Unordinary: New Student

18: Breakthrough

Stephanie's POV

"It's already over." I stepped toward Arlo. "So stop it and let her go." 

Arlo glanced at me, his eyes full of mockery. "Or what, low tier?" His grip tightened on the Agwin Queen's neck, and the girl's eyes bulged as the pressure increased on her neck.

"You." I started running toward his barrier. "Are." I ignored Blyke's and Seraphina's cries telling me to stop. "An asshole." Arlo's eyes widened, as if he couldn't believe I would attack him.

I decided to try something I had never tried before. I knew I couldn't break through the King's barrier with brute force. Holding my hands out in front of me, I concentrated on the barrier, trying to slow down the flow of energy in a certain part of it. I was trying to weaken that spot in the barrier, so I could try and break through.

Once I thought I had considerably weakened the part of the barrier, I raised my right arm to punch it as hard as I could. To my satisfaction, I completely shattered that spot. Unfortunately, even though I had weakened it, I still took reflective damage. I grit my teeth as I heard the bones in my forearm crack slightly. "Ouch." I muttered.

I grinned as Arlo coughed, a small amount of blood splattering onto his shirt. With a grunt, he removed his barrier (which had a hole in it) and shoved the Agwin Queen away from him. Broven cried, "Rein!" and rushed toward her.

I stepped back quickly as Arlo then advanced toward me, anger shining in his eyes. "You," he growled. "Why did you do that?!" As he formed a barrier around me, trapping me, Seraphina stepped in.

"Arlo. Stop now." Her voice was a little shaky, considering I had just smashed through Arlo's barrier. "Or you will face me next."

Throwing a murderous glare at me, Arlo grumbled, removing his barrier reluctantly. I let out a soft sigh of relief, hurriedly walking back to Seraphina. "Thanks." I whispered. 

"No problem." Sera murmured, eyeing my arm with slight concern. "Go get your arm healed by Elaine."

"Okay." I walked over to Elaine and Blyke. I ignored their shocked stares, which were aimed at me, and smiled as I saw Blyke was completely healed. "Uhhh, Elaine?" I asked.

"Eeep! Y-yes?" She yelped.

I blinked at her reaction. "Erm, Seraphina wanted you to heal me."

"S-sure!" She quickly took my arm, activating her ability and healing it.

Blyke cleared his throat. "So um... how did you do that?"

"I slowed down the energy movement in one part of his barrier to weaken it." I answered with a slight shrug. "Simple, but not easy."

Blyke stared into my eyes, which made me a little uncomfortable. "You're... you're not a low tier, are you?"

I felt guilt stab my heart at how disappointed he sounded. "I'm actually an elite tier... sorry I didn't tell you..."

"It's fine." Blyke turned his head. "I understand."

As I talked to Blyke, Broven smirked at Arlo. "Well, that's embarrassing. I've never seen a team fight itself before. And didn't you say she-" he looked at me. "-is a low tier?"

As Arlo glared at Broven, slightly embarrassed, Seraphina's head turned toward Broven, making him flinch. "This Turf Wars is still ongoing. You have two options. Either forfeit, and accept your loss... or continue to fight, with me as your next opponent. Which will you choose?"

Broven lowered his gaze in defeat. "Fine. You win."

***

The way back was super awkward for me. On the train, Elaine sat next to Arlo this time, healing the injury I afflicted on him. I didn't sleep in fear of Arlo murdering me in my sleep. I sat next to Seraphina, who was playing games on her phone.

"Uh, Sera?" I said carefully.

"Yes?" She lifted her gaze briefly from her phone. 

"Do you think what I did back there was a bad idea?" I asked.

"Well," She thought for a second. "It was pretty stupid. I mean, you just got on the King's bad side." She paused, laughing at my expression. "But I think you did the right thing."

"Really?" I closed my eyes for a second. "I was impulsive. I shouldn't have acted so rashly. Now Arlo probably knows that I'm not a low tier."

"What's done is done." Seraphina looked back down at her phone. "It's no use worrying about it now. Just get some rest. How's your recoil damage?"

"I'm fine. I didn't take that much damage." I replied. "And Elaine healed me anyway." In reality, I still felt a bit tired, but I didn't want to sleep in case I had another nightmare. 

I glanced back at Arlo and Elaine whispering about something. What could they have been talking about?