When they all returned to the spaceship, they were amazed to find that the remaining danger zones had already been cleared.

There were about five more danger zones remaining before they left, and in just about an hour after their fight ended, they had all been taken down.

This made both Marlon and the Vereenas confused about who had been taking care of those tasks. The Vereenas imagined it was a group of hunters, as they found it fairly odd to believe that a single entity would be able to pull something like that off. As for Marlon, he still stood firmly on his point that it was Axel Storm.

Nonetheless, aside from all that, Marlon had to face something he had been actively hiding away from.

"Umm.. Marlon."

He felt a soft nudge on his shirt and heard a familiar voice, though it was much softer this time than he had ever heard it before.

Marlon froze as he realized who it was. Not out of fear or anything like that, but out of guilt.

Solan, Nox, and Liora were still watching the monitor, waiting for either a new danger zone to pop up or the location of the mysterious clearer to appear, as their ship could detect strong and dangerous energy across a wide radius.

The only one who felt the tension in Marlon’s stance and expression was Orion, who was about to share something with him before the appearance of Selena.

Orion maintained a calm expression and quietly returned his gaze to the monitor.

"Selena.."

Marlon turned to Selena after a short pause, wearing a gentle smile on his face that did not match the current state of his mind.

Marlon was about a head taller than Selena and had to lower his gaze slightly to meet hers, while she did the opposite and lifted her head to look at him.

He could easily detect the worry on her face and the fear hidden within her eyes.

"Umm. Have you seen Lyra..?" she asked, stuttering a little. "She told us she was with you before this whole chaos began."

Marlon had already expected this question. He had even practiced several answers in his head.

But his mind suddenly went blank as he gazed into her expectant eyes. There was still hope in them even though she was already preparing herself for the worst.

Orion sensed the emotional tension between the two. As his powers also revolved around empathy, he could clearly feel the sadness welling up within Marlon and decided to help.

Using telepathic communication, he asked his colleagues to exit the monitor room and give the two of them space. They adhered to it immediately, and Orion soon joined them outside as well.

Only Marlon and Selena remained in the room.

"S-She..."

The answer required only a few simple lines, but he couldn’t bring himself to say it. At that moment, he recalled all the moments he had shared with Lyra, especially the awkward ones which had created tensions similar to love between the two of them.

Looking at Selena, her white hair and striking facial attractiveness, combined with the current submissive and fragile expression on her face, reminded him a lot of Lyra.

And he felt terrible knowing that he would soon be the one to shatter her hope.

But could he run from it anymore? No.

He had to take this step now.

Selena leaned in slightly. "You said something?"

Marlon heaved a quiet sigh and looked at her with a stoic face and then spoke.

"She is dead."

He responded with a plain and direct answer.

"S-she..."

Selena felt as if she had heard him wrongly.

"She was targeted by the Aurax because of me. They killed her because of her closeness with me.." Marlon revealed more than he had originally intended to say.

Each word that came out of his mouth was like missiles that shot forward and shattered every remaining fiber of hope Selena had in her mental world.

Her eyes slowly turned red and her body began to shiver as grief overwhelmed her. She grew weaker as it continued spreading across her body, gradually taking over her entire being.

The realization that her only sister, the one she had never gotten the chance to truly fix her relationship with, was dead, struck Selena like a violent storm.

For a brief moment, her brain seemed to disconnect from her body as she struggled to process the news, and she began to fall backward.

Marlon dashed forward with astonishing speed and caught her before she could collapse to the floor.

The firm hands grabbing her pulled her back to reality, and she finally began to weep.

"Noooo...." her soft voice cried out remorsefully.

She grew weaker the more the reality settled into her heart.

Subconsciously, she twisted her body and hugged Marlon as she began to cry deeply into his chest.

Her tears and snorts soaked his clothes, but he didn’t mind at the moment. He considered himself responsible for the death of Lyra.

He would continue to blame himself for the deaths of his best friends.

They were all innocent and kind people with bright futures ahead of them, yet their futures had been cut short simply because he had been foolish enough to be close with them.

And worse still, their lives had been taken at the most crucial moment of their lives.

Just when they were finally climbing out of the gutter society had placed them in, they were suddenly killed.

Marlon subconsciously gripped his fist tightly and silently swore to himself to end the entire Aurax and, if possible, become unimaginably strong and defeat the planet eater who seemed to be the main author behind it all.

Marlon gently began to pat her back in an attempt to console her.

In the past, he had always been energetic and talkative, but at this moment, where his words were required the most, he had none.

"Do you want me to help her relax? I can put her to sleep."

In his head, Orion’s telepathic voice calmly suggested.

"No, we can’t deny her this crucial moment." Marlon decided. He didn’t want to be the reason Selena did not get the opportunity to properly mourn her sister.

Orion nodded with understanding and gave the two the privacy they needed.

She remained in Marlon’s embrace and cried her heart out for about ten long minutes.

And then, while weeping, she asked in a trembling voice, "Were you able to find her killer?"

"I’ve long dealt with her killer and all of its colleagues that I could find. And I do not plan to stop there. I will make the entire Aurax go extinct permanently for what they have done." Marlon spoke in a chilling tone.

Selena listened quietly and then uttered in a soft voice, "Thank you."

Nonetheless, her thanks came as a shock to Marlon, who had been expecting her to throw a tantrum and blame him.

"Lyra has always been lonely and friendless since we were teenagers.." Selena began, her voice quivering with sadness and guilt.

"She never wanted to get close to me no matter how hard I tried to be friendly with her. She avoided everything that had to do with family and getting to know others."

As she said this, she gripped Marlon’s shirt even harder and buried her face deeper into his chest as she began to weep harder.

"I should’ve taken her side more than our parents’... I should’ve tried harder to be close to her... I should have seen her for who she really is... I failed as a sister, I failed her..."

She cried even more painfully.

Marlon listened and could not help but recall several tiny moments where Lyra would ignore every conversation that had to do with her family, especially when Ashton and Logan pestered her about it. She always became offended whenever they were mentioned.

"She never made friends because she was seen as a tool by everyone. They wanted to meet her just to meet me or my parents... You were the only real friend she ever had."

"She ran away from home and left for the academy earlier because she wanted to be with you.."

"At first I blamed her, but now I understand her reasoning.."

"Thank you for being there for her..."

"I would like to meet your other friends. She was also friends with them because they saw her for who she truly was.."

She continued speaking, but her last statement caused a long sigh to escape from Marlon.

"They were killed too.." he revealed in a small and heavy voice.

He could feel her shiver slightly at the revelation.

She wailed even more painfully, realizing the gravity of it all, and Marlon was there to console her.

Nevertheless, their emotional moment was cut short as Orion sent a quick telepathic message to Marlon, informing him of the arrival of Axel Storm.