192 Hunting Celestums

The woman took a few steps back when she saw Gwen. She narrowed her eyes and smirked, "You even got Scorpio. How did you kill him? The only way to kill that guy was to lure him with a bug."

"Who are you, really?" Allen asked. "And what is it that you want with us?"

"My name is Persephone," the woman introduced. She took her vines back and bowed. "I'm here by the order of the other Gods to tell you that the one who has Scorpio's Code is in trouble. They can now kill her whenever they please."

"I thought the Gods wouldn't intervene with these kinds of problems?" Gary scoffed. "Why are you telling us this now?"

"Because your enemy is not just the Zodiac, but one of yourselves," Persephone replied. "Allen. When the time comes, you'll have to choose. And you will choose."

Leaving those words behind, Persephone closed her eyes while she let the ground swallow her. Her presence vanished not long after, leaving Allen and his friends speechless.

"Everything is disorganized," Allen said. "There are so many things that are happening at once that I don't know what's going to happen next."

"Let's take care of the Zodiacs first," Jeremy said. "And Gwen, you can do offensive fights now?"

"The Scorpio Code is an offensive Code," Gwen said. "And I didn't even get the generation penalty. I still have all the effects here, only some of them are locked."

When Allen heard this, he looked at Gwen. "What do you mean?"

"The Codes here," Gwen said. "All six of them are present but the last three are locked."

"What could this mean?" Jeremy asked. "Let's figure this out later. For now, we still have to go on with Sebastian's plan. Let's wait for the Zodiacs to attack us before we move."

"But what if the next time they attack, one of us will perish?" Allen asked. "That is inevitable considering how powerful those people are compared to us. Especially now that Sebastian made us split apart. The Zodiacs could take us down one by one."

"He has that," Gwen pointed at the crows that have been hovering above the camp and the nearby forests. "He has eyes all over us. Maybe when he sees us getting attacked, he'll come."

"Someone just attacked us," Allen said. "Where is he? If we just wait it out, everything might be too late by then. We have to do something about the Zodiacs right now. Let's not wait for things to get too complicated before we start to act."

"But what can we do?" Jeremy asked. "We don't know how to locate them."

"I do," Allen said. "It's a thing that Corry and Ash told me. The only way to lure a star out from the skies is when you clear the path."

"Clear the path?" Allen's three friends chorused while they looked at each other in confusion.

–

Gwen was walking alone in a dark empty street. Allen and the others watched from afar, waiting for something to happen. When Gwen reached the end of the street, the group sighed in disappointment. Not one Zodiac appeared.

"There's nothing," Allen said. "I wanted to lure them out after seeing Gwen alone, but I guess I was wrong."

"I think that's because they're after you," Jeremy spoke. "They are kind of obsessed with you. Corry and Ash even told you about things that might be the reason why the Zodiacs want you."

"And why did you sent Gwen over there instead of you?" Gary couldn't help but ask. "You're the one they wanted, so you should be the one out there, not her."

Allen shook his head, "They're targetting the ones who are close to me to lure me. They know they can't hurt me, so I'm sure they're going to take on another methos."

"He had confirmed this idea when Scorpio attacked," Jeremy added. "He told me that Scorpio's movements focused more on targeting the ones without the Celestums. If that was the case, then Gwen was the perfect bait."

Gwen was walking to the rooftop to where her friends where when she felt something ominoud behind her. She narrowed her eyes and used Scorpio's ability to become invisible. She immediately went to the group by leaping from one window of the buildings to the other.

"Guys, something's coming," Gwen warned. "Someone was behind me not long ago."

The boys watched around the area, but felt nothing. They know Gwen wouldn't lie about this which only made things worse. This meant that something is around the area.

"Do you know what it was?" Allen asked to which Gwen answered by shaking her head. 

"It was just a presence that I sensed," Gwen said. "The range was short since it didn't reach here, but I swear that there was something."

Allen was about to open his mouth to say something when a beam of energy was fired at them. The rooftop was destroyed and the impact from the attack blew the group away from each other.

"A Serrata!" Gwen yelled, pointing at the hovering human above them. "How did it get inside the camp?"

"Hunt the Celestums."

The group froze when the Serrata spoke. It was a woman that wore an office outfit. She was hovering in the air without raising any limb and her eyes to fully open without blinking, showing off her glowing blue irises.

"Hey!" Allen yelled. "What are you doing? Can you hear us?"

Three more Serratas appeared, all of them seemingly came from the same source judging by their matching formal outfit.

"Must hunt Celstums!" the female Serrata who attacked them earlier screamed. She waved her hands all over the place before firing beams of energy into random directions.

The Hunters from the camp got out and watched as the Serratas spread chaos, all chorusing on a single line. "Must hunt Celestums. Must hunt Celestums…"

"What are they here for?" Gwen asked, growling while she healed her friends. 

"Us," Allen said. "I don't know why, but they're coming for us."

Another explosion sounded from nearby. Bernard leaped off of a buiding along with Remy and Sebastian. Two Serrata were chasing them.

"The Celestum wielders are being hunted."