Dimensional Slice was one of the mainstream decks active in Yu-Gi-Oh!'s early competitive scene. Though it had failed to claim the title of World Champion, it had once proven its battle power in the early formats, and could even go toe-to-toe with that year's champion.
Kira's Starting Deck had drawn inspiration from the Champion Deck, Hand Destruction. However, due to missing components and differences in the current format, he had merely retained the basic idea and adjusted the build.
Dimensional Slice was one of the builds he was currently testing.
As the name implied, the core idea of this deck was to send the opponent's cards to the Different Dimension. It mainly relied on brutal one-for-one trades like Dimensional Warrior Lady, who could forcibly banish herself and an opposing monster. Meanwhile, his own side consisted of Lower-Level Monsters that could be used immediately, often trading for powerful monsters the opponent had spent considerable resources to bring out and creating a resource advantage.
Just like what Kira was doing now.
Furthermore, because the opponent's removed monsters were kicked into the Different Dimension rather than sent to the Graveyard, it could also cause considerable trouble for the mainstream decks of that era, which relied on Graveyard resources. At the same time, the format had been filled with Graveyard Trigger Monsters that searched the deck upon entering the Graveyard. Those monsters could not activate their effects against Dimensional Slice, making it extremely frustrating.
Kira had never personally experienced that ancient format, but he could imagine how devastated those duelists must have felt when the powerful monsters they had painstakingly summoned were sent to the Different Dimension by a single ordinary attack.
Just like Manjoume was now.
In her final desperate struggle, Dimensional Warrior Lady slashed through the void with a single stroke, cutting open a black hole in the field like a Dimensional Slice. A massive gravitational force instantly seized both warriors. The Sword Saint and the Warrior Lady were sucked inside together, vanishing beyond the black hole.
Having lost their equipped target, the two Equip Spells in the back row burst with two sharp pops, turning into fragments of golden light and fading away.
Manjoume had opened with a ferocious sequence of plays, only for the powerful monster he had created after exhausting his resources to get kicked off the field without even swinging its sword once. He nearly choked on the spot.
But Manjoume took a deep breath and quickly steadied himself.
Calm down. Stay calm.
He had only lost one Level 8 boss monster, two pieces of equipment, and four cards from his hand.
It was no big deal.
"When the Equip Spell 'Gemini Sword' is Sent to Graveyard from the field, draw one card from the deck."
Manjoume drew a card from his deck, finally recovering a little. He glanced at it, then directly inserted the drawn card into his Spell & Trap Zone.
"I Set a Card on the field. End Turn."
"My Turn, draw."
Kira added the card he drew to his hand, then revealed another card from it.
Kira said, "I summon 'Wildheart Warrior Lady.'"
Wildheart Warrior Lady, ATK 1100
"Battle directly." Kira waved his hand. "Wildheart Warrior Lady, attack Manjoume directly."
The Warrior Lady drew her sword and leaped toward Manjoume.
But Manjoume had a countermeasure as well. With a sweep of his arm, he flipped over his Set Card. "I activate the Trap Card, 'Absorption Shield'! Negate the opponent's attack, then recover Life Points equal to the attacking monster's ATK!"
A transparent rainbow barrier appeared before Manjoume. The Warrior Lady's sword struck it fiercely, and its force was immediately absorbed as energy. A warm golden glow descended onto Manjoume.
Manjoume, LP 4000→LP 5100
"Heh, what a pity. But an attack of this level was completely within my expectations." Manjoume continued to act smug.
Kira did not care. Everyone who played cards knew that this game only had zero Life Points and full Life Points. As long as you still had LP left, that was enough. Compared to the game's other resources, they were not that important.
"Then I'll Set a Card and end my turn," Kira said.
"My Turn!" Manjoume drew, then immediately revealed a card. "Spell Card—Pot of Greed! Draw two cards from the deck."
Pot of Greed, the standard issue for the GX Protagonist Group. Everyone had a Pot of Greed in every deck.
"I summon Dark Blade, the Warrior of Dark Demon World, in Attack Position!"
The card's projection appeared. A warrior clad in black armor flew out of the card art with dual blades in hand, his entire body covered in silver-white blades like fangs.
Dark Blade, the Warrior of Dark Demon World, ATK 1800
"Now I'll show you that my monsters are all elites among elites, completely different from those lower-level trash mobs!" Manjoume raised a hand and shouted. "Go, Dark Blade! Destroy Wildheart Warrior Lady!"
The corner of his mouth curled up as he gave a smug snort.
That Shady Stuff on the other side had taken out his powerful monster, but that was fine. Dark Blade, the Warrior of Dark Demon World, was also a powerful Lower-Level Monster with considerable market value. With 1800 ATK at Level 4, he was normally more than capable.
Could you possibly pull out a second copy of Dimensional Warrior Lady from your pants and kick me into the Different Dimension again?
The black-armored swordsman lunged forward, his twin blades cutting through the air. The Warrior Lady was instantly sliced in half at the waist and exploded with a boom.
Kira, LP 4000→LP 3300
Kira remained calm even after his monster was destroyed. He pulled his deck from the Duel Disk and began searching through it.
"Wildheart Warrior Lady's Monster Effect activates. When this card is destroyed by battle and Sent to Graveyard, I can Special Summon one EARTH Attribute Warrior Type monster with 1500 ATK or less from my deck to my field in face-up Attack Position.
"The one I summon is this guy."
As he spoke, he had already pulled the searched card from his deck.
"I summon Dimensional Warrior in Attack Position!"
Dimensional Warrior, ATK 1200
Manjoume: "!"
No way, again?
He knew this monster too. When Dimensional Warrior battled a monster, he could banish both that monster and himself from the game.
Another monster in the Dimensional Slice build, with an effect identical to Dimensional Warrior Lady's.
As Dimensional Warrior took his place on the opposing field, Manjoume's eyelid twitched twice, and he could not help feeling a headache coming on.
No.
How the hell could all this Shady Stuff fly straight out of your deck?
No, stay calm. He could not lose his composure.
Manjoume glanced at a card in his hand from the corner of his eye.
It was not as if he had no way at all to deal with this Shady Stuff.
"I Set a Card on the field. End Turn," Manjoume declared.
Kira's gaze swept over the final card Manjoume had Set in his back row.
It looked like he had a countermeasure for Dimensional Warrior?
He smiled faintly.
It did not matter.
"My Turn, draw."
Kira checked the card he had drawn and revealed it directly.
"I summon Spirit Reaper - Haikou in Attack Position."
What appeared was a bald monk in a kasaya, though his face looked vicious, and the way he held his prayer beads made it seem as though he was ready to use them to smash someone at any moment.
In short, he was a martial monk who looked like he loved to "reason with people."
Spirit Reaper - Haikou, ATK 1800
Manjoume narrowed his eyes as he examined the large monk.
1800 ATK, on par with his Dark Blade. Was he planning to take them both out? Or was he—
"Battle," Kira said. "First, Dimensional Warrior attacks Dark Blade, the Warrior of Dark Demon World."
Here it came.
"Don't even think about it. Open my Set Card!"
A sharp gleam flashed through Manjoume's eyes as he flipped over his back row card.
"Trap Card—Sakuretsu Armor! When an opponent's monster declares an attack, destroy that monster!"
He pulled at the corner of his mouth, revealing a confident smile.
"Heh, you want to use your monster's effect to banish my monster? Too bad. The same trick won't work on me a second time! Your own monster will be destroyed!"
Kira raised an eyebrow.
Mirror Force, huh.
Every Yu-Gi-Oh! viewer knew that throughout the entire history of Yu-Gi-Oh!, Mirror Force had appeared in the anime plenty of times, yet it had still never successfully resolved even once. It seemed that everyone who had tried using it had ended up losing, as though the card were cursed by the will of the world itself.
Naturally, that curse could not be broken in Kira's hands.
"Open my Set Card." Kira flipped over his own back row card. "Counter Trap—Seven Tools of the Bandit. I pay 1000 Life Points to negate the activation of a Trap Card and destroy it."
Manjoume's eyelid twitched again.
What?!
Damn it, why did all your Shady Stuff have Counter Traps protecting them too??
Kira, LP 3300→LP 2300
Manjoume's Trap was countered. The miserable Mirror Force exploded into dust with a pop, continuing its Legend of Failure of never resolving successfully. The battle continued. Dark Blade cleaved through Dimensional Warrior, but before he died, the warrior tore open a dimensional rift that swallowed both of them like a black hole, and they vanished into the vortex.
Kira, LP 2300→LP 1700
That left Manjoume's Monster Zone and back row completely empty.
"Then Spirit Reaper," Kira continued. "Attack Manjoume directly."
Haikou stepped forward at the command, flinging his prayer beads like concealed weapons. They smacked Manjoume squarely on the forehead with a sharp crack. The impact made his head buzz, as though he had felt the weight of Buddha himself.
Manjoume, LP 5100→LP 3300
"At this moment, Spirit Reaper's Monster Effect also activates," Kira continued. "When Haikou inflicts Life Point damage to the opponent through battle, I can select up to two monsters in the opponent's Graveyard and banish them from the game."
Though he could select two monsters, every monster Manjoume had used so far had already been kicked into the Different Dimension. The only monsters left in his Graveyard were the "Female Swordsman - Canaan" he had first used as a tribute and another monster card discarded by Hand Destruction.
So Kira selected those last two monster cards.
Not only had the monsters on the field been sent to the Different Dimension, but even the few monster resources remaining in his Graveyard had been banished. Manjoume was completely disheveled.
That was going too far.
You would not even spare them after they were in the grave?
If nothing unexpected happened, this book should be PKing for a trial recommendation this week based on read retention for tomorrow night's chapter release.
Read retention meant the number of readers who continued reading until the latest chapter within twenty-four hours of a new chapter being released.
So please reserve tomorrow's new chapter with your read retention! Pretty please!
Before you continue