"You killed them,"

Draugr whispered in disbelief, looking at the strewn bodies of his clubmates, his hands digging into the ground from both anger and helplessness.

"Just like you killed them all, Draugr."

White whispered back.

"Killed who?" 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

"Eimie Akari."

"Inara Aylin."

"Liam Leander."

"Theon Ashvin."

"Galdur Drakana."

"They were my battle squad, Draugr. I have known them since I was a newcomer here in the UEF."

"Maybe you’ll know them too; they should still be in their first year now."

White said.

"Inara Aylin was pregnant during the fight. Do you know how you killed her, Draugr?"

White asked, and Draugr froze.

"You ripped your supernatural claws straight into her stomach and yanked the baby out of her womb, but she didn’t die from that pain."

"No."

White forced out, cracks running across the length of his teeth as the memories he had tried forcing down all came gushing back.

"She died from watching her unborn child have its head crushed into paste as you bit down on it with your beastly maw."

"Theon was a healer, and he died after exhausting his energy trying to heal all of us so we could continue the battle."

"Can you imagine it, Draugr?"

"An Awakener dying because they squeezed out every last bit of essence energy in them, so much so, they even poured their life into it, just to give us a chance."

"And did we even get that chance?"

White asked, continuing

"No. You absolutely decimated us. The power gap between you and us was far beyond fair."

At this point, White turned his back, looking at the corpses on the ground.

"And that’s why I showed no mercy to them."

White stood up in that moment, taking a step.

"You know, Draugr..."

He called.

"In a way, this is like the past repeating itself. You slaughter my squad, and now I have slaughtered every one of your friends in your club."

"Though I do have to mention that while four of your friends ran away like cowards, mine all fell protecting me until their last breath."

"You’re a monster..."

The words made him pause, as White slowly turned his head down to Draugr.

"Do you not understand, Draugr?"

He said, lowering himself before him and peeling away the hair that clung to his right eye.

"I came back from the future just to prevent the past from repeating."

"With your death, I rewrite the fate of the thousands of United Earth soldiers that will be destroyed by your claws in Base 4, 5, and 6, along with the 700 civilian deaths that happened in your senseless massacre."

"You think I’m a monster? Look at me! I don’t even know what body I’m in."

"A monster!? You go bring me a better man, someone who has defied death just to save everyone but himself!"

"I am innocent. Even if you’re from the future, I am still innocent!"

Draugr roared back.

"There were a million and one ways for you to change the past; you chose the worst one. This isn’t about me..."

Draugr slowly came to a realization.

"This is about your own fear of the future. You think to yourself that by killing me, you save some lives?

"That you become righteous, a hero?"

"No. You’re a scared man, and the farthest thing from a hero."

He spat out.

It made White pause, but then he began to nod.

"You’re right. I am not a hero. Maybe I’m truly evil deep down in my soul. But guess what?"

White said, one of his wings ripping out further as an uncontrollable chill spread down Draugr’s spine.

"...I always will be."

"STAY YOUR HANDS!"

The roars reached him as every officer raced toward White to stop him, but then,

White’s wings reached toward Draugr, locking him in place, and he brought his hand together in the next moment, forming a circular runic symbol which he placed near his eyes.

"Activate Black Sun Domain."

The world darkened in an instant.

Light was erased absolutely, and a dark sun rose behind White, who unfurled his wings.

Draugr shot back at high speed, trying to escape, but then,

"Activate Zero Crown!"

His entire movement froze, and with eyes wide in horror, he watched massive black holes appear, from overhead, beneath him, from the front, and from the side.

They completely covered every single escape route.

"NO! NO! NOOOO! SAVE ME!"

He screamed, but none could reach him.

All four black holes crushed inward, folding Draugr to ashes, and even those ashes were dragged into the deepest depths of oblivion.

"DIIIIEEEEEEEEE!"

At the same moment that White focused all his attention on killing Draugr, attacks slammed into him from all sides.

But he never reacted, focusing every last bit of his energy on fully erasing Draugr from existence.

And he did.

He watched him get reduced to ashes and swallowed by oblivion, followed by the singular realization:

"My Mission in this lifetime...is complete."

________

KAAAAAAAAAABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

A thunderous explosion rang out as the full attacks of more than thirty-five Cosmic Rank experts detonated at the same time upon White.

With Zero Crown activated, he managed to halt some of them, but still, a hundred-meter-deep crater opened in the ground, with White nowhere to be seen.

"We still failed!"

An officer said aloud, as they also couldn’t find Draugr.

He had been erased.

"Tsk! Bastard!"

Another officer roared in anger, clenching his fist tightly.

In that moment, a Supreme Commander suddenly soared down into the crater where White had disappeared.

There was silence for a while before he rose high into the air.

What he brought out was... a corpse.

With how much silence reigned, they all should have been able to pick up White’s heartbeat if he was indeed alive, but there was nothing of the sort; his body was fully blackened, as if a single touch would turn him entirely to ash.

"He might be dead,"

The Supreme Commander said.

"But this body of his is still a Forbidden-grade Lord Artifact that we of Humanity Ascension gave to him. For that reason, his corpse will remain with us."

"As for the students, who have all suffered at his hands, rest assured, Humanity Ascension will take full responsibility for this."

He said, before rising, and the Humanity Ascension fleet turned away, leaving only one ship behind to help and relay eventual negotiations.