The Sadist saw Sebastian stumble; Laura sees him stand. His unconscious mind constructs the environment, now more gently than before. No wires drag him between horrors. The transition doesn't bruise him. Instead, the crypt fades to black, and the furnace blazes around him.

Anxiety denied him an elevator once, but his confidence does so now. In his memory of Beacon, he recreated everything familiar to the player, particularly the path to escape. In his memory of the crypt, he met our memories halfway by editing out the noxious gas while including (and ignoring) the valve wheels, our apparatus of escape. Against Laura, he revisits another scenario where he fled into an elevator, but he edits the elevator out.

Sebastian fulfills the metanarrative's arc. He has separated from the player's memories so far that he denies the possiblity of re-enacting The Evil Within. The player remembers Laura's boss layout as a trap, but Sebastian treats the furnace as the opposite. He closes off any exit and keeps Laura close.

Sebastian now puts the onus on us. The player must cope with Laura anew. Fortunately, he has taught us how to fight. Tactical evasion changed traps from threats into opportunities, and we develop that strategy further against Laura. In so doing, we get what we wanted in The Evil Within — an unambiguous victory.