The Rabbit of Tomnadashan wasn't in a good position as it faced off against the Death Knight. Even with the benefits of the Cornucopia card suppressing the Death Knight's power and boosting its own, it had little chance against the armored monster. The issue was with types.

The Death Knight was a Dark Defender monster. This means it had good defense and used the Dark type. The types weren't some kind of rock-paper-scissors type chart you see in many games. Instead, this described the origin of the monster. The origin of a monster played a role in determining its effectiveness with the various support, arena, and equip cards. Still, it only had a minor impact on combat effectiveness.

However, the community had managed to determine some general trends. Some types of cards were generally more effective than others against other types.

His killer rabbit was unofficially a Nature Attack monster. Attackers tended to be good against other Attackers but poor against Defenders. The red-eyed rabbit mostly bucked this trend, as it always went for the throat. But the Death Knight was living armor. Its throat was not a weak point, so the rabbit was simply bashing itself into a steel plate repeatedly.

Of course, James knew the strengths and weaknesses of his Rabbit of Tomnadashan, which was part of the reason he chose the card.

He had gotten caught up in the spectacle of a tiny little white rabbit holding off and even hurting the fearsome black metal monster, which held his attention far longer than it should have

"Dodge, no, strike it. No! Use your sword!" The woman was still trying to direct her monster to fend off the deadly furry bullet of teeth.

The sheer size difference slowly forced his rabbit to retreat against the Death Knight.

Despite losing ground, his rabbit seemed to be doing well. The rabbit managed to bite down on the sword of the Death Knight as the armor swiped at it stiffly. This broke the metal with a resounding crack, almost like a gunshot.

The Death Knight responded by punching his rabbit with its gauntlet, but it was too late to save its sword from breaking in two. The rabbit landed heavily, covered with cuts and gouges. These slowly began to regenerate, and it seemed to ignore the injuries as it jumped back at the armor.

Cornucopia was working to keep the vicious bunny in the fight. But it had caused other issues. He probably should have thought harder about what an arena card would do before he played it as he glanced around the room again.

The vines and roots covered all the doors and windows, not that there were many, except for the one now occupied by the Death Knight. He would have to force his way out if he wanted to run.

James shook his thoughts away and examined the few cards in his hand. He really should have focused on ending this quickly, but he had been distracted by the spectacle of it. His opponent had no such issue.

"You haven't won!" the woman yelled, unseen from the hallway, over the sound of bone striking steel. "My monsters will crush your little bunny into a pulp!"

Monsters? As in more than one? The thought was rewarded as another Death Knight pushed in behind the first, further blocking the doorway.

"See! There's no hope of winning! You should just give up!"

James frowned as he looked through the cards he was holding. He had a lot of options since he didn't have to draw from a deck or something.

Usually, he would have traps out to prevent this kind of thing. But the device was limited to three cards of whatever type. Sure, he had more of the devices, but he would need to dig into his backpack to get at them. He doubted that looking away was a good idea.

He had a few answers to this, but some seemed like horrible ideas. He could set his rabbit on fire, letting it do far more damage for a few turns, but considering it was really here and the room was covered in wood, yeah...

Instead, he selected another monster, and green mist swirled and formed into a Giant Python. It was a tier 4, which was not the Death Knights match. But this was reality.

"Restrain it! Crush it!" James yelled, pointing at the new Death Knight. The giant snake shot forth and began to slither up and around the second Death Knight just as it batted his rabbit away.

"Ahh! What!" he heard being yelled from the hallway. "Your monsters are the worst!"

The snake began to hold and crush the second knight just as it disappeared and reappeared outside the bonds of his snake. Oh right. That was a thing you could do.

James couldn't help but facepalm slightly as his snake dropped to the floor. Why hadn't he realized she could just withdraw and summon the card again?

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

The Death Knight pushed into the room again, struck down with its sword, and sliced his Giant Python in half even as it moved to attack. James felt his hope fade as the Python's card on his device flashed and smoked.

James looked at the crispy card and slowly pulled it away, causing it to crumble in his fingers.

"Okay," James said, looking in shock at the remains of the card in his hands.

He shakes his head and tries to clear his head. The doorway was blocked, and his rabbit was losing ground quickly. The Death Knights were closing in but largely ignored him. Wait.

They were ignoring him. Why were they doing that?

James reached into his backpack and pulled out a handful of cards. He quickly shuffled through the cards in his hand until he found a card that would work.

"Hypersonic Sparrow," he muttered as the green mist and red energy swirled together. A small but very sleek red and blue bird appeared, its eyes blank, sitting on top of his backpack.

"Attack the summoner!" James whispered urgently to the little bird, and its head cocked and looked at the door.

The bird blurred and was gone in a blast of wind. Moments later, it struck the door frame, splintering the wood slightly as it landed perpendicular to the floor, clawing into it with its talons. Its head tilted and locked onto the woman, who had only started to turn to look at his new monster.

"GAH!" she yelled as the tiny bird struck her in the stomach at high speed.

It was only a tier-one monster, but it was very, very fast.

"I hate you!" the woman shouted as she tried to bat away the tiny creature. "Get it away!" she yelled. "Defend me!"

All at once, the two Death Knights stopped. They turned and moved towards the exit. It was none too soon as his rabbit had slowed down considerably and wasn't doing much more than biting at the foot of the first Death Knights.

"Damn it!" The woman yelled as James peeked past the living armor to catch sight of the woman trying to fend off the tiny bird. She had several minor scratches and cuts on her clothing and face.

James noticed the device attached to her arm and pointed at it. "Smash into her arm!"

"What!?" the woman yelled, having heard his call. But it was too late, as the Hypersonic Sparrow smashed into the device. It broke away into mist, but the cards on it had been blasted off from its collision. The woman stumbled.

The two Death Knights wavered momentarily before breaking down into black smoke that pooled around the hall and hotel room floor.

"Restrain her," James yelled, even as he ran and tackled her, sending both tumbling to the floor. The air was knocked out of him as she twisted into the superior position, and he was driven into the floor under him.

"No more magic!" He yelled as he tried to restrain her, but she cracked him in the head with the device on her arm.

"That's not going to... AH!" The woman said as a white rabbit appeared beside her, its long teeth inches from her throat. "N-nice bunny!"

She attempted to back away but was followed by the Rabbit of Tomnadashan.

"AAAH!" She yelled as the rabbit bit her in the leg as she tried to get to her feet. "O-okay!"

James shook his head and pulled himself to his feet. The rabbit loomed over the woman even as he noticed her reaching into her pocket.

"Stop! No cards," he said, pointing at her and panting, "or I'll have it attack!"

"Right, okay, we can talk about this," she said, putting her hands up. "Not exactly what I had in mind."

"Take off the device, slowly," James said as he pointed at the summoning device.

"The... device?" she said, sounding confused before she glanced at where he was pointing. "You mean the arcane slate?"

So that's what they were called, James thought. "Yeah, whatever. Take it off. Slowly."

The woman slowly removed the device, and he took it from her.

"Stupid handler," the woman muttered as she sat there pouting. "I'm just a lookout."

"What?" James said, questioning the woman. "You were waiting for me?"

"Yeah, you stole a bunch of slates," she said matter-of-factually. "Now that you have mine, will you let me go?"

James sighed and shook his head. "I have some questions. Into the room."

"You're a real creep," she said as she slowly stood after James had the rabbit back off.

"I never wanted any of this!" James yelled, feeling blood rush to his head. "Crazy shit just started happening!"

"You done?" the woman said, looking slightly annoyed herself. "You could have just given up."

"Yeah, well, you broke my door," James said as he walked into the room ahead of her.

"It's the hotel's door," she said as she walked behind him. "You know they'll come for you, right?"

James froze, then turned and scrambled for his backpack. He started tossing the extra cards he had pulled back into it, followed by his newest acquisition.

"I didn't mean right now," she said, looking somewhat troubled.

He threw the backpack on his back and checked the... arcane slate? Slate? He checked the slate and ensured that the cards were still in place.

"Yeah, well, forgive me for having trust issues," he said as he grabbed the slate and made for the door.

"Didn't you have questions?" she asked as he passed her. "I can tell you a lot."

"Survival comes first," he said.

She muttered something to herself, causing James to turn, having heard her. "He's getting away."

"Who are you talking to?" He demanded but forgot his question as a large swirling portal opened on the room's wall.

A roar resounded as a large red futuristic motorcycle slid through sideways and stopped with a jolt against the bed. The rider's helmeted head turned to look at him, his hands drawing forth a card.

"Bushido Frog."