"Impossible! Just by sheer spirit, you actually raised a monster's attack power in a Dimensional Duel to its maximum? And this is really your first time experiencing Dimensional Summoning!?"
After receiving the Dimensional Cube from Shadi, Diva had tried countless times to raise his monsters' attack power through Dimensional Summons—but every attempt had failed. He had never even managed to reach half their original strength.
"That's why I said—you picked the wrong opponent!"
Jonouchi shouted excitedly, "Aimagi only set two cards and didn't summon a monster at all at the start. He probably never expected Hoshino's spirit to be this strong!"
"Battle! Artoria!"
Gathering the power of Hoshino Alter's spirit, Artoria swung down her Holy Sword. The storm that coiled around the Wind King's blade tore toward Diva like sharpened windblades.
"Heroic Spirit – Artoria Pendragon's special effect—during battle, I can reveal any number of 'Heroic Spirit' monsters from my hand! Until the end of this turn, Artoria's ATK increases by 500 for each one revealed!"
Flipping a card from her hand, the heroic spirit's soul radiated through the Dimensional Space, strengthening Artoria's slash.
"I reveal Heroic Spirit – Okita Soji from my hand! Artoria's ATK rises by 500—now, direct attack!"
[Artoria ATK: 2400 → 2900]
"Hmph… Though I didn't expect you to reach the limits of Dimensional Spirit so easily, Hoshino, the true power of the Cubics is only just beginning! Trap Card activate—Cubic Ascension!"
One of Diva's set cards flipped open, and the orange cubes of the Dimensional field swirled together around him.
[Cubic Ascension – Trap Effect: When an opponent's monster declares an attack: Special Summon 1 "Vijam the Cubic Seed" from your Deck, and if you do, change the attack target to it, and perform damage calculation.]
"Descend! High-dimensional Cubic monster—Dimensional Summon! Vijam the Cubic Seed!"
[Vijam the Cubic Seed ★ (Level 1)][DARK][Fiend/Effect][ATK 0/DEF 0]
Born from the Dimensional Cubes, the eerie, sanity-eroding monster perfectly matched its empty stats—0 ATK and 0 DEF.
"You think summoning a monster with 0 ATK and DEF will hide your lack of spirit?"
"You're harsh, Hoshino~ But Cubics are not monsters that rely on spirit alone."
Sliding Vijam from the Monster Zone into his Spell/Trap Zone, Diva smirked cryptically as he glanced at Artoria.
"Vijam cannot be destroyed by battle. And when attacked, it elevates your monster to a higher dimension!"
Artoria's Wind King strike tore through Vijam, shattering it into orange cubes once again. But the scattered cubes didn't vanish—they swarmed forward and burrowed into Artoria's body.
"Elevate my monster to a higher dimension?" Feeling the disturbance as Cubic particles invaded Artoria, Hoshino Alter's chest tightened. "Artoria, are you okay!?"
Diva sneered. "It's useless to call out, Hoshino. A monster elevated to a higher dimension will never respond to you again!"
[Vijam's effect: Cannot be destroyed by battle. At the end of the Damage Step, if this card battled an opponent's monster: You can place this card face-up in your Spell & Trap Zone as a Continuous Spell Card, and if you do, place 1 Cubic Counter on that opponent's monster. (Monsters with a Cubic Counter cannot attack, also negate their effects.)]
Though Artoria remained on Hoshino Alter's field, her body and armor had transformed into the same orange cube material. She was severed from her original dimension.
"Artoria's consciousness has been sublimated—she's nothing more than an empty shell now. No matter how hard you try, Hoshino, you can't change that."
"Can't attack… and even her effects are negated. What a troublesome counter effect…"
Hoshino Alter set two cards into her Duel Disk. "I end my turn."
[Hoshino Alter's Hand: 3]
"My turn—draw! And I activate Vijam's special effect!"
[If this card is treated as a Continuous Spell Card by this effect, during your Main Phase: You can Special Summon this card from your Spell & Trap Zone.]
The strange figure of Vijam appeared once again, returning from Diva's back row to the field.
"This is bad," Yugi muttered. "Not only does it sublimate Hoshino's monsters, but Vijam itself can return afterward… truly a terrifying effect."
Anzu frowned. "But even if Hoshino's monster can't attack or use its effects, Aimagi's monsters all have 0 ATK. He can't deal any damage, right?"
Diva smirked. "Don't be so sure. The power of the Cubics… let me show you more of it! I overlay Vijam the Cubic Seed into Dark Garnex the Cubic Beast through a Dimensional Special Summon!"
Vijam's form warped, absorbing the surrounding orange cubes until it swelled into a new, even more grotesque Cubic monster.
[Dark Garnex the Cubic Beast ★★ (Level 2)][EARTH][Beast/Effect][ATK 0/DEF 0]
[Cannot be Normal Summoned/Set. Must first be Special Summoned by sending 1 "Cubic" monster you control to the Graveyard.]
On Diva's Duel Disk, Vijam's card slid beneath Dark Garnex, its material clearly displayed.
"Another monster with 0 ATK…" Hoshino Alter frowned, her spirit rattled by the constant emergence of these unsettling creatures.
"So higher-dimensional monsters all look this… revolting? If that's the price of evolution, forgive me for refusing."
"A mere mortal could never understand the nobility of sublimation!" Diva snapped.
"Dark Garnex the Cubic Beast's effect—its ATK increases by 1000 for each monster overlaid beneath it!"
[Dark Garnex ATK: 0 → 1000]
"So that's how you bypass it. Instead of summoning monsters with real stats and raising them through spirit, you summon 0-ATK monsters and stack effects to inflate them. A lazy method for the Dimensional Duel…"
She clenched her fist. "But with only 1000 ATK, even if Artoria's consciousness has been sublimated, you still can't break through, Blue God!"
"Don't celebrate too soon, Hoshino!"
Drawing a card, Diva slammed it into his Duel Disk.
"Continuous Spell—Cubic Karma, activate!!"
[Cubic Karma – Continuous Spell Effect: Place any number of "Vijam the Cubic Seed" from your hand or Deck beneath your "Cubic" monsters on the field.]
Drawing two copies of Vijam from his Deck, Diva stacked them beneath Dark Garnex the Cubic Beast. With three Vijams absorbed, the monster on his field swelled to an enormous size.
[Dark Garnex ATK 1000 → 3000]
"Three thousand!? That's as strong as a Blue-Eyes White Dragon!" Jonouchi exclaimed. "So this is the true power of the Cubic Monsters!"
Seriously, Jonouchi… the way you so naturally compare everything to Blue-Eyes makes it sound like the only real standard of strength is Blue-Eyes. I can't even tell if you're praising the Cubics or mocking them anymore.
"With this, my Cubic Beast's ATK surpasses your monster's! Destroy the sublimated Artoria, Dark Garnex!"
Under Diva's command, the colossal Cubic Beast fired a devastating beam of cubic particles, sweeping away the immobilized Artoria.
[Heroic Spirit – Artoria Pendragon destroyed.]
"Dimensional Duel Rule No. 2—Battles between monsters do not inflict battle damage. However, when a monster is destroyed, its controller takes damage equal to that monster's original ATK. Since Artoria's ATK was 2400, you take 2400 damage!"
[Hoshino Chiyuki LP 8000 → 5600]
Thankfully, with the 8000 LP rule now standard, Hoshino Alter still had breathing room. Under the old 4000 LP rules, this hit would have cut her life in half instantly.
Realizing something was wrong, Yugi quickly spoke up: "Wait—if that's how the Dimensional Duel works, then since Aimagi's Cubic monsters all have original ATK of 0, he'll never take any damage from battles!"
Jonouchi's eyes widened in anger. "That's cheating, Aimagi! You just changed the rules to give yourself an advantage!"
Diva spread his arms wide, laughing loudly. "It's too late to realize now! In the Dimensional Duel, the higher-dimensional Cubics are invincible! For lowly monsters to try to touch them is nothing more than a fantasy. Hahahaha!"
"If battles don't cause damage, then I'll just destroy your monsters and finish you with direct attacks instead! I activate the effect of Heroic Spirit – Artoria Pendragon!"
Even though she had lost her effect due to sublimation, the moment Artoria was destroyed and sent to the Graveyard, the Cubic Counter vanished, restoring her to her original dimension and allowing her ability to trigger.
"When destroyed by battle or card effect, I can Summon Heroic Spirit – Artoria Pendragon Lily from my Deck!"
[Heroic Spirit – Artoria Pendragon Lily ★★★★(Level 4)][LIGHT][Dragon/Tuner/Effect][ATK 0/DEF 0]
Inheriting the will of the Holy Sword, Saber Lily returned to the field. She patted her modest chest and nervously said:
"To think my consciousness could really be sublimated into another dimension… this duel is dangerous every step of the way, Master."
But Hoshino Alter was focused on Lily's zero stats after the Dimensional Summon. "So I'll need to boost her strength with spirit again… In that case—Britannia Magic: Artoria, It's Dinner Time!!"
"I feel my whole body overflowing with energy, Master! Ooohhh!!"
[ATK: 0 → 1200 → 1201]
Diva was dumbfounded. How could just shouting randomly raise a monster's ATK to full capacity—and even exceed it by 1 point?
"Saber Lily's effect! When successfully Special Summoned, I can add 1 'Heroic Spirit' monster from my Deck to my hand! I'll add Heroic Spirit – Marie Antoinette!"
"And I'll also activate the effect of Dark Garnex the Cubic Beast—"
Waving his arm, Diva triggered another evolution as the forms of his four Cubics transformed once again.
[Effect: If this card destroys a monster by battle, send it to the Graveyard, then add 1 'Cubic Monster' from your Deck to your hand. Also, Special Summon the Vijams attached beneath this card.]
The massive body of Dark Garnex disassembled into three original Vijams, which immediately began to churn again.
"Next, I end the Battle Phase, and use the card I just added! By placing Blade Garoodia the Cubic Beast over my Vijams, I perform a Dimensional Summon!"
[Geira Guile the Cubic King ★★(Level 2)][WIND][Fairy/Effect][ATK 0/DEF 0]
[Special Summon by placing this card over any number of Vijams you control. Its ATK increases by 800 for each material beneath it.]
[Geira Guile the Cubic King ATK: 0 → 2400]
"And when Geira is successfully Special Summoned, you take 800 damage! Cubic Tempest!"
[Hoshino Chiyuki LP 5600 → 4800]
"Almost half her Life Points gone in just one turn? Is she really going to be okay…?" the onlookers worried aloud.
"Struggle all you want, Hoshino! I set 1 card and end my turn!"
[Diva's Hand Cards: 1 | Set Cards: 2]
Drawing her next card, Hoshino Alter had now largely grasped the flow of Dimensional Duel rules. With a flick of her wrist, she threw it onto her Duel Disk.
"Struggle? You'll see my trump card instead! Summon—Heroic Spirit – Okita Souji!"
[Heroic Spirit – Okita Soji ★★★★★★★(Level 7)][WIND][Warrior/Effect][ATK 0/DEF 0]
A burst of wind heralded the arrival of Okita, who materialized on Hoshino Alter's field, drawing the blade as her spirit soared.
"This time… this time I'm not being dumped straight into the Graveyard—oooooh!!"
[Okita ATK: 0 → 2500]
Hoshino Alter, in the middle of focusing her spirit for the Dimensional Summon, froze with an exasperated expression.
"=_= …Please don't break the rules on your own, Okita. The system is supposed to boost your strength with the duelist's spirit—not with your own!"
Honestly, do these gag characters ever play by the rules?