Isabella sat in The Crucible; her body more exhausted than anything she experienced during her sniper training. It had been two months since she had received the mysterious orders to report to Temple Hall, and she was still trying to absorb the existence of magic and monsters. A voice rang out from across the room

"Breaks over," the instructor yelled.

Isabella stood up and made her way back to the training area. She had worked hard and gone through hell to get to this point. She may not have known the Templars had been helping her get here, but she wasn't about to let them think they made a mistake in choosing her.

"Ready to quit yet?" her instructor taunted.

Isabella smiled and quipped back, "Only if you're tired."

Cybella knew this routine all too well. She been through this time and again through her military training, and this was no different. Well, that wasn't entirely true. Gone were the days of push-ups and 20 mile marches. Nowadays, it was learning to control her anima and use it to effect against the things she would face out there.

Her training had started out in familiar territory. The first weeks were spent learning how to use anima to enhance the effects of ranged firearms. She focused primarily focused on using assault rifles, but also spent time working with pistols. She progressed quickly in this area, and after a couple weeks her instructor told it was time to move on to learning use her anima to use magic spells that could aid her in the field.

Isabella struggled learning to use magic spells. With ranged firearms she could focus on adding her anima to the bullets, but with magic, she had to give the anima shape on her own. Her first weeks were spend just trying form a basic spell. Her instructor took her through all forms of magic to see if anything seemed to come naturally to her. Finally, she managed to make some progress using elemental magic.

"This time you'll have 10 seconds to hit 25 targets," her instructor told her.

Isabella groaned to herself. She knew this meant she would have use a chain spell. She only recently started to control single target spells.

"Ready?" her instructor asked.

"Let's do this," Cybella said, readying herself for the first spell.

"And......GO!" her instructor called.

Cybella cast her spell at the first set of targets and concentrating as she made the lightning jump through all five. She immediately felt the effects of resuming her spell casting; her legs felt like lead, and was struggling to catch her breath, but she wasted no time moving onto the next set. She focused and cast the spell again. Another 5 for 5. Same for the third set. By this point Cybella was really pushing the limits of her power and the clock was running. She cast her spell at the fourth set, concentrating hard on each jump......5 for 5. One set to go.

"3" her instructor called out.

She turned to the last set of targets; she could barely lift her arms.

"2"

It was now or never; she began her cast.

"1"

The spell flew from her hand, and she focused with everything she had left.

"TIME!" her instructor called.

Cybella hunched over catching her breathe. She didn't even know if she had completed the exercise.

"Not bad, just managed to sneak in under the time," her instuctor said a hint of amusement in his voice.

Cybella stood up. She already knew, but she asked the question anyway. "So what's next?"

"30 targets, 12 seconds. Ready?" her instructor said bluntly.

Yep definitely the same shit, different organization.