An Understated Dominance (Dustin Rhys)

Hera was scared out of her wits. The moment Dustin effortlessly deflected her attacks, the urge to retreat had already taken root. Her instincts screamed danger when she looked at him. He was someone she couldn’t afford to provoke.

Still, she’d clung to the hope that with Zeus by her side, their combined strength might still secure victory.

But after witnessing him suffer a grievous wound and lose his arm in a single strike, panic consumed her entirely.

Hera’s strength paled in comparison to Zeus’. If he couldn’t survive a single strike, she would fare even worse.

When she saw Dustin raise his hand again, she no longer hesitated. She pushed off the ground and shot into the sky. Her form blurred into a streak of motion as she fled into the distance.

Survival was her only priority now. Zeus’ fate wasn’t her concern.

Dustin had ascended to the realm of terrestrial immortals. Unless the Supreme Leader himself took action, no one in the Hall of Gods could stand against Dustin.

“You think you can run?”

Dustin smiled faintly. He raised one hand above his head and swept it downward.

A bone-deep rumble split the sky. From above, a colossal golden palm suddenly passed through the clouds and descended on Hera with crushing inevitability.

The palm dwarfed mountains and valleys alike. Its presence swallowed daylight whole, leaving only shadow in its wake. Next to that colossal palm, she looked like a fly about to meet a flyswatter.

“What in the…”

Seeing the palm pressing down from above, Hera’s face went pale with terror, and a chill ran down her spine. Even if she used all her strength, she knew it was impossible to escape the palm’s overwhelming reach.

scream as the golden palm closed around her. Silence followed immediately

ground at the ancient temple gates. Her circulatory pathways were severed, her bones shattered completely, and blood poured from her nose and mouth. She lay

the thinnest thread. Dustin had deliberately held back. Otherwise, the colossal golden palm’s grip would have crushed her into pieces. Then again, looking at her

monks and guards at the ancient temple entrance stared in horror at her corpse-like form

had only heard explosive sounds and felt waves of overwhelming pressure that

second, the colossal golden palm descended from the clouds and effortlessly captured her. By the time she hit the ground, she was half-dead and couldn’t move even a

supreme master from

how the royal god Hera had been so easily defeated. At that

the ancient temple, Dustin turned his gaze

his nose and mouth, and his face was deathly pale. Though his injuries weren’t as severe as Hera’s, he

did you become so strong?” Zeus snarled through gritted teeth, rage

had suspected Dustin had achieved a breakthrough, the reality of facing that overwhelming power left him stunned.

time had actually passed? A week? Perhaps

how could Dustin, who hadn’t even perfected the

wrap his mind around it. He refused to

ultimate grandmaster realm. Yet, Dustin had accomplished in

What had happened?

smiled faintly. “I paid for it

his physical form had begun to collapse under the strain, and he almost

erupted from inside him, dragging him back from death’s door. With

stars had aligned perfectly. Perhaps this was what Grace