Code Collector

Allen hurried to the unit that Sebastian rented. There, he met Kevin's original body and they all went to the room to find Kenneth lying on the bed talking to Remy.

"What–" Allen cut himself off, then he turned to Kevin. "You said that Kenneth died."

Kevin raised his hands up, "What? I didn't say that. I just told you that he was found lifeless, not found dead."

"Err," Allen hummed. He was about to chuckle when he whiffed the seemingly dark and sorrowful aura inside the room. "What happened? Kenneth, are you okay?"

"It stole my Code," Kenneth said. "My Bunny Code. Four giant wolves and a man stole my Code."

Allen froze after hearing Kenneth speak. The sadness in his eyes, the pain, and the anger burned like an endless hearth. Kenneth wanted to lash out, but his body was filled with bandages. He was unable to do anything at this point.

"They didn't do anything else," Kenneth spoke again. "They just took it and left like they didn't just take something that is the life and soul of a person."

"Calm down," Remy tried to say but Kenneth completely lashed out.

"How am I supposed to calm down?!" Kenneth yelled. "That Code was the only thing that made me stay at the ranks of the Bearers. Now, I'm nothing but a mere Paradise Hunter. You saw how much I froze, right? I wasn't able to move until I got here."

Sebastian entered the room and led Allen's group out. "You two need to talk this out first. Kenneth, calm down. I'll talk to you later."

Sebastian closed the door of Kenneth's room and went to the living room while the group followed him. He sat there and sighed, opening a briefcase filled with papers.

"Uhm, what the hell happened?" Allen couldn't stop himself from asking. "What happened to Kenneth? And someone stole his Code? And the Primordial Bunny Code at that."

"After Kenneth was found by Remy, he was frozen like a victim of the Soul Burners," Sebastian explained. "This meant that his EXP was depleted, so they tried to take him to Eternity, but he was still frozen. When they took him back to Paradise was when he got stable vitals. When they checked on him, the Primordial Beast Code was missing and it was the one who gave him so much EXP."

"He ascended to worlds just because he had the Code?" Allen asked. "W-What, I don't get it. Bernard said that the Codes aren't strong like they are made to look like. That they are just a bit stronger, but not completely dominant over all others."

Sebastian fixed his glasses while his eyes never left the papers in front of him. "That's what we thought was the case. But I guess we were wrong, big time. The Codes, even when they are in a far generation of user, is still powerful."

"That's why the person who took it wanted the Code," Bernard spoke as he walked towards them. He sat beside Sebastian and helped read all the papers. "These are reports from different people who saw what happened to Drake Nelson. We're still trying to identify if his case and Kenneth's case is the same or connected in some way."

"You mean it's done by the same person?" Allen asked. "--- did these things?"

"Not yet clear," Bernard said. "It will take time before we could even confirm these reports, but one thing is clear as day. Kenneth's description of the dogs matched the ones that the witnesses saw when Drake Nelson was attacked."

Sebastian called out for someone and a woman with a giant TV that was being dragged by a cart went inside. She positioned the TV so it would be facing Allen's group while she turned it on, then left.

"This was taken from a hand phone device that was from a witness," Sebastian said. "These information are highly classified, but we're sharing this to you because I know you have a knack for these kinds of things."

"Since the Soul Burners are gone, you'll have all the alleys to yourself," Bernard said. "You don't have to worry about us telling you this because you won't get in trouble."

They played a clip from a mobile device back in Earth where the hotel was at. It was taken from the next building, a building that was a couple of floors higher than the part where the attackers destroyed.

"What's happening?"

"Is this an exhibition?"

"That's Drake Nelson, but who are those guys?"

…

The people on the phone started talking. They watched the hooden person which seemed to be the leader walked closer to Drake Nelson who was standing there.

From this angle, the one where Drake's face was fully visible, it could be seen that Drake was smiling. He was seen talking to the hooded person before the latter cut his head off like he was slicing a cake.

"This too," Sebastian switched to another video and this time it was taken from the ground.

Four large dogs that carried two people each ran through the streets and leaped into the building. This was the time where the entire floor of where Drake Nelson was and the floors above it were destroyed.

"What's happening?!"

"What are those?"

"The building exploded. Call the fire department!"

…

The person who took the video panicked and started to ran away while pointing his camera at the scene. Even when his take was blury and he was one hundred floors below the scene, he could still feel the impact from the attack on Drake Nelson.

"See?" Sebastian pointed out. "Those dogs are like the gods that Kenneth saw when he was attacked. This was a huge mystery and they seem too similar."

"The attacks," Allen trailed off. "Is the one responsible for this attack the same one that attacked Reny, Kenneth, and Bernard before?"

"I don't think so," Bernard said. "I saw the attacker and he was wearing a black hooded coat. There wasn't any dog in sight at that time, only the beasts that we hunted."

"You mean they are different people," Jeremy finally spoke. "But the question is, how did they get to Start Nest unless they're Bearers. There's no other explanation."

"Yeah," Sebastian messaged his forehead and nodded. "They are Primordial Beast Bearers. We just didn't know who or why."

They talked about what happened for a couple more hours until it was time to sleep. Allen was inside the room he was assigned at, staring at the window. "This is really tiring."

He decided to open the windows and placed his hand outside. "Time to live another life."

With an orb of light falling from his hand, Allen landed on the ground with one knee. But this time, he was in Vince's body. He wore the Cloak of Nobody and the wooden mask that he used as the Wandering Trader.

His trading of Codes has long since finished and today, he was going to find out the truth. Who was attacking the Bearers and what was their purpose?

Through Vince's body, Allen ran towards streets and inspected on every nook and cranny. He wasn't sure what he needed to see or what he wanted to search for, but if there was something that would happen, it would be in the alleys. Oddly enough, it's where most of Allen's adventures started.

A couple of hours more and he saw a familiar black hole in the wall. He stood slightly far from it with just enough distance for him to escape in case something happens.

He waited for a couple of minutes before he saw Winston walk out of the hole. Allen hid himself completely in the darkness, making sure that he was invisible. Winston had a large bag that he threw on one of the trash bins. He clapped his hands clean before he walked back inside the hole and the hole vanished.

Curiosity swallowed Allen completely and he ran towards the garbage bin to inspect the bag that Winston threw. He opened the bag and saw raw materials inside, all of which were branded with the logo of the Summers.

"Don't move," Winston said from behind Allen. He had a large scythe with him, the blade pointing at the boy's neck, threatening to cut him if he moves suspiciously. "Who are you?"

"What were you going to do with the bag?" Allen asked. It was a good thing that he was in Vince's body. He was much safer this way and he didn't have to lose Winston's trust.

"Answer my question first," Winston asked. "You're going to die if you don't answer right now."

"Okay," Allen said with a sigh. "I'm nobody. Just a wanderer."

"You're copying the Wandering Trader?" Winston asked with a smirk. "You even have the same cloak and mask. How odd."

"Now, answer my question," Allen said, raising the bag and showing the contents inside. "What's in here?"

"Winston?"

They both turned their heads to the direction of the voice and there they saw a man. Allen's eyes widened after he saw the face of the man.

"Lewis Nixon."