Chapter 9: Banished to Another Dimension

Youxuan walked onto the dueling field and stood face-to-face with his first-round opponent, Jun Manjome.

"Duel!" they declared in unison.

[Youxuan, LP 4000]
[Manjome, LP 4000]

Neither was familiar with the other, and there was no need for idle chatter before the match. In Manjome's eyes, Youxuan was merely a stepping stone for his advancement, while Youxuan was looking forward to this opportunity to test the combat capabilities of a character from the original story.

It is well-known among card game enthusiasts that, from the perspective of deck construction, the decks of most characters in the anime are purely for entertainment. Many people, in their youthful ignorance, once tried to build decks based on anime characters, only to find themselves baffled by hand bricks—staring at six cards in their hand, unable to summon a single one.

However, the reality of how these anime characters duel is completely different. They possess a talent that is written as "bonds with the deck" but read as "idealistic card drawing." The key combo pieces always stick to their hands like superglue; no matter how they shuffle, they draw them together, and they can win even with the most abstract deck compositions.

Furthermore, this ability is more pronounced in stronger duelists. For instance, Jaden Yuki, the protagonist of GX known for his miraculous draws, or the King of Games from the end of DM, who reached a state where he could draw whatever he desired.

However, in the original work, most of Manjome's trump cards were obtained later in the story. The VWXYZ Union was a gift from Professor Cronos to teach Jaden a lesson; the Armed Dragons were obtained at North Academy; at this point, he didn't even have the Ojamas. His strength should be significantly weaker than in the anime.

"I'll take the first turn." Youxuan decisively claimed the first-move advantage randomly assigned by the Duel Disk system.

"I set a monster face-down on the field, and then I place one card face-down in my back row." He drew two cards, placing one face-down in the front monster zone and inserting the other into the spell/trap slot. The images of two dark, mysterious cards were immediately projected onto the field. "End of turn."

"Heh, a defensive strategy... but against me, the number one in the Middle School Division, this caution is only natural," Manjome declared with extreme arrogance. Clearly, the pre-enrollment Manjome had not yet been beaten down by Jaden and had a very high opinion of himself.

"But it's useless! My turn, draw!" He scanned his hand and immediately pulled out two cards. "I set one card on the field. Then, I activate the spell card: Card Destruction! Both players discard their entire hands and draw the same number of cards they discarded!"

Youxuan discarded his hand as instructed, swapping cards with Manjome. Once his new hand was set, Manjome immediately pressed the button to activate his face-down card. "Flip the face-down card! Spell card: Silent Doom! I can special summon a Normal Monster from my graveyard in face-up defense position. I revive the Blade Skater I just discarded!"

A black vortex opened on the field, and a beautiful red-haired female warrior, holding a sword in one hand and a shield in the other, emerged. She crouched down, her card appearing in a horizontal position at her feet, shielding herself with her guard.

[Blade Skater, DEF 1400]

"Then, I activate the Equip Spell 'Big Sword' from my hand and equip it to Blade Skater! The equipped monster gains 300 ATK!" (Anime card)

[Blade Skater, ATK 1400 -> 1700]

"Heh, you must be thinking, what's the point of increasing the ATK of a monster in defense position?" Manjome sneered. Youxuan remained expressionless, thinking to himself that he wasn't entirely *not* thinking that.

"Let me show you! An elite's duel is far beyond your imagination!" Manjome said. "The Equip Spell 'Big Sword' has another effect! When the equipped monster is used as a tribute for a Warrior-type monster, it counts as two tributes. Therefore, I tribute the 'Big Sword'-equipped Blade Skater as two monsters..."

A white whirlwind rose up, engulfing the warrior. Golden light wrapped around her and her sword, dissolving her into particles of light.

"Light of dawn, illuminate the path to victory, and let the legendary sword sever all obstacles!" Manjome held a card high, and the wind summoned behind him fluttered his coat. "Appear! Level 8, Legendary Swordmaster!!!"

The masked swordsman, clad in black armor, stepped out from the storm with a long greatsword on his back. His red hair fluttered, and his presence was extraordinary.

[Legendary Swordmaster, ATK 2600]

Youxuan nodded slightly. *Right, the duelists in this world really are more flamboyant with their summoning animations and lines.*

The audience watching the match couldn't help but gasp. "He summoned such a powerful monster on the first turn!" a red-haired girl exclaimed. "That boy doesn't seem like an ordinary person..."

"Hahaha, of course!" One of Manjome's two lackeys, sitting in the back row, chimed in smugly. "That's our Duel Academy Middle School elite class's number one! Big Brother Manjome!"

"Big Brother Manjome has already been guaranteed admission to the High School division this year. Dealing with a small fry like this is a breeze," the second lackey added proudly.

"Middle School elite class... number one!?" The two girls looked on with newfound respect, their eyes now filled with admiration. They had heard that while the Duel Academy's middle school wasn't as difficult to enter as the high school, it was still filled with talented players. And the elite class was full of young geniuses.

*The number one of the elite class... he's a true big shot.* They suddenly felt a bit of pity for his opponent. It was a shame; the boy named Yugen Fujiki was quite handsome, and it seemed unlikely he would remain in the tournament after this round.

"It's not over yet!" Manjome continued his play. "Legendary Swordmaster, activate effect! When this card is successfully summoned, I can equip as many Equip Spells from my graveyard as possible to a Warrior-type monster on my field!"

He paused, took the two cards that popped out of his graveyard slot, and sneered. "Of course, the Swordmaster himself is a Warrior-type. Therefore, I target the Swordmaster himself. I equip both the 'Big Sword' and 'Gem Sword' from my graveyard to the Legendary Swordmaster!" (Anime card)

Both Equip Spells latched onto the Swordmaster. The swordsman let out a roar as energy surged; he pulled the greatsword from his back, and the blade began to extend, looking as if it were about to become a forty-meter-long cleaver.

"'Big Sword' and 'Gem Sword' each increase the Swordmaster's ATK by 300. So, his total ATK increases by 600!"

[Legendary Swordmaster, ATK 2600 -> 3200]

"..."

"3200 ATK!" The red-haired girl was even more shocked. "It's only the first turn! That's already higher than the legendary Blue-Eyes White Dragon!"

The two lackeys felt even more puffed up. The second lackey smirked with disdain, "Sit down, sit down. It's just a small scene. For Big Brother Manjome, this is a basic operation..."

However, Youxuan, who was in the thick of the battle, was not intimidated by this display; in fact, it was quite the opposite. He was staring at the two remaining cards in Manjome's hand. The duel had just begun, and Manjome had already used four of his starting six cards—a four-for-one trade. It pained him just to look at such a wasteful play. *If he keeps trying, he might even reach the legendary anime-style 'five-for-one' play where five cards in hand turn into a blank board.*

"Hahaha, have you been overwhelmed by this overwhelming power?" Manjome laughed loudly. "Don't worry, it will be over quickly. Battle phase! Legendary Swordmaster, strike down that face-down small fry!"

The Swordmaster unsheathed his blade and leaped forward. The forty-meter cleaver swung with a terrifying blast of air. The face-down monster on Youxuan's field could not resist and was flipped over by the pressure, revealing its true form. It was a female warrior—a blonde in a black combat suit and long boots, crouching and holding her sword, looking tiny and powerless before such a massive weapon.

[D.D. Warrior Lady, DEF 1600]

"D.D. Warrior Lady, effect activate," Youxuan said calmly. "When this card battles an opponent's monster, after damage calculation, I can banish both this card and the opponent's monster from the game."

*I'm sending your Level 8 big monster straight to another dimension!*

Manjome: "!?"