Zack trusted Kunsel. He trusted Kunsel with his life, no hesitation. Maybe not his dignity, but right now that didn't matter. What mattered was working together with him while he was fighting Weiss, because he needed any advantage he could get.

He wasn't sure where Kunsel was, but he was somewhere he could see what was going on, which meant he had to be close. It would have been nice to know where he was, to avoid getting too close and Weiss noticing, but then, if Weiss had realized he was avoiding somewhere… that was a spotlight in itself.

Kunsel was the only one who had the full picture right then. He understood the risks. Zack would trust him to be smart about this as he guided him. If he said 'push the assault' Zack would push the assault.

The change in Zack taking the offensive instead of letting Weiss set the pace threw him off just a little. Zack even got a nice, solid hit in on his bicep, little that he showed any reaction to it. Given time, though, the pain and bleeding would take effect. He hoped to be done before then, but that remained to be seen because the battle dragged on as they matched each other blow for blow.

One hit after another, neither giving quarter. For every step one was driven back, there was a lunge forward. Was this going to come down to stamina? Could they afford to find out who had the most stamina? Zack didn't want to test it, and yet he wasn't sure he had a choice unless -

"Back up back up back up - disengage NOW," Kunsel ordered as he and Weiss locked blades yet again on the floor, engaged in a shoving match that was going nowhere just in front of the doors.

Zack didn't stop to question. He stomped hard on the end of one of the pews to pitch it upright, immediately distracting Weiss and giving him a moment to tear himself away.

Lightning roared through the doorway, a full on Thundaga that nearly blinded Zack as it sizzled by so close he could feel the heat. He hit the floor just as it hit the pew he'd upended and shards of wood went everywhere.

The silence after, punctuated by chunks of wood thunking to the ground, was quickly interrupted by the crash of several massive chunks of ice, broader than Weiss' shoulders, forcing him to move even further away - two sources, Zack's mind supplied. Two sources on his side.

"Benji says hello," Drew called, kicking the door open.

"Hope you don't mind us dropping in," Nikolas said, and he sounded like he had to be somewhere overhead, though a quick glance wasn't so obvious.

First thought: Drew was making himself the target.

Second thought: Drew was distracting Weiss and it was working.

Zack didn't pause for any longer than it took to get his breath back. He upended another pew, grabbed it, and hurled it across the aisle at Weiss. Drew blew that one up as well, and they were rewarded with a snarl of outrage from Weiss as his bare skin took a beating.

"Is this a game to you?" Weiss said, grunting as Zack crashed into him with several brutal strikes, driving him back several paces before he finally held his ground again.

"Only when I'm winning," Zack taunted, all too aware that he was nowhere near winning yet just because the moment was in his favor.

There was a tingle of magic, a faint shadow that fell over Weiss, and Zack lunged back in time for a massive cone of ice to insert itself between them. It was there for mere seconds before Weiss struck it with such force that it shattered. Heedless of the shards, he charged after Zack with a war cry.

"You think you're winning?" Weiss asked, eyes bright and fierce. "You think you can possibly win, you tender hearted fool? You think just because you can swing a big blade you can keep up with me?"

"Seems like I've been doing exactly that," Zack retorted, bracing his blade with both hands as Weiss bore down with breathtaking strength, too close to Zack for either of the others to be willing to risk magic and hopefully they were smart enough not to engage him blade to blade.

Weiss shoved, digging up yet more strength from his seemingly endless reserves, and lowered his voice. "Let's see how you do without a little bird in your ear and your magic slinging friends, shall we?"

Zack tensed, but made himself keep his eyes on Weiss. Truth or bluff, it didn't matter; he had to do his part and trust them to defend themselves. "Why, you jealous?"

"Not at all. But I do prefer an even playing field." Weiss' smile was a terrible thing full of teeth and malice as he gave one last shove and jumped back, sweeping his blades out to the side. "And my dear brother hasn't gotten to play yet."

Zack's stomach dropped as he felt that cold nothingness once more, a chill racing through his body to settle in a heavy lump in his stomach as he looked aside just in time to watch an explosion of blackness roll through the doors, like smoke so thick you could reach out and grab it.

It swallowed Drew whole. He didn't even have time to scream, sharing a brief, horrified look with Zack before he was gone.

The church suddenly darkened as the windows all on one side blackened out and the smoke poured through the hole he'd left in the ceiling. This time, there were thick reaching tendrils of violet energy with a black core and they raced like lightning, curling around the beams and spreading out out out -

Nikolas never had a chance to escape. He tried - he jumped - and they caught him midair, around his arms and legs and neck, threatening to choke him before it ever pulled him back into the void.

"No…" Zack whispered.

And then he felt a bone deep chill, so deep it hurt, phantom tendrils tight around his wrists and neck and he knew even before he heard the choked "Iloveyou-" rasped through his earpiece like the single most horrific goodbye he'd ever heard that it wasn't his own pain he was feeling.

"KUNSEL!"

Weiss had the gall to laugh at him. "So this is the power of SOLDIER?"

Everything was getting a little blurry and hazy and Zack wasn't sure if it was the unshed tears and heavy breathing or the blue light that was beginning to fill his sight as his spiraling emotions sent him hurtling from 'might hit first tier' to 'I am about to be consumed by a fourth tier limit.'

Zack rarely experienced true limit breaks. Even when he had the power built up, he had to consciously shape it into form, more often than not echoing his friends' limits because it was just easier than trying to control his own.

Or maybe, he thought numbly, he'd just been afraid to really give in to the fire he could feel inside threatening to burn him alive if he didn't let the power out now, in whatever raw form it was ready to manifest in. It felt like it would burn him up even if he did, building and building until it chased away that awful cold to the back of his mind and his only thought was that was okay, as long as he took Weiss with him.

Through the brilliant light, he caught a glimpse of Weiss, and wondered what he looked like to earn the shock widening his eyes.

It didn't matter.

Zack took a deep breath and let it out in a raw, throat scraping scream of fury, well beyond trying to articulate his racing thoughts. Blood pounded in his ears, drowning everything else out as his vision whited out. Somewhere, he could hear animal howling.

When he came back to himself, he was strangling a bloodied, wide-eyed Weiss. They were in the rafters and he had a hand around Weiss' throat, holding him against the wall like a ragdoll. There were scratches all up his arm where Weiss had no doubt tried to break free, with apparently no success. He couldn't feel them.

He couldn't feel anything.

Zack took a sobbing breath and bared his teeth at Weiss. "This is the power of SOLDIER."

Weiss coughed, blood speckling his lips, and let his arms drop, head falling back against the wood with a thunk.

For a long moment, Zack stared at him, then threw his limp body over the edge of the rafter's to the ground, green eyes sliding to the seething blackness against the windows. Kunsel…

He flexed his hand around his blade, and stalked towards the nearest window. "Come and get me, you bastard."

The blackness rippled and poured in once more. It did not claim him immediately, however.

Instead, he was body slammed off the rafters, and the last thing he saw was blazing red eyes, wild with fury, as Nero materialized out of the blackness and sent him hurtling through the air.

He felt his head crack against something hard. Then nothing.