Grant's fist never reached its target.

June stepped inside the attack as though she had known it was coming long before Grant himself.

Her fingers closed gently around his wrist.

Not tightly.

Not violently.

Almost effortlessly.

Grant tried to pull away.

He couldn't.

For the first time in twenty years...

The undefeated master of Red Crane Dojo looked confused.

"What—"

He never finished.

June rotated her hips no more than a few inches.

Her feet barely moved.

Grant's balance disappeared.

The room gasped.

A man weighing over two hundred pounds lifted off the tatami as if gravity had forgotten him.

Then—

THUD.

His back struck the mat with a force that shook the entire dojo.

Silence.

No cheering.

No applause.

Only stunned breathing.

Grant stared at the wooden ceiling, unable to understand what had happened.

"I... I slipped."

He climbed to his feet, face burning with humiliation.

"No one throws me."

He attacked again.

A spinning back kick.

Faster.

Harder.

Angrier.

June calmly stepped to the outside.

One hand redirected his leg.

The other touched his shoulder.

Grant spun past her.

Completely off balance.

He crashed face-first onto the mat.

Another deafening silence.

Several senior students exchanged nervous glances.

One finally whispered,

"She isn't fighting..."

"She's controlling him."

Grant's pride exploded.

"You little monster!"

He rushed her with a flurry of punches.

One...

Two...

Five...

Ten.

None landed.

June flowed around every strike like water around stone.

She never looked frightened.

She never rushed.

She simply waited.

Then she gently pushed Grant's elbow upward while guiding his wrist downward.

A sharp pain shot through his arm.

Grant dropped to one knee.

June released him immediately.

She stepped back.

"I don't want to hurt you."

Those words hurt Grant far more than any technique.

Because everyone understood.

She had been holding back.