Chapter 1184: Did he hold back?

Jaden: "Grand Neos's effect, bounce Utopia back for me! Utopia is an Xyz Monster and cannot return to the hand, so it will naturally return to the Extra Deck!"

Astral: "Yuma, the Trap."

"Oh, oh," Yuma said, "Then I activate my face-down card, Continuous Trap 'Dimension Gate'!

Dimension Gate can target a face-up monster on your field and banish that monster.

I banish 'No. 39 Utopia'!"

The black hole of the dimension opened, forming the shape of a gate, as if leading to the far end of some deep, dark blue universe. A powerful gravitational force emanated from within, dragging Utopia into this void just before it could be sucked away by the Nebula Hole's black hole.

"Oh, you used a Trap to dodge Grand Neos's effect," Jaden smiled, "You've got some tricks up your sleeve.

Then, direct attack!"

Jaden swept his arm.

"Go, Elemental HERO Grand Neos, attack 'Gogogo Golem'!"

Grand Neos activated his drill again, but this time it wasn't a long-range strike; he flew forward and struck directly with the drill. The drill broke through the thick armor on the Golem's chest, opening a huge hole from front to back.

【Yuma, LP 4000 → LP 3300】

"Ugh!" Yuma staggered back two steps, sweating: "Damn it, I should have put Gogogo Golem in Defense Position..."

Although Gogogo Golem's DEF is lower than its ATK, it can withstand destruction by battle once per turn while in Defense Position.

But of course, it was in Attack Position last turn to strengthen the offense. He didn't expect his own attack to be easily handled by the opponent, and now he was looking quite disheveled under the opponent's offensive.

"It's not over yet," Jaden smiled mysteriously, holding another Spell Card between his fingers, "Quick-Play Spell 'Contact Out'!

This card allows you to defuse a Neo-Spacian Fusion Monster on your field, return it to the Extra Deck, and Special Summon the Fusion Materials from your Deck.

I defuse 'Grand Neos'!"

Astral was also a bit surprised: "Contact Out... Special Summoning Fusion Materials from the Deck?"

At this point, Grand Neos had already split into two, separating back into the two monsters, Neos and Grand Mole.

【Elemental HERO Neos, ATK 2500】

【Neo-Spacian Grand Mole, ATK 900】

Sho Marufuji: "It's here! Big Brother's early-game favorite tactic of Contact Out for additional attacks!"

Jaden: "Since new monsters were summoned during the Battle Phase, of course, they can continue to attack.

Neo-Spacian Grand Mole, direct attack!"

Mole Brother launched a fish-out-of-water thrust, his silver-white shoulder pads merging back into a drill, spinning rapidly to pierce the ground. The little mole burrowed into the ground and emerged just half a step in front of Yuma.

Astral: "Call Utopia, Yuma!"

"I know!" Yuma said, "The other effect of Continuous Trap 'Dimension Gate'!

When you are targeted for a direct attack, you can send this card to the Graveyard. And when Dimension Gate is sent to the Graveyard, the monster banished by this effect can be Special Summoned!

Come back, No. 39 Utopia!"

The deep dimensional gate in mid-air above Yuma's field suddenly twisted and dissipated. A golden blade slashed through space, and the golden warrior descended once again in a shower of golden starlight.

【No. 39 Utopia, ATK 2500】

"Heh, using such a method to dodge Grand Neos's effect, and then being able to call back your trump card to continue fighting. A beautiful move," Jaden smiled.

"But I know the effect of Dimension Gate, I anticipated this move too."

Astral: "What?"

"Neo-Spacian Grand Mole's monster effect!" Jaden said, "When Grand Mole battles a monster, without calculating battle damage, both this card and the opponent's monster can be returned to their owner's hand!"

Yuma x Astral: "Nani!?" x2

The invincible Mole Brother burrowed into Utopia. But Utopia had returned to the field from a banished state via the effect of the Continuous Trap "Dimension Gate." Although banished monsters can be returned, if the target is an Xyz Monster, the Xyz Materials on the Xyz Monster go to the Graveyard the moment it is banished, so they cannot return.

Utopia without materials is now a blank slate and cannot activate the effect to "negate the opponent's attack."

In fact, this is still the anime effect of Utopia, which is relatively better. The physical card version of Utopia was significantly weakened; after being made into a physical card, if Utopia is attacked by an opponent without Xyz Materials, it will self-destruct—a purely comedic side effect. If there are no materials, there is no point in reviving it.

At this moment, Utopia had once again turned into golden light and flown back into the card box at Yuma's waist. And on Jaden's side, Grand Mole had also completed its mission and flown back to Jaden's hand, adding another colorful stroke to its legendary resume of defeating countless big monsters.

"Grand Mole actually has such an effect... So that's it, Grand Neos is an upgraded version that inherited this monster's ability," Astral's expression was solemn, "My response with 'Dimension Gate' was seen through.

Could this boy's tactics be above mine?"

Jaden: "Next is 'Elemental HERO Neos', direct attack!"

Neos leaped high, energy condensed into his right arm, and he slashed down at Yuma and Astral with a hand blade trailing a long white trajectory.

Yuma: "Activate face-down card, Trap Card 'Guard Barrier'!

It can make the battle damage of one battle 0, and I draw a card from my Deck!"

A buffer shield appeared in front of Yuma. Neos's hand blade slammed into this shield, the force shaking the barrier and causing ripples, but it finally failed to shake the defense line.

"According to this effect, I draw a card from my Deck!"

Yuma drew the card and immediately grinned.

"How about that? I'm also very tenacious! It's not that easy to defeat me!"

Astral immediately poured cold water on him: "Nothing to be proud of, Yuma. We failed to keep Utopia, and our defensive backups have all been exhausted. We lost this round of engagement."

"Well, don't say that."

Jaden seemed to be able to hear Astral speaking, and smiled.

"Your response was already quite impressive."

In fact, the students all around were also pointing and whispering, and many were discussing it.

"Really?"

"How come it feels like this kid suddenly became powerful?"

Many people felt that this kid named Yuma had mediocre skills when they fought him before, and he would be suppressed by anyone, even at the bottom level of Duel Academy. But only in this match, the offense and defense in this turn were quite wonderful.

By the way, there was also a monster like Utopia whose appearance style looked extraordinary, which was also the first time it had appeared so far.

Sho Marufuji was puzzled: "Could it be that he has been holding back until now?" ===== CHAPTER 1185 =====