Inspect the cards.

One card has Amara holding her hands together politely, and the other is Eva sticking out her tongue. Your eyes look to the two girls laying **** in their seats, and then back to your hand. It's definitely them. There's no doubt about it. Just as you feared, your party has become Creature Cards within your deck, which is why she separated them apart. That means Meti only has one bonus creature and you have two.

But I drew them both already.

"You may only play one Creature Card per turn unless stated otherwise," she explains.

So she totally knows what I drew. I gave it away too easily. Time to go full out while her field only has one card down.

First, you place down the vine trap. Then you raise up the Amara card and look it over nervously.

"They will not actually perish. It is not that sort of game," Meti adds. "So worry not."

She better be telling the truth. "I'll play this then!" You slap the card down against the velvet table top, and from it rises Amara herself. She looks around, confused by her perspective. Then she turns to see you and gasps.

"Dear me!" she calls out.

"We're playing a crazy card game, and it looks like I'll be needing your help."

Amara turns back around to the knight. "I see. This is rather strange, though perhaps I should be used to such things by now."

"And I'll give you a hand." Next you play the magic armour card. Beautiful silver armour materializes all around Amara's body. It locks around as a perfectly shaped suit of plate, just like Nyllia. Finally, a helmet floats down onto her head, and she looks rather nervous all of the sudden.

"Are you certain about this?" she asks.

"I will be in a second. Next, I play this!" Another Magic Card. This time, a beam of light comes down from the heavens, and it bathes the Demon Knight in a vibrant glow. It then begins to drink. Compared to you, it was already small, but now it stands at hardly a couple inches tall. "Hopefully now it'll be a peace of cake."

Amara waves her staff in the air as a spell builds up, though the Demon Knight doesn't sit around. It charges forward and swings at her shins, though her armour thankfully repels the strike. She then thrusts her staff forward like a spear, and from the end comes a warm, gold and silver glow that blankets her foe in divine purification. The Demon Knight screeches, and it sounds surprisingly feminine. It completely disintegrates her, so Meti reaches out and withdraws her card to toss to aside.

Meanwhile, Amara tugs on her choker and takes a few deep breaths to try and calm her body.

Meti reaches for her deck. "Your allies are stronger than I expected. Even with the powerup you granted her, I did not think she could slay the Demon Knight so quickly. I believe I may be in trouble." She draws and then looks her three card over carefully. "This will have to do for now. My next card, as you can see, shows an hourglass turning over. This allows me to reverse the last turn made, though I am completely unable to attack this turn, nor can I summon any creatures. I will then use this next. It is also a Magic Card."

A man with a sack over his shoulder appears. He moves like lightning. With a dash, he appears behind Amara with her suit of armour stuffed into his bag. Amara gasps and can't help but cover herself up, despite still being fully dressed.

She removed the equipment, but now she only has a single card in her hand. Unfortunately, the Demon Knight is back.

"So, can Amara do anything she can usually do?" you ask. "I've already seen her use one of her spells. I'm just curious."

Meti nods. She then places her final card face-down. "That is what makes such a Creature Card so valuable."

But if I don't do something about the Demon Knight, it doesn't matter if I'm about to out-number her. Are Eva's spells strong enough to beat him? What do I have? A dragon and Eva. What can these girls do combat?

"Eva!" you call out as you placer down her card. "I know this is going to be confusing, but we're playing a magic card game, and I guess you've been trapped in a card. I'm going to need--"

Eva screams and falls onto her butt. "You're huge!"

"Thank you, but I need you to help Amara out."

She turns to the girl beside her. "Huh?"

Amara offers her a hand. "I know it is strange, but he speaks the truth."

"I'm not attacking this turn. I can't risk Eva and Amara falling," you say. "I'd rather my deck get attacked."

Meti reaches for a card to draw and breathes a sigh of relief. "Ah. You will recognize this one."

She holds it up, and then draws two additional cards into her hand, bringing her total to the same number--two. Then she places a Creature Card down, and it's a surprise who comes out the magic circle.

It's the gentleman from before. He rises up, turns around, and his eyes widen. "Giantess!" he shouts.

Meti smiles down at him. "Indeed. If you best my opponents, I will be ever so grateful."

He turns to face the others. "Best them? I'm not much of a... I mean, sure I will! Or maybe we can all just get along, and have some fun together as a group."

"For now, attack Demon Knight!" she commands.

As it runs forward, you flip your trap. Vines burst up from the ground and grapple the charging suit of armour to stop it dead in its tracks. It yanks and struggles but to no avail.

"I see. Well my knight may be trapped, but I have one card remaining in my hand remember. This is my final gambit before I am overtaken." She places this card down in the center of the table. "Things are about to become rather strange. Anything can happen now. When this vortex overtakes the battlefield, all Creature Cards are granted special effects related to the kind of being they are. The problem is that I do not even know what my creature's effect will be. Who will figure theirs before the other?"

Shadows spiral out to cover the ground around the feet of all units in play. They look around confused.