An Understated Dominance by Marina Vittori

Faced with the black blade slicing toward him, Dustin stood firm. He didn’t flinch or evade. Instead, he simply extended two fingers and clamped down on it.

As soon as the blade met his fingers, it stopped and emitted a faint hum as it glimmered ominously in the light.

“Huh?” Jeremiah’s eyes widened as he watched Dustin catch the blade between his fingers.

With that strike, he had unleashed at least 80% of his strength, and the modified blade was sharp enough to cut through steel effortlessly. It was a force capable of slicing through anything- even a tank.

But Dustin had stopped the attack, and he had done so with just two fingers. Was he also some kind of genetically enhanced beast?

Jeremiah’s shock quickly turned to resolve as he tried to withdraw his blade. But before he could muster the strength, Dustin’s fingers twisted slightly, and with a sharp crack, the blade shattered.

Jeremiah frowned. Though he was surprised, he didn’t hesitate as he swung another blade toward Dustin’s head.

“Again?” Dustin repeated the move and extended his fingers to catch the descending blade. With a sharp twist, he snapped it in half.

Jeremiah staggered back a few steps from the force. He glanced down and saw both blades on his arms shattered. The weapons that could slice through steel now felt like paper in front of Dustin. It was a harsh blow to his confidence.

“Do you have any other tricks?” Dustin asked coolly.

spread his

the shattered blade in his arms began to regenerate and restore itself in the blink of an eye. The blade was an

only could he regrow a severed arm, but if his head were completely severed, he could quickly heal as long as it

one of the most formidable and successful genetically enhanced

eyes and was surprised by how quickly Jeremiah regenerated the broken blades on his arms. It was

Jeremiah charged forward

blades again, and his arms swung forward in unison. The sharp blades descended toward Dustin’s neck from

before the blades could strike, he drove his fist into

created a bloodied, gaping wound the size of a fist. His body flew back over ten yards as if struck by

crash to the ground, he flipped midair. He landed firmly on his feet, and it left

His scales could

wound that exposed bone. His sheer

Fenley. While Dustin was a challenge, he hadn’t considered him a serious threat. But now, he realized Dustin was

his specialty, revealing more of his abilities would make the later rounds even more challenging. So, he

thought in mind, he took a deep

red. His once-human face twisted into something beastly with

red horns sprouting from his head and the lizard-like tail extending from his lower back. With horns on