"Pinky? Who the heck is Pinky? I know you aren’t calling me that," the young girl, probably around 13-15, snarkily spat as she took a step closer to me and shook her fist in aggravation.
"I mean, what else am I gonna call you? I may recognize your Logo, but that’s about it. I’ve never been good with names, so I basically give everyone a nickname instead; thus, you, Miss Healer, are Pinky." It was total bullshit on my part, I knew who she was, and the fact that I mentioned she was a healer was proof enough.
A-Class Healer Piniki, given her name was Somoan, it was safe to assume she was from the western islands of the United States. Also, the reason I had called her Pinky was that I knew it would annoy her.
As one of the top American healers in the USAHA, Piniki was relatively well known; if not for her bright-ass pink outfits, then it was for her fiery temper, instilling her heritage further in my mind.
"Gotta say, you really did a number on this guy, but you are needed elsewhere. I’ll take it from here, and you head toward the Gym; a Particle Grenade caused that loud boom. Although those in the immediate vicinity are dust in the wind, there should still be plenty of work for a healer of your caliber." Standing up, I gave Harvy a swift yet heavy backhanded strike to the face with my Eskrima, ensuring he was out cold before turning to face Piniki again.
However, this time, my face was deadly serious, causing the girl, who had been fairly casual, to straighten up in a heartbeat.
"We are dealing with Partaevian; spread that among the other heroes and even villains if you run into any; it’s all hands on deck, just like back then. I am on comms with Marek of Vesaragon right now, and hes in combat with a squad from the group, so if you run into him, lend a hand and continue spreading the word."
"Partaevian…that’s impossible, we ended those crazy cultists…how can they possibly be ba…" Piniki’s words trailed off as her eyes locked onto an object I was holding in my hand.
Well, I say object, but I had actually grabbed Harvy’s arm, rolled up his sleeve, and revealed the obsidian jewelry.
"He’s a right bicep, one step below necklace…still don’t believe me? Then how do you explain his fighting abilities, for him to stand toe to toe with a…" Pausing, I scanned Piniki from top to bottom before continuing.
"Mid-Alpha-Ranker, that should be far beyond what a normal Non-Ranker can handle, yet he was squaring up with you; even if you were on the winning side, his stamina far outweighed yours."
"This is bad…" She muttered when faced with the facts I was presenting, that is, until I released Harvy and clapped my hands loudly, drawing her attention.
"Chop chop, hero girl, every second you waste is another person dead. I have no idea how many other heroes or even villains or others are running about, but the normies are in danger with every second that passes. Get your head together and be useful where you are needed."
"But…we can’t show our Talents….what if Ar…"
The 𝘮ost uptodat𝑒 novels are pub𝙡ished on freeweɓnovēl.coɱ.
"Fuck that; over a hundred Cultists are running around, and who knows how many bastards with Homunculus Bracelets, aka normies, turned Pseudo-Rankers? This isn’t the time to be worried about whether or not we can use our powers."
In a flash, I appeared in front of the girl, caught her by the collar of her hero suit, and then lifted her off the ground.
"If this is how low the Heroes of the USAHA have fallen after being given a second chance, it’s no wonder Partaevian was able to sink their disgusting hooks into our ranks with such ease, unnoticed."
"How do I know I can even trust you," either because I had caught her off guard or was very CLEARLY stronger than her, who was known as a Combat Healer; Piniki didn’t struggle and instead hung in the air like dead weight.
"Simple, this isn’t my first rodeo; considering my rank on the Progression Boards, my results should be more than enough reason for anyone here to follow my lead…after all, I am in First Place," I said with a smirk before releasing the girl back onto her feet with a dazed expression.
"You…you’re Nexus?" She asked with a strange hint of something, maybe awe or infatuation; I didn’t care enough to decipher it, so instead, I used my thumb to point at the Logo on my chest.
"Dat’s me, anyway; get a move on, girl. I’m faster solo, and you got normies to heal shoo shoo." Catching Piniki by the shoulders, I spun her around and gave her a nudge on the back, shoving her slightly in the direction of the signs with arrows pointing toward the Gym.
When she still didn’t budge, I groaned and did something I knew would get her kickstarted.
I brought back my hand and….
SMACK
Smacked the shit out of her ass, and like a scared cat, she yelped and whipped around with an offended look.
"Girl, if you don’t get moving, ima do something else to you; now GO!"
My little spouting of nonsense was enough to get Piniki on the move, even though she was covering her ass like a kid who got spanked and kept looking over her shoulder.
Once the coast was clear, I directed my attention back to the unconscious Harvy. I immediately got to work stripping him of all his weapons and gear, including the shoddy particle grenades.
Once he was picked clean and only in his t-shirt and jeans, and I had made sure no cameras were spying on me, I delivered the final blow without remorse.
Stomping down on his head, I popped it like a watermelon before kicking the goo off my boots and storing his corpse in my inventory.
(Piniki is en route to the Gym to set up a triage, but Harvy has been eliminated. I wasn’t able to get more information from him, but we have an issue; it appears that Draven has found a way to give enhanced stats and possibly Fake Talent Skills to Non-Rankers by way of the Bracelets,)