Goodwill Participants

This makes up for the missed chapter triple release! Once again sorry, I've been a bit busy with work so I completely forgot to upload the chapter I had edited. Thank you for your patience.

Stones would be nice, let me know what you think of the book so far as we go into another arc!

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"We could beat you all on our own. We don't need anyone else so why don't you all just go and study for your tests and let us handle the event yeah?" Gojo said with a taunting smirk as he stared at the second year in front of him.

"Oh, you think you're that much of a big shot just because you were born a bit special. How about I teach you a lesson pipsqueak." Tatsuo said as he cracked his knuckles. The air around him started to alight with a ghostly Dragon that coiled up his chest and hung over his head.

"Tatsuo, back down. Gojo's already beaten you more than once." Torio said from the side as he walked into the yard, the bright sun blocked out by his bird that flew overhead and landed by his side. A blast of wind knocked the two aggressors back as they stared at each other for a few moments before turning away to look at Torio.

"As strong as you are Gojo you are not strong enough to beat the third years at Kyoto on your own. Not by yourself. They are incredibly crafty and have far more experience than you even if you might have more raw might." He started getting a look of displeasure from Gojo.

"You only need to be crafty if you're weak. I could take them." Gojo replied with a scoff as he put his hands in his pocket, looking like he wanted to say something more but Geto's hand on his shoulder stopped him from saying anything else.

Shrugging the hand off he just stood there.

Looking around the Yard Torio saw the participants in the game. A smile graced his face as he nodded his head, yeah this lineup would get them the win. While he didn't know where Atlas was he was hoping that he would show up. He had informed him that they would be meeting to get to know each other and get some practice in a few days after he was invited.

Atlas hadn't been at school almost constantly since then. He had just done what he did best and disappeared like a ghost.

So he didn't know if he would be here or not.

Putting that to the side for now he looked at the second-year girl that was sitting on the steps to the side looking in before he waved her over. Chikako, she wasn't the best fighter but her technique was invaluable in battle. It would give them the edge over people that they couldn't beat if they could get the right conditions.

But with Atlas, he didn't need to worry about not being able to beat anyone.

Sighing he looked around and asked, "So no one has seen Atlas have they?" Knowing the answer despite asking the question, just a bit of hope that maybe Geto or Gojo had seen him around somewhere.

Shaking her head Chikako said from the side a bit nervous to meet the man. "The last person to see him was you 2 days ago when you told him to meet us here. I assume he said yes right?"

"Yeah, he said he would be here," Torio responded as he sighed.

"Then he will be here," Geto said, resting his hand on the hilt of his sword as he nodded his head, sure of his own statement.

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Walking out into the yard as space folded around him Atlas appeared, the visage of a ghostly him fading from his skin as he stepped onto the grass and into the light which seemed to bring colour back into his pale skin. Atlas had been experimenting with how long he could stay in another plane and the results varied.

He could do it for a long time, but the longer he spent the less 'himself' he felt. The movement got harder and his breathing got heavier and he started feeling sickly, his body wasn't really meant to stay in another plane for that long. If he stayed in there for a really long time his limbs started to change shape, slowly elongating as his proportions distorted.

Luckily it was easily reversible with a bit of positive energy and leaving the plane but still… it was unsettling to feel the changes.

Scratching the back of his head he looked up at the 5 students that looked at him. "What? Am I late?" He asked his voice a bit confused unaware as to why they were all staring at him.

"Not really…" Torio said as he shook his head. "Just odd seeing someone… appear from space you know. You alright? You look pale." His voice held a bit of concern as Geto nodded his head from the side.

"Yeah, I'm perfectly fine. Just get a bit pale when I stay on another plane for too long. Should see me when my arms start to grow." He started getting an even more confused look from the second years Tatsuo and Chikako. Gojo didn't seem to care one bit and Geto just nodded along.

"Right. So, team building exercises? We doing some trust falls off what?" Atlas said with a bit of a smirk as Torio got himself back into leader mode.

"No nothing like that, I was thinking that we just do some light sparring. Of course, I have never fought the first years or you Atlas, so I want to get a hang of everyone's abilities so we can start to make some plans and see what training we need to do." Torio started to say as he turned to the group again clearly the leader here.

Standing to the side Atlas leaned against a pillar as he noticed Tatsuo looking over at him now and again and Chikako hadn't taken her eyes off him this entire time. Her eyes were a bit wide.

Raising an eyebrow at her she quickly looked at Torio as Atlas shook his head a bit, wondering what kind of rumours about him were going around. It was kind of amusing being on the other end of them but he was sure that a lot was being said that was far from the truth. Knowing Gojo's personality as well he probably fueled them for some fun and being one of the few people that had interaction with Atlas his word would be more trusted…

If anyone trusted the shithead at all.

Smiling as Gojo said something only for Geto to go to slap him on the back of the head. Of course, Gojo blocked quite easily before going for a counter. Blocking it with a spirit Geto used the force of the attack to throw him to his feet from where he was sitting before taking out a few more spirits.

"What do you want to start sparing? Let's go then snowflake." Geto said in a coarse voice.

"Fine, I'm getting bored of this talking anyway," Gojo responded as the grass around him started to lean towards him creating an odd effect on the ground.

Just as everyone else was backing away, not even Torio was confident in stopping a fight between the two extremely talented boys Torio just shook his head. His brows furrowing.

Stepping into space Atlas appeared between them both just as Gojo shot an attack, a blast of energy that was meant to pull Geto off his feet crashing into Atlas' unmoving hand as the attack slammed into shattered space that condensed down into his palm.

Pointing a finger a both of the boys they found themselves with a beam slamming into their hastily assembled defences, but instead of stopping it just phased through them before hitting Geto in the chest and Gojo in the shoulder as he had started to move.

With Geto soaring backwards and slamming into a wall and Gojo losing balance as he was sent spinning and tumbling Atlas said in an amused tone. "If you boys are so desperate to fight how about we have one of our little matches? I'm sure you guys have missed those." His voice dropped in octave as he looked at Gojo and Geto who meet each other's gaze with a pale face.

"Well since people seem so eager to fight let's get on with the spars. Atlas, take care of Gojo and Geto as I can't handle them, I'll see how Chikako and Tatsuo are doing." His voice was slightly amused as he cut off whatever Gojo and Geto were about to say.

Realizing they would be fighting now as Torio backed away towards the second year getting one last look at what was about to happen he shook his head, to easily handle those two troublemakers without any perceptible effort. Sure the attacks hadn't done much but push them but he had easily hit both Geto and Gojo, the boy no one had been able to land a proper attack on because of his bullshit infinity.

With Gojo and Geto realizing that they would be fighting their faces hardened, they could do this. If they were forced to fight then they would finally land a good hit on this bastard in front of them. It would take some work but they would do their best.

Clapping his hands Atlas said, "I like the look of resolve, go easy on me I'm fairly tired yeah?" Getting a glare from Geto.

"Easy my ass! We are gonna beat you this time." Geto responded with uncharacteristic aggression as he drew his sword. The shining blade suddenly shone as cursed energy flowed into it.

Clapping his hands together Gojo hyped himself up as he took his shades off and threw them to the side, he would need as much sight as he could get to keep track of where Atlas was in another plane, he could do it. It would just take focus.

Cracking his neck Atlas turned to Geto before snapping his fingers. Watching both the boys leap back as he did so.

Smiling as if nothing happened he made a single comment, "Jumpy aren't you-" But his sentence was cut off as another blast came crashing towards him as multiple spirits appeared around Geto.

Leaping over the blast with a single bound he twisted in the air until he was upside down. Watching as Gojo took advantage of this and ran underneath him in a few steps reached up as Atlas felt a pulling force take hold of his body, dragging him down towards the ground as his momentum increased drastically.

Taking it in stride Atlas plummeted, letting his body gain speed before turning around and twisting just enough to slide past the swinging sword of Geto as he spun around and kicked the four-legged train spirit hard enough to send it tumbling but instead of rolling away from him, it was suddenly yanked towards him with a powerful pull.

Dodging another swipe from Geto he turned to engage the boy but a blast from his side as he was sandwiched between that and the curse spirit that was tumbling towards him meant he had to pull backwards and away from Geto to avoid them as the spirit was hit with the full force of the attack.

Just as he was about to state how foolish that was he felt an impact on his chest as he looked to the right and saw a spirit which resembled a toad in a pot that was clasping its hands together in a sagely way. Its large mouth set in a funky grin.

It was making him take the same damage as the large spirit took. That was why they were throwing around the tank so recklessly.

Smiling he would normally just take out the spirit but he didn't want to exorcise any of Geto's spirits and the boys were going to take full advantage of that.

He could probably avoid it by going to another plane but that wasn't fair on the kids so he changed his tactics.

Dashing forward he aimed to touch the tanky spirit but it was yanked out of his grasp as Geto attacked him from the side with a downward swing.

Stepping to the side he twisted around as he slammed his foot into Geto's chest forcing the boy back and using the kick to push himself over another spirit that was attacking him. Twisting through the air he started to feel himself get yanked up so aiming at Gojo he sent multiple large beams of cursed energy towards him forcing him to cancel the pull.

Using the gained height he slammed into the ground behind the rolling tank spirit and forced it into another plane for now as soon as his hand hit it.

That should be enough for now.

Disappointed that he actually had to use his property as he was going to try and beat them without it he knew that wasn't quite possible, especially seeing them work together like this.

Seeing how they had grown Atlas said as he slid to a safe distance using the pushing and pulling of Gojo to actually help him move around. "You guys have grown a lot." His voice amused as Gojo landed behind him and with a pull, Geto came soaring through the air like a missile.

Feeling the swiping claws of the hand's spirit attack him from beneath he leapt into the air as another spirit came down from the sky, a small bird that was extremely quick, like a missile that tore through the air.

Batting it to the side he avoided Geto's attack by pushing off the flat of the swinging blade as he twisted through the air.

As Geto started to pass underneath him he grabbed the boy's shoulder firmly and twisting slammed the boy into the floor as he landed with his knee impacting the kid's chest hard. Seeing this Gojo froze for a moment before he felt his senses flare. Something was next to him.

Turning to block it he watched as just Atlas' hand came out of the folding dimensions instead of his full body. Just dodging the grab he looked back at Atlas and saw that both his hands were reaching into folding space as he kept Geto pinned down.

Feeling the hands start to come and grab from all sorts of odd angles Atlas felt the cursed spirits try to get him off their boss but dodging out of the way he emerged behind Gojo who was dodging a kick from him as he spun through the air dodging another attack of a spirit.

Blocking the kick Gojo was sent right into the waiting attack of Altas as he slammed his hand into his back and knocked him to the floor hard.

Turning to Geto he saw the boy stand up while coughing hard.

"Well, that was fun. You guys have certainly grown, I cannot wait for the day that you can challenge me, I think that it might be closer than we both think." Atlas said with an amused smirk.

Seeing the spirits fade both Gojo and Geto let out annoyed sighs as Atlas went over and healed Geto.

Watching this Gojo stared at the positive energy like it was his nemesis. Ieiri was already able to use it on herself after only a few months here. He was meant to be the talented one…

Pushing those thoughts to the side he asked. "So how did we do?"

"Good, really good. I liked the technique that you used to hurt me but remember it is very easy for me to touch things so you're going to need to find a way around that. Working together was amazing but I feel that Gojo should focus more on attacking than he did. I love that you are willing to support snowflake but your spacial blasts are something else. So figure out a way to keep Geto out of them while he keeps the pressure on." Atlas said, turning to Geto who nodded along ignoring the 'see' look that Gojo was giving him.

"Apart from that good job, I'm just an unfair opponent," Atlas said with a smirk. "How about we go gather some more spirits Geto? I can teleport around and I am sure that a bunch of first-grade ones are going to around the place."

Atlas offered as Gojo went off to train with a quick, 'have fun,' thrown over his shoulder.

Seeing this Torio was just about to ask to get some more sparing in before they left but wasn't even able to start speaking before Geto and Atlas disappeared into folding space.

Sighing he turned to Chikako who was staring at Atlas weirdly. "What?" Torio asked as she looked at him.

"I didn't expect him to be like that… he's kind of handsome." She said, causing Tatsuo to look over at her with a shocked look before glaring back at the spot that Atlas had disappeared from.

"He's clearly not even human! Look at how pale he was and how he jumps around the space, he is probably more cursed spirit than human." The boy said with a huff as he turned back to Chikako who wasn't paying attention to him.

"I didn't expect him to be like that either, he is odd but I think he has good intentions. He spends most of his time taking care of spirits however so he very rarely has time to relax. He might be a bit odd but he is fairly normal." Torio responded while also ignoring Tatsuo.

"Someone said he didn't have physical mass." Chikako pointed out.

"Marcus is an idiot." Was all Torio responded with as he smirked thinking of his friend's antics.