"Dimensional Summon, huh? Master, I feel like I'm overflowing with spirit right now!"
Hoshino Alter sighed under her breath. "Glad you feel spirited. I've been charging up forever with nowhere to let it out."
"If you've got nowhere to vent it, then unleash it all on the enemy, Master!"
"Hmph, sounds like a plan! Okita, attack and destroy Geira Guile the Cubic King!"
With perfect coordination after the Dimensional Summon, Hoshino immediately gave the order to attack.
On the battlefield, Okita's shining blade tore through the air itself, slicing down at the towering Cubic monster like a gale.
"Wind against wind—but Okita's blade cuts true! —Tennen Rishin-ryū!"
With 2500 ATK against Geira Guile's 2400, Okita eked out a narrow victory, cleaving the monster forged from three Vijams clean in half.
[Geira Guile the Cubic King destroyed]
["Weakness" Counter +1]
[Okita ATK 2500 → 2400]
"Phew, that was close!" Okita wiped a trickle of blood from her mouth, relieved. "Just a single bout of weakness… but it was enough for me to scrape out the win."
As Geira Guile the Cubic King shattered into fragments of cubes, Diva only grinned.
"Too bad, Hoshino. Even if you destroy my Geira Guile, since its original ATK is 0 under Dimensional Duel rules, I won't take a single point of damage."
Jonouchi clenched his fists. "That's low, Aimagi! What kind of duelist are you!?"
But Yugi's eyes sharpened. "No… this might be the opening we needed. With his monster gone, Aimagi has no defense left—Hoshino can attack directly!"
"No, take a closer look!" Diva thrust out his hand. "I still have a wall that will crush your hopes! Geira Guile the Cubic King's effect—"
[When this card is sent to the Graveyard by your opponent, add 1 "Cubic Monster" from your Deck to your hand. Then, Special Summon the Vijams that were beneath this card.]
[Vijam the Cubic Seed DEF 0] ×3
The scattered fragments reassembled, summoning three Vijams onto Diva's field in a tight formation—a wall of despair.
"Don't forget—Vijam can't be destroyed by battle, and they sublimate any monster that attacks them!"
Hiding behind his barricade of Vijams, Diva laughed arrogantly.
"With three Vijams, even you can't break through! And when they're Special Summoned, the effect of my Continuous Spell Cubic Karma activates!"
[Effect: During your opponent's turn, if "Vijam the Cubic Seed" is Special Summoned by the effect of a "Cubic" monster: Send this card to the Graveyard, and if you do, halve your opponent's LP.]
"I send Cubic Karma to the Graveyard—burn in the fires of Cubic Karma!"
A golden vortex of dimensional fire roared forth, tearing through Hoshino Alter's slender frame.
[Hoshino Chiyuki LP 4800 → 2400]
"You okay, Master?" Saber Lily asked, worried.
Hoshino Alter steadied her breath. "I can still stand… but Aimagi's really underestimating me. To think three ugly little things could stop my advance…"
She flipped a set card. Despite facing the higher-dimensional monsters that could sublimate anything, she refused to back down.
"Aimagi, you're up against the strongest duelist there is! Never forget—don't underestimate the Duel King! I activate Quick-Play Spell Phantasm Summon!"
Light surged from the field, the Graveyard, and Hoshino Alter's hand, fusing together with a willpower that far surpassed the Dimensional Field.
"By Phantasm Summon's effect, I fuse Saber Lily on the field, Artoria in the Graveyard, and Marie Antoinette from my hand! Fusion Summon—!"
"—Shatter the Dimension with the Galaxy Meteor Sword! Dimensional Fusion Summon! Heroic Spirit – Mysterious Heroine X!"
[Heroic Spirit – Mysterious Heroine X ★★★★★★★★★(Level 9)][LIGHT][Dragon/Fusion/Effect][ATK 0/DEF 0]
[1 "Artoria" monster + 1 "Heroic Spirit" monster + 1 LIGHT monster]
With twin blades of nameless victory, Heroine X roared, diving into the dimensional field as her radiance split the sky.
"Saber!!!"
[Mysterious Heroine X ATK: 0 → 3000]
"Why do you get to pump your ATK just by yelling too…? Oh, right. I forgot—X is also a gag character," Hoshino Alter muttered, resigned.
Because Marie Antoinette had gone to the Graveyard as Fusion Material, Hoshino Alter also searched her Deck for another Heroic Spirit monster to add to her hand.
Heroine X's dual swords hummed with charged light. "All Sabers besides me—get out of my sight! Master, I'm going in!"
Okita, startled by her murderous intent, hid her sword behind her back and whistled innocently.
"I-I'm not a Saber, okay? Okita-san is totally an Assassin, really~"
A Saber pretending to be an Assassin, and an Assassin insisting she's a Saber. Why do they somehow feel like a pair…?
Watching two monsters shout themselves to full power, Diva's worldview was beginning to crumble. But he still forced a sneer.
"Hoshino, even if you summon a 3000-ATK monster, under Dimensional Duel rules you still can't harm me!"
"Careful with those words—getting smacked in the face by reality hurts."
Hoshino Alter raised her hand skyward, calling down a bombardment from beyond the Domain, shattering the so-called "impenetrable" wall of Vijams.
"Heroine X's effect activates!"
[When this card is Fusion Summoned: Negate the effects of all monsters your opponent controls until the end of the turn, and inflict 500 damage for each.]
"Let higher-dimensional monsters feel the might of future tech! —Support Bombardment XEX!!"
Through her mysterious communicator, Heroine X called down orbital fire from her golden starship steed, Golden Horse II, blasting Diva's field.
"Warriors don't need secret techniques or strategies of the soul—just raw firepower! Take this merciless bombardment, Saber!!"
[Diva LP 8000 → 6500]
"We did it!" Jonouchi and Honda cheered, high-fiving. It wasn't much damage, but it was still the first time Hoshino Alter had drawn blood in a Dimensional Duel.
"Still think I can't hurt you?" Hoshino Alter smirked.
Diva narrowed his eyes. "Not only did you inflict effect damage, but you nullified Vijam's ability until the end of the turn… to pull out a monster like this at such a desperate time, I suppose that's what makes you Duel King."
He flipped a set card. Even without Vijam, he had more tricks prepared.
"Trap Card activate—Cubic Causality!"
[Effect: Place Cubic Counters on your opponent's face-up monsters equal to the number of Cubics you control. Monsters with Cubic Counters cannot attack, and their effects are negated.]
"With this, even if my Vijams are nullified, I can still sublimate your monsters! I place Cubic Counters on Okita and Heroine X—drag their consciousness into the higher dimension!"
A surge of dimensional cubes rushed forward, just like when Artoria had been consumed earlier.
"You're too naïve! Heroine X's effect—when Fusion Summoned using three LIGHT monsters, she's unaffected by other card effects! I fused nothing but LIGHT Heroic Spirits just for this!"
Hoshino Alter slashed the air. Heroine X's twin blades whirled like a storm, shredding the incoming cubes.
"Die Saber! Red, white, and black alike!"
"Tch!" Diva clicked his tongue, then redirected the cubes toward Okita instead.
"Then Okita will bear the sublimation of the higher dimension! Cubic Counter—activate!!"
He threw a card into his Duel Disk. Yet even then, Hoshino Alter and Okita remained calm, utterly unshaken.
"You're still too green! Time to show you Okita's dueling style—Quick-Play Spell activate, Firefly's Flame of Integrity!"
[Effect: Choose 1. ● Target 1 'Heroic Spirit – Okita Soji' you control; return it to your hand, then reveal the top 3 cards of your Deck. Add 2 of them to your hand, return the rest to the Deck.]
Okita's body shimmered green before leaping back, dodging the cubes entirely and returning to Hoshino Alter's hand.
"Heh… sometimes retreat is the key to victory. Okita-san knows this well! Behold—'Okita Tactics: Slip Away, Slip Away!'"