Chapter 515 - The Cold (4) - Charles' POV

These people were crazy, wildly delusional with their illusions of Rika. I remembered all of them complaining about Rika before that magical girl video was leaked. Blaming her for bringing our fraction down, badmouthing her when Luke wasn't around. I gritted my teeth as another one of them joined to get past me. Pouring more mana into my barrier, I stepped forward while swinging my sword to their pressure spots.

"We need a healer!" Delia yelled for more support.

"We also have ten people injured here!" Oliver searched if any of us could spare a hand.

I almost lost my focus when I heard a former member shouted to her allies to bring more weapons. Making me distracted by distributing more mana boosters, the former members took this chance to crush my barrier. My eyes widened when my sword was kicked to the ground, making me vulnerable. I quickly whipped out a stronger barrier to replace it, knowing they weren't sane from their desperate eyes.

"Place five fireballs on that end and ten tornados on the other side," one of the fans yelled.

"What if we add more black holes?" A fan suggested.

"We can do both!" She shouted back.

By the time the night was over, none of us could get up anymore. Rika's fans only gave up since they couldn't miss classes. Luke's eyes were filled with gratitude, thanking all the people who helped with his exhausted smile. He slightly trembled while holding Rika, bȧrėly able to trust anyone outside his family anymore. He maintained his strong barrier, walking back to his dorm room before Rika's fans could change their minds.

I knew he considered me to be one of the few people that he could trust when he asked me to bring their breakfast to his dorm room. Like that fraction meeting wasn't bad enough, I was stunned when all their possessions were stolen. With Rika's pleading, they ended up moving into my bedroom. I didn't want to switch dorm rooms with them, knowing it was where most of the photos and videos were taken.

Sleeping together in one bed, Luke accepted all of Rika's complaints, spoiling her in the process. Nobody was comfortable on the bed, bȧrėly enough space to fit even three people. She was the smallest out of the four of us but taking around half of the bed. Alex was more generous towards her than his own partner, sleeping on his shoulder to take less space. I always thought both of them weren't strict enough with Rika.

However, I never realized they had no choice but to be generous towards Rika. After Luke harshly scolded her, threatening to seal her mana for being reckless, she began to apologize. My ears were filled with sounds of her miserably crying and sniffling for hours, starting to feel guilty for making her cry so much. The blankets were wet from her tears, almost creating a puddle. I wondered how Luke appeared bȧrėly affected, repeating his lecture instead of comforting her.

"This is what always happens," Alex explained to me.

"Every time?" I found it hard to believe.

"She won't listen to us otherwise," his eyes were filled with the same guilt.

Until Rika cried herself to sleep, we could hear her voice slightly shaking, hiccupping every few hours in between. Luke appeared exhausted, tucking her properly into the bed. I could notice he didn't like threatening her to listen to him. Nobody wanted to watch someone beg, appearing absolutely tortured and miserable. She never took a break, feeling like she was wronged. Luke threw me an apologetic gaze, "Rika knows what she has done wrong now. She'll cause less trouble for the next few days."

I nodded my head, accepting their apologies. The temperature was dropping inside the barrier, the storm getting worse as time passed. Rika began to shiver, her face getting paler and cold from the slightest touch when my hand brushed past her. Instead of keeping himself warm, Luke focused on heating her blankets. However, with her condition bȧrėly improving, he decided to tightly hug her in his arms to share some of his body heat with her.

"We should decide on what to do next," I knew we couldn't stay here for long.

"The closer we get to the shack the worse the storm becomes," Alex pointed out.

"But we don't have a choice," I couldn't find another place resembling a shelter.

"We should first determine where we are," Luke studied our surroundings.

"We don't have our marbles with us," my hands shook with resentment.

"I have enough mana to teleport us to the shack," Rika opened her eyes, interrupting our conversation.

"If everyone agrees," she shrank under Luke's eyes.

It seemed that she didn't know that she was still alive from Luke keeping her warm. Some colour returned to her cheeks as she began to realize what position she was in. I could tell that Luke was starting to get furious with her again, her suggestion putting her into a more precarious state than before.