[Tutorial – Phase 2 Complete!]
[Completion Rate: 95%]
[Willpower Score: SSS]
[Sanity Retention: 25%]
[Congratulations! Please prepare for Phase 3 to begin]
[Note: This is the Final Phase]
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Seb's head went blank for a moment as he stared at the crimson words etching themselves onto the snow.
The second phase was over … just like that.
Did this mean that he struggled through 900 different iterations in vain?
Every single time he forced himself to kill his sister…
… was nothing but meaningless violence?
From the start, he never had to harm even a single hair of her body.
It all made sense now.
There was no way that he who cared so much about Luna could have actually been the one to harm her.
Instead, she was the one who put herself in harm's way.
Just to save him.
Realizing that he had essentially put himself through such a hellish experience based on nothing but a false assumption, made him feel broken inside.
His heart was shattered into a million pieces, each aching with immeasurable agony.
'IT HURTS!'
He didn't want this to end.
He wanted to go back and see her again.
Spend a little more time with her.
Pamper her until she becomes completely spoiled.
Just one more day…
'SEND ME BACK!'
He wanted to scream it out loud.
'I want to see her again!'
But… he didn't do so.
After everything he did … could he even face her again?
All he did was hurt her, over and over again.
But she would rather let herself get hurt than let him go through any harm.
The difference between the two was clear as night and day.
He was no longer the big brother that she knew and loved.
He didn't deserve to go back.
It was nothing but foolish thinking.
But…
Was it really all his fault?
Was this damned tutorial, this accursed Purgatory not even a little to blame?
Of course they were to blame!
He recalled the contents of his conversation with the hidden boss.
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"Listen, I will give you a hint because I find this situation really funny. The main purpose of the tutorial is to help you survive in Purgatory…"
"…"
"To be more precise, it's to give you something that's essential for your survival over there"
"What?"
"Control over your primary trait that has been condensed using your fatal flaw."
"How do I do that?"
"You already know how. You always did."
"…"
"Just Remember"
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He had been told to re-enact his trauma.
'Just Remember' the entity had said.
Nothing but absolute mockery!
Those words seemed to get stuck on repeat, as they kept on playing in his ears.
How was he supposed to re-enact his trauma, if the memories that he 'remembered' couldn't be trusted in the first place?
How much of his life had been true and how much was just a fabrication?
He did not know.
What he did know was that he was extremely angry.
No.
His feelings could no longer be described as something as short-lived as anger and rage.
What he was feeling was HATRED.
If before he just wanted to defeat the hidden boss to gain power and release his frustrations.
Now… it was something much more personal.
He wanted to crush the entity to pieces.
To show it what it means to feel desperate.
He wanted to rebel against purgatory.
He had been promised a new world to live in.
Instead, all he had gotten so far was … suffering.
The very suffering that made him feel alienated from the real world.
He refused to follow the path set in front of him.
He had already come to a similar conclusion at the end of phase one.
But unlike then, when he was just hungry for power, he had much more conviction now.
Not only was he more sober, the 900 failed attempts had awakened something within him.
It was something he needed to thank Purgatory for after all.
If at the start of this phase he was but a newly born nightmare, by the end of it he had matured into one that was ready to step out into the world.
In order to accomplish his goals, he had killed the person who had once been closest to his heart.
As painful as it was… he had still done it.
He had gone and crossed a line that must never be crossed.
900 times.
What was left that he couldn't do?
Nothing.
There were no more lines left to cross.
All that was left, was revenge.
A nightmare had bared its fangs to the world…
… and it was now out for blood.
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[Deconstructing Trauma Scenario]
[Placing Sinner in Stasis]
[Resetting Tutorial Dream World]
[Selecting Trauma for Phase 3…]
[Selection Complete]
[Scanning Brain…]
[All Parameters Stable…]
[Reconstructing Trauma…]
[Reconstruction Complete]
[Age set – 20 years old]
[Initiating Tutorial – Phase 3]
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As Sebastian regained consciousness, he found himself back in his adult body.
Not only did he feel more robust and physically strong, but it was also like a fog had been suddenly lifted from his brain.
All this time not only had he been operating in the bodies of his younger selves, but he had also been thinking using their brains.
Though the memories of his present self had been overlaid on them, there still had been some inadequacies in his thought process.
Well, that still wasn't an excuse for some of the poor decisions that he had taken.
Seb shook his head, deciding to focus on the present instead.
The tutorial had taught him two valuable lessons.
The first was that the past could never be changed. No matter how he struggled and fought, it would be nothing but amusing to others. Josh, Anna, and Luna were dead. Nothing he did here could change that.
The second was that the future wasn't in one's hand. No matter what plans one may make, expect them to go off the rails. Time after time he had faced failure in the first trial.
He had made a grand declaration to go and kill the final boss at the end of phase 1, only for phase 2 to show him that he still didn't have what it takes.
The only thing that was within one's power was the present. Instead of letting your failures drag you down, it was better to learn from them and turn them into your strength.
Of course, saying something, and actually executing them were completely different things.
But if he didn't start now … when will he? Shaking off his heavy thoughts he decided to focus on his immediate surroundings.
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Seb found himself walking down a familiar street, having his ear chatted off by his best friend.
Oops, his ex-best friend.
Ronald Douglas.
A person who lived his life ruled by impulse.
In retrospect, he was like a discount version of Josh.
Perhaps that's why Seb had been subconsciously drawn toward the prospect of befriending him?
It didn't matter anymore.
There was another thing that he had in common with Josh.
They were both already dead.
Ronald 'Ronnie' Douglas, had lost his life at the youthful age of 20 due to being caught up in an incident of 'gang violence'.
At least, that was what the papers had said about the 'incident' six months ago.
The truth, however... was that he had taken his own life.
If Seb's memories were to be believed, that is.
"Sebastian, are you even listening to me, pal?"
"Nope, didn't feel like it. You would tell me about it another 5 times over the course of this week anyway."
"Lazy asshole…"
"Can you tell me the date and time again?"
"Huh, why do you need to know that?"
"Just tell me!"
"Geez, alright, let me check. Uh, it's 6:03 PM on the 12th of April, 2022"
"I see"
Well, that was only to be expected.
While this incident might not have left the deepest mark on him, it had left him forever changed.
It was the point of no turning back.
It was what had eventually led to him accepting the invitation of Purgatory, six months from now – 13th October 2022 – his birthday.
Thus, it was only natural that it would show up in a trial called trauma re-enactment.
Unfortunately for Purgatory, Sebastian wasn't going to stumble his way through the dark, trying to find out the truth behind his twisted memories.
Struggling repeatedly like some tragic protagonist, right before finally glimpsing upon a ray of light. Eventually ending the tutorial in a bittersweet manner, having suffered but conquered the sources of his denial.
To him, this trial space was nothing but a huge stage, where actors played their roles.
And he had no intentions of playing his role in this tragedy.
Never again.
Instead, he would use this stage to write a new story.
A story of the blood, the sweat and the tears … of his enemies.
A story of his hatred and his vengeance.
A story that ended in destruction, but his victory.
That, was the plan.
And while this may be the perfect stage to summon and kill the hidden boss, he needed to first gain as much information as he could about the actors playing on the stage.
To do that, he and Ronnie would have to get kidnapped.
Again.