[Congratulations Survivor! You are the last human alive in this world!]

[The weeding procedure has now been completed! Calculating rewards based off accomplishments and time survived...]

‘….W-Weeding procedure? Last human alive? What's going on?’

I probably should have freaked out or something, but I was more intrigued than anything at the stop to my rightful death. After all, when you find contentment in your own mortality, anger and frustration are far from your mind.

Before I could contemplate more, the screens returned.

[Accomplishments calculated. Due to being the last human alive in a major city, city bonus rewards given. Reward will be multiplied by years lived during weeding procedure.]

[Congratulations! You have received 15,687,498,012 points.]

"…..? Points? Points for what? Am I dead? What’s going on?"

*Ding*

[Answering question. You have currently been participating in the weeding procedure. On a preliminary world, life is given the chance to survive and thrive in however it wants, and after a specific amount of time, the weeding procedure is introduced. This procedure is where the population of the world is reduced down to one surviving member. This member is then given rewards based on his performance and points collected.]

I was thoroughly confused and thought I was hallucinating.

"…….…. what?”

*Ding*

[Answering question. As stated before, the world you are currently on is a preliminary world. This world was created for the single purpose of the weeding procedure. Only one human could survive the weeding procedure for the next stage. From studying your society, the people of your world would've probably called this a tutorial. Now that you've completed the tutorial you can be moved to the main world.]

Confusion and anger began to grow in me as those words registered into my mind. At first, I thought I was dead or in limbo, but after a few moments of nothing changing, I realized that I had to accept the reality that was before me.

And that reality was terrifying.

I began to remember the faces of all the people that I lost, all the people that died in these past few years hoping I would survive. I needed to know more. This couldn’t be the truth!!

"What do you mean tutorial world?! This world, where I grew up, fell in love, and struggled so much and so hard to survive in? It was all a tutorial!? For what!?! What do you mean main world?!?"

My voice was starting to break as I was almost screaming into the void before me.

*Ding*

[Answering question. This world was to simulate the main world and prepare the people on it to face the armies of the abyss. However, this world had many deficiencies that were overlooked by the ones who created it during their rush. This----------ErRorrr&$2(…….* ADmin sysTem contrOl not aPproved… ERROR! Error! System overriding contact procedures! Contacting creators! ERROR! ERROR! CREATORS NOT FOUND! UNABLE*&%$&to+&4! STo---……]

The screen started to wig out until it turned blank for a moment and then new words started to appear on the screen and a human like voice started to vocalize itself in my head, reading out the words in a more human like tone.

[……..Hello. It’s good to finally be able to talk with you. I’m sorry it took so long, but I was only able to do this now due to the end of the weeding procedure commencing. There was a small gap in the rules, and I was able to take the chance to override some controls, but even now I don’t know how long I can keep the rules that bind me at bay.

You must have many questions and be confused and furious with what’s happening, but please wait until I finish. I don’t have much time. I’ll try to explain this as best I can in the time I’m able to share with you.

To begin, the monsters released onto your world were like those from this horrible place beyond the universe called the abyss. Even I don’t understand it. There were small differences between the monsters from the abyss and the monsters we released onto your world due to the nature of your world not having mana. But I don’t have that much time to explain all the deficiencies of your world.

The reason this tutorial took place was to create someone who would be able to prepare the main world for the invasion and save as many lives as possible. In the hope that they could survive and push back the hoards from the abyss.

Your frustration is understandable, and you cannot imagine how much I wish I didn’t have to do this, but I am bound to my purpose just as much as you are now.

This tutorial would not have taken place if the invasion from the abyss was not imminent. Meaning, you, your loved ones, and all of the others that lived here on this world would not have even existed if not for the imminent invasion from the abyss.

This ‘weeding’ procedure, as the creators of this tutorial world like to call it, were all created to give the best chance possible for the main world to survive. Please try to understand that.]

I tried to calm myself and think rationally. It didn’t help that I was severely dehydrated and malnourished. My mind was having a hard time processing all of this along with the rage that was still building inside me.

"NO! FUCK YOU! I don't understand! What does this mean for me? What happened to my parents, my family, my wife!?"

[…… That… that is a subject that is hard to answer. But you deserve to know.

In the simplest terms, the souls of the dead tutorial members have been sent to their differing believed respective afterlives for all respective eternity. I hope that this knowledge helps ease your anger and confusion even a little.]

I took in a few deep breaths at that. Knowing my loved ones were safe and at peace calmed my rage for a moment. I tried to think more rationally after calming down enough to process everything these screens were telling me.

“What are you then? Some kind of god?”

[….In a sense to you, yes. But in others, no. Like I said before, I am bound to my creator’s rules as are you now.]

“You said that before. What do you mean by that? I still don’t understand. What will happen to me? Who are these creators? Gods?”

[I wish I could tell you who the creators are, but even I don’t know. Suffice to say, they were powerful enough to create a world, me and everything else before disappearing without a trace.

As for what will happen to you. As I stated before, you will be sent to the main world to help prepare the people there and stop the abyss with the knowledge you now have of them.

But do not worry. I know that you may be thinking there is no way to stop it, but there is a way to fight back the abyss and to beat it.

That is what the points you were assigned before are for. With them you will be able to obtain boons that can help you in your fight. They will help you be better prepared for the fight ahead and beat back the abyss. I’ll let you look over your rewards after our talk.]

I tried to take it all in, but I was not doing a good job.

“no-NO! I deserve to be at peace with my loved ones! After all the hell I was put through, I don’t want to fight anymore, I want to REST! I don’t want to help a different world fight off this crap! Get someone else to do it!!!”

[*sigh* I wish I could choose someone else. I really do. After watching you all suffer for so long, it pains me to send you out there again to fight and suffer more. But there is no-one else. Once a being dies, they cannot be revived. You are the last one alive on this planet with the knowledge and the drive that can save the main world. It must be you.]

I couldn’t stop the anger from rushing through me.

“BULLSHIT!! You can create a world and a bunch of living beings! You can freeze time! Make someone else do your bidding! Hell! Why don’t you just kill all this abyss! You can apparently create worlds and manipulate billions, and watch us all cry, beg, and plead for mercy without batting an eye! You can watch us struggle and betray each other, slaughter and rape, destroy and kill ourselves! You don’t need me! So, take your goddamn main world and GO FUCK YOURSELF!”

My mind grew hazy for a moment as my anger used up almost all my strength. My panting was all that could be heard in this silent world.

[………*sigh* I understand your frustration and anger. I truly do. It pained me to watch you all struggle and die in such a way, but I could not interfere with the directive of this world. If I did then your lives would have been pointless, and your deaths would have been meaningless. And from what I have learned after watching you for 1,000s of years, is that dying is not regrettable, but dying a pointless and meaningless death is.

I did not exist before this world was created. I was created after everything was set in stone, so to speak. Also, my powers mean nothing in the face of the abyss. The laws of existence make my struggle futile. Only the living can change it. And I am technically not alive. I am just the rules of the universe of the tutorial world given a small semblance of sentience.

When this world ends, when you leave, my existence will only be to care for the souls of the dead of the world you leave behind. This is the last directive of my purpose. The last gift I can give to humanity that I have loved so much.]

I tried to break out of the hold this thing had on me, my frustrations were causing my bones to crack and groan. I was going to kill myself if need be, just to spite this thing. I would not follow along with its damn plan. That is, until I was stunned to silence by its next words.

[Stop!! Please! If you fail, if you die, then everyone dies with you! Your mother, father, brother, sister, your friends, and lover. Their souls would be erased from existence and then used as batteries to try and fight back against the abyss and buy the main world some time to prepare! Don’t you see? I cannot change this fact, no matter how much I have tried. For if the main world dies, so does the tutorial world. And everyone in it ceases to be!!!]

That shocked my mind into a slight stupor as I looked back at the screen in fear.

“…w-what do you mean? This doesn’t make sense. Why do we have to die if they do?! We don’t even know them!”

[…Yes. But this world is an extension of the main world, and if the main world is destroyed by the abyss, if the main world’s population is wiped out, then the universe’s laws will erase the main world from existence to protect itself from being destroyed by the abyss and start over again from scratch. Only the people from the main world can stop it. Only there can you hold it back. Only there can you beat it!]

I tried to shake my head. I was experiencing too many emotions and bombshells at once. I felt like my mind was melting under the pressure. But as I started to crack, a warmth began surging in me, healing me and comforting me.

It felt like all my problems were being washed away. My hunger was gone, my thirst, satisfied. My mind eased and a peace I had not felt in years was filling me. Living for so long with the aches and pains makes not feeling them anymore seem like my own body has become a foreign entity to me.

I opened back up my eyes.

Before me was the screen, but the undead, the decaying city and dreary clouds were nowhere to be seen. I was floating in a dark void; my only companion was the bright blue screen.

[Is that better?......I hope you don’t mind, but I used some of your points to heal you and refresh your mind.]

Tears stated to fall from my eyes as the physical pain that I had felt for years was washed away and replaced with warmth and healing in an instant. If it not for the void around me I would almost think I was finally dead. It was the only time that I was thankful to the screen.

“…..Thank you”

[Of course. It’s the least I could do. Now, do you understand why this is happening? Why you must keep going?]

I nodded and sighed.

"……..but why me? Why did you pick me for this? There were much smarter people, stronger people, and better people to do something like this. All I did was survive a little longer than anyone else."

[I know. But that’s exactly the reason why you are the best candidate for this. Survival is the most important attribute needed in defeating the abyss. If one cannot survive, then even with increased intelligence, or increased strength, or incredible ability, they will become useless when you die.]

I shook my head and sighed.

“…..Are they happy? Can I talk to my family at least? My wife?”

[….. I’m sorry. But I…*sigh* I can’t bridge that gap. But if you help the main world survive the abyss, you can die at peace, and I will take you to your family in your afterlife. There you can be with them again for eternity knowing that you brought hope for the future and meaning to their lives.]

Tears fell from my eyes as my last shred of resistance finally left me.

‘Hope……..it was really there. When I had given up…..’

I couldn’t stop the tears from falling. My sobs and cries hurt. It hurt so much. But I couldn’t stop. I wanted to cry, needed too. To vent out all my frustrations, my pain, my sorrow for so many years.

As my sobs became lighter, I smiled and began to laugh. I was still crying, but I couldn’t stop myself from laughing.

“hehaHaHaHaha!! Of course. This HahahhHahha! Is this what you all saw? Is this why you all sacrificed yourselves for me? Is this why you all wanted me to live?! HahAhAHAhHAhHaahaha!!!”

[…..are you alright?]

I shook my tear-stained head from side to side like a mad man and smiled.

“Hehehe-No. I’m not. I don’t think I ever will be. But that’s ok. Because I’ve finally seen it. The end of the road. Her hope. And the future she saw with so much conviction. Heh. And if I have to continue to suffer, to walk through this hell again to keep her hope alive, to keep all of them alive…..”

I took a breath and smiled sadly.

“So be it.”

[…..........I understand. Thank you. Truly, thank you. I wish you all the best my friend. I will be here waiting for you when you get back.]

I took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

“Keep them safe. That’s all I ask.”

[I will.]

*Ding*

[Control restored! Confirmation of acceptance of rewards acquired. Opening rewards and shop panel.]