Chapter 9: Sent to Another Dimension

You Xuan stepped onto the duel field, standing face-to-face with his first-round opponent, Chazz Princeton, both taking their positions.

"Duel!" x2

[You Xuan, LP 4000]

[Chazz, LP 4000]

Since neither party was familiar with the other, there was little need for pre-duel banter. In Chazz's eyes, You Xuan was merely a stepping stone for his advancement, while You Xuan was eagerly anticipating this opportunity to test the practical combat capabilities of a plot character.

It was common knowledge among card enthusiasts that, from a deck-building perspective, most anime characters' decks were purely for entertainment. Back in the day, many people, naive in their youth, had tried constructing decks based on anime characters, only to discover during actual duels that their hands were so bricked they doubted life itself, holding six cards in a meeting on their hand yet unable to play a single one to the field.

However, anime characters in actual combat were a completely different story from reality. They possessed an ability written as "deck bond" but read as "divine heart god-draw." The key cards for any combo always stuck together like superglue; no matter how thoroughly the deck was shuffled, they always ended up in hand together, allowing even the most abstract deck constructions to function.

Furthermore, this ability became more pronounced in the hands of stronger duelists. Take Jaden Yuki, the protagonist of GX, famous for his god-draws, or Wang Yang from the DM finale, who had evolved to a realm where he could draw exactly whatever he wished.

However, in the original work, Chazz's several ace cards were obtained during later plotlines. The VWXYZ five-unit fusion was an internal purchase arranged by Professor Cronos to use Chazz's hand to teach Jaden Yuki a lesson; the Armed Dragons were acquired by him at North Academy; at this very moment, he didn't even possess the Disturb Brothers trio yet.

His strength should be considerably weaker than in the anime.

"I'll take the first turn."

You Xuan decisively claimed the first-move privilege randomly assigned by the duel disk system.

"I set one monster on the field, then add one face-down card to my back row."

He drew two cards, placing one face-down in the front field of his duel disk and inserting the other into the spell/trap slot at the rear. Images of the two dark, face-down cards were immediately projected onto the field.

"Turn end."

"Heh, a defensive opening? But facing me, the number one of the middle school division, such caution is only to be expected."

Chazz shouted with immense arrogance.

Clearly, this pre-enrollment version of Chazz had not yet suffered Jaden's brutal beatdowns and felt extremely good about himself.

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

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

"I set one card on the field. Next, I activate the spell card—Card Destruction! Both players discard their entire hands, then draw from their decks a number of cards equal to what they discarded!"

As instructed, You Xuan discarded his entire hand, replacing his cards along with Chazz.

After the new hand exchange, Chazz immediately pressed the button to activate his face-down card: "Flip my face-down card, the spell card—Silent Dead! This allows me to revive a Normal Monster from the Graveyard in Defense Position."

"I revive [Female Warrior of the Sacred Land], which I just discarded to the Graveyard!"

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 from the swirl. She crouched low, a face-down card materializing beneath her feet, her shield raised protectively before her.

[Female Warrior of the Sacred Land, DEF 1400]

"Then, from my hand, I activate the equip spell 'Big Sword' and equip it to the Female Warrior! The equipped monster's ATK increases by 300!" (Anime Card)

[Female Warrior of the Sacred Land, ATK 1400 → ATK 1700]

"Hehe, you must be thinking, 'What's the use of increasing the attack power of a monster in Defense Position?'" Chazz sneered.

You Xuan remained expressionless, thinking that he wasn't entirely not thinking exactly that.

"Let me tell you, elite dueling far exceeds your imagination!" Chazz declared. "The equip spell 'Big Sword' has another effect! When used as a tribute to summon a Warrior-Type monster, one equipped monster can count as two tributes."

"Therefore, I tribute [Female Warrior of the Sacred Land], equipped with 'Big Sword', counting her as two tributes..."

A white whirlwind erupted, enveloping the warrior on the field. Golden light wrapped around her, sword and all, dissolving her into particles of light.

"Light of dawn, illuminate the path to victory! Sever all obstacles with the legendary sword!"

Chazz held a card high aloft, the summoned storm behind him whipping at the hem of his clothes.

"Appear! Level 8, the Legendary Sword Saint!!!"

A masked Sword Saint clad in black armor stepped forth from the storm, a long greatsword strapped to his back. His red hair fluttered, exuding an extraordinary aura.

[Legendary Sword Saint, ATK 2600]

You Xuan nodded slightly. Hmm, as expected, duelists in this world perform flashier actions and recite more elaborate lines when summoning large monsters...

The audience watching the match at this moment couldn't help but let out a collective gasp.

"Summoning such a powerful monster on the very first turn!" a red-haired girl exclaimed in surprise. "That boy doesn't seem like an ordinary person..."

"Hahaha, of course not!"

Minion A, one of Chazz's two lackeys, happened to be sitting in the back row; hearing this, he immediately swelled with pride: "That's our Duel Academy Middle School Division Elite Class number one! Big Brother Chazz!"

"Big Brother Chazz has already been guaranteed entry into the academy's senior division this year; beating a small fry like this is a piece of cake," Minion B chimed in proudly.

"Middle School Division Elite Class... Number One!?"

The two girls immediately became awestruck, their gaze shifting to Chazz on the screen with complete reverence for a true powerhouse.

They had all heard that while the Duel Academy's middle school division wasn't as difficult to enter as the senior division, it was by no means lacking in skilled players. Moreover, every member of the Elite Class was a youthful genius.

The number one of the Elite Class... that was a true big shot.

Suddenly, they started feeling a bit sorry for his opponent...

Both girls immediately wore expressions of pity.

What a pity; that boy named Fujiki You Xuan was quite handsome, but it seemed after this round, they'd never see him again...

"It's not over yet!"

Chazz was still making moves.

"Legendary Sword Saint, activate your effect! When this card is successfully summoned, equip as many equip cards existing in my Graveyard as possible to Warrior-Type monsters on my field!"

He paused, taking the two cards ejected from the Graveyard zone of his duel disk, and sneered coldly.

"Of course, the Sword Saint himself is a Warrior-Type. Therefore, the target I designate for equipping is the Sword Saint himself. I simultaneously equip the equip spell 'Big Sword' and the equip spell 'Gem Sword' from my Graveyard to 'Legendary Sword Saint'!" (Anime Card)

The two equip spells overlaid onto the Sword Saint simultaneously. The swordsman let out a roar of energy charging up, drew the greatsword from his back, and the blade continuously extended, looking as if it was about to become a forty-meter-long cleaver.

"'Big Sword' and 'Gem Sword' each increase the Sword Saint's attack power by 300 points. Therefore, the total attack power increases by 600!"

[Legendary Sword Saint, ATK 2600 → ATK 3200]

"..."

"Attack power of 3200!" The red-haired girl was even more shocked. "And this is only the first turn! It already exceeds the attack power of the legendary 'Blue-Eyes White Dragon'!"

The two lackeys felt even more honored. Minion B stretched the corners of his mouth wide, feigning a contemptuous laugh: "Sit down, sit down, it's nothing special. For Big Brother Chazz, this is basic operation."

However, You Xuan, who was in the midst of the battle, was not intimidated by this display; or rather, quite the opposite.

He was staring intently at the two cards remaining in Chazz's hand.

The duel had just begun, and Chazz had already used four of his starting six cards; rounding it off, it was roughly a four-for-one trade. The card disadvantage was so severe it made You Xuan's heart ache just watching it.

With a little more effort, he would almost catch up to the legendary scene from the anime known as "five-for-one," where five cards in hand turned into a blank slate.

"Hahaha, have you already been overwhelmed by this overwhelming power?" Chazz laughed loudly. "Don't worry, it will end very quickly."

"Battle Phase. Legendary Sword Saint, destroy that face-down trash monster!"

The Sword Saint unsheathed his blade and leaped forward. The forty-meter cleaver swung out, creating a shocking wave of pressure; the face-down monster on You Xuan's field was completely unable to resist, flipping helplessly under the wind pressure to reveal its true form.

It was a female warrior.

A blonde female warrior dressed in black combat gear and knee-high boots, crouching with her sword held protectively before her, appeared so petite and powerless in front of such a colossal blade.

[Warrior Lady of the Wasteland, DEF 1600]

"Warrior Lady of the Wasteland, activate your effect," You Xuan said calmly. "When this card battles an opponent's monster, after damage calculation, both this card and the opponent's monster she battled are banished from the game."

I'm sending your eight-star big monster straight to another dimension!

Chazz: "!?"

(End of Chapter)