Danmachi: The Multiverse Portal

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"Wait… what?"

Flat Escardos looked shocked. Did August really just say extermination without even pausing to think?

On the other end of the call, Waver Velvet stayed silent for several seconds before asking—

"Why?"

That was what he couldn't wrap his head around. No matter why August came to this world, deciding to wipe out all the magi seemed like going way too far.

August rolled his eyes. Did all those years teaching at the Clock Tower make Waver forget what regular people were like?

"I'm human," August said. "Which means I look at things the way ordinary people do. And from where we're standing, what are magi? Let's stop pretending. A lot of you are little more than dangerous animals no one bothered to put on a leash."

"..." Waver said nothing.

August knew exactly who he was dealing with. Waver liked to overthink everything, so giving him a deep philosophical answer would just give him something to pick apart for an hour.

"Using the standards of your own society, I could drag a huge number of magi into public trials and still claim I was carrying out a mission sanctioned by the World itself—"

That finally silenced Waver.

A magus might lie to ordinary people, but there was little point pretending with another magus about how their world worked. If the Clock Tower's families were judged by ordinary laws, how many of them could honestly claim innocence?

Not many... Some of them would probably need more than one round from a firing squad.

August took the silence as agreement.

"Alright. You didn't call just to ask how I feel about your profession. A Lord of the Clock Tower shouldn't have that much free time."

He glanced over at Gilgamesh. The King of Heroes had brought out Vimana again and was relaxing on it with a glass of wine, clearly enjoying the show. Instead of getting involved, he seemed happy to just watch an outsider shake things up and see what happened.

August ignored him.

"So what do you actually want?"

Waver drew a slow breath. "I am speaking on behalf of the El-Melloi faction."

Then he got to the real reason for the call.

"We surrender."

"…Huh?"

Flat almost dropped his phone. "TEACHER?! YOU SURRENDERED?"

They hadn't even fought yet!

Hippolyta looked just as shocked. The group that helped summon her included students from the Department of Modern Magecraft Theory, so El-Melloi II's surrender now affected a lot more people than just Flat.

Waver sighed.

"More than half the Lords of the Clock Tower have already fled."

That made all the excitement disappear from Flat's face.

"Half the United States is effectively under August's control. Two Goddesses from another world openly stand beside him, and whatever equivalents they may have in our World doesn't change the fact that the Clock Tower has no reliable way to oppose them."

Waver sounded more tired than scared.

"Once the older families found out August had taken on a mission that could destroy this world, they stopped waiting around. The ones who could have already moved their families and research somewhere else."

"Other worlds?" Flat asked.

"Parallel worlds, dimensional hideouts, whatever tricks their families set up ahead of time. The oldest families spent centuries studying things they barely understood. I guess some of it paid off after all."

The families still here were mostly younger houses like El-Melloi. They either didn't have the resources to leave everything behind or had too much to lose by running away.

Waver was part of that second group. He had spent years rebuilding what his teacher left, and he wasn't about to let the El-Melloi name vanish just because its leader wanted to go down with his pride.

"Not bad—they reacted faster than I expected." August said.

Most of those families had bits of research about the Second Magic and dimensional travel. They couldn't recreate the Wizard Marshal's Kaleidoscope, but after centuries of trying, it wasn't surprising that some of them had backup ways to escape to another world.

Marisbury Animusphere's preparations had already shown August just how far a rich magus family could go if they had enough time and something to hold onto.

The Clock Tower was just one part of the Mage's Association.

The Atlas Institute and the Wandering Sea were still out there, and August didn't care much about any of them. If his contract told him to destroy those groups too, he would.

He had no interest in wasting years arguing about who should rule whatever was left.

"Calling them smart is generous," Waver said. "They're just very good at running when their own lives are at stake."

At least he was honest about it. Waver knew exactly how this would end. If the El-Melloi faction resisted and August decided to deal with them personally, they would lose. There was no sense dying for pride when surrender was still on the table.

"Fine," August said.

"If the El-Melloi faction stays out of my way, I won't specifically target you. Whether you survive everything else has nothing to do with me."

That was all August needed. He had duties to take care of, but he had no interest in hunting people across worlds just because they called themselves magi. If Waver surrendered and gave him no reason to fight, there was no point in killing him.

"Thank you." Waver's relief was clear. As the acting head of the El-Melloi faction, he had done his best to protect his people.

August rubbed his chin. "Actually, I've got some good news for you."

"Whenever someone says that," Waver said warily, "it usually isn't good news."

August looked toward Hippolyta. "If I'm not mistaken, the people serving as Rider's Masters are your students."

No one spoke for a few seconds. Flat stared, and on the other end of the line, Waver just looked off into space.

Hippolyta's expression changed. "How do you know that?"

Her summoning contract was unusual. Instead of having one regular Master, she was backed by a group of magi who gave her enough magical energy to fight on her own. That setup was supposed to be a secret.

August looked at her as though she had asked something ridiculous. "The United States is under my control."

He motioned to the canyon around them. "Where do you think you're standing right now?"

This place was no longer neutral ground. The military could access immigration records, airport logs, hotel bookings, border crossings, financial records, and all the other everyday traces people leave behind in modern society.

Magi were good at hiding from each other, but that didn't mean they could hide from government systems.

"If I want to investigate magi entering Snowfield, I don't need some grand ritual," August said.

"I search the government databases. Anyone who entered the country legally left a record. Anyone who used a bank, rented a room, boarded a plane, crossed a checkpoint, or registered under a known identity left another."

His team had already gathered everything the American government had. Once the military started checking those records for names linked to the Clock Tower, the connections became obvious.

Hippolyta stared at him.

August tilted his head. "You all worry so much about magical surveillance that you forget about things like passports."

"Hahahahaha!" Gilgamesh lifted his wine in August's direction. "You really are an entertaining man."

Even Hippolyta relaxed a little. She had led her own people before, so she understood what August was doing. He already had the upper hand with information, and instead of hiding it, he put everything out in the open.

Flat glanced at the others. "Okay… Why does everyone seem happier all of a sudden?"

Waver sighed.

"Because August has already revealed the identities of six Servants fighting on his side. And now he has openly admitted that he possesses enough information to identify many of the Masters participating in Snowfield."

Flat still looked confused.

Waver pinched the bridge of his nose. "He isn't planning to fight an intelligence war with you."

That finally made Flat stop and think.

August could have kept what he knew secret. He could have used military surveillance to kill Masters, tracked everyone's movements, or destroyed their workshops before the Servants even met.

Instead, he chose to share the information openly.

"He already knows who you are," Waver continued. "He can find out who summoned each Servant, and he isn't bothering to hide that fact. At this point, the Holy Grail War is no longer a secret conflict fought from the shadows."

Waver leaned back in his chair.

"It's becoming a tournament..."

"A tournament??" Flat's eyes lit up.

That sounded a lot better.

"The whole city has basically become an arena—the participants fight in the open, the strongest factions settle things on the battlefield, and as long as civilians stay clear, August seems willing to let it happen." Waver said.

The old Holy Grail War was all about secret workshops, murdered Masters, ambushes, betrayals, and information wars.

August had taken all of that and brought it out into the open.

For someone like Flat, this was a huge change. "That sounds amazing!"

He looked like he wanted to jump in right away. He had joined the Holy Grail War hoping to meet interesting people, and now the outsider who came to Snowfield had turned the ritual into something much more like the wild adventure he had imagined.

"I wouldn't celebrate just yet." Olga Marie gave him an amused look.

Her eyes shifted to Hippolyta, and a smile tugged at her lips. "Look at it another way. This is still a fight between magi. You could almost call it a civil war among the students of Modern Magecraft Theory."

Waver's face grew serious on the other end of the call. He recognized that voice.

"Miss Olga Marie."

"Yes?"

"You are deliberately trying to cause trouble."

"Of course I am." Olga Marie didn't even bother denying it.

It was almost refreshing to hear her admit it so openly.

"Provoking each other is practically part of being a magus." She folded her arms. "This Holy Grail War is happening while the World itself is heading toward destruction. Every family here is already thinking about what comes after. Who gets protected, who gets left behind, and who proves useful enough to survive."

Olga Marie looked across the gathered Masters and Servants.

"Fighting was unavoidable from the beginning."

Waver let out a sigh. The last thing he wanted was for Olga Marie to encourage his students to treat the Holy Grail War like a test.

She turned toward Vimana. "Surely the King of Heroes agrees."

"Hahahahaha! Naturally." Gilgamesh swirled the wine in his glass. "Those who seek something must be prepared to pay for it."

He glanced at Tiné Chelc. She had summoned him because her people wanted something back—their land, their future, their pride. No matter what they called that wish, it came with a price. Gilgamesh could guide her and stand by her side, but a king who removed every obstacle would only take away his people's chance to prove themselves.

"This outsider acts according to a mandate issued by the World," Gilgamesh said. "If destruction has already been set in motion, then those who wish to survive should seize their future with their own hands."

He smiled.

"Fight for it."

Tiné saw him look her way. She didn't fully understand what he wanted from her yet, but she could ask him later. For now, there was no reason to make things more complicated.

Her king had spoken.

Therefore, he was right.

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