Seb watched on quietly as the shooter walked out of the class.
There were no words exchanged between the two.
In the end, there weren't any needed.
All that needed to be said had been said when Seb killed the shooter.
The only difference was that their roles had been reversed once again.
*BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!*
The shooting went on.
Now that the shooter had gone on, another class was probably being shot up at this moment.
Sebastian, however, just stayed lifelessly buried under the corpses of his friends.
He stared at the clock's second hand as it made its rounds.
*Tick* *Tock*
*Tick* *Tock*
1:58
Time kept on advancing as seconds dragged on into minutes.
The shooter did not come back.
Seb's life had been truly spared.
"That's it?"
Seb felt that compared to the previous attempts, this type of ending…
It was just too anti-climactic.
Was this really the end?
After all of his struggles, this was how he ultimately cleared the damn scenario?
He slowly replayed the events of the tutorial so far in his head…
("If you suppress your emotions and true self, you are bound to go crazy one day… ")
("You stayed still … Good Job")
("You are right on time…")
("Don't forget me…")
("JOIN US!" "JOIN US!" "JOIN US!")
("You made me do this…")
He had struggled… He had suffered, but ultimately.
("So, Mr Shooter, how do you like my gift?")
He had cornered his enemy, and…
("I can see the hatred run deep within your eyes just like mine.")
("In the end … we are the same type of person")
… crushed him to death.
("DIE!" "DIE!" "DIE!")
However, that wasn't enough.
("… why do you waste your time running around like a monkey…")
("You already know how. You always did … Just Remember")
The Hidden Boss had stated that the purpose of the scenario was to conquer his fatal flaw.
According to the tutorial, his flaw was extreme denial.
The opposite of denial is acceptance.
All he had to do to clear it… was accept the truth and re-enact his trauma.
When the seal in his mind was broken.
What came out were memories.
Memories that Sebastian had repressed all these years to the point of forgetting them completely.
And now he had just…. 'Remembered' them.
There was no 'owner' to this scenario.
It had been based on Sebastian's own memories all along.
While his mind may have forcibly erased the horrors of that day…
His body still remembered every bit of it.
Four years ago, Seb's class had been attacked by a school shooter.
There was no 'school trip.'
That was just a fabrication of Seb's mind to cope with the trauma.
When the shooter had attacked his class, all he could do was cower in fear.
He saw Anna's head getting blown off.
His crush dead before he could even ascertain his feelings.
He saw Josh crawl towards him.
All he managed to hear were the two words. "… forget me."
Seb could only try to survive by hiding under the corpses of his friends.
He still got spotted though.
All the helplessness, frustration and rage that he felt were nothing but something amusing to the shooter.
In the end, he survived not due to his efforts…
… but due to the pity and amusement of the man he hated.
'How … frustrating'
Ultimately, all he had to do to end the tutorial was to play dead…
Were all his struggles for nought?
He had to face death time and time again.
Watch his friends die in front of him repeatedly.
Eventually, in a fit of rage, he had undertaken an insane plan to have his enemies all destroy each other and reap the benefits.
But it was nothing but a 'waste of time.'
Compared to the thrill he felt in killing the shooter…
Surviving in this manner.
Was just too pathetic…
"Why?"
"Why does it always have to end up this way…"
Wasn't the tragedy he suffered in reality enough?
Why did he have to go through the motions, re-enacting the same tragedy he had erased from his mind?
Seb's voice croaked as he held back his tears.
Was this what Purgatory was going to be like?
No matter how much he struggled and fought…
Ultimately, he just had to keep his head down and do things the 'correct' way?
But it wasn't like he didn't understand.
His fatal flaw had been extreme denial.
Only by facing the truth would he be able to move forward and leave the confines of his past.
But…
Not like this.
Not when it was being forced upon him.
Wasn't killing off the source of his trauma a good enough conclusion?
Why still put him through hell?
In the end, it all came down to one thing.
He wasn't strong enough.
He wasn't as sinister and cunning as he needed to be.
If he had been, perhaps he could have tried to stay on and find a way to defeat the hidden boss?
He should have been more ruthless, to others … and to himself.
What he needed … was more power.
Power strong enough that he would never have to watch his friends die in front of him again…
Every time he lost someone, people would console him by saying that it was just their fate.
But perhaps by now, they had all recognized him as a black star of misfortune.
The only constant in his life was tragedy.
First, he lost his sister, then his parents divorced, then his school was shot up, and finally, his two best friends left him six months ago…
If he wanted to overturn this fate, if he wanted to crush this string of misfortune…
He just needed to be more powerful.
More and More and More and MORE AND MORE AND MORE….
So that he would never have to suffer again.
So that all that opposed him would cower in fear.
He would dominate the entire Purgatory.
Just so that he could be free from his curse of tragedy.
.
.
.
The gunshots kept ringing out in the background, but Seb no longer cared about it.
He had already set his eyes further into the future.
There were still two more phases to this tutorial…
There was no way he would give up this easily.
The Hidden Boss better wash its neck and wait…
For Sebastian would be the black star of death calling forth its destruction.
A warped smile slowly bloomed into existence on Seb's face.
Within his eyes, a fire had been lit.
Dark flames that hungered for overwhelming power and tyrannical domination.
What would happen when these flames raged through the realm of Purgatory, consuming all that dared cross its path?
That was something only time could tell.
The corpse-like figure of Sebastian, which was entirely drenched in blood save for two tear stains, already made for quite the frightening sight.
Now that his features sported a twisted grin and dark flames raged within his abyssal black eyes, he would bring chills to anyone who might accidentally lay their eyes on him.
Luckily or unluckily, nobody could witness this scene which could only be described as the birth of a legend – no, the birth of a nightmare.
Sebastian crawled out from under the corpses and stood up on his feet.
Standing amidst all the corpses drenched in their blood, he looked like a demon that had crawled out of Tartarus itself.
*TRINGGG!*
The atmosphere was broken as the bell rang, signifying the end of the school day.
The time was 2:00
As if proving his hypothesis from earlier right, the blood all around him started to gather as they formed a new set of words.
[Tutorial – Phase 1 Complete!]
[Completion Rate: 99%]
[Combat Score: SSS]
[Sanity Retention: 75%]
[Congratulations! Please prepare for Phase 2 to begin]
.
.
.
[Deconstructing Trauma Scenario]
[Placing Sinner in Stasis]
[Resetting Tutorial Dream World]
[Selecting Trauma for Phase 2…]
[Selection Complete]
[Scanning Brain…]
[All Parameters Stable…]
[Reconstructing Trauma…]
[Reconstruction Complete]
[Age set – 14 years old]
[Initiating Tutorial – Phase 2]