

The volley had barely begun when Gilgamesh's expression sharpened. Several shields instantly appeared around Tiné Chelc, covering every possible angle.

"Oh?"

Spatial distortions had opened around August as well.

They didn't look like the golden ripples from the Gate of Babylon. Instead, these were rougher distortions in space—small tears created by his storage ability.

Gun barrels emerged from every opening.

Then they fired.

"BANG!" The bullets shot through the air, aimed directly at the King of Heroes.

"Those are all firearms..." Tiné recognized the weapons right away. Modern guns were common, but she didn't get why Gilgamesh bothered to defend himself against them.

Could ordinary bullets really threaten a Heroic Spirit armed with the treasures of mankind?

"Tiné." Gilgamesh summoned several shields in front of himself as the barrage arrived.

"Do not underestimate those weapons..."

The ammunition struck his defenses with enough force to shake the shields. Had the bullets reached him directly, even the magical armor covering his body might have been pierced. After all, that same weapon had already pierced Alcides's Pelt of the Divine Beast—a Noble Phantasm that was supposed to block any weapon made by humans.

"Those weapons are the culmination of human knowledge," Gilgamesh said, watching the barrage with growing interest. "I believe I understand now. His world developed along a path entirely different from ours—"

August was not consuming vast amounts of magical energy. His ability merely stored physical objects and projected them from a distance.

The guns and bullets themselves contained no Magecraft!

They were products of human industry!

"This World declined when the Age of Gods came to an end and humanity inherited the Earth. But mankind declined with it." Gilgamesh's red eyes remained fixed on August.

"What I see in him is not decline."

"IT IS EVOLUTION."

That evolution had gone so far that even the supernatural could be analyzed, turning Mystery into something people could study.

"The old myths that say some heroes can't be hurt by weapons made by humans don't apply to people from his world..."

Tiné stared at August in disbelief. Even inherited legends and conceptual protections failed to recognize those weapons?

Then she observed something else.

"Um... My king?"

"What?"

"Is he stealing your treasures?"

"..."

Spatial distortions had begun opening around several of the weapons Gilgamesh fired. The moment a blade entered one of the ripples, it disappeared from the battlefield—and Gilgamesh's connection to it disappeared.

Tiné pointed toward the growing gaps in the barrage.

"I think some of them are missing..."

Gilgamesh's expression darkened. "YOU SHAMELESS THIEF!!! WHO STEALS ANOTHER MAN'S WEAPONS IN THE MIDDLE OF A BATTLE??"

"Me!" August did not even bother denying it.

There was no reason to let genuine treasures go to waste.

These were real weapons, not temporary projections formed from energy. Once they entered his [Spatial Backpack], he could keep them indefinitely.

Many were also the original models from which famous Noble Phantasms had descended. If August ever gained enough strength to draw out their abilities, he might even reproduce the powers tied to their legends.

Conceptual weapons were incredibly convenient.

"You bastard..." Gilgamesh finally understood what kind of man stood before him.

August had no shame!

A battle was still a battle, but that did not stop him from pursuing a profit whenever the opportunity appeared. Pride, etiquette, and conventional morality meant very little once weapons started flying.

Then Gilgamesh sensed something behind August, and a faint smile crossed his face.

August noticed nothing, he continued firing—and Larva/Tiamat's voice suddenly echoed beside him. "CAREFUL!"

August reacted at once, creating a shield and twisting toward the threat. But the attack did not come from a distance.

Alcides was already in front of him.

Twisted magical energy flowed through the Avenger's entire body. He had transformed Nine Lives into a massive sword—while the power of the War God's Sash drove his strength even higher.

The blade smashed through August's hastily formed shield.

Its momentum weakened for only an instant.

Then it tore through him.

August's body was severed diagonally from shoulder to waist, the two halves separating under the force of the strike.

"Oh." He looked down at himself.

Even after being cut in half, August didn't die right away. Not a single drop of blood hit the ground.

Flames burst from the wound instead.

Fire wrapped around both halves of his body, pulling them back together as his flesh, bones, and organs started to rebuild.

"Is that Magecraft?" Tiné stared.

She had watched Alcides cut him apart. There was no possible way a human should still be alive after an injury like that.

"That's resurrection," Hestia announced proudly. She placed both hands on her hips. "A miracle-class spell belonging to my Familia."

"Resurrection Magic—[Nirvana of the Undying Phoenix]."

This was exactly the kind of moment Hestia lived for.

She had an audience, her child had displayed an impossible ability, and every legendary hero present had been forced to witness it.

"What in the world did you give that boy?" Gilgamesh asked.

Even the King of Heroes was caught off guard.

Calling that kind of power Magecraft didn't make sense. August had survived death itself and rebuilt his body after a fatal wound.

That was a miracle... and the flames clearly carried an affinity connected to Hestia—Goddess of the Hearth.

"What are you talking about?" Hestia scoffed.

"Every ability August possesses was awakened through his own potential."

"All I did was open the door. How far a mortal walks after that depends entirely on them. Everything he has achieved belongs to him." She was going to brag, and no one on the battlefield could stop her.

Not even the Hestia native to this World would escape hearing about it.

"My beloved child began with nothing. First, he awakened his potential. Then he learned miracle-class healing magic, and now he possesses resurrection." Hestia's smile became unbearably smug.

"And he accomplished all of that in less than... one month!"

"..." Everyone went silent.

"One month ago, August had no powers, no magic, and no combat experience. He was just an adorably clueless ordinary human."

"IMPOSSIBLE." Olga Marie stared at her.

"YOU EXPECT US TO BELIEVE HE REACHED THIS LEVEL IN ONE MONTH?"

August possessed multiple supernatural abilities, resurrection, advanced healing, spatial powers, and enough combat experience to stand against Heroic Spirits.

That sort of growth should have required years—perhaps decades.

One month was ridiculous.

It sounded less like natural growth and more like an author was just giving him new powers whenever the story needed it.

"That's a little too hard to believe."

"It's true," Artemis said from nearby. "The first world August ever visited was ours, and he personally chose Hestia."

Her tone stayed calm, but envy had already begun eating away at her.

If Artemis had let men join her Familia, she would have kept someone like August hidden from the rest of Orario and not let anyone else near him. One child with that much growth could have taken her whole Familia to a new level.

Alas, she was Artemis.

Accepting a man into her Familia had never been an option.

"By our count, it's been almost exactly one month. August has worked hard for every bit of strength he's gained," she went on.

The more Artemis spoke, the more bitter she sounded.

Why had Hestia been the one to receive such an absurdly gifted child?

"One month..." Gilgamesh studied August again.

An ordinary human had entered another world and—within a month, grown strong enough to face Heroic Spirits while wielding miracle-class abilities.

The possibilities ahead of him were almost limitless.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Gilgamesh's laughter rolled across the canyon.

"VERY WELL. I ACKNOWLEDGE YOU, AUGUST!"

His grin widened.

"If you desire my treasures, then show me how far your potential can carry you!" Gilgamesh grabbed Tiné by the back of her clothing and threw her toward Hestia and Artemis.

"My king??"

Tiné flew through the air in stunned disbelief.

"Do not worry," Gilgamesh called after her. "I hold little affection for the Divine—but those two are more trustworthy than most."

His gaze briefly shifted toward Alcides, who stood on the canyon floor with Nine Lives still in hand.

Gilgamesh intended to enter close combat.

Leaving Tiné beside him would expose her to Alcides, and the fallen demigod would strike the moment he saw an opportunity. Protecting his Master while fighting both August and Alcides would only create an unnecessary weakness.

The two Goddesses might be irritating, but neither appeared cruel enough to let Tiné die.

"WATCH CLOSELY, TINÉ." Gilgamesh reached into the Gate of Babylon and drew a longsword.

"Witness the magnificence of your king!!"

Gilgamesh stepped off Vimana and plunged toward August, sword raised.

August's restored body had barely finished reforming when he saw the King of Heroes descending toward him.

Gilgamesh had abandoned ranged combat and entered the battlefield personally.

"Now we're talking!" August grinned.

—•——•——•——•——•——•—

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