Everyone was crying in this room, thinking I was already dead. Even Alex seemed to mourn over my death before I announced my appearance. Was this how it felt when you watched people cry over your death? It was a heart wrenching feeling, no matter how much I seemed to hate them before.

"Rika can't be dead," Shelly's eyes were red.

"She's not," I came into the room.

Luke looked up as he stared at me in shock alongside Alex who did the same as he stopped comforting his cousin.

"Why aren't you charging the teleportation gate?" I started to get mad to distract myself from joining in the crying party.

Didn't they know how I risked my own life to help them get to safety? That monster could come after me at any moment, tracking where I teleported. There was a limit on how much this barrier that protected us could slow down the time.

I was sure it wasn't my imagination when I heard his mutters right before I landed in Luke's mansion, "tch! She didn't fall for it like the others!"

I could tell his grudge was strong towards anyone who resided inside these mansions. It wouldn't take seconds until he would soon discover my lie after barging in. Although I felt sympathetic for him, my life was important as well. I somehow knew I would not be as lucky as him to survive from one more touch from another monster.

"You're alive," Sienna rushed to pull me into a tight hug like she was checking if I was real.

"I am and we're all going to get out of this alive," I wanted to get us all out of here as I could feel the monster teleporting back to his original position.

I knew I couldn't trust the monster from the start. He was definitely a better actor than me. But when his eyes slightly narrowed from the mention that I was the girl inside the mansion, I knew he wasn't the person he appeared to be. Being in the first district told me that nobody was truly trustworthy. However, no one in the room moved until I decided to charge the teleportation gate first. I guessed this was the difference from knowing how it felt to be a few seconds away from your death.

"Just rest," Luke took over my position.

His eyes were puffy for the first time when I got a closer look. No one spoke as I sat down on the couch, watching them charge the teleportation gate without me. I knew everyone was pushing themselves to their limits as both Sienna and Shelly soon appeared like they were about to faint any moment.

"I'll take your place," I gently pushed them aside.

Before they could refuse, I filled up the entire teleportation gate. My body started to wobble as the amount of mana I had now was dangerously low. Luke immediately caught me before I began to fall down. Seeing my determination, I noticed Luke pushing his emotions aside as he ordered everyone to enter the teleportation gate.

My vision wavered back and forth until I felt myself dropping into Luke's arms as Sienna pushed the self-destruction button before we all began to vanish. So this was how it was all done? It was too much for me. I felt the time click back in its place as we all landed in the school courtyard.

The lovely school building welcomed us inside. A safe haven compared to what we were in before. I never wanted to leave the school grounds again.

"I really thought I was going to die," I whispered as real tears streamed down my face in relief.

I soaked in the warm sunlight, comforting me for managing to stay alive in this world for another day. Luke supported me as we walked together to our dorm room. There was no way we could prepare for our morning classes when we were all about to collapse. Luke made sure I never left his sight as an aftereffect of thinking that I had actually died.

I looked at the calendar to check how many more days we had until I would have to leave the school for the party. I gasped as the date showed the party was tomorrow. Didn't the barrier slow the time down? There would be no way Luke would let us all miss this much school.

"How?" The marble dropped onto the floor.

"We couldn't stop time or slow down time to the extent it included the entire first district. It would use too much mana. Since we didn't know how long it would take to escape, we slowed down time enough to only include the neighborhood." Luke explained.

We had a party that was dangerously tomorrow, which meant we had to leave this safe haven soon. I sighed as I wished I could skip the party that everyone already planned while I was recovering.

"The party is hosted at a mansion at the opposite end of the one we came from," Luke assured me.

I nodded my head to tell him I understood where he came from. No one wanted to come close to that neighbourhood again. My plans for the future changed inside my head. After I escaped the school, I was immediately going to the lower districts where no monsters existed. I no longer desired to explore the first district.