Chapter 60: For there to be betrayal, there had to have been trust first

A/N: Sixty chapters. We have reached the sixty chapter mark ladies and gentlemen who are not really gentle. I never expected this story to be this long, but my brain just had so many ideas that this came to happen. I never would have guessed we reach sixty, but here we are and we're almost done! The final fight will be Sunday, probably, and then two or so clean up chapters and we're done. That's it. Except for epilogue but that won't be as often as this story was. And looking at the calendar, this story will end on it's two month anniversary, probably. But enough of me feeling like I did something, shout out to the very morbid review of sashaXmafuyuFOREVER and the review of brucie86, thanks guys! Now, ENJOY!

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(Esoj POV)

I charge at Mern and bring my sword up, our swords colliding midair, sending sparks off of them. Then we start trading blows with our swords and block each other at every turn, never able to get a clean hit on the other. Then we lock swords for a moment and look each other in the eye, keeping our gazes locked as we struggled to gain dominance. "Oh, so you saw this coming? Do you hate me for my betrayal? You know, I hoped it would be you I would get to fight. I hoped I would get to show you the power of Greer, the power that I was bestowed!" He said and I knew he was looking for a distraction, so instead I kicked him in the knee and he buckled and our swords broke apart.

I kicked him in the jaw and he went flying away from where we were, hitting the wall soon after. "Betrayal? No you're just a traitor on principal, but this isn't a betrayal. There had to have been trust for this to be a betrayal, and I never trusted you: never. I always knew something was up with you, and I never believed your story for a second. Not even one. But here we are, so let's dance. Get up and fight me and show me the power you spilled so much blood to get!" I yelled and he got up and charged at me, faster than I remember him being. But still not blindingly fast. I saw him coming still and threw a punch into his jaw, side stepping his stab and he went down for a second.

"So still not fast enough to fool you, huh? Well then I will have to go faster!" He said and charged at me again, even faster than the last time. I only had time to side step a bit and block his sword, then he yelled, "Thorns!" and I was almost impaled by his thorns. Almost. I saw his hand come up so his thorns would focus on me and I dodged, jumping high into the air avoiding all of his thorns.

I yelled, "Lanzallamas!" and fire came out of my mouth, burning all the thorns away and forcing Mern to dodge. As he rolled out of the way I grabbed a block of steel and yelled, "Ballas de Acero! Cuerpo de Acero!" Some of the steel broke off into little bullets and flew at Mern. He saw them but didn't move, instead he yelled, "Thorn Bullet!" His own bullets, made of thorns, shot out of his hand and collided with my own, destroying them. But as this happened, the rest of the block of steel morphed and came over my body, creating a second layer of skin for me. A layer of steel skin. I landed from my jump and looked at Mern who looked at me like I was an alien. I scoffed at his reaction and charged, still holding onto my sword. We collided again and traded blows with our swords again, but this time we each land a hit. He lands the first one, a cut to my upper arm that isn't very deep but will be annoying. My hit however is much deeper, as land a hit on his thigh and did so as he cut my arm. The cut on his thigh is deep, and might have actually cut some tendons or ligaments, but it doesn't seem to faze him.

We break apart from each other and I see that his cut is closing up already, 'What?! He's healing? How? He doesn't have medical magic… Wait, what's closing the wound up? Are those his thorns?' I looked more carefully and saw that indeed, his thorns were sewing up the wound albeit crudely. 'Uh oh. If he can heal himself like that I am at a disadvantage, he can take more hits than me and that's how I like to fight. Endurance fighting, taking more hits than my opponent. This is bad. I need to be quick about it, or I could use precision to win. Hmmm, neither way really suits me so I guess I'll have to take more damage than him somehow. Well, I don't like losing so I'll figure it out.'

I looked Mern in the eye and he smirked at me, saying, "Surprised? Yes if I wish to I can repair wounds with my thorns as if my thorns were a surgeon. I like to have nice, long fights enjoy the thrill of battle you see. So do you. So let's ignore the banter of a battle and let's just fight, see who the victor shall be. Who the better mage is, who the better man…"

He never finished as I charged him and punched him in the gut, then elbowed him in the back of the head as hunched over in pain. "You're right. Enough talking. Let's dance." I said and grabbed him by the back of his shirt, then threw him up in the air and followed him up. He regained control of his body mid way up and then we started trading blow with our fists, the swords forgotten. He landed a punch to my jaw, but I landed a punch to his gut. Then we both landed a punch to each other's faces and then landed a punch to each other's gut, but I was able to sneak in a shot to his kidney with my free hand. All of this mid air.

We both landed and then jumped back a bit and yelled simultaneously, "Thorny Rose!" "Explosión de Fuego!" Two projectiles came forth and collided with each other mid air, creating a massive explosion. We jumped away from the blast and ended up near each other. He placed a hand on the ground and swung his leg around for a roundhouse kick, so I bent backwards and dodged. While bending backwards, I pointed a finger at him and yelled, "Balla de Acero!" A single steel came forth and shot out at him, but he saw it coming and dodged by rolling away from me.

We both jumped up to our feet and looked each other in the eye, gazes locking while we waited for someone to make a move. Then we both charged at the same time and went in to throw a punch, but I used my right arm and he used his left. This caused us to have our arms block each other's and our arms got tangled up. I didn't let it faze me though and instead grabbed his arm and jumped over his shoulder. As our arms were still tangled, I brought his arm with me and his arm was bent backwards with me. I jumped pretty far knowing I would land laying down, but so would Mern and as we did, I spun and got his arm in a Kimura Hold. His arm was lodged between my legs and with the slightest movement, I could break his arm. Or so I thought it would go but then Mern yelled, "Thorn Body!" Thorns shot out of his body and luckily I had seen this attack before, and was able to escape its reach but lost my hold on his arm.

I stand up after rolling away and look at where Mern was, but see he is no longer there. Instead he somehow got behind me and then punched me in the back of the head. I stumbled forward and he came up and elbowed me in the back, causing me to hit the ground harshly. I groan but get up immediately and see him almost on me, leaving me only the time to block his attack. I push him back using my superior height, and I push him far enough away from me that he is out of reach.

Then as he relaxed for a second, I grabbed his shirt and pulled him towards me and punched him square in the jaw. He went airborne for a second and I ran forward and grabbed his throat, then crushed him into the ground. I glare at him as I loom over him but also let my guard down for a moment, and he counter attacked at that precise moment. He yelled, "Thorn Time Bomb!" and then I felt an explosion on my upper arm area, right where he had cut me earlier.

'Damn it! My arm! Gah, this is bad I can barely feel my arm anymore and that's my dominant arm! Fuck! Shit, now what? Ummm, well there is always Cambia Cuerpo, but it's easier on my magic reserves when I do it with Nena at the same time. But unless I do it, then it'll be over quick as my arm is losing a lot of blood. No. I can't use that yet, it has to be my trump card. I'll just stop the bleeding for now, but how to distract him long enough…. That's it! Lava!' I saw him charging at me and I punched the ground and yelled, "Rio de Pierdas Calientes!" From where I stood to each end of the room, a river of lava appeared and blocked his path. I then grabbed a piece of cloth from my belt pouch and tied it around my arm, just above the gash. Then I cauterized the gash by using some of the lava to burn it.

I quickly began regaining feeling in my arm and was not a moment too soon as he was on me again. This time I was ready for him as I made the first move, kicking him as he arrived and he flew back towards the lava. He spun and yelled, "Thorn Wall!" creating a thorn wall to stop himself from the hitting the lava. So I made sure he did.

I grabbed a ball of steel, realizing it left me only one more, and yelled, "Vuelo de Bloque Acero!" A block of steel formed from the ball and flew at Mern as he flew towards the wall. The block's flight beat Mern's flight to the wall, and he was pushed through the wall and landed in the lava. I watched in surprise as the plan actually worked, he actually fell in the lava. But then I saw something even more shocking, the lava bubbled and then some sort of human shaped figure rose up from the lava. I looked more carefully and saw that it looked a lot like Mern, but everything that should have been skin was just thorns. 'No way. No fucking way, he should be sinking into the lava and burning up alive. No, it can't be. No.'

But sure enough, the thorns around what was the head receded and revealed his smirking face. "Surprised? What you see is my Thorn Cover technique, it is nearly indestructible." He gloated and I just sighed, knowing that it was too easy to be over like that. 'I'm gonna have to do more than that. But still, he is using what is most likely his most secret and useful technique. His trump card. And I still have mine. I got this.'

I charged at him and attacked, but he saw me coming and tried to punch me before I could. But I was already mid punch and we used the opposite arms again, and our arms got tangled up again. But this is what I wanted as I grabbed my last ball of steel and yelled, "Ballas de Acero!" Bullets of steel came forth from the ball and hit Mern straight in the gut, piercing his armor of thorns. They came out of the other side of his body and he crumbled, falling face first to the ground as blood poured out of his body.

"Tch. So much for indestructible. That all you got?" I said as I picked up his head nad then said, "Espada de Acero." I had noticed that one bullet had gotten lodged in his body and it morphed, coming out of his back and into my hand as a sword.

"Just do it. Just kill me. You won, and I lost. All because I got cocky for a minute. Tsk, how embarrassing. The great Greer, defeated by a man who couldn't even save his home." He said and I really had to fight the urge to do as he asked. "What are you waiting for? Just do it and end my embarrassment. Please."

"NO. No more killing, I have already killed one person too many a year ago, when Zeref was the only one I wanted to kill. You I don't hate enough to do it, I can't kill you. I pity you, not hate you. But I will leave you a parting gift." I said and swung my sword down and cut his right arm clean off. He howled in pain, but I could already see his thorns sealing up the wound, making sure he survived the battle. "Now leave this place and leave Fiore altogether. If we ever meet again, I will not show you the mercy I have today. Now, goodnight."

I gripped my sword tighter and hit him on the head with its hilt, knocking him out cold. I stood up from where I was and looked around. I saw the room was a mess and the exit was on the other side of the room, past where the lava was. I sighed and looked up and yelled, "Salida de Tierra!" The earth beneath me shot up, carrying me outside to the roof, and saw Nena sitting up. She was rubbing her head and I knew that Mern had knocked her out, but that otherwise she was fine. I walked over to her and sat down next to her, giving her a kiss on the head where she was rubbing it. "Hey babe. How are you?"

"Sore, that bastard Mern was a traitor and knocked me out cold. Please tell me you dealt with him already." She asked and gave me kiss on the cheek.

"Yeah, I just did. Made sure he felt our wrath too. What are you doing anyways? Who's still fighting?" I asked and she sighed.

"I honestly don't know, other than Natsu and Lucy, yes she's fighting now, everyone else is all over the place. Let me tell you what you missed, Kurayami came by and filled me in just a moment ago. But he had to go back immediately." She said and I nodded, wondering just what the hell I had missed during my hour of fighting.

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A/N: Whew. That was fun to write and sorry to sashaXmafuyuFOREVER who wanted to see Mern dead. But, I am so done killing people, honestly. Hahaha, but no seriously no more deaths. Well, I hope you guys liked it and I hope you guys stayed tuned, because tomorrow is the light and shadow duo showdown. Remember! READ AND REVIEW, OR FAVORITE OR FOLLOW EVEN IF YOU SO PLEASE! ADIOS!