[Level up!]

[Level 302 ---> 303]

Marlon ignored the notification as he slew his third titan, becoming the only one among his team who had slain more than one titan.

Now, only five active titans remained. The Solar Pathos and Stellar Pathos Vereenas combined their strength to bring one down, while Nox used his space-manipulating shadow pits to divert an arrow from the Titan archer toward another titan that wasn’t paying attention to him.

Marlon stood atop the heap of rocks left behind by the slain titan and scanned the battlefield.

His gaze locked onto the two crowned titans who, up until this moment, hadn’t made a single move. They simply stood there with their eyes fixed on him, making him wonder why.

Eventually, he concluded that they must have noticed his battle prowess. After all, it had taken groups of Vereenas to bring down a single titan, yet he had slain three on his own.

Still, Marlon wanted to know more about them. More importantly, he wanted to understand why his skin tingled every time he looked at them.

As though confirming his suspicions, his inspection skill failed the moment he activated it on them.

[ ERROR! Skill cannot be activated. ] ...

[ ERROR! Skill cannot be activated. ]

The notifications continued flashing in his vision each second he attempted to peer into their identities.

Marlon showed no reaction. He closed the notifications and returned his focus to the battlefield.

Time passed gradually.

Hours went by, and finally, the last active titan fell after receiving an earth-shattering punch straight to the chest.

The Vereenas collapsed to the ground, gasping for breath. The battle had completely drained their stamina and aether reserves.

Since the two crowned titans still showed no intention of making a move, everyone decided to rest.

After all, Marlon, their leader, didn’t seem exhausted in the slightest and could likely handle any sudden changes on his own.

Marlon remained standing as he observed the two crowned titans.

Even after all the active titans had been defeated, the pair still showed no sign of moving. Their glowing red eyes remained locked onto him.

"What is their deal?"

After staring at them for several minutes, he couldn’t stop himself from muttering those words.

For a brief moment, he even wondered if it had something to do with his true identity as the Originless One. But he quickly shook the thought away and dismissed the conclusion.

"What should we do, Marlon?"

Orion walked over to his side and spoke calmly while turning his gaze toward the titans as well.

"I don’t know," Marlon answered.

"Neither do I. I can’t peer into their mental space to figure out what they’re thinking, and their body language isn’t revealing anything either," Orion said before informing Marlon that he had noticed how the two crowned titans had focused solely on him throughout the battle.

He then voiced the same thought Marlon had earlier.

"Is there some mark on my body that I can’t see? Something that tells everyone what I am?" Marlon asked before he could stop himself.

"Not really. At least, not everyone can tell," Orion replied. "But once someone reaches a certain power rank, they may be able to sense that you’re special just by looking at you. They still won’t know what you are exactly, only that you’re different. For us Lunar Pathos, it’s an ability we’re born with."

Marlon hummed softly.

It was a reasonable explanation. No wonder the only people who had noticed him from the very beginning were the Sterling siblings and Axel Storm. Not even his own parents, who had been B-rank powerhouses back then, were capable of sensing something like that.

The two continued discussing while the others recuperated, and after some time, Orion suggested something rather odd.

"Speak with them alone?" Marlon turned toward Orion with a slight frown.

"Yes. Just a healthy guess," Orion replied. "They didn’t attack any of us, even after killing the other titans. The only time they paid attention to something other than you was when they devoured the Titan Liora forged. Besides, even though I can’t probe their mental space, something inside me keeps screaming that those two aren’t the fighting type."

Marlon listened quietly before eventually nodding.

"I’ll do that..." he agreed.

Still, there was no way he intended to approach such powerful and intelligent beings without precautions.

Without hesitation, he summoned two hundred death clones and sent them ahead toward the crowned titans before activating [Prince Of Death].

The presence of death descended upon the entire region.

The aura leaked out involuntarily, causing those nearby to shiver despite knowing he wasn’t targeting them.

Only Liora, Nox, Orion, and Solan managed to remain calm after the initial wave of pressure. The others couldn’t. They had never spent much time around Marlon, nor had they witnessed him use [Prince Of Death] before. Fear and confusion immediately spread across their faces.

Whispers quickly broke out among them as they questioned what their leader was doing.

Ignoring their reactions, Marlon strode forward toward the two crowned beings.

He noticed a slight change in their eyes.

It was the very first reaction they had shown, and Marlon quickly guessed it was because of the skill he was using. After all, every living being, regardless of strength, feared one thing above all else.

Death.

And at this moment, he embodied it.

Marlon steadily closed the distance between himself and the crowned titans.

Once he reached a reasonable distance from them, the titan on the left suddenly moved.

It slowly raised its hand before making a simple finger-flicking motion.

Instantly, all the heaps of rock formed from the slain stone titans began to tremble violently before rising into the air and hurtling toward their position at an alarming speed.

The Vereenas immediately became alarmed.

Nox shot to his feet and rushed forward, stretching out both hands as he prepared to create as many shadow pits as possible to stop the incoming attack.

Solan, Liora, and the others also prepared themselves for combat.

However, before any of them could move further, the floating rocks suddenly fused together and formed a massive, impenetrable wall that blocked both their path and their view.

Meanwhile, Marlon and his clones remained completely unharmed.

It seemed Orion’s prediction had been correct.

The crowned titans really wanted to talk.