Whoosh.

The air whooshed, and he appeared in a garden of gold.

Golden leaves were carried by the breeze, with strands of golden grass beneath his feet.

He turned his astral eyes around, and that was all he saw for miles on end.

He willed himself to move, and he appeared one hundred meters away in a single flash.

Ten more flashes later, he eventually came to a stop, floating down to the ground.

"So that’s your plan. Allow his energy to be naturally exhausted and have him take over?"

The chilling voice echoed out once more. It sounded too deep, too unnatural, and brimmed with such power that if an ordinary human had heard it, they would have instantly gone deaf and collapsed from the sheer depth of it.

There was no reply to his words, and in the end, he looked up into the star.

There, White’s body was beginning to stir, the starlight woven around him having faded away.

In the end, he raised his hands to his face, eyeing them, before whispering,

"You win."

In the next moment, his hand dropped idly to the side as the light from the stars shone brilliantly upon him.

Then he disappeared, along with the stars hanging around him, all of it dispersing into White’s body floating in the sky.

A brilliant blinding flash of light lasted for a total of ten seconds before it all dimmed, sweeping to the ground.

It faded after, and all that remained was the horned dark-skinned figure, gentle breaths escaping his lips, a sign of his sleep.

STEP!

STEP!

The sound of footsteps appeared after as a figure approached.

It was none other than the golden-haired woman, who came to stand before the sleeping White.

She reached down, crouching, her right palm coming to rest on his head as her eyes closed.

A rune appeared on her forehead, lighting up for about three seconds before it dimmed as she opened her eyes and rose to her feet.

"So much power..."

"So much stain on his soul..."

"...while so young."

---

White had a dream.

A terrifying dream of a being descending into his body and slaughtering everyone in Xtremecyber Academy, while he himself was trapped within an orb of glass, unable to do anything but watch.

GASSSSP!

A shocking gasp escaped his lips, and in the next moment, he jerked upright.

BAAADUMMMP!

BAAADUUMMP!

BAAADUUMMP!

The sound of his heart pounding echoed even in his head, and his hands reached to his chest to calm it.

He was only calm for a second before his senses picked up on his environment.

He looked beneath him and found himself sitting on grass.

Grass with a weird color... golden.

The sight of it made an impossible image appear in his head, but when he turned behind him, he backed off hurriedly, spinning up from the ground before landing on his feet.

"YOU!"

It was the golden-haired woman sitting on the tree branch at the center of this golden field.

She was resting her back on the tree trunk, the pages of a golden-colored grimoire flipping in her fingers.

She turned her head to him, and White was able to see her features.

"That’s... in the dream! That’s not possible."

He said as a small smile tugged at the corner of her lips and she returned to the grimoire, flipping the page.

"Was that what it was to you... a dream?"

She asked quietly, her tone holding an unexplainable calming effect.

"More of a nightmare."

White whispered beneath his breath.

"A nightmare... really?"

She asked, turning to White, whose eyes were still alert as he looked around him.

There was nothing but an endless field of golden grass.

He turned his head and noticed the sky was a peculiar color. A color of blue.

Xtremecyber’s sky was purple, revealing one thing. He wasn’t in Xtremecyber.

"Where am I? What am I doing here, and who are you?"

He asked all at once, and she returned to swiping through the pages of her book.

"Where you are?"

"A prison."

She said, and he paused.

"What am I doing here?"

"Imprisoned."

"And who am I?"

"The Prison Warden."

She answered all at once.

White was about to speak when he paused as the notification panel flashed.

[It wasn’t a dream, White.]

’What?’

[You lost control of yourself when you used the Astral Monarch Skill.]

[You killed quite a number of people. I don’t know how many, and I don’t know if they were able to be helped to the hospital. But you must have killed someone. Punisher Isaac, for one.]

The system panel flashed and he froze.

’But how did that happen?’

"You seem to be coming to the reality of it?"

The woman’s words pierced through his thoughts as he turned back to her.

"How many died?"

He asked straightforwardly.

"One."

She answered.

"You ripped him into two, and he was still stuck inside your Zone while you ripped the others apart. Couldn’t get help quickly enough and died."

She explained, and though her words didn’t hold much emotion, her use of you showed she was placing the blame on him.

Still—

"Huuuuu..."

White exhaled in relief as her hand holding the page paused.

"You just killed a person trying to uphold the rules of the academy, and you’re exhaling in relief."

"Actually, I’m exhaling in relief because he was the only one that died. I remember stabbing over six people. One dying is a lot better than six dying, no?"

White asked, and then he shrugged as he took a seat.

"Besides, I’m not sad he died. He cleaved toward my neck more than three times, and that last attack of his would have sliced any normal newcomer or 2nd Year into tiny pieces."

"I’m sure all he would have gotten if I died was a little tap on the back of his head. After all, everyone saw it was I who tried to go against a Punisher."

"So why would I be sad? I did to him what he would have done to me if I hadn’t done it first anyway."