I think you are just confused about how initiative works for auto-barriers and buffs.
In this specific case; higher initiative = you move later.
In practice, the "people with thousands more power than you" also probably have higher initiative, and so they trigger their barrier after you trigger yours. If you participate in GNW, you can maybe see how passive buffs and barriers are triggered. The team with lowest overall initiative will do them first and the team with highest overall initiative will apply buffs and barriers last.
For attacks and mysteries; higher initiative = you move sooner. (Which makes sense :D)