Page 178 of Sienna Rossi: Beyond Shattered Trust

Not yet, I reply firmly.

His body tenses, and I feel the pressure instantly increase. The ground beneath us rumbles as deep cracks form and snow collapses into them.

And suddenly, the darkness pouring from him surges. His immense aura is suffocating me. The air itself seems to distort around him as black energy pours outward, consuming the snow and rocks around us. Wherever it spreads, the ground darkens beneath its touch.

I snarl as I instinctively call on more power, my aura surging.

The collision between our energies shakes the mountain hard enough to send snow cascading from nearby cliffs. The force tears us apart, and I skid backwards through the frozen earth before digging my heels in.

Blood drips from the corner of my mouth.

I wipe it away with the back of my hand and smirk.

“Not what you were expecting?” I remark mockingly.

For the first time since this fight began, his expression hardens. He wasn’t expecting it. As if realising in this moment that I’m not the same boy he left bleeding on that road.

The storm overhead responds to my emotions. Lightning tears through the clouds whilst thunder rolls across the mountains. The power of Zeus hums through every part of me, crackling beneath my skin as I launch forward again.

This time, Vincenzo meets me head-on. His fist crashes into my ribs, causing pain to explode through me. I answer with an elbow to his jaw, but he catches my arm.

I twist through the hold and drive my shoulder into his chest.

The impact sends both of us crashing through the snow, and we barely hit the ground before we’re moving again.

A blur of blocks, counters and attacks.

Each movement flows into the next as we tear through the storm. The dome pulses in the background, and I can sense Sienna as she watches intently. Waiting, in case I need her.

I can sense her hesitation as she fights herself not to jump in, and I know for a fact that if she weren’t pregnant, she would have.

Neither Vincenzo nor I give in, and I can tell he’s getting angry.

His experience shows through in his fighting; every time I gain an advantage, he finds a way to recover. Every time I force him backwards, he adapts. There are no wasted movements. No unnecessary attacks. Everything he does is calculated, precise, and brutally effective.

But unlike two years ago, I can keep up.

Not perfectly. Not fucking easily, but I can. I know if we fight this out, he will be stronger, but I plan to end it before we get to that point.

I block another attack and slam both fists into the ground.

Lightning mixed with my blue aura crackles dazzlingly before it shoots through the sky and tears through the ground. A massive crater erupts around us, forcing Vincenzo backwards through the snow.

He recovers swiftly. The snow around him begins rising into the air, drawn towards the darkness coiling around his body. It twists around him like a living thing, swallowing the light from my lightning and turning the battlefield unnaturally dark.

Then he moves. For the first time since this fight began, I almost lose sight of him – almost.

His fist collides with my stomach before I can fully react, the force launching me through the mountainside. Stone explodes around me as I tear through it, pain ripping through every part of my body before I force myself upright.

Blood runs freely down my chin.

My ribs ache.

My shoulder is half numb, but I meet him head-on.

The collision between us is like an explosion. The impact creates a shockwave powerful enough to flatten everything around us.

The mountain trembles.