Code Collector

Erwin was a tall man who had the same features as Hilda. He had black hair, button nose, and narrow eyes. Although he looked like his mother, his thick eyebrows and his full lips differ from the woman's.

"Oh," Allen turned to Jeremy. "So, you two met already?"

Erwin nodded, "My mom contacted me a while ago, but I was afraid that she was mad at me, so I didn't respond. I visited her the other day and was curious why she wasn't in her old shop. I just knew that she's in a better state."

Allen chuckled sarcastically, "You left your mother when she had nothing, when she was broke, when she was hungry, and after you knew that she's not in that state anymore, that's the moment you decided to help?"

"I know I'm in the wrong, but–"

"But what?" Allen growled. "Your mother was so pitiful that if I hadn't helped her, she could've starved to death."

"Listen to me first, damnit!" Erwin yelled, stopping Allen from continuing. "I am so grateful for your help, but I was about to say that I have always helped her all these years. It was her who failed to take the money I sent her."

"The what?" Allen tilted his head to the side, pursing his lips in confusion. "Money? What money?"

Erwin smirked, "I have been sending her money all these years. Every month, without fail I send it to her bank, but she never checked, thinking that she was broke."

"What?" Allen gasped. "You mean in two years, Hilda did not even try to look at the bank?"

"No," Erwin laughed lightly. "I was upset at her because she just let my dad ruin our lives, so I couldn't face her. But when I heard the news about the new rule, I had to go back. I couldn't just let my mom go alone. That's when I heard about everything. She was talking about you non-stop and to be honest, I was kind of jealous."

Allen massaged his forehead and sighed, "At least you two have met. That's what she had always dreamt of, for her to see her son again."

"Yeah," Erwin smiled. "I missed her too, so much. But now I'm back, I'll return to Earth with her. We will live peacefully there, burying this part of our lives."

"You'll retire?" Allen asked. "But are you sure you can live just right? What will your source of income be?"

"I am an A rank Hunter in Paradise," Erwin replied. "Only a few million more and I'll be qualified to ascend. I think I have enough money so I can live comfortably."

"That's good," Allen said, offering his hand. "Please take care of Hilda. I couldn't say goodbye to her in person, but please extend my greetings."

"Of course," Erwin took his hand and shook it. "We will be forever grateful for your help. My mom could have never survive without you."

Allen and Jeremy left the store and stood outside for a couple of seconds. Allen was still disappointed that he had to let go of his buddies, but he had no other choice. The new rules restricted Hilda in the Otherworlds, she can't sell anything here.

She could build a shop on Earth, but it wouldn't be worth it. There were barely any Hunters in Earth, she hill have zero customers and even zero sales. The only Code shops that could survive Earth are the big ones, ones that are also part of a bigger store.

"You're drifting away again," Jeremy said, waking Allen from his thoughts. "What are you thinking?"

"Just things," Allen replied.

"Care to share?" Jeremy tried to budge, but Allen just shrugged. "Oh, well then, why don't we go eat? I'm sure you're hungry."

"I actually am," Allen laughed lightly. "I'll go to a nice fancy restaurant this time. I deserve a good meal."

"What about the other two?" Jeremy asked. "We have no way of contacting them."

"They'll find us," Allen said. "I think."

The two of them went to a restaurant near Hilda's shop. It was the most expensive on the street with a single steak costing four hundred dollars. Allen wanted to laugh at the price, thinking how this much money was already three days of hard work for him before he got the Snake.

"I have always wondered what could happen if I didn't got the Snake," Allen suddenly said out of the blue. They were waiting for the steak to be cooked when he suddenly had them thought. "I would've died in that forest."

Jeremy smiled, "Or we could've found you."

Allen looked up to see the smiling face of his friend, grinning at him and laughing lightly. "Yeah, that is also a possibility."

"It is, ain't it?" Jeremy said. "Then I'd adopt you and you'll live quietly in Camp Twyla. I'll be your daddy."

Allen laughed out loud, lightly punhing his friend on the shoulder. "You're so random, really."

"Maybe I am," Jeremy said. 

The two of them ended looking into each other's eyes and laughed at each other. Their voices were the only loud thing inside the fancy restaurant. The people around them were staring at them, but they didn't care to notice, they were too busy laughing.

Boom.

Allen and Jeremy stopped, everyone fell silent when a loud explosion came out from outside. They looked at each other and ran outside, seeing a large smoke coming out of a building not too far away.

"What happened?" Allen asked a random man who was running for his life.

"There's an attack," the man said. "We've been attacked!"

"What kind of beast attacked?" Allen asked but the man shook his head. "Answer me, sir."

The man didn't speak. Instead, he pointed at the air behind Allen, prompting the boy to turn around. His eyes widened in shock at what he saw. It was a man hovering in the air, a thick burning aura of red light was wrapped around his body.

"That's a human," Allen said. "That's a human! Why is a Hunter attacking a camp?"

"That's not a human," a man spoke beside Allen. He turned to where the voice came from and saw Jake Summers. "That's a Serrata. A kind of being that's not supposed to be in Haven."

"Serrata?" Allen asked. "What?"

"A creature from another world that is not on the Otherworlds," Jack replied. The old man walked beside his nephew while his men stood behind him. "Think of the six worlds of the Otherworlds as six spheres that form a vertical line. Their size would be small to large, from bottom to up.

"These are the Otherworlds. The higher you ascend, the bigger the world gets. Haven is the size of Earth, while in estimation, the Sixth World is the size of Jupiter. But that's not where Serratas are from. Out of the straight line of the Otherworlds, there exists other worlds," Jack continued.

"They are called Serrations, and these worlds containe Serratas, abnormal beasts that have humanoid appearances and a power equal to a Hunter who has ascended to Eternity."

After Jack finished his narration, two of his men leaped from the ground and attacked the Serrata. Rourke spun his spear around him as though be was a helicopter while Franco raised his dagger.

The two of them came from different directions and their movements seemed to be faster than how the Serrata could comprehend. With one passing strike, the two of them successfully killed the creature, making its body fall to the ground with a loud thud.

"That's the power of Eternity Hunters."

"Four Haven Hunters tried to subdue the creature, but they were powerless against it."

"I saw how they were instantly pulverized by the creature's power. How incredible."

…

The crowd gathered around the Serrata's corpse long before the police arrived. Rourke and Franco who killed the creature had reported to the police as Jack invited Allen in a room.

"You know," Jack said as they walked to a private unit in Wealth Valley. "He owns a mansion there, an act that isn't common with the higher world Hunters."

Usually, when they build a permanent home, they would choose Paradise. The fact that it was closer to Eternity, the people there were also less crowded with only five hundred Hunters in each camp. Some chose Eternity for less crowd, but they would feel uncomfortable.

Eternity currently has only two camps, the North Camp and South Camp. Each camp contains approximately two hundred Hunters each. The Hunters wouldn't feel as safe in either camp because it wasn't fully fortified. If a high tier beast would attack, they don't know if the camp could survive.

"Welcome," Jack said as they entered his manor. "We have to talk about something, something that I only knew just yesterday."

Allen was confused about what the man was talking about. What could be so important that Jack had to go meet him himself.

Then, a series of high heels' footsteps was heard. Allen turned to the source and saw Lin walking towards them.

"W-What…"