The Awakening Error - The system's Greatest Error

The night after our final battle was both quiet and heavy. We walked side by side, the exhaustion of our grueling fight weighing heavily on our shoulders. The cheers from the arena had faded away, but the tension between us lingered. There had been no time for words after the match, no time to process everything that had happened. But now, as we walked in the cold night air, I could feel the unspoken questions hanging between us.

Ronan was unusually quiet as we walked, his eyes distant. For the first time, he seemed... vulnerable. I decided it was time to ask.

"You never really talk about your past, Ronan. Why is that?" I asked softly.

Ronan stopped walking, his gaze shifting to the horizon. There was a pause before he spoke, his voice carrying the weight of something long buried. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you," he began, his tone low. "It's not the kind of story you tell just anyone."

I could feel the gravity in his words. We'd been through so much together, yet this side of him, the one hidden in shadows, was something I had never truly seen.

"Try me," I said, my voice steady. "We've been through a lot, Ronan. You're my friend. Whatever it is, we can handle it."

Ronan met my eyes, a flicker of something dark passing through his gaze. He took a deep breath before speaking again.

"My story isn't a simple one, Ethan. I wasn't born like you or anyone else you know. My abilities—my power—it didn't come from just being born with it. No, my power came from something else entirely."

I could feel my curiosity rising. "What do you mean?"

Ronan's expression darkened as he looked down at his hands, like he was reliving memories he couldn't escape. "My mother's side of the family... they had a very weak form of resonance. It wasn't much—just a faint connection to energy. It wasn't something that could be used for combat or anything useful. It was a rare trait, but not one that was valued in any way. My mother's family—they were always on the fringe, never really able to make a name for themselves."

I frowned, trying to process what he was saying. "So, your resonance... it came from your mother's side? But it was weak?"

Ronan nodded. "Exactly. And because of that, they were slowly erased from history. My mother's family was almost extinct by the time I was born. There were only a handful of us left, and we were considered irrelevant."

"But then... what happened?" I asked, my curiosity piqued.

Ronan's gaze grew distant, like he was staring into a memory he wished he could forget. "When I was young, I was taken. An organization came to me, looking for children with potential. They were running experiments—trying to create super-soldiers, beings with more power than any normal person could possess. They experimented on me, trying to force my resonance to awaken, trying to make me stronger. But instead of strengthening it, they made it unstable. The weak resonance from my mother's side—it was stirred up during the experiment, and it mutated into something else."

I stood still, processing his words. "So, that's how you survived?"

Ronan nodded grimly. "Yes. The experiment pushed my body and mind to the brink, but instead of dying, I became something... different. My resonance, once weak and faint, became much more than just a faint connection. It allowed me to do things no one else could—things that kept me alive when every other experiment failed."

I felt a sudden sense of realization. "The clones. Your clones—they each have different traits, right? Is that what happened?"

Ronan's eyes darkened further. "Exactly. My resonance mutated, and with it, my ability to create clones—each one of them has a different trait. Some of them are fast, others are strong, some have enhanced senses, and some can manipulate energy. It's like each clone was an expression of a different part of my mutated resonance. Each clone has a unique trait, tied to my resonance."

I was stunned. Ronan's power, his ability to create clones, wasn't just about creating duplicates of himself. Each clone was an extension of his mutated resonance, and each one had a different power.

"That's... incredible," I whispered. "But why didn't you tell anyone?"

Ronan exhaled slowly, a look of frustration crossing his face. "Because no one would understand. They would have tried to control me, use me for their own gain. I had to keep it hidden, keep my past buried. I was alone in this, Ethan. Alone with my power, and alone with the knowledge of what had been done to me."

I could hear the weight of his words. He had been carrying this secret, this burden, for so long. The experiments, the isolation, the power—he had kept it all to himself, not because he didn't trust me, but because he feared what it could mean if anyone knew.

"Ronan, I had no idea," I said quietly.

He gave a small, tired smile. "No one does. But now you do. And I'm glad you know."

We walked in silence for a few moments, the weight of Ronan's story settling between us. But before we could speak again, something changed. There was a disturbance in the air—a ripple of energy that made my skin prickle.

I glanced around, but I couldn't see anything. "What's going on?" I asked, my voice tense.

Ronan's eyes narrowed. "They're here."

From the shadows, figures emerged—figures that radiated an unnatural power, their eyes cold and calculating. They didn't look like normal arena competitors. These were people with purpose, with intent. And I could feel the malice radiating from them.

One of them stepped forward, his voice low and menacing. "We know who you are, Ronan. We know your history, your lineage. You were never meant to survive. But now, it's time for you to pay for what you've become."

I felt a chill run down my spine. These weren't just random opponents. They knew something about Ronan's past—something I didn't understand. The air grew tense, and I could feel the pressure building as they closed in on us.

"What do you want?" I demanded, stepping in front of Ronan.

The figure smiled cruelly. "We've been watching you. And now, it's time to take back what belongs to us."

Ronan stood tall beside me, his expression hardening. "I don't know who you are, but I'm not going down without a fight."

Before we could react, they attacked—fast, brutal, and relentless. These were not ordinary enemies. They were skilled, their powers honed to perfection. And despite everything we had fought through, it quickly became clear that these enemies were not after a simple victory. They were after something much more dangerous—something that had been buried in Ronan's past.

We fought back, using every ounce of our strength and skill, but it wasn't enough. The battle was fierce, and the enemies we faced were more powerful than anything we had encountered before.

The night that had begun with shared stories of the past was now a fight for survival—a fight that we didn't know we could win. But we had no choice. We had to keep fighting, or else everything Ronan had been through, everything he had survived, would be for nothing.