The interior of the temple was made almost entirely out of wood with the exception of metal supports at several places and the center of the temple floor being made of colored stone to form a symbol. There was a gong at the far end of the room and high above was a dome-shaped ceiling with the center of it having some kind of trapdoor.
As Zack moved in towards the center to take a closer look, Sera heard a creaking sound and she looked up to see the door above shaking.
"Zack, get back!"
Sera's warning and the sight of dust falling to the ground were all Zack needed to move back quickly as the large door on the ceiling busted open, revealing two massive ogre like monsters as they fell to the ground before them, one wielding an axe and the other a cleaver.
"They must be the anti-SOLDIER monsters Angeal warned us about. Sera! You take down the one with the cleaver! I'll handle the one with the axe!"
Sera nodded and with that, the two SOLDIER members rushed in to attack. As Sera dodged the cleaver coming her way, she mumbled a few words under her breath and she stretched out her hand, an orange glow emitting from it.
Unlike other SOLDIER members who required materia to cast spells, Sera required none to use her magic. The first time she casted a spell without a materia orb she was astounded, along with several of Shinra's higher-ups and SOLDIERs who saw it. Angeal, Genesis, and Sephiroth being among them. Interest regarding her and her unique ability began to rise and the company began to search for information about her and her lineage. But nothing was found, not even she herself knew where she inherited this ability from as she had no memories of her past before Sephiroth had found her. It was then that they speculated that she could possibly be a Cetra, or known as Ancients, an ancient civilization which was said to be spiritually connected to the Planet, granting them supernatural abilities.
And it was due to this ability that she was recruited into SOLDIER, though the reason was kept hidden from all but those who did not already know for the purpose of keeping it away from the public. She was to only use it when she had no intention of letting her opponent live.
It was her trump card.
She swung her hand towards the monster as bursts of fire flew out, most of them hitting the monster head-on as it roared in pain, certain areas of its body covered in burns from the attack, but it did not look deterred, just angered.
"You're stronger than I thought," Sera smirked. "That's good. Makes things a little more interesting." She dashed forward to land several deep cuts on the creature with her sword, the monster roaring once more as it struggled to catch her but its massive size made it slow and easy for her to attack.
Once more, she began to mutter a certain set of words under her breath and snakes of water began to appear swirling around her sword, another set of different later and the water caged blade began to crackle with sparks of lightning.
Her grin was almost bloodthirsty. It was her favorite combination. "Let's see you handle this!"
Lunging forward, she swung her sword at the monster, her blade acting as a conduit as the spell combination hit the monster with deadly accuracy. Unable to handle the raw power of combination, the monster roared loudly as it was struck before it fell to the ground, defeated.
Letting out a huff at the now dead creature, Sera turned to observe Zack's battle in case he needed any assistance. But then Zack swung his sword once more and the monster wielding the axe fell, and she saw its body was littered with deep cuts with parts of it blue and covered in frost, indicating his frequent use of the Blizzard materia.
Sera was now quite impressed. The massive ogre he fought against was not just some low ranked monster. And he defeated it without any assistance. 'He might just make 1st after all.'
"You finished too?" Zack noted with a pout, "Aww and I was hoping to be able to come save you from the big bad monster." Sera raised an eyebrow at him incredulously and let out a scoff, rolling her eyes. "In your dreams."
"Or maybe in yours," Zack countered with a playful wink at her direction and she nearly groaned in exasperation. 'Oh great, he's a playboy as well.'
Then Zack's phone started to ring and he picked up the call. "SOLDIER's second class Zack and Sera, victorious once again!"
Angeal's voice spoke out from the speaker. "Good work. Now get out of there quickly. There are only 5 minutes until detonation."
"Understood!" "Understood."
Zack hung up the phone after that and looked around. "Director Lazard, are you watching?" he called out with a smile.
'Even if he is it's not like he can respond, idiot,' Sera commented in her mind and she shook her head before turning towards the door. "Let's move, we've only got 5 minutes and I'd rather not end up in an early grave because of your dawdling."
"Alright, alright. Sheesh, then why not just head off first if I'm so troublesome? Easier for you right?"
Sera stopped and looked back over her shoulder, ignoring the light jab in her chest, "I do not leave a comrade a behind, no matter what people think of me and no matter what I think of them in return, even if said comrade is being a giant pain right now."
She has no idea how this guy found her words to be a compliment because he grinned a moment later and jogged up towards her and they both continued to run towards the door. "Hehe, you're not so bad after all, Sera! We should totally hang out after this mission. What d'ya say?"
'How on Gaia did my words lead to that?' Sera did not say anything to his invitation and just continued to run, Zack keeping up next to her as they ran towards the entrance.
Before they could reach though, they suddenly looked up and lunged forward, just barely dodging as a third ogre monster crashed down at where they were at earlier. The both of them got up from where they landed on the ground and Zack growled, glaring at the creature.
"No time to play!" He proclaimed and they both drew their swords as they rushed forward to attack, splitting up to dodge the mace swung at them. This one was surprisingly stronger. Stronger and faster than the two before it.
But Sera and Zack were both ready and as though they choreographed their movements before the battle, they lunged at the creature and it went down after a series of attacks, ending the fight as soon as it began and the both of them landed in front of the downed monster.
"Heh, piece of cake! We'd make a great team don't you think?" Zack grinned at her and she could not help but give him a small smirk, finding it to be true. His cheery outlook on everything was beginning to grow on her and she could now see why Angeal took him on as his student.
She suddenly caught movement from beneath and she cried out, shoving Zack away. "Move!"
She found herself taking the brunt of the surprise attack as the monster abruptly stood up and swung its fist at her, sending her flying and crashing into one of the pillars, her head banging harshly against it and her grip on her sword loosened, sending it away from her.
"Sera!" Zack cried out as she slid to the ground and he ran at the monster next only to be struck aside by its weapon and crashed to the wall as well, banging his head harshly against it. Zack stumbled to the ground, trying to get up but the pain in his head made him disoriented and he ended up being cornered by the wall, raising his sword up as the monster moved towards him.
"Not good..." he grunted out weakly as the monster moved to attack, only to pause when a shower of fire rained down on its back causing it to roar in surprise and pain and it turned around to see Sera standing by the pillar, one hand on the pillar supporting her weakly with the other stretched out and glowing dimly.
"The one you want... is me..." Sera grunted out as she glared at the monster, even though she knew she would not make it out alive if it were to come and attack her as she was still disoriented from the crash and her sword was out of reach. Her magic was too low to cast another combat spell and her bullets were no good against its thick hide, but she needed to divert its attention away from Zack.
Just as she had hoped, the monster turned its body fully towards her away from Zack as it moved towards her and she prepared herself, casting a low-level shield around her with what magic she had left. 'Well, it was good while it lasted.'
Zack's eyes widened as it turned to trudge over to Sera instead and struggled to get up. "C'mon, Zack, get up and move!" he tried to motivate himself. He couldn't let this happen. This wouldn't have happened if he wasn't so careless. He had to get to her. They were just starting to become friends! They were gonna hang out after this mission was over! He had to-
Another figure fell from the ceiling, but it was a small one and it was human.
It was Angeal.
He saw him took down the monster and sighed in relief.
"That's one more you owe me, Zack and one from you as well Sera," Angeal grinned at them.
"No shit," Sera muttered lowly. Zack shook his head, trying to clear the disorientation and Angeal moved towards Sera who was still leaning against the pillar. "Can you stand?" Angeal asked, concerned.
"Just about," Sera felt the familiar and comforting sensation of the cure spell cast on her and she looked to see Angeal standing over her with his hand stretched out and glowing green. She sighed in relief when the pain dissipated and she found herself able to stand up straight once more, and she thanked Angeal softly. He nodded and without warning he reached down to ruffle her blue hair.
"Cut that out, Angeal," Sera swatted his hand away, lightly glaring at him as she combed back her tresses. "You know I hate it when you do that."
"Ah, but that's why I do it. Just so I could piss you off," Angeal smirked at her and she just shook her head, a small smile on her face.
"Jerk," Angeal merely chuckled at the good-natured jab before walking over to Zack who was still on the ground. "You lost your focus, Zack. If Sera hadn't diverted the attention you would have been dead by now."
"Uh, yeah?" Zack tried to play dumb but at the unamused look on his mentor's face he just sighed and nodded, looking away in shame. Angeal turned to look at the downed creature and it was then that Zack saw that he was holding onto his Buster Sword.
"Oh. sorry if your sword got any wear, tear, or rust on it." Zack stated, still continued to sit on the floor, his head still in pain from the impact. Sera came over, having taken back her sword to crouch over him and casted a cure spell. Zack grinned at her in thanks and Sera just nodded, her attention on casting the spell.
"You're a little more important than my sword," Angeal turned to the two as he strapped back his sword. He put a small space between his fingers as a measurement. "But just a little."
"Nice to know we mean that much to you," Sera responded dryly as she stood up, having finished casting the spell and Angeal chuckled before he reached a hand out to Zack. The two men smiled at each other.
Zack took his hand, "Thanks!"
