The royal flush (unordinary fanfic)

Chapter 21: God tier

"Arlo." Isen greeted as he took the seat across of Arlo.

"So?" Arlo did not hesitate to immediately ask.
Just at that moment, someone wearing a hood and a mask entered the boba shop. He sat directly behind Isen.

"I found out that she's the daughter of a high tier couple from XY city. However, she went missing more than a year ago. I also found out that she used to be called Lia Veil."

"What's her level and ability?" Arlo interrupted.

"That's where the problem arises. I've looked through her school records and even newspaper records, they all state that she's a cripple."

"WHAT? A cripple? That's impossible!" Arlo insisted. "So there is practically no information about her ability whatsoever?"

Isen nodded. "She's a late bloomer and it happened during the time she was missing. But she was a ghost during that time."

"You can stop investigating her now." Arlo said. "I doubt you'll find anything else."

Arlo slammed the door shut in his dorm.

"Fuck!" Arlo sweared loudly.

"Isn't someone feisty?" A voice from a figure in the dark said.

"Seraphina? What the hell are you doing here?"

"I just wanted to ask some questions." Seraphina emerged from the dark.

"Ask away."

"How did you manage to get the book without even me noticing?"

Arlo sighed. "Elaine."

Seraphina could guess what had happened, she could only silently apologize to Elia.

"You reported her for no reason?" Seraphina now understood the reason Elia was suspended.

"I tried to use the book to threaten her. I failed and she defeated me. So I-"

"So you were petty and tried to get back at her by reporting her." Seraphina interrupted.

"Something like that." Arlo mumbled.

"Look how that has backfired. So? what got you so mad?"

"Isen failed to find out anything about her ability."

"Why do you want to know that?" Seraphina raised an eyebrow.

Arlo couldn't help but recall a painful memory.

2 days ago

Arlo punched the wall in his dorm.

"I actually got beaten up." Arlo was still shaking from the pain he had felt when Elia had touched his shoulder. He still felt weak even now. He jumped onto his bed without changing, urgently trying to sleep his frustrations away.

"Something's wrong." He noticed. Even if he was subjected to extreme pain just a while ago, he shouldn't be feeling this weak. He tried materializing a barrier to a surprise nothing appeared.

"What the fuck?"

He tried a few more times but nothing would appear.

"My ability is gone?" He realized in horror. His hands shook uncontrollably. He kept trying to materialize a barrier for fifteen minutes or so before a barrier appeared. Arlo breathe a sigh of relief that it wasn't permanent however his sense of relieve quickly disappeared. He noticed that the barrier appeared more weak looking that usual.

"Does that mean i have to wait before my ability returns fully?" Arlo thought.

Back to present

"She made you lose your ability for half an hour?" Seraphina asked wondering if she had heard Arlo correctly.

"It recovered completely only after half a day."

Seraphina gasped in shock. "She has that kind of ability? That's definitely a god tier. Wait does that mean?"

"Yes," Arlo confirmed Seraphina's suspicions. "I can't use my ability now. Let's hope it returns after 15 minutes."

Arlo and Seraphina sat together. The atmosphere was quiet and tense.
"Here we go." Arlo said after 15 minutes was finally over, those 15 minutes felt like forever to him.
To both of their surprise, nothing happened. A barrier did not materialized.
"No way, does that mean? The time that my ability dissappears correlates with the time she touches me?" Arlo gasped. His stared at his empty hands.
"That's terrifying." Seraphina shuddered involuntarily. "Well, contact me after it returns." Seraphina turned to leave.
Arlo gave a slight nod. Inwardly, he was despairing. He was a cripple now, a f**king cripple.