On occasion Atlas would not be able to rely on his barrier and have to deal with a particularly dangerous monster on his own. The maintenance served as both a healing time and a time to make sure that there were no threats that would be to difficult for the barrier to handle. When he had reached the very end of his matinance he had run into a bit of a snag, or to be more specific, he ran into a monster hoard which was headed strait for the barrier. As soon as the system had picked up on it the black smoke had erupted in the room and he had been transported into the midst of all of the creatures which were bashing themselves against the barrier. He emedeatly got to work slaughtering all of them with a sword which he had made several years previously, the sword was a replica of the sword which had been the last one he used on the battlefield in his past life. He had a bit of an attachment tward it since it had been the one with him in the end of it all. Hos family had found it alittle bit odd that he had been so set on that particular weapon, but they had happily found the materials for the weapon. he carefully wiped the blood off of his weapon and then began cutting through the ranks again.
When he finally finished cutting them down he piled up the corpses and teleported them to the possessing office. He looked down at his watch and saw that it was already late in the evening.
"System, where are the children?"
[Warning!!! Given the hosts instructions they were sent to the hunting grounds for training]
Atlas signed and teleported himself to the grounds. He knew that the boar wouldn't kill the children, but still he wondered how they were faring. when he reached the location he was surprised to find Clare using a recovery ability on two of the other students while the remaining students were holding off the boar. He clapped his hands and the fighting instantly stopped and both the children and the boar fell to the ground exhausted.
"Well, you did very well today, now then, there is a school assembly today which all of you have to attend so I will send you back to the dorm, and catch up a bit later. Make sure that you reach the assembly on time."
He didn't wait for them to say a word and instead instantly teleported them to their rooms. He then turned tward the boar and gave it another pile of meat in payment, and then sat down on the ground to take a small break. He had been holding the barrier up for all of the seventeen years since the beginning of the attack, and it was a constant drain on his overall strength. Thankfully he had strength to spare and he didn't really feel the strain that much. He had to make sure that the students were able to grow up in a safe environment no matter what it took. He suddenly was aware of his mobile phone alerting him of a call. So he reached down in his pocket and answered the phone with a tired voice.
"Hello?"
A worried voice began speaking him over the phone.
"Are you okay right now? I've been trying to get ahold of you for half an hour now. Mother is extremely worried you know? And then all of those corpses show up with you nowhere in sight... What is your condition?"
Atlas chuckled and yawned.
"I'm fine, just a bit tired. There were quite a few of those things to deal with this time. The attacks are becoming bolder, by next season we might have to implement your plan."
The leader was silent for a minute and then Atlas heard a sign over the phone.
"How fast can you get here... Never mind."
Dirk set down his phone and looked at Atlas who had appeared in the chair across from him. He looked extremely worn out which worried Dirk, his brother always had a bad habit of taking on too much work, and had a bad tendency to overwork himself to the point of collapsing. At times like these he would remember the story his mother would always tell him about the first time she had met Atlas.
"You need to go have a check up. We can talk about the issues of the barrier after the assembly."
Atlas sighed and smiled at Dirk who was looking worried and relieved at the same time. He had always been such a considerate person when it came to his family, and it never failed to make Atlas smile when he would show that side of him. Ever since he had become the leader, Dirk had closed off that part of him for the most part, so in rare moments like this, Atlas felt quite refreshed.
"Oh, before I forget, one of the students has discovered their ability, it seems to be a type of recovery ability."
This snapped Dirk back into a more business manner which he used most often these days.
"What do you plan to do with the student? If you want we can put them into special training... Can they be used to help you?"
Atlas shook his head and drummed his had which was covered in an old burn wound. He had never been able to fully fix his hand after helping out the people who became his family. He was able to use it well enough, but it was always a bit stiff and his touch was slightly dull, on the palm of his hand his sence of touch was completely gone. It was an odd sensation for him, but over the years he had gotten used to the feeling, and having to make sure that he kept an eye on it for any injuries that he may get. It was but one of many as far as his injuries were concerned, over the years he had accumulated so many injuries for various reasons that the entire upper half of his body was a slightly different color than the rest of him becouse of the high amount of scar tissue. The particular problem that Dirk was referring to was his fatigue from the barrier.
"From what I know of it, she wouldn't be able to handle the strain from trying to take away the problem, and it could cause permanent damage."
Dirk frowned and narrowed his eyes.
"I thought you told mother that it wasn't that bad these days? Just how bad has it gotten exactly?"
Atlas sighed and held out his arm for Dirk to see. A small ring of black had started to form on his wrist. The more a power was used, the more damage was caused to the body, after too much use a black stain would start to cover ones body, and if the user did not let their power cool down the stain would eventually consume them and they would then turn into a mindless monster, similar to the ones in the fog. They had seen it happen several times before toward the beginning of the project. As far as it was known there was no way to return once the person changed, not many people knew of this and instead the rumor that over use of powers would lead to death was circulated in order to prevent this from occurring.
"Why didn't you say something about this sooner? If it's already forming a ring that means it's only a matter of time before things go down hill."
Atlas nodded his head and retracted his arm away from Dirk who was frowning.
"Liked I said, next season we may have to implement your plan. Everyone has a different limit on their powers, and it wouldn't have mattered if I would have told you earlier, it doesn't change the fact that I still have to keep up the barrier, so there is no reason to bother others with the knowledge unless necessary right?"
Dirk tightened his hand into a fist and then breathed deeply.
"You never change, do you? Every time something like this happens you always keep us in the dark until the last possible moment. I assume that means that you have a plan for those children as well then?"
Atlas nodded his head and them leaned back in his chair, he was getting exhausted just thinking about a of the things that he had to get done before he bowed out of the scene. He pressed his fingers against his temples and let out a long sigh.
"Come on, even if you won't take a break you still need to take care of your health."
Dirk walked over and dragged Atlas out of his chair toward the door.
"You realise that the assembly is in fifteen minutes right? You of all people can't miss that, and I have to be their as a teacher myself, so I can go to the medical center after the event."
Dirk looked very unsatisfied, but he knew what Atlas was saying was correct. This was a mandatory meeting, it would be bad if a new teacher was absent. Only the students and a select group of people knew that the teacher was also the one keeping the barrier up so it would defenetly make things alot more complicated for Atlas to deal with the others, but at the same time he looked like he was about to collapse from exhaustion. He suddenly straitened himself up and began walking beside Dirk as though nothing was wrong. All of the fatigue he had seen had simply vanished, but Dirk knew better than to believe what he saw when it came to Atlas. He was quite good at putting on a front when dealing with people.
"Well then let's get going, but I am telling another about this. She needs to be able to prepare for the worst case scenario."
Atlas sighed and slowed down his pace a bit.
"You know how she will react if you tell her. She is already worried as it is about you, don't make her worry about me on top of that."
Dirk didn't say a word and they went their separate ways to the assembly. Dirk was worried about Atlas, lately he had been acting very abnormally. It was almost like he was getting ready to deal with something big. He decided to let it go for now and just get the assembly out of the way, then he would drag his brother to the doctor if he had to.