Just as the second lesson of Amalgamate hunting implies, know yourself more than your enemy, it is often impossible to know what you are up against. This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t study your an Amalgamate, it is actually required. But, a true hunter cannot judge their opponent and assume their abilities off of their appearance alone.

The trio stood in front of the Amalgamate, each of them boasting different levels of preparation for what was coming next. Like a game of chicken, all four participants were waiting for someone else to make the first move.

Then, it began, the Artist slammed the club of its tail into the ground. Hard enough to embed it into the hard concrete beneath the carpeted floor. Then, in one swift motion, it began to spin in place, grinding its tail through the ground with little resistance. As the tail plowed through the floor, it flung up small shards and large chunks of concrete and scraps of concrete.

With the trio in range, it was their cue to dodge. Easier said than done, though. The attack looked strong enough to match the size of the monster, but came at the speed of something far smaller. With the low position of the attack, all three of them had the same idea for how to dodge the tail itself: jumping back and away from it. The shards of concrete were a whole other problem. Each of them had their own methods of defending themselves.

Casper put up a forcefield in front of himself, creating the shield with one hand and still holding his gun with the other. The pieces of stone bounced off, the largest ones leaving cracks in it, but it still held through the onslaught. With the dust being kicked up from the attack, he refrained from firing for now.

Cho, being the most agile of the group, even with a more lithe frame, was able to dodge further than the others. Simply avoiding the pieces, a few small ones grazing him, but none truly hurting him.

Rakkan, did what Rakkan does best. The Lion, once out of the range of the tail itself, put his arms in front of his face and tensed his body up, using his magic to harden his skin. Several pieces of concrete hit him, yes, but against his muscles that he touted as being as hard as steel, he was left lightly scratched at the worst. “What brute strength… That’s to be expected, no? Har har!”

But, it wasn’t over yet: While Cho put a good distance away from the Artist, Rakkan and Casper were still in front of him. The Amalgamate left forward, stuck its tail into the ground once more, and repeated the process over again. Another blast of debris and carpet, pushing the group further back towards the wall.

“Again?!” Cho cursed, to the sidelines of the attack. He was the first to make an attack against the monster. He fired off a bolt from his crossbow, mounted on his arm. A small bolt that grew in size as it headed towards its target. Followed by another… Then another… But each of them had the same effect: Each of them snapped harmlessly off of the Artist’s scales. “Valu be damned!”

Rakkan and Casper, backs against the wall, avoided the second tail swipe, both of them defended themselves with the same methods as earlier; while the same thing did work twice, Casper’s shield was starting to give way. So, the Sphynx followed the Fox’s example, from his pistol, he fired several gold colored bursts of energy. Each shot passed through his shield, without breaking it, a powerful gun, capable of piercing even the hardiest of materials… Had the same result as Cho’s bolts. Each shot only leaving a small burn mark on the scales. “Any ideas, Rakkan?!”

Before Rakkan could do anything, the Artist immediately made its next attack with lightning fast tenacity. Turning its body to face Cho, it swung its palm down, aiming to crush him. At the same time, it raised its tail high, ready to bring the hammer down on either Casper or Rakkan. The target: Rakkan.

Cho dodged the attack aimed at him, still firing several bolts from his crossbow.

But, Rakkan had his own method of mitigating the attack, just like he did before. What do you do when all you have is pure strength and durability? The Lion held his arms out, not too far, but not too close either. He held them up, pointed towards the tail, and took a deep breath; timing was key here. What happened in an instant for his companions, dragged on and on for him. As the tail was brought down, there was the sound of flesh being stuck by something heavy and hard!

Casper, frankly, couldn’t believe his eyes.

Even Cho was dumbfounded by the turn of events.

The dust cleared and standing there was Rakkan, gripping the monster’s tail in his arms, the club of it over his shoulder. Even though his feet were pressed into the ground and even though he had taken the brunt of the attack, he was stilling standing, ready to make a counter attack! Strained as he was, gritting his teeth, the veins in his arms, legs, and back bulging. “A bit weaker than I expected!”

The Artist, despite its lack of a face, other than a giant lipless mouth, didn’t even look like it realized what happened. Its jaw hanging open.

Casper could only mouth the words, a small smile behind his mask, “He actually caught it?”

Cho, unable to see Rakkan too well over the Artist’s large body, at least realized he tanked the attack as he did, “Idiot.”

Rakkan grinned. More than that. He was excited! This is what he was hoping for. He was a prize fighter at heart. A man who fought before an audience, men, women, and children. An audience of two was good enough for him! Killing people, especially in front of an audience, was a huge no both legally and morally; it wasn’t in his creed. So he made sure to never use his full strength, lest he accidentally kill someone. But not this time! This time he could go full force! The Lion gave the tail a rough yank, letting out a short roar for emphasis.

The tug was enough to send the monster skidding towards him. It dug its feet and claws into the ground, ready to fight back. It tried to thrash its tail out of Rakkan’s wrestling grip, but he refused to let go.

“Good, keep it there!” Cho shouted as he took aim, firing one more bolt from his crossbow. This one too transformed as it flew through the air. A normal, thin bolt, transforming and twisting, into a ball shape; a process that appeared instant, to the untrained eye. A heavy cannonball with the speed of a bolt, smashed right into the Amalgamate’s teeth, chipping one. “Casper, as it turns out, the mouth of the monster with a giant mouth is its weakspot.”

“Now’s not the time for sarcasm, asshole!” Casper shouted over to him.

The shot did, however, make the Artist flinch, momentarily stopping its struggle. While it varied from Amalgamate to Amalgamate, some could at least feel pain, even with their lack of sentience. But now, Rakkan was allowed to move on with his next move.

Casper sat by for now, his gun was ineffective. All he could do now was wait and see what Rakkan had in mind… And hope that it would work.

Like an especially limber block of stone, Rakkan dashed forward, and climbed up on the monster’s back. Its sharp, pointed scales dug into his skin, cutting him. It was like lying on a Sandbox Tree, but with the spikes closer together. But, with the grip of an expert grappler, his own insane durability holding through, he stayed on; the monster’s torso was just a bit bigger than his entire body, so there was just enough room. He was searching for a specific spot; the focal point between the scales and the spot where they were bluntest.

The monster struggled once more, trying to shake the wrestler off. It slowly rose to all fours, then, began to run. An awkward gaut, with the heavy weight on its back, still surprisingly fast. Its lumbering tail dragging behind, it caught Cho off guard, smacking the Fox aside and into a wall. Strangly, despite the strong impact, he made no sound. Not even a grunt of pain.

As the monster ran around, not beginning to circle the room, Rakkan was being tossed back and forth. His feet and hands were beginning to bleed, repeatedly being scraped up against the scales.

“Stay on, Rakkan!” Casper shouted, firing off a few more pistol shots. This time, he aimed not at the center of mass of the monster, but instead aimed for its legs. Time to hobble it! 6 shots of gold colored energy were fired. 3 hit, 3 missed; hitting a moving target was easier said than done. But, each of them hitting the intended target: The left foreleg. Each shot split right through the limb, the scales thinner on its limbs. Moving from a gaut to a limp, the Artist stumbled and was down once more! Hobbling successful! “Stay down, freak!” Casper shouted for good measure.

“My thanks!” Rakkan shouted. It was time for his key moment. While Casper kept going on about things like ‘if the attack worked’ or ‘hopefully this will work,’ Rakkan lacked such a mindset. Deep in his heart, he knew that it would work. No sense of doubt. No what ifs. Such concepts would only make him weaker. Nothing but full, hot-blooded confidence. Rakkan raised his fist, then brought it down. Swinging it down with his full body weight, 200Kgs of muscle and bone, all focused on a point as small as his fist.

A loud cracking sound resounded throughout the arena. Despite initial thoughts from the other two, it wasn’t Rakkan’s arm that had been broke. The monster’s scales, able to resist bolts and magic blasts, shattered like an eggshell. Pieces of them, broken and shattered, flew off and scattered. Some of them even cutting and piercing Rakkan. Underneath them was a large spot of pink colored flesh.

With its armor broken, the Artist was floored, falling flat on its stomach, going completely still, letting out another metallic screech.

Breathing heavily, Rakkan stood up for a few moments, then, fell to the side, tumbling away from the monster. His feet and hands bloodied for his efforts, especially his punching arm, which had been cut up badly from the sharpnel. But, he couldn’t help but smile with satisfaction. Such a decisive blow was worth a few cuts and bruises; right in front of an audience of two people who he considered friends? Even better.

Casper grinned, removing his mask. It’s been a while since he experience victory like this, too long in fact. “Nice one… What’ s say we get those wounds treated?” Honestly, this could have been prevented if the Lion actually wore shoes.

“Ai!” Rakkan gave a thumbs up, “I’m a fast healer, don’t you worry.” He said, licking a line of blood from his arm. “When we get to Terminus, I’m buying you two a meal!”

Cho walked forward, rising up, kept his eyes on the monster’s body. That was easy? He didn’t like it… Then, he looked to the other two. “No thanks, but you two can go on your dinner date.”

“I’ve never seen you eat! Come on, you’ll love it!” Rakkan joked, standing up.

“It’s a free lunch, come on!” Casper said, playing along, hoping the conversation before the fight wouldn’t come up, “I can teach you guys about the Xha-” But, his sentence was cut off by a slamming sound. The Amalgamate, wasn’t dead.

The Artist smacked the ground with its hands and knees, propelling itself up with one quick burst of speed. Then, it landed on both feet. It stood above the group in a bipedal, hunched over stance.

“It stood up!?” Cho shouted in shock.

With a powerful backhand, the Artist smacked the exhausted Rakkan to the side, causing the heavy Lion to be sent across the room, only stopping once he hit a wall, letting out a grunt of pain. Then, pushing off of the slanted floor, it lunged at Casper, enraged. Even the act of leaping forward, the monster damaged the floor beneath it. As before, it boasted incredible speed for something of its massive size.

Casper set a forcefield in front of himself, even firing off a single, powerful shot from his pistol. But, a mere shield was not enough in the face of an enraged Amalgamate.

The Artist’s massive fist shattered the shield and kept going past it, slamming into the scrawny gunslinger. Getting hit by someone in a professional fight is one thing. It hurts a lot, but still under rules and regulations. But being hit by something with pure bestial rage and killing intent? It’s a whole other world of shock and pain. It felt like he was hit with the force of the moon, his strength still waning from his fight with Rakkan just hours ago. The Sphynx tumbled violently backwards, lucky enough to be sent down the hallway from where they had came; better than hitting into a wall. Something broke… Something definitely broke. Might’ve been a rib. At least that’s what it felt like.

But, the Artist wasn’t done yet. Cho remained the only one left standing, firing off several bolts at the Artist, each one snapping and bouncing off of its scales. Cho was trying to circle around to hit the spot in its back. The monster’s size and speed made that easier said than done.

It lunged at Cho, the Artist used its damaged left arm, and grabbed the Fox’s left arm. It squeezed down hard, lifting Cho up.

Yet, Cho did not cry in pain, nor even make a sound. Even as he was lifted up, he attempted to struggle out of the monster’s grip, firing more and more shots at it, resorting to the cannonball shots from before.

But, even with these shots doing damage to the Artist’s mouth, it wasn’t enough. The Artist hissed, and swung Cho over his head, twisting his arm as he slammed him to the floor. The floor was now mostly scraps of carpet and pieces of rubble as a result of the fight.

His arm twisted in all kinds of wrong ways, his body was battered on the broken floor. Cho lied motionless once more in the center of the room.

Rakkan, getting back on his damage feet, stared at the Amalgamate, looking around at the destroyed room. His grin and hope, were all lost.

At the end of the hallway, Casper was lying down, coughing violently, grasping at his damaged chest, his pistol lying several meters away from him.

This was the fury of an 80 year old Amalgamate. The unstoppable rage of the Artist.

Lesson Number Three: Overconfidence Kills.