Nikke: Goddess of Victory Novel Adaptation

[Vol. 1] Chapter 006: Suspicions

After their ears stopped ringing from the explosion that had gone off just a few feet away, Rapi quickly jumped off Commander's arm, racing to look around to ensure Blacksmith was dead. If need be the fight would have to continue. Once she'd witnessed oil splattered everywhere like a gruesome crime scene that spelled out Blacksmith's demise, Rapi knelt down to assess Commander's condition. His left arm was broken and the uniform at his right ankle had been turned to ash, allowing fire to lick his skin and burn him. He'd been unlucky, his leg was sticking out of cover when the explosive went off. Rapi tried to gently pat away the embers on his uniform, but she couldn't help thinking she was being too rough. She had a million thoughts racing around her head right now. Rapi wanted to give Commander a piece of her mind, and it was coming out as aggressive action.

Commander pushed against the road with his good arm and winced when his broken limb moved with him. Rapi helped him up, sitting him against their cover. Commander had a pretty good idea what his Nikke thought of him right now. He was an idiot. To risk his own life for a weapon of war was ridiculous. Unheard of. And yet he would do it all over again. He refused to lose any companions. Some smoke still lingered from Blacksmith's destruction and it'd gotten into Commander's lungs so he gave a hearty cough to clear it out. Rapi moved to stroke Commander's back, causing the man's attention to be drawn to her face that was right in front of him. He saw Rapi's mouth open and close a few times as she tried to figure out what to say, so Commander spoke based on what he thought she was thinking. "I don't care what I have to do, I'm not going to sit by and let my Nikke die."

He immediately thought of Marian after saying this. Specifically, he recalled his own words when she'd been shot in the head to protect him. He told her to worry about herself more. Commander immediately thought his own words were going to be used by Rapi to criticise him, but instead she seemed to hold her tongue and not say anything in response.

The rest of the squad arrived and stood around Commander. They all looked tired despite Nikke bodies typically being incapable of feeling exhaustion. To Commander's delight, everyone was as fixed up as they could be. Samantha's arm had been reattached and Anis wasn't missing a hand anymore. She was still missing a few fingers, but there was nothing to be done about that apart from getting back home to the Ark. Ocean's drones were limited in how much material they could create. They were mostly there to fix, so when too many original resources are missing the drones aren't capable of healing a Nikke completely.

Believing his brief one-minute rest was good enough, Commander put a hand on the car's wheel arch and attempted to stand, but apparently he was still disoriented and weak. His vision slanted from dizziness and his legs wobbled from his weight. He wanted to check on Marian as soon as possible though. Knowing Commander wouldn't let it go, Rapi went to help the man stand, only for one of her limbs to finally give up. She had forgotten that her right leg had taken a massive amount of damage thanks to some strange explosive-tipped tentacle just before Blacksmith died. She'd been moving fine for a short while but it was about time the tiny thread tying everything together had unravelled. Her foot, from the shin down, fell off and Rapi slumped to the ground without two feet to stand on.

"Anis, you take him." Rapi said, sitting against the car as Ocean's drones wasted no time in moving to fix her up.

Giving her friend a solemn nod, Anis' faint fake smile faded as she lifted Commander up and acted as his support the same way he had acted as Marian's support. Just thinking of Marian made Anis want to back off and leave the area. Anis knew exactly what was going to happen next. She was never good with this part. She'd seen Nikke fall to corruption before and it never got any easier. Losing allies never got easier. In this war where Nikke are soldiers, bonds are forged when they simply fight together. On top of that it felt like the pair of Anis and Marian were becoming fast friends. They'd played a game together and had a little girls' talk about love. They'd expressed joy with a high-five and even completed a rescue mission where the odds were against them. Anis felt like Marian was the exact type of person she needed in her life. Someone with their life sorted out. Anis was in dire need of someone to help fix her, and Marian could've been that person. Anis was even considering asking Marian to hang out sometime whenever they happened to have the same day off. Marian wasn't just a powerful ally to have in combat, she was open to joining in with Anis' antics. She was the type of person Anis just couldn't hate no matter how hard she tried.