There was no transition, no slow process. Instantaneous, unthinking, it happened all at once.

Ash found himself kneeling in the grass, both of his hands gripping his crotch at the same time.

He stayed in that position, curling forward as his eyes started to water without permission.

"Fucking hell," he whispered harshly, his teeth clenched tight together as he tried to fight down the tears of pure pain.

’It hurt, goddamn it, it fucking hurt!’

Both of Ash’s hands gripped his crotch, as though holding tightly enough could reason with whatever pain had decided to invade him. Of course, it couldn’t, and the only thing he could do was grit his teeth and try to make it pass.

It took a while.

By the time he finally got to his feet, his breathing was controlled and slow, coming in and going out through the narrowest of paths in his nose. He stood there for a moment longer, his eyes closed as he focused on that.

Eventually - and not without effort - he opened his eyes and looked around.

The horned rabbit was watching him, the same dark eyes that had just delivered him so much pain staring calmly at him from a few paces away.

It sat perfectly still, its white fur immaculate, its little black nose moving in the same way it had before Ash had attacked it.

He glared at it, his eyes stinging but dry.

He breathed again. Slow in. Fast out.

He started walking towards the rabbit, putting a hand firmly over the part of his body that had just taken damage, but when he moved, he saw it, too.

The low coil of its body as it prepared to launch itself, the power behind those small legs as they gathered the necessary momentum to strike - and in an instant he moved to the side, letting the creature fly through the place where his body had just been.

He barely avoided being hit a second time.

He drew in another breath and raised a hand - the ♥ 3 of Heart appeared in the middle of his fingers, the fire lance sigil glowing golden and drawing the attention of both suns at once. He aimed it at the rabbit.

The horned rabbit did not cooperate.

As soon as Ash had pointed it at it, the horned rabbit shifted, changing its path and taking off in a sideways zig-zag pattern. The horned rabbit was not going to allow itself to get hit easily.

Every time he tried to reposition the card in order to catch the damn thing in the blast, it adjusted, as though it could somehow tell which way the spell would travel based on the way Ash held the card.

He backed up. Moved away to create space.

Left. Right. Left. Right.

The movement was chaotic - or, rather, seemingly so. He had played enough games in a former life to know better. That sort of motion, the way it changed direction and then stayed for just long enough to allow itself to be hit - there was a certain rhythm underlying it.

It didn’t matter that he was only seeing it because he was trying desperately not to get hit - the pattern itself was still discernible.

He waited for the next left step. Saw the rabbit’s front paws planting themselves in the ground as it prepared for that step. Pointed the card toward the point at which that next step would occur.

"Flame Lance."

The card dissolved from his fingers, breaking apart from edge to center before disappearing entirely - a compressed spear of flame roughly the length of a short sword, moving with more force and less spread than Ember Shot. It crossed the distance fast.

[⚠NOTICE⚠]

[★Card Used: ♥ 3 of Heart★]

[Flame Lance - Lv.1]

[Mana: 280 / 300]

He was aiming for it this time - not just the horned rabbit itself but its feet. And, sure enough, just as he’d anticipated, the horned rabbit paused mid-step. The lance struck just in front of where its feet would have been. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

"Got you now, bitch."

His hand moved almost automatically, the next card appearing in a flash before he had even thought to do anything. He didn’t take the time to aim properly, didn’t bother thinking about the mana cost - he just fired.

"Flame Lance."

And the spear of fire went through it, hitting it dead on and flinging the horned rabbit back into the air; before it could hit the ground, the rabbit was falling to pieces. It was neither blood nor hair; it was just grey dust carried by wind until nothing remained.

[⚠NOTICE⚠]

[★Card Used: ♥ 3 of Heart★]

[Flame Lance - Lv.1]

[Mana: 260 / 300]

Ash stared at the spot where the horned rabbit had been.

His arm was still outstretched, the card having long since disappeared and dissolved. The spot where the flame lance had hit the ground still steamed with residual heat.

’That card is not strong enough to do that,’ he thought. The ♥ 3 of Heart was level one. A beginning-rank card, strong for its tier, nothing beyond it. Turning a creature to dust was not something a level one Flame Lance was supposed to accomplish.