Zack didn't have any problems tracking Weiss. He wasn't hiding, and even from a distance tracking his energy was still like staring straight into the sun. Blindingly, breathtakingly strong.
He wasn't sure if the others really thought he was a good match, or if he was just the best they had on offer. Yeah, he'd gone up against each one of the big three in one-on-one matches. Yeah, he'd walked away from them. But that had never been wholly to his credit.
Genesis had been actively dying at the time.
Angeal had wanted to die, and completely controlled the fight to manipulate it so he would.
Sephiroth… Sephiroth had kicked his ass and left him to bleed out, actually. He hadn't even gotten back up after that one.
So he felt he could be allowed a little bit of nerves about this fight against someone with power right up there with that trio at their peak. He had some seriously insane enhancements now himself, plus whatever it was that the Goddess had done to him. But those were untried, and in the past he had been trained to believe that anything untested was not wholly reliable. It required a trust he wasn't sure he knew how to give fully.
In short, the only reason he was looking ahead to this fight and saying 'I will win this' was because he had to. No other outcome was acceptable, so he didn't entertain it.
He had to win. Too many people were counting on him to allow himself to fail. His power, his experience, and the Goddess' blessings, had to be enough. They just had to.
He and Kunsel split ways and Zack unspooled his magic from its tight confines, letting himself feel with his senses and making no attempt to hide himself. Part threat display, sure, but also trying to draw attention away from his partner, to allow Kunsel to sneak into the area where he could provide intel.
It was dangerous, but he couldn't bring himself to leave Kunsel behind. He was a weak spot, in the strictest sense. But he was also Zack's strength in ways that had nothing to do with traditional power. And he wasn't a pushover either.
As Zack drew closer to that too bright energy, he had a cold feeling in the pit of his stomach. That wasn't the anticipation, though. That was knowing where he was.
He was at the church.
Of course he was.
He couldn't possibly know it was a location dear to Zack's heart, but it was a big, old structure that had had meaning once and still did to a lot of people. Maybe he thought it would be a nice place to start his path of destruction.
Not that Zack intended to give him that chance.
"WEISS!" No stealth, not even the vaguest pretense. He flung the big wood doors open and narrowed his eyes at seeing Weiss reclining in the middle of Aerith's flowers. He took a slow, steadying breath, and pulled the Buster Sword off his back, striding forward and stopping half way up the aisle between the two sets of pews. "This is really where you want to do this."
"Assuming there's a body when I'm done, I'd thought you'd like to be buried in a church?" Weiss said mildly, an innocent smile on his lips and a silent taunting in his gaze. "Isn't that how things are done here? You'll have to forgive me, this is new."
"There's nothing to forgive yet," Zack said, adjusting his grip on the Buster. "There doesn't have to be. Your friends have already been taken out by mine, Weiss. This isn't going to end any differently, if you insist on fighting me. But it doesn't have to be this way."
"…I can't tell if you really think you're being merciful or if you're just hoping I'm stupid enough to think you are when all you are is scared," Weiss said, stretching and getting to his feet. "I suppose it doesn't matter. You're the one that came here to die, General. I eagerly await taking your place."
Zack had no chance to respond. Weiss came at him almost faster than he could process, and it was sheer instinct driven by years of training that had him whipping the Buster Sword in front of him in time to block the testing strike. It jarred his arms with the force, bumping the sword back towards him slightly as he adjusted, but he didn't actually move.
Complicated emotions flit through Weiss' eyes. Curiosity. Interest. Grudging respect. Determination. And an absolutely feral glee that set Zack's nerves on edge.
Zack braced himself and gave a shove. Weiss, too, barely moved save for a narrowing of his eyes. For a moment, their blades were locked, mako bright gazes fixed, and getting nowhere.
Weiss made a leap for the rafters and Zack was right behind him, running along a thick wooden beam and going airborne when it was cut out from under him. Gravity took hold of the beam, bringing it down slowly, and it was slow enough for him to push off of it like a launching pad to go after Weiss.
They raced through the rafters, Weiss only pausing a time or two to fire his gunblade in an attempt to throw Zack off. Zack, of course, was not carrying a firearm.
What he did have was materia, and more energy than he knew what to do with. The next time Weiss turned to fire at him, he was faced with a storm of ice shards like a hundred little knives all coming straight for him. There was no way to avoid all of them from his position. He didn't even try. On the contrary, he charged back at Zack through the attack, red blossoming in dozens of tiny cuts on bare skin as the shards sliced into him.
Weiss either didn't feel it or didn't care, apparently intent on either slamming Zack off the wooden beam or even taking them both down. Instead, he ended up having to jump again when Zack refused to make it that easy, lashing out with a horizontal swipe of his blade.
The Buster had some serious reach even beyond Zack's own not-insignificant arm length, keeping Weiss several feet away when he had to change trajectory lest he be cleaved in half. Reckless he may have been, but he apparently wasn't suicidal.
Good to know.
Weiss had jumped high, out of reach as he dangled a moment from the angled beams that held up the roof, fingers dug into the wood as if it were wet clay.
And then he dropped, at such an angle that Zack had to duck and roll forward to get some space between them to counter or take the real risk of overbalancing trying to keep Weiss from landing on him and taking them both down with his momentum.
It was almost like cat and mouse, going back and forth like this, but it was more like two hissing, spitting cats circling each other and swiping but only landing the barest hits. No one was making any real progress. They were a solid match for each other; Weiss was a little faster, but Zack was strong enough to match him head on with strength, if only just. A traditional swordfight was not going to decide this battle, neither had enough advantage and neither were stupid enough to waste energy pushing against each other hoping for a lucky break.
Their ranged attacks were harder to assess. Weiss had his gunblades, both of which fired at a rapid rate. Zack, on the other hand, had learned to cast spells with overlapping periods of effect that had a similar effect. Those were making progress, but achingly slowly.
It was going to come down to stamina, at this rate. That, or whoever was more willing to take a risk that either pay off or put them at enough disadvantage that the other was able to take advantage. Zack could see the frustration in Weiss' eyes as attack after attack failed to have the impact he must have been used to. Frustration Zack was feeling, too.
Weiss left the rafters, landing with the same unnatural lightness Sephiroth and Genesis so often had. He was ridiculously strong, Zack had to admit. Against any other single opponent this fight would have been over already, he'd have bulldozed them without ever having to rely on that impressive finesse.
He wasn't against 'any other' opponent, though, he was against Zack, who had been tempered against opponents who had outstripped him by insane levels and then been rapidly enhanced to the hope of matching them. And maybe he would, maybe he wouldn't.
Against Weiss, though, he'd made an even match. As it was, they were at a stalemate.
It was time to get creative.
As if summoned, his earpiece came to life, Kunsel's voice quiet and reassuring in his ear. "Alright, I've been assessing this fight and Weiss' combat style. He's been forcing you to fight his way, babe. You're reacting more than you're pushing him to fight to your style."
"Got an idea?" Zack asked hopefully, just as quiet.
"Actually, yeah, I do."