PSA: I'm more familiar with overlord than gate so despite this first chapter being almost entirely based on gate, I will probably focus more on overlord in the future, also due to the story's direction as the portal leads to the new world, not the special region.
I was wondering if it would be interesting if I should make overlord canon on earth, so the JSDF would know what they were dealing with?
This chapter is just initial stuff based off the gate anime. Let me know if the chapter length is too long/short.
Input/suggestions would be much appreciated, apologies for the memes.
Steel and Sorcerers – Chapter 1
It was a bright sunny day, but that was not why Yoji Itami was out here at Ginza. No, there was going to be a doujin sale event on shortly. He was feeling the hype as he browsed his phone, looking at the various authors that would be present. Unbeknownst to him, a catastrophe was unfolding out on the street below.
A large portal had appeared in the middle of the street. It was ornate in appearance, looking as if it had come from roman times, with tall white pillars (but also light blue crystal) making up the frame. It would've been a mesmerising sight if it were not for what emerged from the darkness within. A large group of about 50 short green humanoids emerged, accompanied by 7 larger figures that towered over them. Any person who knew a little about the fantasy genre would immediately recognise them as goblins and ogres. The question was, what were they doing here? Was this a coordinated cosplay event?
As they stepped out into the light, they shielded their eyes with dirty arms barely covered by dishevelled rags, before looking around at the scene before them. Seeing the crowd of curious onlookers, they let out savage grins before letting out bloodthirsty cries and charging at them with weapons drawn. Many of the people that had gathered were too slow, or caught up in the fleeing crowd.
Hearing the disturbance, Itami rushed to the nearest window of the expo building where he saw the carnage unfolding. He couldn't believe what he was seeing, but moved to action, sprinting back down the stairs out onto the street. However, in his heart were not feelings of heroism, but the knowledge that if this incident was left to develop, there was no doubt that the doujin event would be cancelled!
He spotted a policeman, trembling with fear. A goblin was rushing towards him. Itami sprinted forwards to intercept the monster, tackling it to the ground. He then wrested its own rusty dagger away from its grasp and slit its throat. Not wasting any time (the longer this went on the more likely he wouldn't be able to see his precious waifus) he made his way to the imperial palace where citizens were taking shelter. Once there he ordered police to barricade the area so the monsters wouldn't be able to get in.
Out on the streets carnage was still widespread with citizens being massacred in the streets by the ravenous horde, however, salvation was finally at hand. More heavily armed police forces had arrived and established a perimeter, mowing down any approaching goblins with submachine guns. The ogres too fell quickly, being slow moving and large targets. The police slowly advanced before finally reaching the gate itself, where they established a defensive perimeter, locking down the area. Ginza was saved, but at what cost? Naturally, the doujin event ended up being cancelled. Before he had the opportunity to purchase any no less.
Itami ended up being promoted to the rank of second lieutenant for his actions in helping protect Tokyo, but it did little to mend the hole left in his heart by the cancellation of the doujin expo. He had previously been off-duty technically, but after this he might just need to take a more active role. Little did those little green scrubs know, but Itami was a special forces ranger.
The next morning Itami began his daily training to get back into shape. He had just finished his 100 push-ups, 100 sit-ups, and 100 squats, and was in the middle of a 10km run when a fellow soldier came up and began running alongside him. He started saying something, but Itami unfortunately had air-pods in, so couldn't hear what he was saying. Anyway, by now Itami no longer cared about missing out on the event. It was a shame that he wasn't able to purchase any doujins, but a new opportunity had presented itself. If goblins and ogres came through the gate, then there was a good chance that there was a fantasy world full of elves, cat-girls, and 1000-year-old lolis on the other side. They were currently doing testing to see whether the area through the gate was habitable, but would soon be sending a task-force through to establish a forward base. Due to his actions at Ginza, as well as his qualifications, there was a good chance that he would be a part of that task-force.
He was eating lunch at the army barracks when the same guy from earlier came up to him, mentioning something about them also being there at the event that day. That triggered something in Itami's mind. Yes, real life isekai was one thing, but gacha games were another. There was a limited-time event where you could get rare drops if you were in the vicinity of the expo building. Itami pulled him, close, rubbing his neckbeard all over the poor man while demanding he hand over his waifus. In the background, another soldier with a mohawk-like haircut saw their antics, and had fond flashbacks of the time he committed war crimes in Afghanistan.
The next day, Itami was out for his run again when he spotted the guy that he'd been pestering before. After browsing the JSDFs database he had found his name was Kurata. Using his special forces trained physical abilities he easily caught up to his victim, who seemed to have mistaken his actions the other day for romantic advances. "Hey, no homo, but I'd do anything for you if you'd trade me those waifus" said Itami. Kurata was unfortunately not a bro, and fervently declined, desperately affirming his interest in the opposite sex. Meanwhile, Akira (the guy with the mohawk-like haircut - Itami had spotted him earlier and did a background check in case he needed to assassinate him) watched them from behind a tree, the innocent fun they were having distracting him from the horrors of war he had experienced in central Asia.
Later that week, he was in the barracks when he was approached from a couple of fellow members of his unit. In a microsecond, Itami judged their expressions, and seeing that they were not here to steal his waifus from his gacha game, he relaxed his posture. They informed him that they were receiving new uniforms, which probably meant they would be among the first to head through the gate, meaning Itami's application which he had pored over laboriously the night before was pointless.
The next morning, he received summons from his unit commander. On arrival at the barracks, he and his squad mates (which included Kurata and Akira) were to be a part of a small team of 10 soldiers who would be escorting a group of experts who would attempt to make first contact with a village that had been spotted nearby on the other side of the gate. They all collected their equipment and headed to the gate. Itami's equipment consisted of a Howa type 89 battle rifle, a P-9 pistol, type II body armour and a Panzerfaust-3 disposable anti-tank rocket launcher. This peasant gear was different than what he was used to, but he was 'EX'-special forces after, not current. Other members of his squad had different equipment such as LMGs, grenades and even a sniper.
On arrival at the gate, they were met by a group of three individuals, all dressed in smart-casual clothing that were easy to move in. They introduced themselves as the people that they would be protecting for this journey. As they trudged through the tunnel, which was now lit up by light fixtures that had been installed, they approached what looked like a wall of darkness which the lights couldn't penetrate. This was the boundary between worlds. After confirming their id with the guards posted there, a security gate was opened and they stepped through into the void.