Sent to the Different Dimension

Kira stepped onto the Dueling Field and faced Jun Manjome, his first-round opponent. They took their positions across from each other.

"Duel!" x2

Kira, LP 4000

Manjoume, LP 4000

Neither side knew the other well, and there was nothing to waste time talking about before the match. In Manjoume's eyes, Kira was merely a stepping stone to advancement, while Kira was looking forward to using this chance to test the practical strength of a story character.

It was common knowledge in the Duelist Community that, from the perspective of Deck Building alone, most anime characters' decks were more for entertainment than anything else. Back in the day, plenty of people had copied anime characters' deck lists as clueless kids, only to start dueling and find themselves Hand Bricked to the point of doubting life itself. Six cards in hand, yet not a single one they could play.

But anime characters in actual duels were nothing like reality. They possessed an ability written as "Deck Bond" but read as "Heart-of-the-Cards Draw." The key cards of a Combo always seemed stuck together with 502 Glue. No matter how much they shuffled, they would always draw them together, and even the most bizarre pile of cards could somehow function.

And the stronger the duelist, the more obvious this ability became. Take Judai Yuki, the Yu-Gi-Oh! GX protagonist famous for his godly draws, or the Pharaoh, who had evolved by the end of Duel Monsters to the point where he could draw whatever he wanted.

However, Manjoume's ace cards in the original story had mostly been acquired later on. Professor Chronos had helped him get the VWXYZ-Dragon Catapult Cannon so he could use it to teach Judai Yuki a lesson. He had obtained Armed Dragon at North Academy, and at this point, he did not even have the Ojama Brothers Trio yet.

His strength should have been considerably weaker than in the anime.

"I'll take the first turn."

Kira decisively claimed the opening turn randomly assigned by the Duel Disk system.

"I'll Set Monster, then Set a Card in my back row."

He drew two cards from his hand, placing one face-down in the Monster Zone of his Duel Disk and sliding the other into a Spell/Trap Zone behind it. The projections of two dark, featureless cards immediately appeared on the field.

"End Turn."

"Heh, a defensive opening? But against This Great Me, the Number One of the Middle School Division, that kind of caution is only natural."

Manjoume shouted with swelling arrogance.

Clearly, this was before Manjoume had received Judai's beatdown after enrolling, so he still felt extremely good about himself.

"But it's useless! My Turn, draw!"

His gaze swept across his hand, and he immediately pulled out two cards.

"I Set a Card. Then I activate the Spell Card—Card Destruction! Both players discard all cards in their hands, then draw the same number of cards from their decks!"

Kira discarded his entire hand as instructed and replaced it along with Manjoume.

Once he had drawn his new hand, Manjoume immediately pressed the activation button for his Set Card. "Flip my Set Card, the Spell Card—Silent Doom! It revives a Normal Monster from the graveyard in Defense Position.

"I revive the Female Swordsman—Canaan that I just discarded!"

A black vortex opened on the field, and a striking red-haired female warrior emerged from within, sword in one hand and shield in the other. She crouched low as a horizontal card image appeared beneath her feet, her shield raised protectively before her.

Female Swordsman—Canaan, DEF 1400

"Then I activate the Equip Spell 'Greatsword' from my hand and equip it to the Female Swordsman! The Equipped Monster gains 300 ATK!" (Anime Card)

Female Swordsman—Canaan, ATK 1400 → ATK 1700

"Hehe, you must be wondering what use it is to raise the attack power of a monster in Defense Position, right?" Manjoume snickered.

Kira remained expressionless. That wasn't entirely wrong.

"Then let me tell you this—the dueling of elites is far beyond your imagination!" Manjoume said. "The Equip Spell 'Greatsword' has another effect! When the Equipped Monster is used as a Tribute Summon for a Warrior Type monster, one monster can count as two.

"Therefore, I offer the Female Swordsman—Canaan equipped with 'Greatsword' as two Tributes!"

A white cyclone rose and enveloped the swordswoman. Golden light wrapped around her and her sword, turning them into motes of light that scattered away.

"Light of dawn, illuminate the road to victory! Sever all obstacles with the legendary blade!"

Manjoume raised a card high overhead as the summoning storm behind him whipped at his coat.

"Appear! Level 8, Legendary Swordmaster!!!"

The masked Swordmaster in black armor stepped out of the storm, a long Greatsword strapped to his back. His red hair fluttered in the wind, and he carried himself with extraordinary presence.

Legendary Swordmaster, ATK 2600

Kira gave a slight nod. As expected, duelists in this world had flashier movements and lines whenever they summoned a Level 8 Monster.

The spectators watching the match could not help but cry out in surprise.

"He summoned such a powerful monster on the very first turn!" a Red-haired Girl exclaimed. "That guy doesn't seem ordinary at all."

"Hahaha, of course not!"

Little Brother A, one of Manjoume's two lackeys, happened to be seated in the back row. Hearing that, he immediately puffed up with pride. "That's Brother Manjoume, First Place in the Middle School Elite Class at Duel Academy!"

"Brother Manjoume has already been guaranteed admission to the High School Division this year. Beating a small fry like that is nothing," Little Brother B chimed in smugly.

"Middle School Elite Class. First Place!?"

The two girls instantly regarded him with awe. When they looked at Manjoume on the screen again, their eyes had completely changed into those of people gazing up at a big shot.

They had heard that while Duel Academy's Middle School Division was not as difficult to enter as the High School Division, it still had no shortage of skilled duelists. And every student in the Elite Class was a young prodigy.

First Place in the Elite Class. That was a genuine big shot.

They suddenly began to feel a little sorry for his opponent.

The two girls both wore regretful expressions.

What a shame. That boy named Fujiki Kira was pretty handsome, but it looked like they would not see him again after this round.

"I'm not done yet!"

Manjoume was still making moves.

"Legendary Swordmaster, Effect Activation! When Summoned Successfully, this card equips as many Equip Cards in my graveyard as possible to Warrior Type monsters on my field!"

He paused, caught the two cards that popped out from the graveyard slot of his Duel Disk, and sneered.

"Of course, the Swordmaster himself is a Warrior Type. So the target I choose for the equipment is the Swordmaster himself. I equip the Equip Spell 'Greatsword' and the Equip Spell 'Gemini Sword' from my graveyard to 'Legendary Swordmaster' at the same time!" (Anime Card)

The two Equip Spells layered onto the Swordmaster at once. The swordsman let out a roar as energy flooded into him, drawing the Greatsword from his back. The blade kept extending, seeming about to become a forty-meter-long cleaver.

"'Greatsword' and 'Gemini Sword' each raise the Swordmaster's ATK by 300 points. That's a total increase of 600!"

Legendary Swordmaster, ATK 2600 → ATK 3200

"..."

"Three thousand two hundred attack points!" The Red-haired Girl was even more astonished. "And this is still the first turn! It's already higher than the legendary Blue-Eyes White Dragon!"

The two lackeys felt even more proud. Little Brother B pulled his mouth into a wide grin and said with fake disdain, "Sit down, sit down. Small scene. For Brother Manjoume, this is just basic stuff."

Yet Kira, standing in the midst of the duel, was not intimidated by the display. If anything, it was the opposite.

He was staring at the only two cards left in Manjoume's hand.

The duel had barely started, yet Manjoume had already spent four of his opening six cards. Rounding it off, that was practically a four-for-one exchange. Even Kira felt pained just watching such a loss of card advantage.

If he worked a little harder, he might even approach that legendary anime moment of turning five cards in hand into five blanks for a "five-for-one" exchange.

"Hahaha, have you already been overwhelmed by this absolute power?" Manjoume laughed loudly. "Don't worry, it'll be over soon.

"Battle Phase. Legendary Swordmaster, crush that Set Monster!"

The Swordmaster drew his blade and shot forward. The forty-meter cleaver swung with a terrifying gust of force. Kira's Set Monster could not resist at all, flipping helplessly beneath the pressure and revealing its true form.

It was a female warrior.

A blond-haired female warrior in black combat gear and thigh-high boots crouched with her sword held protectively before her. In the face of such a massive blade, she looked so small and powerless.

D.D. Warrior Lady, DEF 1600

"D.D. Warrior Lady, Effect Activation," Kira said calmly. "When this card battles an opponent's monster, after the Damage Calculation Step, banish both itself and the opposing monster it battled."

I'll send your Level 8 Monster straight to the Different Dimension!

Manjoume: "!?"