The rest of the morning did not drag on, but passed quite quickly. According to Place, at least.
Now he was on a training field, preparing to have a friendly spar with Malia, with Emilia and Agne watching from a little distance away.
"She seems strong." Agne softly muttered as he looked at Malia, who was currently stretching, and was wearing some battle-gear.
"She should be, Place wouldn't have chosen her if she wasn't an expert combatant." Emilia replied. "She should be much better then us, if he trusts her that much."
"Which just makes it even stranger that we haven't heard about her. What do you think?"
"Definitely from some hidden family or order."
"But then how did Place meet her? They seem good friends, and that takes time."
"Not necessarily."
Agne opened his mouth to question that statement, but he was distracted.
"What is that?" He asked as Place brought out his meteor hammer.
"No idea."
"What is that?" This time, it was Malia who was asking.
"A meteor hammer." Place answered, giving it a few spins. "It is a finesse weapon, and I need some experience with it."
"That rope seems like a big weak point."
"This is quite a special one, don't worry about that."
"Alright then."
Malia drew her sword and took a defense-focused stance.
"Let's begin." She said, and her eyes started to glow, showing that her magic was flowing.
"Be careful." Was all that Place said as he started to advance step by step.
Malia stood steady as Place advanced, switching her gaze from the weight to his hands.
Place swung his meteor hammer slowly as he stepped closer, then with a sudden jerk, his meteor hammer was launched forward.
Malia immediately read the trajectory of the weight flying towards her, and instinctively moved to counter.
The moment the weight struck the blade, she felt something wrong.
Place had already pulled it back, and she had moved forward to take advantage of an opening that didn't exist.
The weight flew a vertical semi-circle behind Place and swung back down towards her.
She hurriedly brought up her hands to avoid being hit in the face.
The weight struck her gloved hands with a meaty thud, making her wince slightly.
Place had already retreated two steps backwards.
"You alright?" He asked, slightly surprised at the damage, he had only put a bit of force behind that swing.
'More effective then I expected.' He noted it down.
"That hits hard." Malia wiggled her fingers, assessing.
"It won't hit me again." She stated and took a stance again.
The glow in her eyes intensified, then green wisps of energy started flowing out of them.
"Taking this quite serious, aren't you?" Place let out a remark, noticing that she had increased the reinforcement.
"Alright, harder swings it is." He lowered his stance.
The probing was over, Malia would be more aggressive now.
"Seems quite effective." Agne remarked as he and Emilia watched the spar continue from the side.
"It's only because they're not using magic, a simple cutting spell would destroy Place's weapon." Emilia said as Place swung to attack.
"Something tells me that it's not that simple."
"Obviously, Place would never something with such a great weak point. There must be some kind of enchantment on it."
"Can you feel it?"
"No, I'll need to get within an arms distance to do that."
"That subtle of an enchantment? Sounds unlikely."
"Could be made of some special material, enchantments aren't the only ways to improve things."
Place managed to hit Malia in the side, but she ignored the hit and lunged towards Place.
Place stepped back as he flicked his left hand, and an instant later, something hit Malia's face.
Smoke exploded in her face, throwing her off balance as it irritated her eyes and lungs.
She thrust forward, but her sword didn't hit anything.
She hacked and coughed as she inhaled the smoke, trying to keep her eyes open to see her opponent.
She made to retreat, but a sharp point touched her neck, and she froze.
The point was removed, and a hand tugged her out of the smoke.
She coughed a little bit as she came out of the smoke.
"Cough, cough, What was that?" She asked, blinking her teary eyes as they burned.
"Smoke bomb, useful for distracting, disorienting, hiding, and escaping." Place explained as Emilia offered her a bottle of water.
She took it and took a sip. "Where did it come from?"
"I was holding it in my hand from the start, just in case."
She coughed again. "Seems quite effective."
"I doubt it will affect you again."
"No it won't."
"Thought so, anyway, thanks for going easy on me."
"Don't get used to it."
"I won't."
Emilia was handed her bottle back.
"Want to go again?"
"Sure."