She had made it clear before, and White could still remember her words vividly.

---

"There will be no more excuse for your loss of control."

"You either get killed or banned eternally from ever setting foot in Xtremcyber Academy."

---

"White Sinclaw."

The old man in the lead seat called out to him, a massive runic scroll appearing before him.

"You have been deemed guilty of breaking an unforgivable rule of the academy, by the killing of two students, Inumaki Horaga and Rukun Malevolent."

As he decreed, his words turned into runes that shifted and appeared on the scroll.

"For that reason, the First Order has called for the revocation of your identity as a student in Xtremcyber."

"Henceforth, you will cease to be a student, and in 24 hours, you will be returned to your original city, where you will bear no affiliation whatsoever to Xtremcyber."

"In any case, if you are found in the territory marked as Xtremcyber, you will be hunted down by the First Order and executed on the spot!"

He made clear, as creeping silence descended and the scroll rolled away.

"Self-defense or not. It’s clear, White."

The golden-haired Prison Warden said.

"The power you hold in your body is beyond you, and now it is slowly taking over you."

"It’s too much of a danger keeping someone like you by the sides of Meteor-ranked kids."

"We of Xtremcyber won’t keep taking such an extreme risk for you, not after what we’ve already lost."

The Prison Warden said, rising to her feet, as space dilated around her and all the rest.

"Goodbye, White Sinclaw. You’ve got 24 hours to leave, and never come back."

She said at last, and in the next moment, a blinding flash erupted as all of them disappeared, leaving just White.

The suppression runes at his feet dimmed right after.

"Well, that was quite unexpected..."

White finally spoke before shrugging his shoulders.

He had had a feeling the academy wouldn’t like him killing Inumaki and Rukun, not after he had just killed a Punisher some time ago.

But still, getting banned outright wasn’t something he’d prepared for mentally.

He turned his back to leave, yet halfway through, he noticed his hair change from white to a darker shade and lengthen.

He paused in that moment, and the words echoed in his head.

"Kill them. I can kill them all...for you."

"No!"

White snapped, and the change paused.

"We are guilty..."

"Those two...deserve death!"

It said in his head.

"Yes, they did."

White replied.

"And I don’t regret killing them at all. If anything, I regret not having done so from the beginning."

White mused.

He had almost died at the hands of Inumaki.

After being given a second chance at life, he had almost been killed by a foolish Otherworld Summon who couldn’t accept its own loss, nearly ruining everything White had planned for this life.

So what if he had lost control to the darkness inside him?

What it did was everything he himself would have made if he had been conscious decision.

"But we broke the rule."

"Deserving of death or not, we broke the rule. And we’ll leave."

White made clear, the dark color of his hair disappearing as it turned curly once more.

"I guess I should go say my goodbyes."

---

"That wasn’t you."

The words echoed through the familiar grassy hill where four people stood.

White and Nova closer, Morgaine and Vice Mimura on the far other side.

"It was me, Nova."

White confirmed, leaving her in disbelief.

The footage had been sent to them all, and she had seen it with her own eyes.

That monstrous transformation, the cold-blooded murder that happened with him grinning.

"No. You would never do that."

But White shook his head.

"I had every reason in this world to do that, Nova."

"To kill them in such a way?" she asked in disbelief.

"They tried to kill me."

"But still!"

Nova shouted, shutting her eyes.

"You could have stopped them."

"But... I did stop them."

White responded.

"NO! You could have stopped them, then reported them. But you chose to kill them!"

"I swear that wasn’t you, White! Tell me that wasn’t you!"

She begged, her eyes turning glassy, and in that moment, White felt it.

The change began as the dark side of him slowly began to take control, and this time, White didn’t stop it.

Instead, his eyes remained on Nova, whose glassy eyes slowly widened.

His shadow lost its shape, turning into a grinning monster of death, and it moved up, covering White as his change began almost instantly.

It was monstrous and suffocating, leading Morgaine to slowly back off in fear.

White’s hands reached forward in that moment for her, but she only retreated farther back.

"No."

She said.

"This can’t be you."

Vice Mimura moved in that moment, standing protectively between her and White.

He could see it in both their eyes,

The distrust... and the disgust, hidden within that disbelief.

White’s claw remained hanging for a while before he slowly let it down, as the words echoed in his head.

"She won’t accept the darkness..."

The transformation immediately began reverting, and he took two steps backwards.

"I understand now."

White said, nodding to himself, before he slowly turned his back, two massive wings unfurling.

"WHITE!"

Nova called out, and White paused, turning an eye to her.

"The White you knew isn’t all the White there was, Nova."

"And it’s pretty clear to see you won’t accept the true one, but that’s fair. After all, you didn’t make a promise to the True White, did you?"

"Just the nice, good side of him."

He claimed, and Nova froze. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

"You’re safe now."

White said, turning to Vice Mimura, who still stood protectively.

"You have people who are willing to defend you from the monster that once protected you."

He added, and even Vice Mimura’s stance wavered.

"There is no longer a promise between us, Nova, so... don’t wait for me again."

With those words, he was gone...forever.