FLASH!

Purple particles scattered across the air. Nobody felt the familiar sensation of teleportation.

Then....

THUD.

His feet landed on solid ground. The final stage had begun. Nobody slowly stood up. His eyes immediately scanned the surroundings.

Something felt very different.

The system appeared.

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[STAGE 8 COMMENCED]

Final Tutorial Stage

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Nobody looked around.

The place resembled the tutorial space. Well, sort of. The walls were still blue and translucent. Still glowing with strange energy. But unlike the peaceful training chamber this place looked ruined. Destroyed skyscrapers rose in the distance. Broken roads stretched across the landscape. Collapsed buildings lay scattered everywhere. Chunks of concrete floated unnaturally in midair. The entire place looked like a city that had survived the end of the world.

Nobody slowly whistled. "Okay. This looks new."

A cold breeze passed through the ruins. Nobody tightened his grip. For some reason, the atmosphere felt heavier than any previous stage.

Far away, a building collapsed.

CRASH.

Nobody immediately entered combat mode. His instincts screamed danger.

The system suddenly appeared.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

[WARNING]⚠︎⚠︎

Stage 8 Opponent Has Appeared

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Nobody froze. "...Already?"

The system didn’t answer. Instead, it pointed.

Nobody slowly looked ahead. Then stopped breathing. "...What?"

A figure stood among the ruins. Motionless and watching.

Nobody’s eyes widened. The figure looked very familiar. The same black shirt. The same monster-face design and same pants.

The same overall build and the same height. The same posture. And most disturbing of all the same faceless head.

Nobody felt a chill run down his spine. "No way."

The figure slowly stepped forward.

Crunch.

Broken concrete shifted beneath its feet.

Nobody pointed immediately. "IS THAT ME?!"

The system responded.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

[STAGE 8 BOSS]

Entity Name:

Mr. Somebody

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━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Class:

???

Skills:

???

Description:

???

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Nobody blinked. "What do you mean question marks?!"

No answer came. His attention returned to the figure.

Mr.Somebody, the faceless enemy remained silent.

Nobody slowly backed away. "...Is he my clone?"

The system immediately answered.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

[YES]

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"..."

"...You could’ve lied."

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[NO]

Lying is Badヾ( ╹◡╹)ﾉ

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The clone suddenly moved. A familiar metallic sound echoed.

CLANG.

A crowbar appeared in his hand.

Nobody froze. Then pointed dramatically. "HE USES MY SIGNATURE WEAPON!"

The system replied instantly.

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[HE IS YOUR CLONE]

[OF COURSE HE DOES]

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"STOP MAKING SENSE!"

Mr.Somebody suddenly crouched.

Nobody’s eyes widened. Because he knew that stance very well. It was his stance. The one he used before rushing an enemy. "Oh no."

BOOOOM!

Mr.Somebody launched forward very fast. The distance vanished instantly.

Nobody barely reacted.

CLANG!

His own crowbars appeared just in time.

CRAAAAASH!

The enemy’s strike collided with his defense. The impact shattered nearby concrete. Both combatants slid backward. Neither moved their gaze.

Then both attacked at the same time.

CLANG!

CLANG!

CLANG!

Crowbars collided repeatedly. The sounds echoed throughout the ruined city.

Nobody swung. Mr.Somebody blocked.

Mr.Somebody attacked. Nobody blocked.

The movements looked identical. Almost perfectly identical.

Nobody immediately noticed. "Dang! This dude fights exactly like me!"

The clone didn’t answer. Instead, he suddenly disappeared.

FLASH!

Nobody’s eyes widened. "Wait...No way."

FLASH!

The clone appeared behind him. Zigzag Teleportation. His skill.

Nobody barely turned.

CLANG!

The crowbar missed his head by centimeters. He jumped backward immediately. "YOU EVEN STOLE MY TELEPORTATION?!"

The system appeared.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

[HE IS YOUR CLONE]

[OF COURSE HE HAS YOUR SKILLS]

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"..."

"...I hate this stage."

The battle continued. Mr.Somebody attacked relentlessly.

Every movement, every feint and every stance. Everything mirrored Nobody’s own combat style.

Nobody dodged. The clone dodged.

Nobody teleported. The clone teleported.

Nobody swung. The clone swung.

The battle looked like somebody fighting their reflection. Except the reflection wanted to kill them.

CLANG!

Another collision.

BOOOOM!

The shockwave shattered a nearby wall. Nobody rolled away. Then immediately rushed forward. He aimed low. But

Mr.Somebody blocked.

He aimed high.

Blocked again.

Side attack.

Blocked.

Overhead strike.

Blocked.

Nothing worked. Everything he knew the clone also knew. Nobody landed on a broken piece of concrete. Breathing heavily. "This is ridiculous."

Mr.Somebody stood opposite him. Silent and expressionless.

Nobody pointed. "You know...This is honestly creepy."

The clone remained silent.

"Can you at least say something?"

Silence.

"Anything?"

Nothing.

"...Okay. Now you’re just making it weird."

The clone suddenly rushed again.

Nobody groaned. "Never mind."

CLANG!

The battle resumed. Again and again.

And again.

Minutes passed. Neither side gained an advantage. Neither side landed a clean hit.

Every move was anticipated, every attack predicted. Because both fighters possessed the same instincts.

Nobody eventually jumped backward. Then landed atop a ruined building.

The clone followed. Landing opposite him.

The wind blew through the destroyed city. The final stage suddenly felt very different from the others.

No gimmicks. No giant monsters. Just pure skill.

Nobody slowly realized something. This wasn’t a battle of power. It wasn’t a battle of strength. It was a battle against himself. Against every habit.

Every weakness and every flaw. The clone represented all of it.

The realization hit hard. "...Oh."

The system appeared.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

[NOTICE]

Final Tutorial Objective:

Overcome Yourself

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Nobody stared at the words. Then looked at Mr.Somebody. The clone slowly raised both crowbars preparing another attack.

Nobody raised his own. A grin slowly appeared, being excited.

The enemy wasn’t stronger than him. The enemy was him.

And if he wanted to leave the tutorial he would have to prove one thing. That he was better than the person he used to be.

Nobody pointed his crowbars toward the clone. "Alright then."

Mr.Somebody entered a combat stance. The ruined city became silent.

Nobody smiled. "I have to beat you."

The clone rushed forward.

Nobody immediately rushed forward. "Let’s see how you deal with this!"

CLANG!

His twin crowbars fused together. Metal twisted and locked into a single powerful weapon.

Mr.Somebody reacted instantly. The clone rushed forward as well, preparing a counterattack.

But Nobody grinned. "Too late!"

Before the clone could strike....

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

[ZAP TELEPORTATION ACTIVATED]

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

CRACK!

Lightning exploded around Nobody.

FLASH!

He vanished.

FLASH!

Appeared above.

FLASH!

To the side.

FLASH!

Behind.

The clone tracked him, but this time Nobody wasn’t fighting normally. He spun and threw the Fusion Crowbar. "Boomerang Crowbar!"

WHOOOOOSH!

The weapon spun through the air. Mr.Somebody instantly dodged. The clone stepped aside perfectly.

Nobody clicked his tongue. "Dang."

Then the weapon curved. Returned and struck from behind.

CRAAAAACK!

The Fusion Crowbar slammed directly into the back of Mr.Somebody’s head. The clone stumbled forward.

Nobody landed smoothly. A grin appeared. "Gotcha."

It seemed he had landed a clean hit. "I think I actually hurt him." Then he noticed something. The grin vanished.

Purple light was emitting A terrifying purple light. It was leaking from the crack where the crowbar had struck.

The energy grew brighter and brighter.

The ruined city began trembling.

CRRRRRR

The system appeared instantly.

Red warning messages covered his vision.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

[WARNING]⚠︎⚠︎

Danger Level Rising:

Unknown Response Detected

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━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

[WARNING]

User Should Prepare Immediately

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Nobody slowly backed away.

The purple glow intensified. Even the air felt heavier. The clone slowly lifted his head. The light continued pouring from inside him.

Nobody felt every instinct scream. "I have to run now."

He pointed at the glowing clone. Then at the system. Then back at the clone.

Then, finally shouted....

"DAMN IT ALL!!!!!"