Chapter 9: WEAK MADE ANEW.

Meanwhile, Yegor was retrieved by his boss, who was also above Mandy. Yegor expressed in disappointment, "I would've had it if you wouldn't have..." Before he could finish his sentence, The boss of the Solar Pyramids shouted in a loud and outraged voice, "YOU WOULD'VE FAILED ME MISERABLY!" The boss walked away from the room in total fury. Mandy looked over at Yegor and explained, "Hey listen big guy, I don't know if I can get you out of this one. Not this time, unfortunately." He stood up to sit next to her, he then said to her, "I wonder why it is this boss of ours refuses to tell us his name, I just don't get it." Then partially hidden within the shadows was a voice deep and mysterious, it then insulted Yegor, "How pathetic, you, a committed long-term servant, lost to a weak little kid. You are one of the biggest failures I've ever met." The voice then stepped out from the darkness and revealed itself to be Chris Deratea. Yegor then got up from the table and screamed, "I DON'T NEED YOUR INFORMATION!" Mandy then said, "I'll have to side with my long-term partner on this, new kid. You need to keep your mouth where it belongs." Chris was stubborn and kept speaking insults, asking her, "How can you side with a man who just got his butt kicked by a worthless and pathetic small fry? You're just as stupid as he is."

 Mandy then launched her kunai knife straight for Chris's head, only for it to be caught mid-throw by him. He harshly stated, "You're really trying to strike me down with these toys of yours? Anyway, you could throw better than that." She aggressively charged forward and attempted to slash his chest, except he was too fast for her to focus, Chris slipped behind her and kicked her aside the head which knocked her down defenseless. The boss of the Solar Pyramid stepped in and interrupted their fight, saying to them, "Honestly, it's like taking care of babies. That's beside the point, I am highly disappointed with you Yegor, as well as for you Mandy, for failing to kill your target. Yegor, I expect much from you, a man who can kill Goblins without a sweat, Wiled Groks, and you lose to a small kid, a weakling. I have lost all respect for you. Mandy, I have boosted your abilities tremendously, and it's still not enough for you to take him out? I am only giving you one more chance Yegor, reclaim your place as a killing machine. As for you, Mandy, do not fail me again, or else." The boss then walked out of the room unseen by the three. She became confident of reclaiming her place as a Tier S. She formed aggression and said to Chris, "You listen here, I'll prove to you that I haven't lost my touch at all. I'll assassinate the leader of the cyclops, and I'll bring his head here before the boss. Just you wait and see, you and your ego will be terrified of me." Dont let the door hit you on the way out, Chris says arrogantly. She then left the base and headed out toward the land of the cyclops, she traversed throughout the lands unseen. Later that day, she arrived near the land of the cyclops, she climbed the mountain that looked down on all of them. 

All the cyclops were slumbering peacefully, until she shouted to the top of her lungs, "HEY! ALL OF YOU SLEEPING! WAKE UP!" The smallest ones woke first, then the tall, then the giga cyclops awoke. The one closest to the leader shouted, "Who are you and what do you want with us?" Mandy confidently stated to all the cyclops around, "I'm going to kill all of you big boys here, and then I will take the head of your leader. Either you move aside and take me to him, or all of you die here today." All of them then burst with laughter at her statement and took it lightly. She then jumped off and slid down the mountain and jumped into action like a daredevil. She showed no regrets for initiating this battle and embraced her inner wiled side. First, She slashed through all the smaller grunts first, then she attached her tongue to the taller brutes and swirled past all of them evading their onslaught, slashing their napes quickly and flawlessly. The brutes began attacking, but only were killed instantly due to her incredible movement. Most of the brutes swung their giant bats down on her, but she slipped under every one of them and sliced them dead. As all of this was happening, one of the small grunts escaped to the cave where the leader was to alert him saying, "INTRUDER! INTRUDER! Dominito, Wake up! Wake Up!" Dominito then awoke with fury in his eye and charged out of his domain, and with a loud roar, he shouted, "WHO DARES TRESPASSES ON OUR TERRITORY!?" Mandy then looks up and says in a playful voice, "That would be Me, Big Guy." 

Dominito then looked down, charging his Gatlin Bat and slammed down to the earth in desperation to kill Mandy for her unjust crime. She jumped high up close to his giant's face, preparing to attack when suddenly, the Cyclops leader smacks her with his giant Gatlin bat, sending her flying into a mountain. She was weakened by the loss of blood, and as she bled out, the cyclops charged forward to finish her off. When he arrived, he struck the mountain three times, ensuring that she was eradicated entirely, with nothing left of her. Dominito then pulled away from the mountain and stepped back, he had believed that the job was done, he began walking away from the mountain to resume his slumber that was interrupted. That is until, Mandy appeared out of the smoke and slashed the nape of Dominito, she had slain her target unpredictably, and divided its head from the body to tie up to a large chain. All the remaining grunts and brutes watched as she walked away with the head of the leader attached to a dark malice chain. They all cowered away in fear as they abandoned their homes and relocated. As the day ended, she returned home with the head of the leader as she promised to bring back, Mandy then shouted, "Look whose back Mr. I can do everything so perfectly, I bought you an early Christmas gift, hope you like it. 

Now what do you have to say next?" He replies, "Well at least you didn't end up like big guy over there, he's been pouting about his big failure since you had been gone." Yegor didn't have any response to his statement, he then began thinking to himself as Chris rambled on, "(I'm going to kill this new kid once we accomplish our mission, I will not be talked on by a kid like this.)" Mandy then went to sit over by Yegor. He was almost like a big brother to her, since these two have been working together for a long time now. She got her kunai knife from him during one of their raids about three years ago, and she treasured it forever. Yegor was never into Japanese weapons and saw no use for them, so he gave all of his weapons to her as a gift; the two developed a close friendship together and have always sacrificed for each other. After she got comfortably seated next to him, she spoke to him, "Come on, don't let this idiot talk down on you anymore. You're ten times better than him, and you shouldn't let his words keep you down. Reclaim your throne as a class S, be the beast you are and stop all this pouting big guy." He only felt more rage and hatred for Chris due to his stubbornness, he was continuously saying in his head, "(Kill, Kill, Kill, Kill, Kill!)"

 Away from the Solar Pyramid hideout, our hero Taski decided to go over to Ariah's house near the suburban section of the capital which is called Lightspring, he approached nervously at the doorbell of her house, hesitant to ring her doorbell. He built the courage then and rang the bell once, hoping she would answer. Ariah heard the doorbell and rushed towards the door in curiosity of who was at the door. She opened the door and was introduced to him. She asked with surprise, "Hey Taski. What brings you here to my house?" He replies in great salutation, I remembered what you said to me after we completed our month of training, that you would like to learn how to forge a weapon. I came here to propose to you a chance to learn this method. Would you still be interested?" Ariah had just woken up from a short nap, so she was still waking up. She responded to him, "I do remember saying this to you, and I'm willing to still learn this, but I really need to wake up first. If you'll give an hour I'll be ready, if you need to you can stay here at my place for a little if you'd like." She allowed him to enter her house, and He observed the neatness and how organized it was, checking out her living room, her kitchen, and her dining table. She went to clean herself quickly, after this she applied her best perfume to freshen up, she then brushed her teeth to have great breath. After she did these things, she offered him a breakfast plate; however, he insisted on breakfast. Thirty minutes later, the two arrived at Mableflower Lake, to begin with the weapon forging. The two sat down, and he instructed her, "Make sure you're comfortable first before we start, this takes complete concentration to do. Don't worry, this won't take too long to do." Ariah then sat down on her knees to prepare, she then said to him, "Alright, I believe I'm ready." He then instructed her saying, "Alright, first, you need to clear your mind of all the thoughts that causes worry and doubts.

 Any kind of worry can disturb the action, so make sure you clear your head before we start it." Ariah hadn't had any fears of any kind nor did she have any troublesome thoughts, she cleared her mind of everything and was calm about her emotions. He then commanded, "Now that your mind is cleared. Second, focus all of your ability force into yourself, once you do this, you'll need to steady it still inside." She began pulling in all her ability force within herself, she felt her body begin to feel slightly numb. As the ability force is pulled into her, it begins to weaken her as more and more is pulled in. It almost felt like boulders were on her back and only grew bigger and bigger, it began to even hurt her. She then asked with exhaustion, "Am I supposed to feel this feeling of extreme n...numbness? My arms are starting to shake, and I'm developing a strong headache." He replied quickly, "That's supposed to happen since you're essentially sucking all of your ability force into your body, It's meant to feel like this since your force is mostly outside your body all the time, and your body isn't used to this kind of force being sucked inside." She began to struggle to keep all of it steady, she lost a grip on it and all her force exited her body instantly. A massive gust of wind flew past her, her hands fell to the ground as she was panting and was weakened, her chest felt sore, and her head felt as if it was about to flare up in flames.

 He then reassured her, "It's okay, this takes some time to perfect, but it also strengthens you tremendously. Although you will feel sore everywhere on your body for a few hours, it shouldn't last but for four hours at the most." She then looked up at him and said," I feel so sorry that you had to even feel this way when you had to go through this, It must've been hell for you to endure, huh?" He replied to her saying, "I indeed had the same feelings as well when I started this, It wasn't fun, I'll tell you that." In a polite voice, she spoke sweetness to him, "You really seem like a true sweetheart and a real caring man to use your time to help me. You have sacrificed so much to help me grow in my strength." She then fell down at his chest, weakened, and Taski felt nervous when this happened and wrapped his arms around her waist. She apologized to him, "I'm sorry if this makes you uncomfortable, it's just the numbness that hurts so badly." He reassures her saying, "It's no worries, I understand entirely what you're feeling. Take some time to rest for the day, I'll escort you home." She then asked him in an innocent voice, "You would really do that for me?" "Of course, I would." He kindly replies. Taski helped her up and carried her through the lake fields and helped her across the streets. Once they arrived at Lightspring suburban, he escorted her to her room and assisted with any needs around her house, once everything was done, he left her to herself for the rest of the day.

 After he left, he went into the marketplaces to search for some food he desired. That is until he bumped into Mikado at the Rushers Food Palace, she jogged over towards him in joy and asked, "Well hello my darling, what is it that brings you here? Oh wait, it's probably me, isn't it?" Taski laughed and said, "Oh yes, I came here to see my favorite, Haha." Mikado then walked with him through the store grabbing groceries along with him, she became curious and asked him, "What have you been doing all day?" "Oh nothing, I helped Ariah out with some training earlier, and now I'm here with you." He replied. She felt jealous over this, she felt the urge to ask a couple of personal questions about him and her, she asked, "I'd like to know, how is your relationship going with her? If you don't mind me asking." He felt slightly unsure as to answer this question, so he replied simply with, "Well me and her are just friends as of right now, but we both are pretty good so far. She's very sweet, kind, and understanding." She then asked, "Well dear, I'm curious, but I've noticed that you are around her so many times. Do you maybe have some feelings for her?" He felt nervous about answering her question and responded, "Well, I mean I... I... really don't know. I and her have only been friends for a few weeks, so I would say that I really can't answer currently." 

She then backed away from the topic and politely responded, "Well dear, I'm glad you met a new friend, and I'm happy to be here with you. Are you still going to the festival tonight?" "Of course, I'll be there at six thirty. I'll be there helping dad with a few things. I can't wait to see you there tonight." He replied strongly and joyfully. She felt glee hearing his words, and said to him, "Well sweetie, I can't wait to see you there too. I'm about to head out. I'll see you there love." As she walked out, she blew some kisses at him. He caught them in a friendly and playful mood, he then headed back towards the castle and helped Diarmuid set up important decorations; all throughout the day they spent time making sure the castle was looking top-notch. After the preparations were complete, he cleaned himself and dressed up in his special formal clothing. After he was finished, he made his way outside toward the main gate and waited as the people arrived. He welcomed many of them inside the gates, there were a total of 1,423 people there, and it was only the first hour of the festival. He then wondered to himself, "I wonder if Ariah will show up tonight, if so, I'm going to shoot my shot with her?"