Dimensional Cutter

"Despite the existence of the Nether Portal, few believe that it is possible to open such rifts with sheer force alone. None believe that a tool with enough power to accomplish such a feat could exist. And yet..."

— The description for the Cataclysm weapon, Wynncraft

Space and time can be described as fabric, so what better way to manipulate it than by cutting it? Usually a bladed weapon or claws are used for such a purpose, sometimes noted to be an Absurdly Sharp Blade, but this could be done with any natural or artificial cutting implement.

The common purpose for cutting the spacetime fabric is to create portals that can move you (and/or others) from point A to B. However, this can be used offensively, such as cutting a target from far away or cause a version of Tele-Frag onto the target.

The Full-Contact Magic version of Thinking Up Portals. A Sub-Trope of Interdimensional Travel Device. Compare with Teleport Gun. Not to be confused with Portal Cut although the two can overlap depending on context/situation.

---

Examples:

Anime & Manga

• Skull Knight's Sword of Actuation in Berserk is able to cleave holes in space, essentially a portable teleporter.
• In Black Clover, Yami's spells "Dark Cloaked Dimension Slash" and its stronger variant "Dark Cloaked Dimension Slash — Equinox" are named such and described to be this. They can cut through spatial barriers, have great range, and because of Dark Magic's properties they can affect the underworld and its native denizens.
• Dragon Ball:
  • In Dragon Ball Z: Fusion Reborn, Super Janemba uses his power to create a "Dimension Sword" which is capable of cutting through dimensions or creating portals.
  • In Dragon Ball Super, Goku Black channels The Power of Hate to gain a power up, which turns his ki Laser Blade into a ki Sinister Scythe. He then uses said scythe to slice a hole in the fabric of reality, releasing an energy that creates clones of himself. When Vegeta asks how he did that, Black admits even he has no idea.
• In Inuyasha, the sword Tenseiga contains the power of the Meidō—cutting open a portal into the Underworld itself. Its lesser form creates a crescent opening, which progressively widens into a full sphere as the sword's user masters its power. When Inuyasha's Tessaiga inherits Tensaiga's power, he creates the Meidō Zangetsuha as a barrage of Portal Cuts that cut through any defense and take anything they touch into Hell.
• An episode of Space☆Dandy has an incursion from a two dimensional universe destroying several planets. To fight this, at one point Dandy extends a giant pair of scissors on a robotic arm from his ship and sequentially cuts his way to the capital of the dimension's ruler.
• Transformers: Cybertron: Vector Prime is capable of opening portals with his sword.
• In the anime adaptation of UQ Holder!, when Blind Swordsman Nagumo's men are routed he flees by cutting open a portal in space and jumping into it. Notably this was not present in the manga, where Nagumo owned a separate device that allowed Teleport Spam (and used it only as a weapon and mobility tool, considering death preferable to retreating).
• YuYu Hakusho:
  • Kuwabara's Dimension Sword is incredibly sharp, being able to theoretically cut anything, such as space and dimensions.
  • In the anime, Mukuro also possesses this ability.

Comic Books

• In Legion of Super-Heroes, the Persuader's Atomic Axe is so sharp it can cut through anything, including gravity and time. One arc has him exploit this to gather an Alliance of Alternates to form the Fatal Five Hundred.
• Marvel Universe:
  • In Annihilators, the Dire Wraith sorcerer Doctor Dredd surrounds himself with a universal edge which can cut through anything. He uses this to go wherever he likes by slicing open the fabric of spacetime.
  • In the 2018 run of Doctor Strange, Stephen advances his magical training by learning to forge his own mystical artifacts from a dwarf. One of the artifacts he creates is a giant blade he refers to as a scalpel, which he uses to cleanly slice open portals to traverse great distances.
  • In The Mighty Thor, Lady Sif carries a sword and Skurge the Executioner carries an axe that can both create portals by cutting the air.
  • The Lilin are a family of demons born from the Marvel version of Lilith in the stories of the Midnight Sons. Each has a unique superpower. One, appropriately known as Pilgrim, has a clawed hand that can do this.

Films

• The Spike from Cool World punctures a hole in reality that allows Doctor Whiskers from the cartoon world to enter the real world of The '40s, and to abduct war veteran Frank Harris into the cartoon realm. Later, The Vamp Holli Would succeeds in crossing over, becoming fully human, but needs the Spike to sustain herself in that form.
• In Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Clea introduces herself as such in The Stinger when she uses a knife to cut a hole between Earth and the Dark Dimension, and invites Dr. Strange to accompany her into the latter dimension to demonstrate his courage.
• The hellboys from Dogma use their hockey sticks to that effect.

Literature

• Date A Live: This is revealed to be the true power of Tohka Yatogami's sword Sandalphon, the power to cut through virtually anything, even the fabric of spacetime. She didn't have access to this ability for most of the series due to subconsciously limiting her power.
• The Eighth Doctor Adventures novel Mad Dogs and Englishmen has the Subtle Pinking Shears, which Noël Coward (yes, him) uses to travel up and down his own timeline by snipping his way through the very fabric of space and time. Even by Doctor Who standards, it's an... interesting book.
• The Garden of Sinners (and by extension Tsukihime) has an unusual variant wherein a person with the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception can permanently cut through anything by running a blade along its invisible Lines of Death, or "kill" anything by stabbing it in its Point of Death. It's even possible to "kill" abstract concepts like distance in this manner, allowing for quasi-teleportation.
• High School D×D: Arthur Pendragon's sword Caliburn can make portals by slicing the air and make safe zones in the extremely hazardous Dimensional Gap.
• His Dark Materials: The Subtle Knife, which can cut through anything, even "the fabric between worlds". This is described as working by, more or less, the Knife catching on chinks in the fabric of space-time and cutting from there. It's stated that only the true bearer of the knife can use it in this fashion, and that losing a couple of fingers to the knife (which cuts so cleanly that the wound won't close up without a lot of help) is the mark of the bearer, but it's actually not entirely clear if this is true, or just what the bearer at that point believes to be true; it definitely is true that it's not just the knife that cuts the portal, as the bearer losing their focus at a critical moment ends up shattering the knife into pieces. Fortunately, they know an armoured bear who is prepared to help them re-forge it, despite regarding the knife itself with deep suspicion.
• Horus Heresy: Due to the actions of First Chaplain Erebus, the Word Bearers Astartes Legion have access to athame blades. These look like crude daggers made of flint or unrefined metal, but they're steeped in the power of Chaos. In the miniature wargame, they aren't good at punching through armor, but can instakill anybody they wound. In the books, they're also incredibly useful in sorcerous rituals, and advanced users can use them to essentially teleport by slashing a hole in reality and make a jump through the Warp to hop planets. Note that this isn't limited to Chaos Sorcerers, but figures like Erebus and company can make direct jumps, while less "initiated" souls need guidance to follow a "route" through space and time. Given the nature of these jumps, it's also much safer than the relatively slow and unreliable FTL travel common to human factions.
• Morgaine Cycle: Morgaine wields a crystal sword named "Changeling" that opens a rift in reality at its tip when unsheathed.
• Overlord (2012): Touch Me's unique skill "World Break" is described as a Sword Beam that rends the fabric of space and time, allowing it to bypass all defenses. Likewise for "Reality Slash", a powerful but inefficient spell which produces a toned-down version of the same effect.
• In Reaper Man, in preparing to fight the new Death of Men, Death (who is on a 10-Minute Retirement for the duration of the book) hones his new scythe so sharp it can cut the spaces between letters on the page.
• In The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System: Ren Zha Fanpai Zijiu Xitong, the Evil Sword Xin Mo can cut portals into reality that its wielder can use for transportation. Both versions of Luo Binghe use this ability to escape from the Endless Abyss.
• Slayers: One of Lina's strongest spells, Ragna Blade, creates a shaft of black lightning that can cut through anything, even if it's immune to normal magic. Among other things, she's used it to attack beings hiding on the Astral Plane, and break out of a Pocket Dimension.
• That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime: It's possible to perform this with a weapon whose user is experienced with the Spatial Element or if it's the property of the weapon itself. The Imperial Guardian Krishna even outright calls it "Dimensional Slash" and it's one of his trump cards, capable of slicing through even the toughest defenses due to the rending dimensions. Unfortunately for him, when he tries to use it against Zegion, the monster is able to No-Sell it (while also being struck with highly magnified gravity) due to his superior mastery of the Spatial Element letting him counter it. Zegion then adds insult to injury by returning the favor, with Krishna's attempt to counter with "Dimensional Slash" failing and being torn to shreds in retaliation.

Live-Action TV

• In Kamen Rider OOO, the Medajalibur sword's finishing move results in the entire space behind the enemy being briefly split apart; the rest of the landscape repairs itself while the enemy explodes.
• In Kyōryū Sentai Zyuranger, the Monster of the Week Dora Cockatrice can cut holes through time and space with scissors.
• Lucifer (2016): This is one of the functions of the Flaming Sword. He, Amenadiel, and the Goddess spend the second half of Season 2 looking for it, so they can return to the Silver City and take their revenge on God, but when he actually gets hold of it, Lucifer decides that's not such a good idea and instead opens a portal to the void between worlds so his mother can create her own universe there.
• In Once Upon a Time, with a sword infused with the magic of the savior and the blue fairy, Gideon is able to cut open a portal to the world that the black fairy is imprisoned in.

Tabletop Games

• Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition:
  • From the Oriental Adventure sourcebook, the "Passage" weapon property allows a magic blade to slice open a portal to the spirit world. It acts as a plane shift spell, but the portal stays open 1-4 minutes and any creature can pass through from both directions.
  • The 3.5th Edition Weapons of Legacy sourcebook includes the Planeshifter's Knife, which seems inspired by the Subtle Knife. It was created by an ambitious student mage who wanted to plunder his institution's trove of tomes, but didn't stop to consider whether a college of master wizards would have some way of tracking stolen books. The weapon starts as a simple +1 dagger with an odd habit of balancing on its tip and spinning in the presence of outsiders, but as a wielder unlocks the knife's abilities, they can use it to slash a tear in reality to use as a hiding spot, similar to the rope trick spell. Eventually Planeshifter's Knife allows its wielder to instantly move to another plane, with the caveat that it can only do so after striking an extraplanar creature.
  • Ether scarabs are beetle-like creatures whose jaws are sharp enough to rip open brief, two-way portals between planes, allowing them to elude predators (and for other creatures to dart through the temporary portals). This also means anything bitten by an ether scarab takes persistent bleeding damage from its supernaturally sharp mandibles.
  • Ethereal defilers are extraplanar Lizard Folk who, rather than using conventional spells like ethereal jaunt to pass between the Material and Ethereal Planes, have an "ethereal bore" attack that blasts through the planar boundaries in a burst of highly-damaging eldritch energy, which is typically how they enter combat.

Video Games

• The Huntress's gauntlet, "The Gauntlet of the Ga'Lin" in AdventureQuest. Is fully capable of tearing holes through dimensions which she is able to traverse through.
• AdventureQuest Worlds:
  • The "Yokai" questchain has Kitsune using the Hanzamune Dragon Koi Blade to cause a rip through dimensions to release O-dokuro from the Yokai Realm. Later the player steals it to seal the monster back in and tries to fight Kitsune with it, which inadvertently seals Kitsune in said other dimension.
  • Xeven's weapon of choice are the Tachyon Blades, which can slice through space and time itself.
• BlazBlue: Jubei's swords are actually powerful Magitek items that can cut through anything. This includes creating dimensional portals.
• Zead from Castlevania: Curse of Darkness demonstrates the ability to slash open portals with his oversized wrist blade.
• In the Devil May Cry series, Vergil's katana Yamato. Has a blade so sharp that it is able to cut through dimensions and reality itself. One of its more mundane uses is to create portals by slicing the air, these abilities are shown off quite a bit in Devil May Cry 5, first to get away from Nero after ripping his son's arm off to reclaim Yamato and also after being brought back to life thanks to V and Urizen combining, which also has him using this to get away from Dante and Nero.
• Disgaea: The "Dimensional Slash" sword technique is usually one of the last sword skills learned in various games. The user simply swings their blade hard enough to rip open a hole between dimensions, which is used to attack the enemy. While normally a straight line attack in most games, Disgaea D2: A Brighter Darkness made it a close-range area of effect skill. The Magic Knight class of Disgaea 5: Alliance of Vengeance get their own Spell Blade variation if trained to use swords.
• Just like in the Anime/Manga, in Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2, Black's scythe tears a rift in time, allowing clones and even villains from other timelines to pour through the hole.
• Granblue Fantasy: The Primal Beast Colossus has his "Dimensional Cleave" skill, whereupon the colossal machine swings his blade hard enough to cut open a hole between dimensions — usually with one of the player's party members as the target. Without proper planning, it can and will kill an unprepared target. In higher difficulty raids, he can use it twice in a row!
• In Kirby: Planet Robobot’s extra mode, Galacta Knight is capable of doing this.
• Pokémon: Palkia's claws are described by the Pokedex to be sharp enough to cut through the fabric of reality, which also likely connects with Palkia's status as a Space Master.
• Sword and Fairy 7 has Chunzi sword, that can create temporary portals between Realms in this manner.

Web Animation

• This manifests as Raven's semblance in RWBY. She can create a portal to one of a small number of people she has bonded with, but must physically slice where she wants the portal to appear. Currently, she had bonds with Yang, Tai, Qrow, with another to someone on her tribe and presumably Vernal.

Webcomics

• Grrl Power: One of the artifacts in the Black Reliquary vault is a crescent moon sickle called the Brane Ripper which can tear open dimensional rifts. First seen when Wyrmil uses it to open a rift between him and the heroes, out of which spills a (rather friendly actually) mass of toothy tentacles. Then Sciona steals it from him and combines it with a sword to create the even more powerful Skybreaker, which she tries to use to open a portal to her homeworld. Currently being used by Deus to power his "not-Stargate" to the Fracture.
• Kill Six Billion Demons:
  • Jagganoth uses this method to travel through space at the end of King of Swords, as seen by everyone on the receiving end inside the Rayuban arena.
  • Solomon David performs a variant; he is able to punch holes in reality to move people from one dimension to another, with the effect looking like kicking someone through a window.

Websites

• SCP Foundation: SCP-2207 is a unique and (as is the case with most SCPs) destructive twist of this trope. It takes the form of a disposable plastic knife that cuts portals in space to random universes. Problem is that this breaks the universe on the other end in a way that makes it uninhabitable or even erases it altogether as is the case in the last test log. The powers that be in the multiverse sent the Foundation a signed order to stop using it.

Western Animation

• In Danny Phantom, Wulf has the ability to create portals between the real world and the Ghost Zone with his claws.
• Grim from The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy can open up portals to the underworld or other dimensions by simply ripping thin air with his scythe. A Cutaway Gag (pun intended) in the Christmas special had Mother Nature complaining someone just cut a hole in the literal fabric of time and space she's minding in her rocking chair.
• My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic: In "Make New Friends but Keep Discord", after growing increasingly irritated with the New-Age Retro Hippie Tree Hugger over the course of the episode, Discord raises his eagle claw, audibly sharpens it, and uses it to slice open a portal to another dimension to throw Tree Hugger into.
• In The Smurfs (1981), Father Time's Scythe of Time can open tears in the space/time continuum, during in one instance a baby dinosaur appeared in the present time of the series emerging through a tear.
• Star vs. the Forces of Evil:
  • Dimensional Scissors can open up portals by cutting through reality like how regular scissors can cut paper, which is well and good, but they can't actually be used to cut paper without opening a portal.
  • Rasticore has a chainsaw variant of the dimensional scissors. A whole lot cooler, definitely, but equally as impractical.
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles:
  • In the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987) episode "The Ninja Sword of Nowhere", the characters learn of a katana forged with alien metal which creates a hole to a limbo-like dimension when slashed through the air. The Turtles and Shredder fight over its possession, but it's all for naught at the end when some alien antiques dealers abscond with the sword, taking it back to the other dimension.
  • Similarly, Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles sees Leo acquire an odachi with the power to open portals.
• Xiaolin Showdown: The Golden Tiger Claws is a claw tool that can create portals by slashing the air. This is such a Story-Breaker Power that after an episode of retrieving it from the villain that used it to utterly dominate, it was portaled to the center of the Earth. It only gets retrieved later because the threat was that dire.

---