Code Collector

Allen took a step back as Matthew's impostor show her real face. A beautiful young woman with shiny straight black hair. She wore a white body suit that had a skirt on the back portion paired with a pair of metal boots that had spikes on the sole.

"Who are you?" Allen asked, taking out his sword and pointed it at the woman's neck. "And what do you want from us?"

"Relax," the woman raised both her hands as a sign of surrender. "I am not here to fight you. Instead, I'm here to warn you. You know how it is, Mr. Allen, as a Bearer. You have the power and the strength, but it's hard for you to risk everything because everyone is looking at you, wanting the power you have."

"She's talking gibberish," Gwen growled and was about to pounce on the woman but Allen stopped her. "What? Why?"

"Who are you?" Allen repeated his question. "And how did you know my real name?"

"A messenger of the gods," the woman replied and handed Allen a small envelope. "The Twelve High Gods are not happy with a being that is able to hold two Celestums. Only one per customer."

With this, the woman left and vanished in the air. Allen immediately opened the envelope and read its contents. "Mr. Allen Nightshade, you are hereby warned for having two Celestum items with you. You cannot do this as it breaks the rule of the Deities. Please release one, break, or pass it down. You have twenty four hours before we launch an all out attack into your location."

It was clear what this message meant. They were referring to him having the Primordial Snake Code and the Great Diamond Code at once. What he didn't know was that these Codes were actually called Celestum items and there's another world that's filled with more humans.

If he could remember clearly, this new threat were called High Gods and they seem like the ones who regulate the powerful Codes. The fact alone that they sent a representative to tell someone that they have two Celestums was a proof of that.

This made Allen wonder how many humans and how many planets are there in the universe that they live in. It was vast and most of it were unknown even with the advancements in the technology.

Allen shook his head to clear it and turned to Gary who was too busy reading the newspaper. "Gary?"

The man looked up to see Allen's concerned face. "Why are you giving me that look?"

Allen offered his hand and sighed. He mustered a lot of courage in him to let the Diamond Sword Code go. This was already a huge setback with the Code's power since one effect would be lost forever.

"Take the Diamond Sword," Allen said to Gary. "I don't want to risk being attacked by other humans, so it's better if you hold on to this for me. I'll keep the Snake."

"Y'all don't want to give an overpowered Code to me?" Gwen suddenly asked, making everyone chuckle. "Hey, I'm serious. I want a Code like that too."

"Just hold on to what you have for now," Gary said to her and took Allen's hand. "We'll all be strong soon, I know it."

–

Days went by and it seemed like the tragedy that struck their camp was only a bad dream. For the Hunters, moving on as quick as this was a normal thing. There are always death in this field, so the less it could affect you, the better it is for you.

Allen and his friends were Hunting in the forest when he felt something odd. It was like someone was watching them from afar and the look wasn't comfortable for him. It didn't sit right for him, so he glanced at the woods.

"Are you okay?" Jeremy asked to which Allen answered with a nod. "I'm fine."

He swept the thoughts out of his mind and focused himself in hunting. He wanted to create a new weapon for his Bodies to use. They have strong weapons right now, but they still need to keep up with his actual strength so he's planning on crafting a weapon that will reach Grand grade.

Meanwhile, in a forest two worlds ahead of where Allen was, Kenneth was running for his life. There was a huge shadow figure that was running after him, and it was running as quickly as he was.

"But I'm already speeding up as much as I could!" Kenneth growled. When he saw a small clearing, he stepped in the center of it and fire the emergency flare gun that he had. This should signal everyone else his location while he tries to fend off the beast that was following him as much as he could.

It shouldn't take long before the other Hunters would locate him so he just had to try his best to survive until then. He shouldn't fret because no mater how strong the beast is, he was still a Primordial Beast Bearer. His combat abilities is still superior.

"Show yourself!" Kenneth yelled. "Show yourself or else I'll make you do it for me."

The beast stepped out of the dark part of the forest. A giant black dog with fur made of burning black shadows. It was a terrifying sight to see, but Kenneth stood still. "Why are you using a familiar instead of showing your actual self, huh? Scared?"

The dig growled and leaped off from where it was. It was going to pounce on Kenneth, but the man had restricted its movements. "Nice try, doggy. But you should've done your research first."

The dog fell to the ground with a still expression as though it was stuck between the moments in time. It laid there on the ground frozen for a couple of minutes before four more dogs appeared.

This shook Kenneth. The size of the dogs were similar to the buses with two floors back in Earth. One of them was already hard to restrict, and four would be impossible.

"Five more minutes," Kenneth said to himself. "I'll stop you all for five more minutes!"

The dogs pounced at him and he all restricted their movements too. He stopped their entire motor functions while he stood in the middle, body leaning forward and his hands stuck in the air as he tried to cancel all other abilities just to focus on the dogs. "You're trying too hard, doggies. I am not going down."

Just when Kenneth thought he could handle this, a much bigger dog appeared. It was able to split down trees as it walked closer to him, eyes calm and movements were steady. It was a bigger dog but without the other's killing intent.

The boy released his grip on the other dogs and leaped on a tree to gain an advantage in terms of vision. He was now trying to devise a plan on how he could escape these dogs while not leaving the area just until the rescue arrives.

The Primordial Beast Bearers have made a pact that whenever one needs help, they would respond as quick as they could. This would maintain the healthy environment between them and make them realize that they are Hunters not for themselves, but for the entire humanity.

Before Kenneth could continue thinking of a plan, the four dog had leaped from the ground and into his level. Kenneth conjured a dagger and stabbed one in the eye while he leaped on its head, running away and leaping into s other tree.

The dogs were still able to follow him no matter how much he jumped and increase his movement. He wasn't able to restrict them even for a little because this would delay him and could cause his own death.

"Hiya!" Kenneth leaped to one branch but the largest among the dogs was there. It fired a roar that was able to throw Kenneth off of his balance and fall to the ground.

When Kenneth knew that this was his apparent defeat, he realized that the bigger dog was nothing but the aura of the owner of the other dogs. He looked down and saw that instead of four legs, the giant dog had single limb that connected to a person as if it was that person's shadow.

"Y-You?!" Kenneth's eyes widen after the person's face became clear to him. "Why are you doing this?"

The person did not respond. Instead, it showed Kenneth his palms and lowered himself, grinning. That was the only thing Kenneth saw before everything went black.

–

"Allen!" a voice shook the forest as Stacey ran to where they are. She was still controlled by Kevin and even though she was only a body and can't feel exhaustion, she panted. "I heard some news. Please go back to the camp."

"We're waiting for Kenneth," Allen said. "Today is the scheduled date for us to meet him and do the weekly plan."

"Cancel that right now," Stacey said. "Kenneth is found lifeless in Eternity. You have to come back to camp now."