Are Luna and Artemis running a gang of magical child soldiers

[MariaTenebre]

They were never banished in the manga either, only Phantom was.

And according to Saphir in the 90’s anime he states that they actually were banished for refusing “cleansing.” He framed it in such a way like the choice for their ancestors was to either be cleansed (i.e. 90 anime NQS’s version of “facing justice”) or to leave, and there was no alternative option given where they were able to stay and get rehabilitated but not get cleansed.

By contrast Manga NQS never issues any ultimatums as conditions for citizenship, and she only exiles Chaos incarnations.

They were banished for refusing cleansing IE being healed of the malevolent magic that was tainting them. No different then the malevolent magic that made the Dark Kingdom so monstrous. They also left of their own accord not because they were innocent victims but because they IE their ancestors were terrorists and again I would believe King Endymion over the words of some terrorists engaging in Diabolical magic.