The System Awakens: Rise of the Champion

"I'm sorry," she whispered under her breath, her expression heavy with guilt.

She turned her focus back to the battle, launching a relentless barrage of spells at the monstrous creature to keep it at bay.

Damian might have been in a vegetative state, but he could clearly hear the woman in the robe speak.

"She's sorry, huh? What a joke," Damian murmured, a faint smile curling his blood-covered lips, revealing crimson-stained teeth.

Other than his face, he couldn't feel anything.

That was when he realized his end had come.

He was finally dying for good.

"I don't blame her or the man. It's to be expected. There was no merit in saving a half-cripple like me," Damian thought as he felt his throat grow dry.

The sensations in his head were fading, just like the rest of him.

His ears rang with a relentless Zzzzzzz... sound, drowning out the battle's echoes in the background.

Damian couldn't think straight.

He didn't even fully understand what was happening right now, except for the certainty that his heart would stop at any moment.

"At least I was able to alert the officials as soon as the red gate appeared before dying..."

Damian reflected as the pain in his broken bones, his sick lungs, his cracked skull, and the burning in his nerves all began to fade.

He felt nothing now. He felt... peace.

"Peace?"

Tears formed in his blood-soaked eyes, the red streaking down his face, mixing with the tears to leave crimson trails.

"This is not peace... death is not peace," Damian's partially functioning brain latched onto this thought, repeating it over and over.

He had been an orphan, abandoned by the parents who birthed him, and left at an orphanage when he was only five years old.

It frustrated him even more that he couldn't remember anything before joining the orphanage.

He had lived the life of a poor, sickly man, never finding true happiness or fulfillment.

He had never treated himself to a delicious meal, nor made a worthwhile friend.

He had been looked down upon, discriminated against, and trampled upon, all the way to the bitter end of his life.

Even when a miraculous gift to humanity appeared, the entity called the system, Damian remained powerless, for he had not awakened any talent or ability.

He could have cured his sickness by leveling up, but he had been far too weak to even hunt monsters.

He didn't blame anyone but himself for the life he had.

It was his fault for not awakening any ability or talent.

It was his fault for getting sick.

It was his fault for not trying harder.

Even now, he didn't blame the high-level Awakeners for not providing him medical assistance. Why would they?

He was a weak, frail, sick man, useless, a liability, an unnecessary burden.

Even though, in reality, he couldn't have known that these things would happen to him, he needed someone... someone to blame.

He didn't blame others because he knew they didn't do this to him... It was Fate.

Fate did this to him.

But Fate didn't have a physical form, so he had no choice but to blame himself for everything that happened.

Damian had countless regrets, but the most significant one was this: not truly living.

Only a few seconds remained before Damian's heart would stop completely.

He had already lost consciousness, his body devoid of life, with his heart making a desperate, final effort to pump blood.

But even that was fading, and it was only a matter of seconds before it, too, would give out.

Nearby, the fierce battle raged on.

Dozens of high-level awakeners clashed with monstrous, tentacled creatures, their combat shaking the earth with every exchange.

Overhead, a helicopter hovered, its blades slicing the air as a cameraman filmed the chaos, broadcasting the event live to the world.

The cameraman didn't bother to glance at the lifeless body lying in the dirt near the battle's epicenter.

And then, everything stopped.

The battle halted mid-swing.

The awakeners froze, their weapons mid-strike.

The monstrous creatures paused, their writhing limbs suspended in eerie stillness.

The helicopter's blades ceased spinning.

The winds fell silent, the clouds hung immobile, and even the turning of the earth ground to a halt.

Time itself froze.

A crack appeared in the sky, fracturing space like a fragile glass pane.

The jagged fracture spread rapidly before shattering into a million pieces, each disintegrating into nothingness.

From the void left behind, a woman appeared.

She was a vision of power and grace.

Her glowing blue eyes radiated an ethereal light, and her long, flowing hair gleamed like the pale white moon against the night sky.

Clad in a regal white dress that covered her completely from neck to toe, she seemed untouchable, yet her presence carried a profound sorrow.

From hundreds of meters above, her glowing eyes immediately locked onto the boy's lifeless body on the ground.

In the blink of an eye, she was there.

Unperturbed by the frozen battle, she knelt beside him.

Gently, she lifted his bloodied head and placed it on her lap, her pristine white dress stained with crimson.

She didn't care.

Placing her hand over his chest, she closed her eyes, listening intently to the faint, slowing rhythm of his heart.

"Forgive me, my beloved," she whispered, her voice trembling with restrained fury. "I should have realized they would do something like this to your soul behind my back."

Her expression twisted with anger.

"How dare they seal your talents, your bloodlines, your capabilities, your abilities? How dare they act against you? I will show them the true meaning of hell when I return."

She took a deep, shaky breath, her face softening into one of profound sadness.

Tears welled in her glowing eyes and slipped down her cheeks as she gazed at the boy.

"I can only imagine the hardships you must have endured," she murmured, caressing his pale, blood-streaked cheeks. "I don't want you to suffer anymore, but for what must come, this has to happen."

She leaned closer, her finger glowing faintly with light as she traced it along his cheek.

"I will unseal all of your capabilities, talents and abilities locked within your soul."

The light flickered, traveling from her hand to his chest, seeping into his heart, which, strangely, continued its faint rhythm despite the frozen world around them.

Raising her other hand, she summoned a blue, transparent object shaped like a prism.

It materialized out of thin air, floating gently above her palm.

"The Time Lords would freak out if they knew I brought this for you... well, it's not like they can do anything to me or you," the woman snorted.

She brought it closer, letting it hover just above his lifeless body.

The prism began to spin horizontally, emitting a soft hum.

"I should have come sooner," she whispered, her voice tinged with regret.

"The seal on your soul masked your presence, but it also hid you from them. Because of that, they didn't find you and kill your soul before you rise again. It seems even fate cannot change your destiny."

As the prism's rotation grew faster, sparks of energy crackled around it, lighting up the frozen battlefield.

"I will send your divine soul back to the day the system descended upon this mortal world," she said, her tears flowing freely now.

The prism spun faster and faster, generating a vast surge of energy.

Lightning-like arcs erupted from it, and then, with a final burst, it disintegrated into pure energy, which surged into the boy's body, making him glow with an intense, radiant light.

"Strength without struggle will not last, nor will it be enough."

"Grow stronger," the woman said, her voice steady and filled with determination.

"Grow stronger and kill anything and anyone who stands in your way on your path to invincibility."

"Become the absolute best at everything. Make every being, every race, every existence kneel before you."

"Grow strong... strong enough to dominate even the system itself."

She smiled softly as she watched the boy's soul begin to separate from his body, glowing faintly as it ascended.

"I will always be with you," she whispered as his soul drifted away.