Danmachi: The Multiverse Portal

—•——•——•——•——•——•—

A crimson arm shot straight for Alcides's heart. He twisted aside at the last second, avoiding [Zabaniya: Delusional Heartbeat] with only a graze. His bow was already trained on the Zealot's head, and nearly twenty dark-red bolts erupted from Nine Lives.

One side unleashed a Noble Phantasm.

The other responded with a regular attack.

"BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMM!!"

"An attack like that is useless against me." The mud of All the World's Evil moved through Alcides, healing his wounds almost as quickly as they appeared.

"Cough... Demigods are such a pain." The Zealot spat blood onto the ground. She had been too slow to dodge, so she used one arm to protect her head and took every hit with it.

"You're having a rough time." August walked out of the hospital and stood next to her.

"..." The Zealot rolled her eyes.

"You wouldn't do much better." She couldn't beat a demigod, especially one who healed even faster than she could.

"What a hassle." August sent magical energy into [Healing Fire].

Warm flames wrapped around the Zealot, restoring her lost arm. He kept going until the cracks in her Servant Core were gone too.

"Why waste this much magical energy on me?" She looked down at her restored hands. This was no ordinary healing spell. It had repaired the very core of her existence as a Servant, something that bordered on a miracle.

"A spell of that level..." Alcides watched her heal even faster than he could, his eyes widening. Fixing a Servant Core was more than he expected of a student of a god.

"That isn't normal Magecraft."

"Of course it isn't." August saw no reason to pretend otherwise.

If he couldn't take pride in power like this, what was the point of having it?

"It's top-tier healing magic." His gaze shifted to Alcides's bow. "So why are you here by yourself?"

The soldiers had already secured the area and blocked it off. Everyone knew the hospital was under August's protection, and even the Masters and Servants near Pale Rider chose to wait and watch instead of challenging him here.

"Why wouldn't I?" Alcides replied with a mocking smile. He had already made his choice. Whatever consequences his Master faced afterward were none of his concern.

"I'm human, through and through. That girl's body has already been transformed into something unnatural. And I intend to wipe out every last god." His voice tightened with anger.

If the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse finished their ritual, the world would end.

For Alcides, that made Tsubaki a rare chance!!

"So that's what you're after." August finally understood why Alcides had forced his way through a military lockdown.

August raised a hand, and rings of light unfolded behind him as weapons emerged one after another, each already loaded with the ammunition he had prepared.

"You use your weapons like the King of Heroes," Alcides said. He could tell those guns could kill him, so he had to treat every shot as deadly, no matter how normal they looked.

One mistake here—and True Archer would lose the Holy Grail War.

"Fire."

The weapons opened up at once, sending a shell hurtling straight toward Alcides!

"BANG!!"

"BANG!!"

"BANG!!"

"Damn it. I can't just take that head-on." Alcides raised Nine Lives and fired, choosing to shoot the barrage out of the air before it could reach him. His arrows slammed into bullets and shells from another world, triggering a chain of explosions along the street.

"Lunatics. They're both out of their minds." The magi watching from afar stared at the fight.

August didn't try to hide his actions or keep Magecraft secret, and he answered every shot from Alcides with another volley.

The explosions resounded throughout Snowfield.

"BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMM!!"

—•——•——•——•——•——•—

Orlando Reeve heard the explosions from the Snowfield Police Department. Magical surveillance screens around the station showed the battle as Vera Levitt read out the latest orders from August's commanders.

"Chief Orlando, the outsiders want every officer out on duty. Civilians must stay away from the battlefield, but footage of the fight can be broadcast."

The entire nation was under August's control, so the Snowfield police had no choice but to follow orders.

"There's more," Vera continued. "For the duration of the Holy Grail War operation, our priority is keeping the public calm. Everyone working today receives double pay. All overtime is paid at four times the normal rate."

She glanced down at the final line.

"The money can be collected from the Treasury Department after each shift. Payment will be made daily."

Even Vera had trouble keeping a straight face.

They seemed to understand that the local police had no reason to work for them out of loyalty, so they went straight for the simplest answer.

Money.

"Straight to the point, huh?" Alexandre Dumas remarked from where he had been watching in secret.

Orlando pressed his fingers against his forehead.

He commanded Clan Calatin—a twenty-eight-member unit composed of magi armed with Noble Phantasms. Using them in a supernatural conflict made sense. This order concerned every ordinary police officer in the city.

They were expected to maintain order, calm the public, and let the entire city see that magic was real!!

It was one hell of a way to run an occupation...

"Do what they say. Have John and the others help keep things under control too." He understood the message behind the deployment. August's army wanted the participants in the Holy Grail War involved in controlling the consequences.

"Still, have those people lost their minds? Why make their move now?" Orlando asked.

Someone had sent True Archer after Tsubaki Kuruoka. If killing her completed Pale Rider's ritual, the result could be an apocalypse. The mafia might not care much about morals, but they knew an opportunity when they saw one.

"Who knows?" Dumas said. "Those outsiders do everything out in the open. They haven't resorted to anything underhanded so far."

His expression changed.

"But the mafia is still the mafia. Creatures that live in the gutter don't know how to act in the light."

Dumas hadn't liked August's approach at first. Then he saw what the other side was willing to do.

Comparison changed everything.

"Maybe the outsiders never expected your loyalty anyway," Dumas went on. "They're still human, and they haven't hurt regular people. That alone makes them the best faction here."

"Fair enough." Orlando got the point.

The outsiders didn't care if the Snowfield police were loyal—as long as they kept people safe, the Masters could fight their Holy Grail War and the Mage's Association could do whatever it wanted.

"What a mess." He took a drag from his cigarette and looked outside.

Officers were already moving out to keep the surrounding streets under control. With double pay, quadruple overtime, and the money hitting their accounts the same day, nobody needed much convincing. Finish the shift, collect a fat paycheck, and head home. With a deal like that, no one was about to make trouble.

Then the armored vehicles rolled past on patrol, and the whole street quieted down. They were carrying soldiers from August's world, and everyone knew better than to test them. Cause enough trouble, and a cannon round might be the answer.

With all of Snowfield watching August and Alcides clash, the other Master-Servant pairs began making their own moves. The city had become far too lively to sit on the sidelines, and no Servant with any pride was going to ignore a battlefield like this.

Whether they came looking for trouble or simply wanted to test themselves against someone strong, only they knew.

August's fight was nowhere near finished. The Zealot had already taken a beating once, but after he patched her up, she attacked Alcides again without holding back.

—•——•——•——•——•——•—

Bulk upload of 5 chapters if we hit 600 Power Stones this week!!

For every 300 Power Stones, one bonus chapter will be released!

—•——•——•——•——•——•—

~ 40 Advanced Chapters Available on Patreon!!

~ p-atreon.com/dragonnx

(Just remove the hyphen to access normally.)