Amalgamates. Fungal humanoids. Or perhaps are they fungi humans? The way one would put it depends on which comes first.

The sentient Icons of Flesh which had been named such by many; they existed with no ultimate goal in mind.

Only instinct and instinct alone drove their movement.

Two Amalgamates of similar size and mass, arbitrarily taking place in a small squadron of soldiers belonging to Onofre's ranks.

In this instant—the junior wanted to overcome her lack of confidence; the way the others did it, she just wished to do it.

"HIEEE~!" They shrieked as she raised her weapon high; a curved sword in the shape of an insect's wings. She quickly swept low across the chest of the Amalgamate before her, but lost her balance after being pushed by another amalgamate off to the side.

"Shit." The warrior beside her hissed, "Are you alright?!" He said as he moved in-front of her to defend her and finish off the attack she had begun.

To all of their surprise, she was the one to take initiative out of all of them for the first time ever.

Though there was no time to think or dwell on something like that as their enemy would not stop attacking.

One swung their arm to try and hit them, and another bit a part of the group; no time to consider doing things in order. These Amalgamates only had a sense of unison in the fact that their minds had been nothing but empty shells. Sometimes so empty that it causes them to cannibalize one another.

There is nothing much for an individual of their race to consider or wonder, only instinct and thoughtless reactions.

Yet even now, within them. There is always some sort of uniqueness to them. Whether it be their appearance or behaviour.

For instance... The Amalgamate that had been injured by the junior had an uncannily human-shaped head, one in the form of a skull, like all those creatures who possessed their species' markings on the outside. Yet something about it was different.

It was the never-ending change on its features. Or perhaps that's how this one expressed its emotions of ecstasy or absolute thrill. It was experiencing bliss. The pure bliss of having to battle for its life; a battle for its own hunger and territory.

It was this close to forming its own separate mind from the collective group and moving freely under its own guidance. That's what this battle was for them... yet they did not know that themselves.

They, who are the realest threat to not only humans; but also their own kin.

Another warrior threw a punch at one of the Amalgamates; not a super effective move, but rather a means to show dominance and attack them head on. "Take this, you stupid thing!" He threw another, then another, a barrage of fistings at its face... but nothing happened.

Not at first.

Slowly.

Pieces began crumbling off of its skin.

It was the thinnest thing on an Amalgamate, compared to the rest of the thick and somewhat harder material its bones and muscles are made up of.

Those little cracks formed along its jaw, showing the bone below.

Pus oozes out as pieces of its skin stick to the warriors' knuckles. He panicked a little, though not a lot, the panic did exist; only for a millisecond though. "HA!" He grabbed the Amalgamates throat with his bare hands and squeezed... squeezing until he reached the bone. It attempted to attack with its insect-like claws that protruded out of its chest cavity...

But his armor simply negated all damage taken; there is no pain without any hits or slashes, in short he had no problems handling something so fragile when protected like himself. He ripped off its claw and stuck it right between its eyes, then tore a huge piece of its skin.

"HAAAH!" Throwing it down on the ground, the floor underneath collapsed for a while until the rubble from below built up.

That was one Amalgamate out of the two killed. Albeit... it was a minor Amalgamate.

This still hadn't changed the fact that they were the weakest and the strongest; neither of them fought anywhere in the middle and had nothing of the sort.

Even now, this was all a one-sided battle, at the beginning the weakest would simply try to defend; or be defended by the strongest.

In this short and intense instant... A squadron of weak individuals was slowly transforming due to the sight of these three strongest. This had awakened a drive from deep within their cores—to make a difference and not die without leaving an impact.

Those who would fail would become nothing but food, with no legacy besides that... that would not do, not at all.

Without the permission or sign to do so, a group began following the junior who took initiative earlier; her actions seemed to have ignited their flame, and her flame was ignited by her own desire to be an equal...

Meanwhile, Onofre was fending off two, three... or even twenty Amalgamates at once.

"No end to their numbers, I see... Good! THAT IS HOPE! I WILL CUT AWAY ANYONE WHO STANDS BETWEEN ME AND THE OTHER ICONS. MY KIN WILL NEVER SUFFER ONCE AGAIN, NOT FOR THE NEXT THOUSAND YEARS!" She proclaimed to everyone who could have heard her.

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'Huh... General and Queen alike, I suppose. They seem to have quite the big mouth, if I were to put it that way...' Zabulus thought to himself as he turned to the voice of Onofre after gutting yet another Amalgamate, using its own body against it. 'So many loud voices... Guh, whatever! This shit is amusing either way.' His thoughts continued to go into the realms of selfishness, not thinking about how the fight had actually turned out in his favor.

Although, with this newfound fighting prowess of his, it was quite the obvious victory.

The landmass shook with ferocity as the battle grew increasingly intense; the best fighters were more or less completely uncontested and dominant in terms of strength, which would easily tell an outsider that this was a one-sided war.

But there's no reason why anyone wouldn't participate, and that was what Zabulus had discovered. He glanced to his left and right and saw more and more Amalgamates coming from the horizon. It was simply a FEAST!

They fought with ferociousness comparable to no other race, during day, during night. These creatures needed to find only one opening and they'd pounce at the opportunity of territory and food.

A giant worm-like Amalgamate weaved through the rocky hillsides, not missing a single soul it ran past as it flung its own kin across as weapons.

It may have been worm-like... but its face was an odd deformity. Three mouths on the lower half that could only form open and close in the pattern of an upside-down triangle. Two eyes, each side and then another six more spread across the sides of the creature, all at a regular spot where eyes would go. Its teeth were the most unique aspect that Zabulus could see; they were being used as wings, like that of some bugs or butterflies; whenever those mouth opened wide to let the worm glide and crash into someone... the teeth would spread out and help to push it further and faster, essentially.

On the other hand, Phernes' metallic fists covered themselves in a Blue-Red electrical energy. He looked at Zabulus as they both cleared the lesser threats as if telling him, 'We can handle this guy! Don't worry!' With a sly smile that could only belong to Phernes, or maybe Onofre.

Seeing how Zabulus merely grunted to this; Phernes smashed through the nearest hillside, breaking down the layers of solid rock and pushing past all the boulders until he found that beast and faced it head on.

"Ah-haaaaaa! NOW I SEE!!! THIS WAS THE REAL FIGHT I'D WAITED TWO DAYS FOR!!!" He was a man who couldn't go more than a day without battle, it had only been two days since the last invasion of Amalgamates, though it was of a much lesser scale than this. His impatience really took over, which is understandable to say the least, for a General.

With the punch being so strong, he hadn't stopped his momentum, using it to add an extra boost, a heavy and crushing blow as he covered his legs in the Blue energy and broke his leggings apart in order to sprout three fleshy curved blades from his kneecaps and shins.

He was now in an unstoppable charge.

Zabulus had to improvise and follow through with his own.

Grabbing one Amalgamates' neck and dislocating it's jaws and everything attached; then snapping it off. Aiming to use them as propellers just the same. Though they were considerably smaller, so it didn't help too much...

The way he turned them into propellers was simple enough; just harden your flesh to an extreme degree where they act like the wings on a jet.

Something like that.

Not to mention the way the shrapnels blew onto any Amalgamates nearby, leading to more collateral damage. It's the power of improvisation!

They crashed right into the worm creature that seemed to stand still and make no motions. The faces were probably unreadable as they seemed to just sit there...

Ostensibly, this worm was most likely one of the mightiest among this warring bunch of Amalgamates.

In this single instant, they hadn't used anything in this war against one another that would affect anyone other than themselves.

But this? This was the start.

This would not only begin their rivalry in this battle of bloodshed, but it'd also become the core foundation of their relationship towards another.

To them? These fights were like bonds forged in the heat of combat and the uncertainty of war.

There was no meaning in explaining and understanding it, simply because of the lack of focus; but their interest was slowly shifting to one another instead.

'How has a small bastard such as he learned to take hold of an Amalgamates' entire body?!' Phernes internally said with the sound of confusion as Zabulus grappled the worm-like Amalgamate very quickly.

"GUHH!" Zabulus exclaimed out loud and tossed the worm-Amalgamate upwards—right above the ground. Then, propelling himself with his legs to try the same technique of simply using his outstretched fists with the momentum as a boost and forcing them right into its torso.

But that didn't go so well as it simply changed its trajectory with its tooth wings and avoided getting directly hit.

This left an opportunity for the Amalgamate and allowed it to thrust its mouth parts outward like a leech or some sort, wrapping around his whole body and keeping him airborne; as he tried to kick his legs around.

"What?!" His confusion was filled as it was impossible to let loose from something such as this, no matter how tough his skin was or how many tentacles could grow to escape, none could grow so quickly, he was shocked! Shocked!! SHOOCKKKED!!!

Phernes' mind raced as he pondered on how he was to get Zabulus out of this situation, as his (Zabushi Spasm) technique would only end up hurting Zabulus in the end, and losing forces against the enemy at their strongest is simply not something he would allow to happen; his mind kept repeating, 'FUCK!', or variations thereof.

"YOU! GET IN HERE AND RIP OFF MY OPPONENT'S WINGS." Phernes gave out the order to one of his nearby soldiers.

The soldiers hesitated a little, as they were in a similar predicament to the other group; weak and barely able to take on minor Amalgamates that simply were not as developed as the strongest. Though what made them hesitate to take on this order...

Well, to start, you would think someone as mighty and powerful as Zabulus and Phernes would not have to depend on these men to assist and help them. Which was mostly the reason for the confusion, as not one among the group wished to act and just risk the risk of causing unneeded losses.

But, how could he refuse such an order in a vital situation of this level? He did not hesitate again nor wait for a second, running away was simply no longer an option now. He thought, 'Should I fear the greatest in the world who fights wars like the rest of us, and do they ever? In short, No.'

As the man in question leaped with great speeds and haste to save his ally in need, Zabulus could be heard murmuring some words to himself as it held its grip on him.

"I'll kill you... You taint the body of a god? A goddamned god that went through thirteen hells and back?" Zabulus' voices spoke and got louder and louder as his 'eyes' scanned for the slightest opening.

"Wh-"

And within seconds... Phernes' soldier fell straight down into the ground without a sound and dropped his weapon. It was as if gravity itself had given him a freefall, a plummet that his body experienced for only a split second as he reached the ground at breakneck speed.

He twitched as his body gave up on his limbs and laid limp, a tiny gap along the collarbone began to widen.

It was hard for anyone to see it with their naked eye in the middle of battle; and if someone would stop to ask and wonder what had happened... there would be no response from his end.

To say the least...

This was their first loss.