Awesome / Fairy May Cry: Original

Fairy May Cry

Vergil Arc

• Ch 3 The Devil and the Fairies:
  • The first time in this when Dante and Fairy Tail wizards show what they're made of by taking on the demons attacking the city on the red moon.
  • Special mention goes to Dante taking on the Boss demon and winning rather easily with Natsu, Gray, Ezra, Lucy, and Happy look extremely impressed, with Dante finishing the Demon with his trademark Jackpot.
• Ch 5 Dante Vs:
  • Dante vs Natsu, then Gajeel, and finally Ezra and was able to win each round in rapid succession, impressing other Fairy Tail wizards and establishing himself as The Ace.
• Lightning Storm: The two resident action girls Ezra and Trish fighting each other in a misunderstanding, with both women holding their own against each other.
• Ch. 7 Vergil:
  • Natsu's nose proves sharp enough to track Dante through the rain, and upon arriving at the scene of their battle, can tell both that Vergil is dangerous and connected to Dante somehow.
  • The titular character makes his debut, and shows that he is not to be trifled with by defeating Dante, their battle wrecking the forest around them. Upon coming across the scene later, the members of Fairy Tail initially assume Dante was fighting an army to have the kind of aftermath.
  • After, when he first crosses paths with Fairy Tail with Natsu, Gray, Ezra, Happy, and Lucy, he was able to quickly defeat them. He manages to sucker-punch Natsu and Gray, shocking even Ezra with his speed, and kicked her down.
  • When Vergil almost kills Lucy, Dante saved her and transformed into his first Devil Trigger with the Strongest Team shocked by it.
• Ch. 9 Clipping the Fairies Wings:
  • Dante testing out his new power boost, which not only gave him his Devil Trigger, but upgraded his Doppelganger Style so he can make three copies instead of one. He also cycles through his whole arsenal in preparation for a rematch.
  • The title says it all. Vergil's first targets are Levy, Jet, and Droy, but has no issues when Macao and Wakaba join in. They all unleash a barrage of attacks that Vergil cannot seem to dodge... up until the man simply gets up, not so much as a bruise on him and declares them Not Worth Killing. He makes good on his claim and shows them how out of the league they are, thrashing the four with just a fraction of his power and minimal effort, before proceeding to take Levy hostage, easily cutting down her desperate attacks while slowly walking towards her.
• In Ch. 10 More Fairies Fall:
  • Vergil faces down Cana, Alzack, and Bisca. When he calls the trio insects Alzack gave this glorious response:
    Alzack: 'Insects' huh?! Well this Insect is packing some serious heat!
    • Sadly for the Fairy Tail members, Vergil proves capable of dodging or slicing any of their attacks with ease, outright calling Alzack's gunslinging skills inferior to Dante's and not even giving Bisca a chance to use her bazooka. His Yamato proves capable of slicing Cana's cards to ribbons after her attack had formed to boot.
  • His 'fight' against Thunder Legion has him No-Sell their usual instant win conditions, first destroying Freed's Enchantment with Yamato, shocking the trio. When Evergreen tries to use her eyes to turn Vergil into stone, it has no effect since Vergil has devil eyes. He then proceeds to keep pace with all three opponents, methodically knocking them out one by one and finishing Freed off with Beowulf.
• Ch. 11 Satan Soul vs Devil Trigger:
  • Vergil facing down the Fairy Tail Take Over users Elfman and Mira. Elfman is the first one to fight Vergil but is outmatched against his speed and sword skills. When the mage transformed into his Beast Soul Vergil beaks out Beowulf and demolishes Elfman with a barrage of super-fast punches and kicks, all preceded by a chilling Pre Ass Kicking One Liner:
    Vergil: Big. But I have slain bigger.
  • Mira decides to fight Vergil and immediately transforms into her Satan Soul with Vergil only response being 'this is getting interesting'. The two exchange several powerful attacks, culminating with Vergil cutting through her Demon Blast. Vergil actually complements her power, but states he finds her title of She-Devil unfit as she lacks the power of a True Devil. He then unleashes his Devil Trigger with an epic Pre-Asskicking One-Liner.
    Vergil: (in Devil Trigger voice) This is the power of a True Devil, the power in my father's blood is in my veins. This is my Devil Trigger.
  • Vergil proceeds to not only outmatch Mira in both speed and strength but also uses psychological tactics, using Lisanna's apparent death to make her sloppy. After an enraged Mira uses Soul Extinction, he appears behind her and deals the finishing blow. When confronted with an angry Elfman, Vergil uses his real Man Catchphrase against him, before knocking him out.
    Vergil: Earlier, you implied that I am not a man. I agree with you. I am far superior to any man.
• Ch. 12 A True Devil
  • Juvia being the first to realize that whoever is targeting them is going after Fairy Tails strongest members. The others then quickly deduce that it must be Vergil doing so, and realize that his next target will be Wendy.
  • While the scene is rife with fears and shows how ruthless Vergil is, credit to him for just how persistent he is in his pursuit of Wendy and Carla, with even the latter's Flight being a minor inconvenience. When Wendy attempts to ambush him with a Sky Dragon Roar he easily dodges before knocking her out with a well placed blow, and manages to escape an enraged Natsu and Dante with a well-timed Smoke Out.
    • From the above scene, Carla does everything she can to stop him from taking her, even attempting to attack him. It doesn't work sadly, but credit to her for trying.
  • When Carla begins to blame Dante for bringing Vergil to their doorstep, an enraged Trish gives a Big "SHUT UP!", before laying into her for blaming him for his brothers actions, as well detailing just how much crap he's had to deal with up to this point. The normally haughty Carla quickly shuts up.
• Ch 13: A Devil's Game
  • One for Vergil. He was expecting Dante to have backup other wizards and makes adequate preparations. These include orbs that contain and control powerful demons loyal to Mundus, enlisting their aid by promising freedom should they succeed in destroying their opponents, as well as a series of booby trap to Divide and Conquer, nullifying his enemy's numbers advantage. The mans power is by no means his sole asset.
  • When Ezra is confronted by Orangguerra, she calmly gives them a warning, not fearing for herself in the slightest.
    Erza: I trust that you are my welcoming committee? However, I did not come all this way for you; be gone now and your lives will be spared.
    The demons gave even louder roars at her declaration and jumped towards her with deadly intention.
    Erza: If this is the path you choose, then so be it!
  • When Lady and Trish are facing the mermaid demons, Lady says this before both draw their weapons.
    Lady: Oh look, the welcome wagon.
  • Gajeel and Gray facing the dreaded Phantom, the two both have eager grins and are ready to fight their 'warmup'.
  • Natsu sensing and then facing down Griffon, eager to kick his ass and get back on track..
  • Dante facing Nightmare. His response is pretty calm, showing he barely considers this an inconvenience.
    Dante: Sorry buddy, but we gotta make this quick. I got business to take care of.
• Ch 14: Natsu vs. Griffon
  • The chapter begins with Lady and Trish easily defeating the mermaid demons in an impressive display of skill. Trish outright calls it a warmup, and the two only need a moment to catch their breath at the chapter's end.
  • The real highlight of this chapter is titular battle between Natsu and Griffon. Despite the giant bird's huge size, Natsu proves how strong, tough, and resilient he is shrugging off a direct hit from the demon's lightning at Natsu, before catching the demons charge and stopping it cold before flipping it overhead, all preceded by the below Badass Boast.
    Natsu: Think you can outmuscle me? Ain't gonna happen you Dodo-Bird.
    • Then the two engage in a Beam-O-War, Natsu's giant fireball against Griffon's giant lightning ball, creating a massive explosion. After which Natsu reveals that he's more focused on reaching Vergil quickly than his current fight, indicating his performance thus far has been without his full effort.
      Griffon: (yelling) What?! You were going easy on me?! You dare to take me so lightly!? I am a demon general! Servant of the mighty Mundus! I will not be treated like a meager beast not even worth the effort!
    • Griffon outright compares Natsu's ferocity to that of a dragon, recognising the scent and flame of Igneel himself, and after making the mistake of stating his intention to hunt down his current opponents foster father, finds his opponent shift from difficult to ruthless. To clarify, Natsu goes full reverse Papa Wolf mode, catches up to his opponent in midair to sever and blast off his wings, before finishing him off with Dragon Slayer Secret Art: Flame Lotus Phoenix Sword. The explosion of which could be felt throughout the building. Griffon's last thoughts?
      Griffon: This boy… the power he wields… he's a true… Dragon Slayer.
  • The above fight also reveals that in this continuity, Sparda did not fight Mundus and his forces alone. Instead he had the aid of Igneel and an army of dragons, painting an epic picture of a dragon vs demon war, with the Dark Knight at the helm.
    • The fact that Igneel was able to defeat Griffon in every one of their encounters, showing just how far above Mundus' general he was in power.
  • After all of the above, Natsu gives the below declaration.
    Natsu: If you can hear me Vergil, I hope you saw that too, BECAUSE YOU'RE NEXT!
• Ch 15: Gajeel and Grey vs. Phantom/Dante vs. Nightmare: The title says it all.
  • Gray and Gajeel fight against Phantom, during which the giant spider demon prove himself to be no slouch, being strong enough to smack the two around, agile enough to outrun and leap around most of their attacks and tough enough to take several of their big hits and just keep coming, even no selling Gray's attempt to freeze him. The two ultimately win by destroying the surrounding pillars collapse the room on him, and when he survives that Gajeel has finally had enough and tells Happy to drop him, unleashing the below move and ending the demon general.
    Phantom: I will not be Defeated! I WILL NOT LOOSE TO THE LIKES OF YOU!
    Gajeel: Oh shut up will you!? Dragon Slayer Secret Art: Karma Demon, Iron Spiral!
  • Dante's fight against Nightmare, during which the demon proves itself capable of shrugging off or easily recovering from all of his attacks. That said, the second Agni and Rudra identify it's weak spot, he breaks out Quicksilver and destroys it with a massive explosion of wind and fire.
• Ch 16: Demon vs Spirit:
  • Vergil confronting Juvia, who shrugs off his initial attack thanks to her water body, and even manages to trap him in her Water Lock.
  • For his part, Vergil is unconcerned, breaking free with one slash, shocking both girls, and easily deflects Juvia's barrage of attacks. He then proceeds to use Darkslayer to bypass her Nigh Invulnerability, unleashing a devastating Speed Blitz and finishing her off with a kick.
  • Then comes the titular fight, Vergil against the Celestial Spirits. Taurus, Sagittarius, and Virgo all prove no match against the half-demon, him easily adapting to each of their skills and dispatching them all within seconds.
    • After tying Lucy with her own whip, Loke/Leo manages to summon himself to come to her rescue. The lion spirit gets the best showing, matching the opponent the other spirits couldn't touch and showing he's the leader for a reason. Though it's still not enough to win against Vergil, who immediately'' capitalises on his opponent thinking he's won.
    • Not as big, but Lucy is the one of the first people to get under Vergil's skin, pointing out that for all his disdain at the weakness of humans, his own mother was one. The Death Glare he gives shows she struck a nerve.
  • At the end of the chapter Ezra comes crashing down (literally) and then facing Vergil with both exchanging Badass Boast's.
    Vergil: Erza Scarlet. I must say, you surprise me by arriving here, however, it does save me the trouble of looking for you.
    Erza: Tell me, do you find this much joy in toying with the lives of others?
    Vergil: I have no joy to it, nor do I show grief or remorse. But you didn't come all this way to talk to me, did you?
    Erza: No. (readies her swords) I came to face you. You desire a strong challenge Vergil, than I shall be your opponent.
    Vergil: I do acknowledge your strength. Let us see it in use, shall we? (readies his blade) Come at me, Erza Scarlet
• Ch 17 Devil Prince vs. Fairy Queen: It's Vergil vs Erza, a fast paced back-and-forth between two Master Swordsmen. Highlights include:
  • Vergil continuing to show that he's got plenty of brains to match his combat skills, exploiting the Logical Weakness of Erza's Adamantine Armour, it prevents her from defending her back, and casually revealing that he researched most of Fairy Tail after their first encounter, even using his knowledge of Erza's past at the Tower of Heaven and with Jellal to break her composure.
  • For her part, Erza holds her own quite well, both physically and verbally, refusing the be rattled by Vergils taunts, and cycling through and impressive array of armours and weapons to keep up the pressure. What's more, Vergil notes that she hasn't gone all out since the fight started, making her showing even more impressive.
  • While he acknowledges her as a Worthy Opponent, Vergil shows no mercy, and after breaking out his Devil Trigger, promptly turns the encounter into a Curb-Stomp Battle.
• Ch 18: Epic Clash: Natsu vs Vergil
  • The chapter opens with Lady and Trish confronting Vergil, who promptly deals with them.
  • Vergil confirms that the dragons helped Sparda in his battle against Mundus, and that several wizards also helped in sealing him away.
  • Then Natsu appears and the fight of the chapter gets underway. Highlights include:
    • After a brief exchange, Vergil determines that Natsu is too tough for Yamato to deal enough damage and switches to Beowulf.
    • While Vergil's Speed Blitz throws him off, Natsu makes good use of his enhanced senses and successfully anticipates his next move, nearly landing a blow on the shocked Vergil and showing he can be smarter than people give him credit for. He then proceeds to break even in a punch clash from a Beowulf enhanced Vergil.
    • Then Grey and Gajeel show up just in time to assist. After a brief argument the three agree to work together and display impressive teamwork and coordination, managing to put Vergil on the back foot for the rest of the fight. They cap it all off with Grey freezing him in place before Natsu and Gajeel combine their respective breath attack's.
    • ...only for Vergil to emerge from the smoke, scuffed but unharmed and breaks out his Devil Trigger. He then runs roughshod over the three, smashing straight through Grey's ice shield, cutting through Gajeel's iron scales and pulls off a Punch Catch against Natsu before tossing him aside.
  • While it didn't amount to much, credit to Wendy for attempting to attack Vergil, despite knowing just how outclassed she was.
  • Just as Vergil is about to finish off Natsu, enter Dante with a Dynamic Entry, managing to knock back his Devil Trigger enhanced brother and swipe back his half of the Perfect Amulet in one fell swoop. After some verbal back-and-forth Dante activates his own Devil Trigger and the Sons of Sparda prepare to battle.
• Ch 19: A Son of Sparda and a Son of Igneel
  • The chapter opens with the clash between the two sons of Sparda, exchanging blows so fast the others can barely see them. The fight is quickly drawn outside after the two smash through the walls.
    • Credit to Dante, despite this being his first time using his Devil Trigger in a fight, he is able to quickly adjust to the increased power and Flight enough to match Vergil's own form, which up until this point turned every match with the elder son of Sparda into a Curb-Stomp Battle.
  • Not ones to be left out of the action, the other members of Fairy Tail (sans Natsu, Wendy and the Exceeds) quickly come to Dante's aid, unleashing their strongest attacks on Vergil.
    • Vergil, for his part, simply deflects said attempt with an explosion from Yamato, with Dante requesting the others leave this to him, citing that they'll be a liability in their current state.
  • After regaining consciousness Natsu devours flames from the Underworld (which are explicitly stated to be toxic) and powers through the effects in a successful attempt to achieve Dragon Force, shocking even Vergil. He then proceeds to deck the evil son of Sparda hard enough to launch him through several walls before giving him a pounding for everything he's done to Fairy Tail so far.
  • When it looks like Vergil is about to gain the upper hand, Dante rejoins the fray, and the two friends team up to give the beatdown of a lifetime on Vergil, putting him decisively on the losing end of a fight for the first time since his debut.
    • Credit to Natsu, who throughout the entire battle manages to keep up with the twins' Flight with clever use of his flames, and even made use of his often forgotten flame whip to catch Vergil off guard.
    • Dante and Natsu display excellent teamwork throughout the fight, to the point that Vergil (unsuccessfully) attempts to separate them briefly to give himself a chance. It comes to a head when the two knock Vergil between them like a ping-pong ball before preparing their finishing move.
    • Dante and Natsu each lay a hand on Rebellion, successfully charging a Unison Raid, which launches a flaming dragon projectile straight at Vergil, while the latter sees an image of Sparda and Igneel appear above them.
    Dante/Natsu: DEVIL DRAGON: CRIMSON INFERNO!
• Ch 20: A Devil's Home with the Fairies:
  • While he lost completely, props to Vergil for managing to slip away despite his severe injuries.
  • Although Vergil is a villain, there's something awesome how his introduction arc shows how much of a badass One-Man Army he is, especially when he fought several of Fairy Tail's best wizards and won rather easily, through a combination of his sword skills, wits, demon powers, and psychological tactics.

Edolas

• Ch 21: The Last Promise: Despite facing down Baul, a swordsman personally trained by his father, Dante easily maintains the upper hand throughout the entire fight. Even Baul shifting to his demon form (which grants him a boost in abilities) does little more than prolong the battle. Hell, Dante barely seems winded afterwards.
• Ch 22: Gildarts
  • The fact that even as a child, Natsu was capable of defeating a forest Vulcan on his own, with the latter opting to take Lisanna hostage rather than fight the young Dragon Slayer.
  • The titular character scares off a forest Vulcan by effortlessly catching and destroying a boulder while the latter was holding it.
• Ch 24: Edolas
  • Despite Carla refusing to discuss her mission, Dante quickly deduces that it has something to so with the Dragon Slayers, showing he can be quite perceptive even outside of fighting, only relenting in his questioning at Natsu and Wendy's request.
  • While the group is discussing going to Edolas, Dante mentions that that he's been to the Demon World and back three times already. Impressive given how every demon there hates his guts.
  • When entering Edolas, the group becomes concerned when the portal begins to close, so Dante (in Devil Trigger) uses Rebellion to physically pierce through the barrier.
  • The groups encounter with a giant fish, during which Natsu shows surprising skill Dual Wielding Agni and Rudra. Dante also cuts in, using Ebony and Rebellion, capping it off by throwing his sword through the fish and nonchalantly catching his weapon as it fell. The whole scene felt like it was lifted straight from the game.
• Ch 25: The Fairy Hunter and The Black Angel
  • Minor, but Dante effortlessly countering Edolas Lucy's attempts at grappling him before subduing her, to the rest of Edolas Fairy Tails surprise.
  • Nelo Angelo gets one hell of an Establishing Character Moment, with his presence inspiring greater fear than Erza Knightwalker and delivers a chilling Pre Ass Kicking One Liner upon arriving.
    Edolas Levy: Two minutes to teleport!
    Nelo Angelo: You don't have two minutes!
  • Despite losing his demonic powers and Devil Arms, Dante holds Nelo Angelo off long enough for the teleporter to activate, even successfully driving him out of the guildhall with a slash from Rebellion.
• Ch 26: Hunting in Edolas
  • Dante's mere presence in Edolas gives Nelo Angelo a subdued Oh, Crap! moment, going to inform Mundus as soon as possible, and is more worried about him than the entirety of Edolas Fairy Tail. He also makes sure to mention the dragon slayers as well, making a point to avoid Underestimating Badassery, a rare thing for powerful demons.
  • While Edolas Fairy Tail is warning the group about Erza Knightwalker and Nelo Angelo, Dante is unfazed at the thought of facing either of them, nonchalantly saying tougher and scarier things have tried and failed to kill him. Everyone from Earthland agrees with his assessment, even Carla and Modeus.
  • Gajeel and Trish beating some information out of their would-be muggers.
  • When Natsu and Wendy start worrying about the prospect of having to face Mundus, Agni and Rudra reveal that Sparda knocked him into the deepest part of the demon world, and (along with his allies) erected a barrier around the demon world that can withstand an attempt to break it by all the mages in Earthland at once. Sparda and his allies made damn sure he wasn't getting back out.
  • When the group is confronted by a group of Edolas guards, the group from Earthland are completely calm, and demonstrate just why they're so confident in their chances of taking on the Edolas army to Lisanna and Lucy Ashley.
    • Dante delivers a Curb-Stomp Battle to an entire squad armed with magic weapons using Ebony and Ivory, and top-tier skills with Rebellion, all with the stylish flair he's known for. Shows that even deprived of his demonic powers he's still a force to be reckoned with.
    • Not to be left out, Natsu and Modeus quickly enter the fray, easily fending off the guards despite wielding unfamiliar weapons, both displaying impressive proficiency. Even Lisanna gets in on the action, despite her earlier hesitation.
  • The Earthland version of Lucy shows up, and reveals that she still has her magic powers, tilting the odds further in the groups favor.
• Ch 27: To Take a Stand
  • The group continues to fight the Edolas guards. Lucy in particular gets her time to shine, using Ares' wool to quickly (and non-lethally) subdue the guards, greatly impressimg her Edolas counterpart.
  • Dante's speech on the ideals that his father, and himself, stand for, showing the conviction he has for helping people, despite his flippant attitude. The rest of Fairy agrees, and it ends up inspiring Lucy Ashley to rally the rest of the Edolas Fairy Tail, saying they shouldn't need to depend on someone else to solve their worlds problems.
    Dante: My old man used to tell me, when you have power, don't use it for yourself, use it to stand up for those who can't stand up for themselves. All living beings have a right to pursue their own happiness. When someone tries to take that right away from them, stand up to that someone, get him to back down. If they don't listen to reason then take a stand, even if you're staring straight at the gates of Hell itself. Don't back down, fight.
  • Edolas Gajeel's determination to uncover the truth, showing no fear at facing the wrath of the king or other powerful individuals despite having no outstanding powers. The man has guts.
  • Lucy begins a direct assault on the guards surrounding an airship using Loke with great initial success. Nelo Angelo then shows he is not to be trifled with, quickly and brutally defeating the powerful spirit.
  • The rest of the group joins in and hold their own quite well, despite lacking any magic. Special mention to Lisanna, who displays impressive proficiency with Cerberus despite minimal experience, and keeps pace with Natsu's performance.
  • Despite Nelo Angelo's confidence once he hears Dante lost access to his demonic powers, the demon hunter fares quite well against his opponent, landing several hits in with Rebellion, Ebony and Ivory while avoiding those of his opponent. While it's clear Nelo Angelo wasn't that hurt and Dante was clearly struggling, it says something that the demon opted to take Wendy hostage, rather than engage in a prolonged confrontation.
  • Right as it looks like the group will have to surrender, the Fireball rolls in, knocking Nelo Angelo to the side (while avoiding Wendy), incapacitates the guards with a few blasts, and gives the group an escape right in a nick of time.
• Ch 28: An Unexpected Betrayal
  • The group quickly comes up with a viable plan to rescue their friends from the Lacrima: use Gemini to turn into a copy of the king, and use the knowledge he gains from the mans mind to find out how to reverse the process.
  • When the groups path is blocked by some rubble, Dante takes out Rebellion and clears the whole lot using Stinger (a combination of a dash and a thrust straight from the games), a technique he explicitly states requires no magic or demonic energy.
  • In an impressive display of perceptiveness, Dante realizes they are being ambushed and kills two guards before they even trigger it, quickly rallying the others to fight back. Despite their shock, they all push back the guards, with Natsu, Modeus and Dante assisting the others.
    • When Erza Knightwalker shows up, Dante and Natsu waste no time telling her that they considers her a cheap knockoff of their Erza, and being flippant in the face of her threats. Both agree that they can take her one-on-one, even without their respective magic and demonic powers.
    • Their resolve remains unchanged even at the appearance of Nelo Angelo, only backing down when he holds Lucy, Wendy and Lisanna hostage.
• Ch. 29 Extalia
  • When Hughes taunts Dante from outside the latter's cell (remarking he clearly isn't all that tough) the demon hunter grabs him through his cell and repeatedly slams his face against the bars, showing he is not to be taken lightly.
  • Gajeel and Trish coordinate with the formers Edolas counterpart to rescue their friends despite the heavy security present.
    • Edolas Gajeel shows his chops as a Guile Hero, deducing the layout of the guards security from casual conversation and using some firework letters to both cause a distraction, and communicate with Trish and his Earthland counterpart.
    • Earthland Gajeel quickly picks up on his counterparts plan, using the message and a Bavarian Fire Drill to get the guards to split their forces between guarding the wrong location and evacuate nearby civilians. This leaves him and Trish free to wreak house on the few remaining guards, showing that he is more perceptive than his appearance would suggest.
    • The two then reveal that. like Lucy, they've managed to maintain their respective demonic and magical powers, making short work of the guards present before reaching the Lacrima.
  • Like in canon, Happys' response to Nabi and Nichiya's saying that he and Carla had little agency outside of fulfilling their mission, proudly and fiercely proclaiming them mages of Fairy Tail, first and foremost. It's clear the little guy picked up plenty from Natsu.
• Ch. 30 Fly! To Our Friends and Into Battle!
  • Happy and Carla manage to escape the Exceed guards chasing them, with the former showing some quick wits.
  • Happy and Carla manage to deduce the gist of Mundus' plan (use Nelo Anegelo to set up Edolas for his invasion, where the barrier for the Demon World is weaker than Earthland) just from Nelo Angelo's parting taunt, along with some background information.
  • At the end of the chapter, Happy and Carla regain their ability to fly, and resolve to save their friends.
• Ch 31: Code: ETD
  • Lisanna taunting Erza Knightwalker about Nelo Angelo being a bigger threat than her and shows no fear of the woman. Even as she is dangled over the edge, she confidently states that Knightwalker will lose.
  • Happy and Carla arrive just in a nick of time to save Lucy and Lisanna, and attempt to use their status as Exceeds to get them pardoned. When that fails Carla states she is the daughter of the Exceeds queen, and uses this to demand the release of their other friends and ,failing that, knowledge of their location.
  • Dante and Modeus show up just as things start to go south, mowing down all the guards in their way. They manage to knock Knightwalker and Pantherlilly aside, stunning the two deadly warriors long enough for the group to escape.
  • Villainous example, King Faust activates Code: ETD, Exceed Total Destruction! Using specially made lasers, he converts most of the incoming Exceeds into Lacrima, declaring war, diminishing his enemies forces and providing more magic for himself in one fell swoop!
    • Keep in mind, that Exceeds are considered gods to the people of Edolas, and Faust showed no hesitation going up against them, even giving a Rousing Speech inspiring the people to follow him. While it is primarily motivated by his Greed and completely immoral, one cannot deny the king of Edolas has some serious balls.
    • Nelo Angelo supports Faust, and dismisses the Exceeds with a terrifying Badass Boast.
      Nelo Angelo:The Exceeds will now understand that where there is a god, there is also a devil!
  • When Knightwalker intercepts the group on their way to Natsu and Wendy, Dante brings up her Earthland counterpart, prompting her to exasperatedly asks if he's going to appeal to her supposed similarity to her counterpart to get her to help them. Dante refutes that idea, stating instead that since their Erza is one of the strongest and bravest people he knows, that makes Knightwalker a weak, cowardly bully only confident facing opponents weaker than her. He continues to taunt her for her reliance on aid, whether from the guards, or Nelo Angelo, and uses her damaged pride to goad her into a one-on-one duel, removing the numbers advantage.
    • Despite not having his powers, Dante fares incredibly well, being in control for most of the fight and countering nearly all of Knightwalker's attacks to her increasing ire. His injuries come about because of bad luck rather than a difference in skill. Even when an increasingly angry Knightwalker says she'll kill him he nonchalantly tells her to get in line.
    • Still, credit to Knightwalker who makes good use of each opportunity, keeping up with the normally unstoppable demon hunter and scoring increasingly severe hits on him that culminate with impaling him with her spear, and into the wall. While Dante lacked his powers at the time it's the closest anyone not named Vergil has come to beating him so far. By the end of their fight Dante is clearly on his last legs.
    • Dante shrugs off more and more severe injuries as the fight goes on, ranging from cuts and bruises to being under a collapsed wall, with little drop in his performance after each. After Knightwalker pierces his chest with her trident and sticks him to the wall, she turns to the others, confident the fight is over. Then Dante asks where she's going before ripping the trident out of his chest and getting ready to keep fighting, greatly unnerving Knightwalker for the first time since her debut.
      Dante: What are you gawking at? Huh? Come on, what do you think? That I was just goin to die from that?!
      Erza Knightwalker: But I... you... that... Just I...
      Dante(picks up Rebellion): Speechless eh?
      Erza Knightwalker: What are you?! WHAT IN THE HELL ARE YOU!?
      Dante(seriously): I'm every bad guys worst nightmare.
    • This really deserves special mention. In every game Dante has been impaled and shrugged it off like it was nothing, but he always had the benefit of his Healing Factor to mitigate the damage. Here he did so without any demonic powers, just an absurdly high pain tolerance and sheer determination. Powers or no, Dante is always a badass.
  • When it looks like Dante may be finished, a rocket flies in as well as some ice and lightning. Backup has arrived in the form of Lady, Grey, Erza and Trish, with all their powers intact. The odds just tipped in Fairy Tails favor.
• Ch 32: Fairy Tail Strikes Back
  • Erza facing off against Knightwalker to allow to others through. That's right folks, we have an Erza vs Erza fight on our hands! Highlights include:
    • Knightwalker immediately breaks out her spear, revealing that it can change forms to give her various boosts and special abilities, even letting her match her Earthland counterparts Requip magic. This also indicates that she pushed Dante so far while holding back her trump card, an impressive feat in itself, even if he lacked any of his demonic powers.
    • Erza for her part manages to match her Edolas counterpart's Morph Weapon with a small amount of her armors, displaying the power and skill that earned her the praise of her guildmates.
    • Erza also gives a Badass Boast on Dante's behalf, saying that even if Knightwalker defeats her, there's no way that she will beat Dante. How does she know this? Because the two spar regularly and she's never won.
  • Everyone getting their powers back, with various reactions.
    • Natsu instantly wakes up, emits flames in anger and rushes off in a rage to beat up their adversaries.
    • Modeus glows grey/white and a symbol of a crescent moon appears above him.
    • Dante's takes the cake, starting with a red breeze surrounding him. Then his Devil Arms begin to glow before turning into glowing orbs that he absorbs and giving off a red flash of light.
  • Small but when Lisanna admits that she is from Earthland, Dante says that he suspected she was hiding something for a while, if not that specifically. Impressive insight given that he's only known her for a few days.
  • While Happy, Lady and Gajeel get ready to destroy the Lacrima and free their friends, Panther-Lilly shows up, deflects their attacks with a sword as big as he is. He then expands it to four times his height for an attack that cuts off a chunk of the island they're standing on. The trio gear up for what's sure to be an intense fight.
  • Credit to Nelo Angelo, who rather than be worried that the members of Fairy Tail have recovered their magic and demonic powers, is instead excited that he gets an actual challenge for the first time in years. When Sugarboy and Hughes learn about his true colors he simply attacks them, showing no hesitation at the prospect at facing them and the re-empowered members of Fairy Tail at once. Evil bastard he may be, the Black Angel is no coward.
• Ch 33: Clash in E-Land Part 1
  • The chapter opens with an all-out assault on Nelo Angelo by the members of Fairy Tail before devolving into a Mêlée à Trois when Sugarboy and Hughes get involved. To elaborate:
    • The Fairy Tail mages begin a relentless attack on Nelo Angelo, showing impressive coordination in maneuvering about each other's attacks and barely giving the Black Angel time to breathe. After a long string of solid hits Dante, Natsu and Grey unleash powerful attacks that send him flying.
    • For his part, Nelo Angelo merely excited at the prospect of a proper challenge coming out of the above exchange with little more than a cracked helmet and eagerly getting ready to continue. He then proceeds to No-Sell Hughes and Sugarboys attacks, taunting them both before lecturing them on their habit of Underestimating Badassery.
    • Dante faces off against Nelo Angelo while the others handle the Edolas mages and puts his newly restored arsenal to good use. Not only does he match Nelo Angelo physically, but he gains the upper hand several times using Quicksilver to outspeed him and rain down a flurry of blows, Ebony and Ivory to score a few shots to the face, and counters the demons Shock and Awe powers with Agni and Rudra, with the resulting explosion pushing his opponent back.
    • Villainous example, but Sugarboy reveals his magic sword gives him the power to soften anything it touches and uses it to devastating effect, nearly trapping Grey, Lucy and Lisanna. When the latter two escape he engages the former in melee, and uses his power to No-Sell his opponents weapons.
    • Likewise, Hughes proves to be a formidable opponent within E-Land, as his wand gives him control of every object in the park. He manages to incapacitate Natsu with a rollercoaster (albeit without knowing about his motion sickness) and quickly restrained Modeus when the latter attempted to rescue him. He repeats the process when Lucy and Lisanna attempt to intervene, forcing Dante to temporarily disengage Nelo Angelo to give them all a chance to escape. Perhaps more impressively, his control in E-Land is such that Aquarius is unable to override his control of the water in the park.
    • We get to see Modeus fight for the first time and Sparda's apprentice does not disappoint, summoning a pair of black swords from the ground that he uses to cut twelve rollercoaster Hughes launches at him. He also shows plenty of brains and dexterity, deducing the scope of Hughes' magic from a brief summary and sliced through the restraints holding the others in the rollercoasters without hurting them.
    • The brief Mêlée à Trois between Dante, Hughes and Nelo Angelo. When the former threatens Hughes to release his friends, the Black Angel attempts to attack them both, leading to a brief, brutal exchange of each of the three trying to attack the other two. Hughes and Nelo Angelo add an extra layer to this battle using Dante's friends and each other in their attacks, forcing the son of Sparda to think on his feet to blunt their efforts.
  • Panther-Lily's fight with Gajeel and Lady, deflecting bullets, blocking melee attacks and generally matching two of Fairy Tail's biggest badasses. Then he says 'Busterman Redeploy', which extends his BFS to four times the size of Rebellion before using it to slice three of Lady's rockets and cutting off a chunk of the island they're fighting on with a single slash. Needless to say, Lady and Gajeel are impressed.
  • Natsu and Modeus continue their fight with Hughes, effortlessly dispatching the monsters he sends after them. When Hughes summons an army of monsters Natsu merely says 'my turn' before bursting into flames and giving Hughes one hell of a Death Glare. The pressure is so great that the monsters just back away out of fear, and Hughes himself drops his wand, clearly close to wetting himself.
  • Dante and Nelo Angelo's fight continues with a rapid exchange of blows as the two move about a fake volcano, with both combatants being clearly injured. When Nelo Angelo boasts about being made from Dante's essence, as well as that of his brother and father, the son of Sparda just gives him a Pretender Diss before promising to show the difference between them. That said Dante breaks out his Devil Trigger.
• Ch 34: Clash in E-Land Part 2
  • Apparently, Edolas Gajeel has learned of Code: ETD as well as the Exceeds secret some time ago. Especially impressive considering how closely knowledge of both is guarded.
  • Dante using Devil Trigger to utterly wreck Nelo Angelo, putting the Black Angel decisively on the losing end of a fight for the first time since his debut. By the end his armor is cracked, his helmet is destroyed and Dante is barely winded.
  • Lady and Gajeel continue their fight with Panther-Lily with both sides showing great dexterity in avoiding the others attacks, to which they compliment each other. Also impressive is that Lady and Gajeel display solid teamwork for their first time fighting together, switching out to vary their attacks to keep Panther-Lily on the back foot.
  • When Nelo Angelo threatens Coco to get her to relinquish the key, she refuses despite clearly being terrified. This act of defiance gives Dante time to save her by literally disarming the demon.
  • Dante takes on Byro in his octopus form (shifting out of his Devil Trigger) and it's not even a fight. He casually dodges all his attacks before rescuing Coco by running along Byro's body and slicing off the tentacle holding her. He then proceeds to kick ass while holding Coco in one arm and delivering his trademark snark all the while.
    Byro: How... how is this possible!? Just what are you!?
    Dante: I'm the company chef. And today's dish is sushi.
  • Lucy, Lisanna and Virgo face off against the now one-armed Nelo Angelo, making clever use of their abilities to land several good hits. Special mention to Lucy making good use of Fleur D'etoiles despite Virgo giving it to her just before the battle started.
    • Villainous example, despite being down an arm and injured from his fight with Dante, Nelo Angelo holds his own quite well against the trio, even gaining the upper hand a few times and successfully defeating Virgo. Even when Lisanna restrains him and gives Lucy the chance to attack repeatedly with Fleur D'etoiles he simply asks if that was supposed to hurt before breaking out of Lisanna's snake arms.
    • Modeus shows up as things start to look dicey, blocking Nelo Angelo's charge and delivering a devastating attack.
      Modeus: Demon Sword: Phantom Moon!
    • Nelo Angelo manages to escape, and also masks his scent do not even Natsu can track him.
  • Grey and Modeus showing impressive wits during the confrontation with Sugarboy, outthinking him instead of just overpowering him.
    • Modeus deduces how Sugarboys magic's limits from Grey's brief explanation and exploits the fact that it merely converts ice to water to trip him up by freezing the floor. The two then launch the motorcycle they were riding as a distraction for a pincer maneuver.
    • The two manage to grab the key using Grey's powers to freeze before Modeus strikes it with his sword. When that fails they simply repeat the process, causing Sugarboy to frantically use his magic sword to stop them... which they were counting on. Adding his swords magic to the mix puts more pressure on the key, making it easier to break.
    • Sugarboy attempts a Sadistic Choice by revealing they need use the Dragon Chain Cannon themselves if they want to free all of their friends from the Lacrima, meaning they either leave it intact for the Edolas forces to use, or destroy their best shot at saving their friends. Grey and Modeus thank him for the information and destroy the key, before revealing that as an Ice-Make wizard, Grey can create a copy so only they can use it. They then proceed to finish him off, destroying his weapon in the process.
• Ch 35: Apocalyptic Dragon Chain Cannon
  • The Exceeds insult Wendy and Carla after the two came to Extalia to warn them of the coming danger, being smug in their belief of their own 'superiority'. When they start throwing rocks Trish gives a Big "SHUT UP!" punctuated by a bolt of lightning, startling them and proceeds to give a vicious "The Reason You Suck" Speech, calling them out on not caring about anyone they deem 'beneath' them or how they hurt others and proclaims them no better than demons.
  • Lady and Gajeel continue their fight with Panther-Lily, who calls them some of the best warriors he's faced. After another exchange of blows Gajeel manages to block the Busterman sword with his Iron-Dragon scales on his arms and shortly after manages to shatter it to pieces! While Panther-Lily is shocked Lady takes the opportunity to launch another trio of rockets, landing a clean hit this time. The Exceed continues to fight just fine and the trio engage in melee, neither side letting up.
  • Dante instantly sees through Erza's disguise as her Edolas counterpart noting she lacked a facial scar he inflicted during their fight.
    • Hell, the fact that Erza managed to defeat her counterpart without killing her and had the foresight to take advantage of their resemblance.
  • Edolas Gajeel managed to make contact with the members of Edolas Fairy Tail and give them a rundown of the situation. Edolas Eva and Lucy Ashley are prepared to help their allies from Earthland, and appear ready to convince the rest of the Edolas guild to do the same.
  • The groups plan, have Erza 'Knightwalker' escort them to the cannon, where she can 'force' Grey to make a replacement key before using the cannon to free their friends from the Lacrima. Even if things go south, they have the whole group (sans Lucy and Lisanna) there and ready to fight. The infiltration itself is successful and Erza manages to warn King Faust about Nelo Angelo's true loyalties, convincing him to send guards to the Anima control room, making things easier for them and harder for their other adversary in one move.
    • When it looks like the cannon can't be adjusted the group forgo subtlety, snapping their restraints and make short work of the guards there. They also mange to take King Faust hostage to force the remaining ones to alter the cannons trajectory.
    • Credit where its due, even at gun- (and sword-)point King Faust insists the soldiers go through with Code:ETD, and ensure that Edolas gets the unlimited magic power he promised and is enraged when they concede to Fairy Tails demands. The man's a scumbag but one can't deny his dedication to his cause.
    • Another villainous example, Knightwalker manages to recover from her fight with Erza and deduce their plan, arriving just in time to foil Fairy Tails rescue attempt with her attack forcing Dante and Erza to release King Faust. This lets the soldiers restore the Dragon Chain Cannon to its original settings.
  • The Edolas forces prepare for battle on two fronts, against Fairy Tail and Nelo Angelo. While Knightwalker rallies the guards, King Faust tells them to prepare their secret weapon, the Doma Anima.
  • Mixed with Nightmare Fuel, Nelo Angelo shows off his new power as the Onyx Reaper by slaughtering the guards around the Anima control room within seconds. He then proceeds to hijack the controls to prepare for Mundus' arrival.
    • Props to the guards, despite knowing they were completely outmatched and clearly being terrified of the demon, they still stood their ground and followed their kings orders to the bitter end.
• Ch 36: Saving Edolas
  • Upon seeing the red vortex appear between the Lacrima and Extalia, Panther-Lily immediately deduces that it is some type of portal, similar to the Anima, as well as being distinct from the typical ones they use.
  • When Shagotte reveals the Exceeds use of a God Guise to keep them safe, Trish wastes no time tearing into her about how damaging her charade has been to Edolas.
    Trish: Now it all makes sense. It explains why you hide in that castle of yours! Do you even understand what is going on down there?! You tried to get every human down there to think you're a god by making them fear you!? Every single one of your Exceeds is up here boasting about how much magic they have, while people are fighting for scarps just to survive! I got news for you, your majesty that's not a god, that's a devil! Do you know what happens when people become so engulfed by fear?! That fear always turns to hatred, always! The humans hate you, and I can't say I blame them!
    • It's quickly followed by Carla bringing up how her and Happy's 'mission' almost made her kill her closest friend, and refuses to use the sword the queen offered, choosing instead to use Trish's pistol Luce, shocking everyone present. After being talked down by Trish, she fires a shot into the air, and chastises the rest of Extalia for giving up, giving a moving Rousing Speech to spur them into action, vowing to save her home.
      Carla: What's wrong with you?! How can all of you give up so easily!? This is your homeland isn't it?! DO you seriously need a god or a queen to get anything done?! You've all held onto dear life even if it meant resorting to lies! After all that, you're just going to lie down and die?! It's okay if you're weak, but if you all work together, there is no limit to what you can accomplish. Extalia can't disappear! I'VE FINALLY COME HOME! AFTER ALL THIS TIME I CAN'T LET IT BE DESTROYED! (sprout wings) I'M GOING TO SAVE EXTALIA WITH OR WITHOUT YOU!
    • While misguided, the Exceeds God Guise deserves props for how convincing it was, having managed to make themselves untouchable despite the bulk of their population only having Aera magic. All this through clever use of Shagotte's precognition.
  • Minor, but Trish mentions that Dante had been interfering in enough of Mundus' machinations that he created her specifically to kill him. While it was partially motivated by revenge on Sparda, it's clear that the Demon Lord considers the devil hunter a formidable adversary.
  • While the above is going on, the other members of Fairy Tail are doing their best to stop the Lacrima from reaching the portal to the Underworld, trying to delay it enough for the portal to close. While they initially struggle to slow it down, Dante shifts to Devil Trigger and Natsu brings his flames out in full force, briefly managing to push back the island, shocking an observing Panther-Lily.
    • When the group begins to falter, Carla arrives, fiercely proclaiming she won't let her home be destroyed, prompting Dante to admit she has guts. Then Nabi arrives, followed by every Exceed in Extalia, including the one-winged Shagotte, determined to save their home. The narration describes a collective green flash of Aera magic alongside Dante's crimson aura that can be seen from all over as everyone holds back the island long enough for the Demonic Anima to close. They did it, the heroes stopped Mundus' plan!
  • Mystogan shows up, having managed to transport the Lacrima back to Earthland, changing everyone back in the process, only needing the Demonic Anima to be gone to do so. The man works fast!
  • Villainous example, despite his masters plans being thwarted, Nelo Angelo shows up, blasts Panther-Lily with lightning and kills several Exceed guards, ready to wreak vengeance on everyone present.
• Ch 37: Wrath! Dorma Amin and The Onyx Reaper
  • Overlaps with Nightmare Fuel, but Nelo Angelo wastes no time fulfilling his vow, swiftly killing dozens of Edolas soldiers and their legions with his lightning and double-sided scythe, which can split in two.
  • Faust unveils his secret weapon, the Dorma Anim, a Humongous Mecha in the shape of a dragon, showing no fear at facing the Onyx Reaper. The newly empowered demon even admits the device will prove a challenge for him, and the two exchange a series of Badass Boast's before beginning their clash. Special mention to Faust's Pre Ass Kicking One Liner, showing that for all his faults, cowardice is not one of them.
    Faust: What you are is just an overgrown parasite! And like all parasites, you will be exterminated!
    • The following fight is one for both of them, with the Onyx Reaper showing good use of his new power, using his lightning to both enhance his attacks and act as a barrier against the Dorma Anim's ranged weapons. Throughout their exchange, he manages to land much more hits than his opponent.
    • However, Faust proves that calling the Dorma Anim the ultimate anti-wizard weapon was not an idle boast, with its Anti-Magic armor capable of taking everything the Onyx Reaper throws at it without any notable damage. It also displays an impressive range of weaponry, including arm-mounted blades, missiles and a laser that manages to stalemate an Onyx Reaper Nelo Angelo in a Beam-O-War. Hell, the fact that Faust proved a capable enough pilot for the thing to match Mundus' herald despite never having operated it before is impressive in its own right.
  • Wary of the collateral damage the two villains could wreck in their fight, Mystogen leaps into the fray and matches both of them at once! The man makes excellent use of his staff magic, firing a laser to stun Nelo Angelo and well-timed use of an Attack Reflector lets him keep the Onyx Reaper and the Dorma Anim on their toes. He even briefly matches Nelo Angelo in melee, greatly impressing Dante.
    • While seemingly knocked out of the fight by a blast from the Dorma Anim, it is later revealed he simply used the opportunity to disengage and check on his friend Panther-Lily, as well as set the rest of his plan in motion. He is willing to leave the battle to Natsu and co, implying that he could have won if he wanted to. Not bad for someone with no innate magic.
  • While Dante and the Dragon Slayers confront Faust in the Dorma Anim, Modeus opts to face Nelo Angelo alone, confident he can at least hold his own while the others finish their fight. Despite the servant of Mundus' increased power, the apprentice of Sparda spends the initial phase of the fight in control, quickly moving the battle further from the others and managing to land a barrage of some of his strongest attacks. The Onyx Reaper manages to land a single (if decisive blow) primarily because Modeus was distracted.
    • At the same time, it is clear Nelo Angelo's new power as the Onyx Reaper gives him a significant advantage, barely being winded after the above barrage and being unconcerned with the fight at hand. He also wastes no time taking advantage of Modeus' brief distraction, managing to impale the Master Swordsman, seemingly ending the fight then and there.
  • Dante and the Dragon Slayers face off against the Dorma Anim, which is stated to be Edolas' most powerful weapon. During the fight, Wendy shows off the effectiveness of her support magic, boosting the speed and power of her companions to the point that they can run circles around the Dorma Anim, seemingly barraging it from all directions at once, while dealing far more damage to it than even Nelo Angelo. It's telling that Dante compared the speed boost he got to his Quicksilver style.
    • When Faust tries to attack Wendy, the others all kick it up a notch, with Dante intercepting the missiles by striking them down with Ebony and Rebellion and Natsu tanking them, simply absorbing the flames from the explosion. Meanwhile, Gajeel damages the silos, removing a weapon from Faust's arsenal before chewing on the devices tail for a stamina boost.
    • Then the real reason why the Dorma Anim is so feared amongst the citizens of Edolas is revealed: it can absorb the very magic of the land itself to power itself up, with Nelo Angelo stating that fighting it is the equivalent to fighting all the magic of Edolas! This manifests as it absorbing magic from the air, changing to a black color and gaining enlarged arm-blades in a mode Faust calls Black Heaven. It then proceeds to No-Sell attacks from Dante and Natsu, and sends the group flying with a few swings of its arm-blades, which can now send of enlarged energy waves capable of stunning the likes of Gajeel.
    • When Faust begins boasting of his victory, asking if there's anyone to challenge him, Dante steps forward, despite his head and right side bleeding, before telling him to Bring It and Flipping the Bird. He then matches a swing from the enhanced Dorma Anims arm-blade with one from Rebellion, with the two holding a blade-lock that emits enough pressure to cause winds and shockwaves to form around them. That's right, Dante is essentially matching all the magic of Edolas by himself.
  • After Knightwalkers ambush, the others start to fall and need the members who have Flight to rescue them, only to realize Erza isn't with them. Cut to the woman herself, who used a chain to latch on to one of the soldiers Legions (flying mounts) before gunning straight for Knightwalker, keeping her Evil Counterpart occupied, The two Erza's then get ready to settle things once and for all.
    Scarlet/Knightwalker: I'll never stop fighting! Not until I've rid this world of you!
• Ch 38: Turning the Tide
  • Edolas Eva, Lucy and Mary trying to convince the rest of Edolas Fairy Tail to join the battle against the Royal Army, clearly having had their drive restored. The latter even notes that while she may be a pacifist, she is not a coward. In the face of their continued hesitation, Edolas Lucy gives an epic Rousing Speech to call her comrades to arms, echoing the words Dante spoke to her and unintentionally speaking in tandem with her Earthland counterpart.
    Edolas Lucy: Before I made my way back here, Dante told me something. He told me 'when you have power, don't use it for yourself, use it to stand up for those who can't stand up for themselves! All iving beings have a right to pursue their own happiness! When someone tries to take that right away from them, stand up to that someone, don't back down! If they won't listen to reason, then take a stand. Even if you're staring straight into the Gates of Hell itself! Don't back down! Fight!' Well it's high time we took a stand!
    (on Battlefield)
    Lucy: We can't give up! No matter what happens... we gotta keep fighting!
    Edolas Lucy: Are we gonna leave them to die on the battlefield?! Or are we gonna lend them a hand?! The future of Edolas is at stake! Not just us, but every man, woman, and child!
    Lucy: I'll bet Natsu, Dante and Erza are still in it! If they can find the strength to keep going, then I know I can too!
    Edolas Lucy: I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm tired of always running away from fights! The Gates of Hell are right at our doorstep and it's time we stood up to the monsters on the other side!
    Lucy: We've got to keep fighting!
    Edolas Lucy(Berserker Tears): We gotta face our foes head on!
    Both: Because that's what it means to be a Fairy Tail wizard!
  • When it looks like the Earthland members of Fairy Tail are being overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of the Royal Army and their Legion steeds, enter the Edolas Fairy Tail guild hall, which sprouts in the middle of the battlefield and releases vines that subdue all the Legions. The Edolas Fairy Tail members all emerge, willing to fight for their world once more, with Edolas Lucy and Eva leading the charge. The group shows that Fairy Tail will always be Fairy Tail, managing to make quick work of many of the soldiers and turning the tide in the heroes favor.
    Edolas Eva: Hello boys! Remember us? It's payback time! CHARGE!
  • The entire Erza vs Erza fight could be considered one on both sides, both making excellent use of their respective arsenals to constantly switch attacks and both seamlessly countering whatever the other throws at them. Highlights from the fight include:
    • When faced with Knightwalkers Blue Crimson spears, Erza uses her Morningstar armor to attack from a distance, to which Knightwalker uses Runesave to cut down.
    • Knightwalker ups her speeds with Silfarion, putting Erza in the defensive and knocking her through several walls. When she tries to press her advantage, Erza requips away her boots and proceeds to sword fight with her feet, shocking her opponent.
    • The two decide to break out their respective ultimate weapons, the Ravelt spear and Fairy Armadura armor, initiating an epic clash... that ends with both being destroyed, being evenly matched! Not wasting time, Knightwalker goes straight into hand-to-hand, the two continuing to fight even as the island they stand on falls.
    • As they fall, the two exchange a clash of ideology, with Knightwalker espousing the view that the oppression and murder the kingdom of Edolas has committed being simply human nature, which Erza refutes, stating that human nature is to protect those people hold dear. The latter actually manages to convince her counterpart, who concedes that she is indeed 'an imitation', having felt she lost. Despite this, Erza points out that at the end, neither of them has enough strength to move, pointing out that her counterpart is in fact her equal in every way that counts, ending the fight in a draw. It seems that there was no 'superior' Erza, at least as far as badassery was concerned. Not bad for a woman with no innate magic.
  • Despite being near his deathbed, Modeus continues to hold out against Nelo Angelo, even using the arrival of Edolas Fairy Tail to support his claims that there will always be those to oppose monsters like the Onyx Reaper. As the Onyx Reaper is about to finish him off, he is reminded of his last conversation with Sparda, where the man entrusted his will and strength to his apprentice. Upon realizing what this meant, he awakens his masters gift, gaining a new form akin to Dante's Devil Trigger. He then proceeds to tank and casually deflect every attack Nelo Angelo throws at him before thrashing the Onyx Reaper, the tables having turned. He even dismantles his claims that being made from Sparda's essence gave him the mans power, saying that the demon will never understand what truly made the Dark Knight powerful, prompting an especially satisfying This Cannot Be! from the smug Knight of Cerebus.
  • Throughout the chapter, the Dorma Anim lives up to the hype, with Dante and the Dragon Slayers being unable to do any damage to it. Hell, Faust outright laughs at their attempts to do so, chastising them for wasting magic.
    • At the very least, the all make sure to call him out on his hypocrisy, pointing out that rather than gathering magic for his citizens he's just hoarding it all to satisfy his lust for power.
    • After seeing Modeus' new Super Mode, Dante decides to follow his example,breaking out his own Devil Trigger to bring the battle to an end.
• Ch 39: Checkmate
  • Modeus really shines in this chapter, opening with him putting the Onnyx Reaper decisively on the losing end of their battle, to the latter's disbelief. He then proves capable of blocking a full powered blast from the Dorma Anim, which was powered up to the point where Dante and the Dragon Slayers were unable to damage it at all.
  • After activating his Devil Trigger, Dante faces off against the Black Heaven Dorma Anim and appears to be winning, stopping its missiles with some blasts of his own and delivering a large gash across the things chest area. Made all the more impressive given how it previously shrugged off all of his attacks. Sadly, repeated use of the form that day leaves him exhausted, and his performance quickly drops.
    • This leads to him and the Dragon Slayers performing a four-way Unison Raid with the last of their power, creating an explosion that can be felt by Modeus and Nelo Angelo in the air around the coliseum in an awesome display of power and coordination... Unfortunately Faust was able to dodge, leaving them all exhausted and at his nonexistent mercy.
  • Natsu manages to intercept Nelo Angelo's surprise attack on Wendy, and stating he doesn't give a damn how exhausted he is, it won't stop him from kicking their asses, in a show of willpower that manages to frighten Nelo Angelo. He then proceeds to punt the bastard at the Dorma Anim with enough force to make it fall over, and inspires everyone else there.
    Natsu: IF I RUN OUT OF POWER TODAY... THEN I'LL JUST BORROW SOME FROM TOMORROW!
    • He then assists Modeus in fighting Nelo Angelo, holding the herald of Mundus in place and telling Modeus to unleash his strongest attack. The apprentice of Sparda creates a bow out of his swords, firing Lunar Goddess of the Hunt: Artemis at full power, while Natsu launches the Onyx Reaper into its path with an attack of his own. Caught between the combined force of the two attacks the Onyx Reaper is incinerated, putting an end to him once and for all.
    • Meanwhile, despite their own exhaustion and it absorbing even more of Edolas' magic, the others continue to fight the Dorma Anim, and show off good teamwork. First, Dante throws Gajeel at the things foot, which the Iron Dragon Slayer manages to pierce, locking it on the ground so it can't dodge again. Then Wendy unleashes a full powered Sky-Dragon Roar right behind Dante, who triggers a Unison Raid, letting him pierce straight through the Dorma Anim and impale Faust, leaving the mad king skewered on a rock.
      Dante(in Devil Trigger): DEVIL DRAGON: CRIMSON SKY BLADE!
    • Dante gives a brief, but brutal "The Reason You Suck" Speech, about how Faust has let his character decline to the point where he was little better than a demon. In his last moments, the mad mad king sees images of Sparda, Igneel, Grandeeney and Metallicana overlaid where Dante, Natsu, Wendy and Gajeel respectively are standing. As for Modeus, he is represented by the moon itself.
  • Amidst everyone else in Edolas panicking or falling into despair, Edolas Gajeel continues to record events in his notebook, calmly noting they are watching history in the making and it is his duty to record it as accurately as possible for future generations. The man may have no powers, but he is in many ways just as big of a badass as his Earthland counterpart.
  • In a way, how calm Byro, Hughes and Sugarboy are about the loss of magic in Edolas, even facing it with a peaceful smile and a sense of peace. Hell, they even take the revelation better than Edolas Fairy Tail.
  • Props to Mystogan for how well though out his plan is, having found a way to remove magic from Edolas to simultaneously cut off future conflict over how it will be distributed and removing access to and from the Demon World, stopping any future plans Mundus may have for it. He also predicted the panic that would follow him doing so, and is perfectly willing to have himself struck down as the villain to ensure they follow Panther-Lily as a leader. It shows a callous disregard to his old friend, and is a complete Tearjerker on his end, but his foresight and dedication to his cause is impressive.
• Ch. 40 Goddbye Edolas
  • Minor, but Panther-Lily manages to dissuade Mystogan from his Zero-Approval Gambit by offering to play the role of the villain instead, and using his horrified reaction to emphasize why such a plan is noble, but rather damaging to those close to him. Clever move on his part.
  • Despite her previous despair, Edolas Lucy wastes no time pulling herself together and rallies her guildmates to make their way to the Royal capital to help out where they can, with Edolas Eva watching with pride. The guild provides something akin to relief work, helping children find their parents and clearing rubble to help people get free.
  • Nabi informed Dante, Modeus, Natsu, Wendy, and Gajeel of Mystogans plan, and Dante quickly comes up with the idea to use the 'Demon King Dragneel' as the scapegoat instead, since they won't be in Edolas for much longer. This will let Mystogan/Prince Jellal unite the country by 'defeating' the 'mastermind' behind the recent upheavals. What's more, he has the idea to declare Nelo Angelo as his 'servant', using Mundus' own minions legacy to save a country from chaos, in a massive middle finger to the demon emperors machinations.
    • Edolas Gajeel quickly deduces the nature of the heroes plan from a brief shared look with his Earthland counterpart and aids their efforts, nudging the crowd to fear the 'Demon King Dragneel'. Despite being caught off-guard by Mystogan/Prince Jellas's appearance, he wastes no time subtly hyping him up to the watching citizens, quickly getting everyone to rally behind the long-missing prince, and helping to boost morale.
    • Despite being unable to use magic, Mystogan proves capable of matching Natsu in hand-to-hand, who is explicitly noted not to be holding back (or at least not as much as he should). While exhaustion was likely a factor, it's still quite impressive on the prince's end.
• Ch. 41 Welcome Home
  • While morally questionable, the Exceeds plan to save their children fits given how well it covers all their bases. Knowing that Extalia will fall (as Shagottes visions have always come true) they need a way to save as many of their people as they can, but revealing their concern would threaten their God Guise. So they fabricate a 'mission' that requires sending a hundred of their eggs to Earthland, ensuring they will be safe from the danger foreseen, while reinforcing the queens reputation as all-knowing/all-powerful in one fell swoop. If not for Carla's budding clairvoyance, they would never have had to bring it up again.
  • Small, but Natsu's sense of smell is acute enough to tell that Lucky and Marl are Happy's parents despite just having met them.

Devil Hand

• Ch 42: Dawn of Darkness
  • Despite the loss of their magic the citizens of Edolas appear to have more than recovered their morale, eagerly working to repair the damage done by the 'Demon King Natsu'. King Jellal appears to have done a good job in this regard, even recruiting the Magic Force Captains to help out as part of their punishment. For their part, they all take it on the chin, with their only initial objection being that they believe they deserve execution for their crimes, in an impressive display of humility.
    • This includes Edolas Fairy Tail, who offer to help out wherever they can in rebuilding.
    • While it's Played for Laughs, the fact that Edolas Levy was able to fit wheels onto the guildhall in such a short time is quite impressive. Likewise, the men of Edolas Fairy Tail successfully manage to pull the whole thing (with the women inside) all the way to the Royal capital. They're all exhausted afterwards but that takes some serious strength and endurance.
  • Annoyed with her performance in the final battle, Wendy approaches Modeus and requests that he train her in combat the same way Sparda trained him. Despite being warned that the training will be rigorous, the youngest Dragon Slayer still resolves to go through with it, dedicated to becoming a better fighter.
  • During the Magic Councils meeting, it's mentioned that in the past Sparda made sure to call them out on some of their morally dubious actions, including the creation of Etherion. Shows that he really did make sure no one misused their power unchallenged, regardless of standing or power. Man sure lived by the creed he taught his son.
  • Overlaps with Nightmare Fuel, but the Big Bad Ensemble between Vergil and Arkham.
    • The chapter starts with Vergil performing research to find new ways of growing stronger, avoiding the typical attitude of defeated villains and showing he's not one to rest on his laurels.
    • Enter Arkham, who proposes said alliance, not even flinching when the son of Sparda threatens him, and manages to successfully talk the wary Vergil into an alliance. He suggests that they form their own Dark Guild to counter Fairy Tail's interference, adding that they need several people to fill out the positions of the seven deadly sins. When Vergil expresses doubt at finding that many powerful demons he mentions he actually has several human mages in mind, mentioning that the team in question should help them fned off not just Fairy Tail, but the Magic Council and Baram Alliance. The guy is very well prepared.
      Arkham: The souls of man can also be corrupted, in some cases certain can wield even greater darkness than some demons.
    • As for why they need people to fill the role of the sins, Vergil and Dante already killed the demons who did that over the years, granting them their current arsenals. Furthermore, while he's wary of the threat they pose, he expresses confidence that he can deal with every faction that Arkham mentioned, only showing slight doubt at facing the leader of Grimoire Heart. To cap this off, he nonchalantly deals with the horde of demons that surround him, resolving to cut down anyone in his path.
      Vergil: Are you ready brother? Our rematch is approaching.
• Ch 43: Movements in The Shadows
  • The chapter opens with Dante facing off against Natsu Dragneel and Gray Fullbuster at the same time, in what seems to be a Curb-Stomp Battle... for Dante.
  • Arkhams choices for the Seven Deadly Sins were fitting enough, despite being human mages, that even Vergil admits they're well suited for their positions. The man also made good use of their resources, sending a group of weak demons to test a Magic Council prison, gaining information without exposing their new Dark Guilds true capabilities.
  • In a similar vein, Vergil reveals he sent a low level demon (which not even Dante could sense) to spy on Fairy Tail, having discovered that Lisanna has returned. He then sends a more powerful demon to retrieve her, reasoning it will either successfully capture her, or provide them with insight on her current capabilities, since his information on her is two years out of date. The fact that he makes the latter a priority shows that while he may be a Smug Super, he is Genre Savvy enough to be wary of Fairy Tail members, not taking any chances.
  • Morrison shows up again, and displays his skills as an Information Broker. While on the way there, he managed to find out about the existence of Devil Hand and their recent attack on the Magic Councils prison, alerting Fairy Tail of both. He also mentions having talked with former council member Yajima (who in turn is on contact with current member Org), warning Fairy Tail that the current Council is itching for an excuse to disband them. One long trip and a single conversation and the guy has already warned Fairy Tail about two big threats, showing the man indeed fits his role as The Smart Guy.
  • While it interrupted their kiss, Natsu's senses prove sharp enough to detect a surprise attack from the demon Vergil sent, and swiftly moves both of them out of the way. He then intercepts Cragnar's (the demon, who is a cross between a crocodile and a Komodo dragon) charge at Lisanna with a well placed punch, which said demon compliments him for, and makes it clear he'll have to get past him first.
• Ch 44: Devil Hand
  • Arkham's mere presence manages to visibly rattle Lady, with Dante being on guard at the realization that the man might be in the vicinity. Says something about how dangerous he is that the two experienced devil hunters are wary at the prospect of facing him again. It's even mentioned in their first meeting he attempted to steal Dante's power, and while we don't see the details it clearly left an impression on the son of Sparda.
  • Throughout the chapter, Cragnar proves to be a dangerous adversary, displaying enough speed, strength and toughness to match Natsu, and plenty of cunning and ruthlessness to boot. When he realizes he can't capture Lisanna and fight Natsu at once, he manages to get under his skin by taunting him about Igneel, and exploiting his Unstoppable Rage to trick him into almost hitting Lisanna, critically injuring his opponent after a moment of hesitation. Even after Natsu's Heroic Second Wind, he still put up a great fight, coming very close to killing him and Lisanna multiple times, and taking two of Natsu's most advanced techniques to finish off. Despite being the Starter Villain for the arc, the bastard still managed to be a Knight of Cerebus.
  • After being captured by Cragnar (who has her Bound and Gagged to prevent her from using magic), Lisanna quickly manages to escape and remove her bindings, and uses her cat Take-Over to fend him off. She even manages to take out the bastards right eye before giving a Badass Boast and goin on the offensive.
    Lisanna: You mess with this cat you get the claws!
    • Even when it looks like Cragnar is going to kill her, Lisanna is Defiant to the End, simply saying Fairy Tail will stop him, as will Natsu. Right as Cragnar proclaims Natsu dead...
  • Cue a Fire Dragon Roar from Natsu, having recovered despite Cragnar ripping into his arm and torso, and leaving him to bleed out. How did he deal with the bleeding? By searing the wound with his flames. He then proceeds to demolish the demon with Flame Lotus: Fire Dragon Fist, a barrage of punches that create sonic booms before giving the following Declaration of Protection.
    Natsu: If you ever come near Lisanna again, I will kill you! Do you hear me?! You'll wish you're fighting Dante when I'm done with you!
    • After Cragnar foolishly decides to do just that, Natsu makes good on his threat, sending him into the air with a vicious uppercut, and completely incinerates the bastard with a Dragon Slayer Secret Art, all with one hell of a Death Glare. The fact that he did all this after losing a decent chunk of blood, shows just how bad an idea it is to hurt Lisanna with Natsu around.
  • Natsu managing to save Lisanna with his Dragon Slayer Secret Art: Blood Soul Fire, successfully saving her life despite the risks to himself. The fact that he was able to retain consciousness long enough to reassure Lisanna despite having lost a considerable amount of blood as well as the draining nature of the spell, speaks volumes to his vitality and willpower.
• Ch 45: Dragon Soul
  • Natsu's Blood Soul Fire managed to completely heal Lisanna, who did not even have scars from the encounter with Cragnar. What's more, the spell managed to fill her full of energy, managing to gather a large pile of fruit while he was unconscious.
  • We are introduced to the Seven Sins, the top members of Devil Hand outside of Vergil and Arkham.
    • While also horrifying, the fact that two of their members are children, Leviathia and Beelzebub, is a testament to how powerful the two are, being unafraid to mouth off to the others. The latter even manages to shut up the mouthy Mammon with a Death Glare.
    • Despite their clashing personalities, their leader Iblis proves capable of getting them all to cease squabbling with a single order. Given their clashing personalities and how Arkham likely selected the most vicious and/or powerful people he could find, this speaks volumes to her power.
    • Vergil and Arkham showing enough intelligence to hold off attacking Fairy Tail or the Magic Council directly, content to let them think Devil Hand is comprised solely of demons. It's made clear that they could simply rush in and get what they want, but they are smart enough to bide their time.
      Vergil: We wait, watch, and listen. For within a few days, this world's light be extinguished forever.
  • Lady proves perceptive enough to deduce that something big happened on Natsu and Lisanna's job, quickly picking up on the girl avoiding giving any details. Goes to show that being a devil hunter requires a fair bit of brainpower.
  • Not wanting her sister to go into danger she's not ready for, Mira challenges her to a fight to prove that she'll be okay on a job with Dante and the others. The fight itself is a complete Curb-Stomp Battle in her favor, tanking most of what Lisanna throws at her, nonchalantly dodging the rest and manages to nearly knock her out with one punch. Whole thing shows why the woman is Erza's rival, with Lady and Erza noting that she's barely trying. Sadly overlaps with Tearjerker, since neither sister is happy with this.
    • The Lisanna starts to give herself a Rousing Speech, and triggers a Heroic Second Wind, complete with a brand new power.
      Lisanna (thoughts): NO! I refuse to be helpless! Natsu, Erza, Grey, Happy,...even Wendy's getting stronger. If they can get stronger, why can't I!? (ring of fire forms around her) I will protect my friends...! I will protect those I love! Even you Natsu. I WON'T BE HELPESS ANYMORE! (flames engulf her)
    • Following the above, she emerges covered in red-black scales, along with wings and claws, in her Take Over: Dragon Soul! She then proceeds to show off just what it can do, displaying enough speed and strength to push back Mira in her Satan Soul, who is then forced to start using her darkness magic, showing she now has to take the fight seriously. Lisanna simply starts countering with fire magic, to everyone's shock, and manages to match her in a magical Beam-O-War. That's right, Lisanna's new Take Over just let her go toe-to-toe with an S-Class mage, something few others can do. Despite being in worse shape than Mira by the end, her sister is still impressed and is convinced she can take care of herself.
• Ch. 46 Fallen Angel
  • Despite limited information, Porlyusica is quickly able to form a theory as to how Natsu's blood transfusion gave her a new Take Over, suggesting that he transferred part of his soul in the process.
    • After a brief explanation on the magic Natsu used, Erza and Mirajane are quickly able to reach the same conclusion, showing off the brains tha come with being S-Class wizards in Fairy Tail.
    • While it's Played for Laughs, Porlyusica manages to chase the group from her hut, with everyone screaming as they run. Said group consistes of Gildarts, Makarov, Erza, Mirajane, Dante as well as hot heads like Elfman and Natsu. Never Mess with Granny indeed.
  • Minor, but Trish easily manages to trick Lucy into confessing she has a crush on Natsu, showing good people skills. In an impressive display of maturity, Lucy averts both Clingy Jealous Girl and Skewed Priorities, easily admitting Natsu and Lisanna would make a great couple, and while she accepts Trish's advice to confess to get it off her chest, resolves to do so only after Devil Hand has been dealt with.
  • During the meeting with Lahar, Dante easily deflects his attempts to keep them Locked Out of the Loop. He also successfully convinces him to allow the other Fairy Tail members to join in and inform them of the prisoners identity, Angel, all without breaking his professional demeanor. Mans good at more than just fighting.
• Ch 47: Demonic Descent
  • Dante is impressed to hear that Mirajane defeated the demon she got her first Take Over from at the age of thirteen.
  • The guildmates and Rune Knights fighting against the Hell Vanguards sent to capture Angel, highlights including:
    • Trish destroying one of Lady's rockets, allowing the shrapnel to kill six Vanguards surrounding them.
    • Wendy catching the scent of a Vanguard that tries to get the drop on her and Carla, flattening it to the ground with a Sky Dragon Roar.
    • Some credit goes to Lahar for easily crushing two Vanguards in a barrier, all while having a calm look on his face.
    • Lisanna breaking in her new Dragon Soul, catching the scythe of one Vanguard before throwing him into another one.
    • After summoning Virgo, who ploughs through a group of Vanguards, Lucy manages to deal with one herself using her whip.
  • Dante taking on Fanglor and Raviary by himself to rescue Angel. While both demons seem to have him on the ropes at first, Dante fires back easily, using Agni and Rudra to destroy Raviary, then Nevan to electrocute the water Fanglor is in to finish him off.
    • Angel witnesses the whole battle, completely amazed by the strength of a Son of Sparda. She even admits to herself that if Dante was with Fairy Tail during the Oración Seis arc, he would have beaten even Zero.
  • A villainous example comes from Leviatha, the first of the Seven Sins to be in a fight in the story. In her debut fight, she catches everybody off guard by easily incapacitating Gray and Happy with Gray's own Ice-Make Magic, catching up with Carla using wings from Aera magic, and taking down Wendy with her own Sky Dragon Roar. She only retreats once she finds she's the only one left in the group.
    • Modeus' Big Damn Heroes moment, intercepting Leviathia's attack and getting her to leave without a single swing of his swords.
• Ch 48: The Calm Before the Storm
  • Hades sends Ultear to invite Devil Hand to join the Baram Alliance, implying that he considers them formidable enough to fill the gap left by the Oración Seis.
  • Makarov figures out the reason for Leviatha's multiple powers is she has Magical Drain, a rare magic that allows a wizard to copy the magical abilities of those near them.
  • Vergil catching Ultear off-guard by revealing that he knows of Grimoire Heart's plans of reviving Zeref, something kept secret from the rest of the Baram Alliance. As Vergil himself says, he's not ignorant to everything around him in his quest for power, and makes it a point not to underestimate any potential enemies.
  • Arkham manages to instill dread in the likes of Ultear, who directly compares him to Lord Hades. Keep in mind, she is the leader of the Kin of Purgatory of one of the deadliest dark guilds in the land, and Arkham wasn't even trying to intimidate her. Goes to show how scary he can really be.
  • Devil Hand begin to make their move, splitting their forces to accomplish multiple objectives at once.
    Arkham: Now then go forth Seven Sins of Devil Hand! The Era of Darkness begins now!
    • Mammon, Iblis and Beelzebub attack the prison where Angel is being held, with Iblis easily breaking down the gate. After Iblis mockingly gives them a chance to leave, Adrian unleashes his Take Over: Wendigo Soul, turning into a twelve foot tall monstrosity that horrifies all the Rune Knights, before lunging at the poor souls.
      Mammon: Yeah you guys should have left when you had the change.
    • Arkham shows some serious big ones for strolling right into Fairy Tail and calmly asking for Dante, maintaining his cool even as Dante and Lady aim their weapons at him. He even manages to grab Mira and Lady from the guild and vanishing while sending a small army of Hell Vanguards to occupy Dante and the rest of Fairy Tail, in an impressive display of physical skills. When the Action Girl's ask if he thinks he can take them on, he has this to say.
      Arkham: (smirking) I hold no illusion I could ever best the mighty She-Devil in combat.
      Satan: That's why he brought us!
      (cue Satan, Leviatha, Asmodeua and Belpegor standing above them)
      Satan: (Knuckle Cracking) So ladies, who's ready to get hurt?
  • At the end of the chapter, Vergil makes his entrance before Natsu, Lucy, Happy, and Lisanna by slicing open their train car with Yamato, separating them from the rest of the train. This prompts an Oh, Crap! from all present members of Fairy Tail.
    Vergil: Hello Fairy Tail. Did you miss me?
• Ch 49: Rise! Temen-Ni-Gru
  • Mira and Lady find themselves facing half of the Seven Sins, and they all prove challenging.
    • Despite sitting on his chair throughout the fight, Belphegor's minions give Lady a hard time, popping up by the second. Asmodeua then tags into the fight, quickly disarming Lady of her rocket launcher and dancing around all her subsequent shots, before finishing her off with a paralyzing kiss.
    • Asmodeua and Satan double team Mirajane, the former tripping her up with webs while the latter actually manages to daze her with his punches. Mirajane shows why she's an S-Class wizard, managing to hold her own despite being outnumbered, even pulling off a Punch Catch against Satan.
    • Deciding to finish things fast, Leviatha then takes on Mira herself, taking on her own Satan Soul to fight the She-Devil. With Satan's help, she soon overpowers Mira, finishing her off with Soul Extinction.
  • Overlaps with Nightmare Fuel, but how easily Beelzebub was able to defeat the Rune Knights guarding Angel. Likewise, all present members of Devil Hand make the hardened criminal genuinely terrified, showing they're in another league even compared to the Oración Seis.
  • Vergil proves to be just as strong as ever in his rematch with Fairy Tail, slicing through Natsu's attacks with ease and beating Aquarius to a pulp. If it wasn't for Lisanna using her Dragon Soul, making him realize she couldn't be a part of his plans anymore, Vergil likely would have won.
    • Credit to Fairy Tail though, Natsu actually manages to impress Vergil with his prowess, with the elder Son of Sparda sincerely praising him for getting stronger, and only losing from a momentary lapse in concentration.
    • Meanwhile, Lisanna comes up with a plan to attack him underwater, where he'd be at a disadvantage. Even when that fails she manages to surprise Vergil with a hit from her Dragon Soul, catching him off guard for one of the few times in the story.
  • Despite failing to capture Lisanna, Vergil quickly forms a backup plan once he goes to Ultear. Bringing up her past as Ur's daughter and her desire to kill Gray, he's able rattle her, letting him overpower and take her prisoner, with Ultear's anger making her unable to focus fully.
    • Also worth noting is Ultear's attempt to use her Arc of Time on Yamato failing. As Vergil notes, the Yamato, as a demon-made weapon, is immune to her power, having maintained it's sharpness for thousands of years.
  • Related to the above, Devil Hands goal is revealed to be raising Temen-ni-gru, using the blood of female virgin descendants of the priestess used to seal it (Angel and Mirajane). Since they don't have the required three, Vergil has Leviathia mimic Ultears Arc of Time to rapidly degrade the seal, allowing him to unleash Temen-ni-gru. Upon rising, the tower is visible all across Earthland and is even larger than the Tower of Heaven and Nirvana, a city sized super-weapon.
    Vergil: Two thousand years ago this seal was made to contain the medium between Earthland and the Underworld. It is now through the same process that I break it. I call upon the Seven Deadly Sins of man, Pride, Wrath, Sloth, Gluttony, and Greed. (slowly unsheathes Yamato) And now with the blade used to originally seal a gate to the Underworld the blood of the priestess sacrificed to contain this force of nature I... Release! (Slams Yamato into a magic circle in the ground, blue energy carackles, cracks form in the seal, and the ground begins to shake) I CALL UPON THEE TO RISE AGAIN! BY YOUR NAME I SUMMON YOU! TEMEN-NI-GRU!
  • After getting over his initial shock at seeing Temen-ni-gru rise, Natsu simply shrugs and nonchalantly starts making his way towards the tower, knowing that Devil Hand is behind this. When the others question if that's a good idea, he shows he's smarter than he lets on, pointing out that everyone in Fiore can see Temen-ni-gru, including the rest of Fairy Tail who are smart enough to realize it's connected to Devil Hand and will investigate. As such they can simply meet up with them on the way. The group makes their way to the Evil Tower of Ominousness, ready for a fight.
    Natsu: So what do you guys say? Wanna kick some demon ass?
    Happy: Aye sir!
    Lisanna: I'm with you Natsu.
    Lucy: Me too. Let's give and his new pals a piece of our minds.
    Natsu: Aw yeah, I'm fired up now. Ready or not Vergil, here we come.
  • Likewise, many of Fairy Tails other members start to make their way to Temen-ni-gru, just as ready for a fight.
    Dante: Then what are we waiting for? My bro's got something fun planned for us, let's not disappoint him.
• Ch 50: Sinners Advent
  • Natsu's sense of smell proves sharp enough to determine that Lady and Mirajane were present at a battlefield and the presence of their opponents. In addition, he is able to pick up on the fact that one of them (Arkham) is related to Lady, despite never having met him before.
  • After sharing information, Modeus not only reveals the nature of Temen-ni-gru as a gate to the Underworld, but manages to deduce that Vergil and Arkham gathered the Seven Sins to allow for its activation. He also casually deduces that Mirajane and Angels families are likely descended from the priestess Sparda sacrificed, further showcasing his intelligence.
  • Belphegor was able to create an inconspicuous raven to act as a spy, showing off how versatile his magic can be.
  • In a posthumous vuillainous example, Arkham points out that the ones who contructed Temen-ni-gru did an excellent job making the thing, filling it to the brim with traps and demons in addition to its purpose as a gate to the Underworld.
  • Knowing that Fairy Tail works best as a team, Arkham changes the pathways and openings inside Temen-ni-gru to separate the group, while also having the captive Ultear, Angel, Mira, and Lady separated as well as bait. Lily even acknowledges the strategy as an effective and brilliant move.
  • Natsu, Elfman, Gajeel and Lily find themselves facing several Hell Wraths and Hell Gluttonys, charging in with manly yells.
  • Dante proving perceptive enough to both be on guard around Jester, and recognise something familiar about him.
  • The chapter ends with Happy flying Dante up for a rematch with Vergil, and Trish facing down Belphegor's Hell Sloths.
• Ch 51: Brothers Rivals Evermore
  • The quartet of Natsu, Gajeel, Panther-Lily, and Elfman make short work of the Hell Wraths and Hell Gluttonys, with Lily finishing off the entire group by throwing a Hell Wrath into the others, blowing them up in an explosion with Natsu eating the resulting fire.
    • Elfman gets a low key one for getting the argumentative Dragon Slayers to cease their bickering and focus on the task at hand. Guy can be quite commanding where his family's concerned.
  • Beelzebub manages to intimidate both Elfman and Mirajane simply by entering his Wendigo Take Over, complete with what sounds like a chilling Pre-Mortem One-Liner.
    Wendigo: I warned you... now you will be my next meal.
  • Lady remains defiant to Arkham despite her captivity, giving the man a Death Glare even as he implants a lacrima into her body.
    • From the same scene, he points out to Leviatha that she will get her reunion with Wendy, who, as a Dragon Slayer, will be able to pick up her scent and will likely go to confront her given their history. Another showcase of how well the man can manipulate others to his own ends.
  • Satans entrance has him squaring off against Natsu, Gajeel, and Panther-Lily, complete with a Badass Boast.
    Satan: I'm Satan, one of Devil Hands Seven Sins! The Sin I represent is Wrath! And you guys are my first victims of the day! I can't wait to spill your blood!
  • Dante and Vergil have their rematch on the top of the tower, and Dante manages to be match for his twin for a while this time, the two making skillful use of their respective arsenals.
    • Happy gets his own moment during the Dante/Vergil duel, saving Dante from falling off the tower and telling off Vergil when the latter scoffs at the notion of friendship and teamwork.
      Vergil: If you cannot depend on yourself then how can you call yourself strong?
      Happy: Oh boy, here we go again. You know power isn't the only thing that matters! You ask me, you're just a big bully! This is just like how it was in Edolas, those who think power is what makes the world go round and will do anything to get it, even if it involves hurting innocent people! Sparda and the Dragons worked hard to seal away this tower, and here you are trying to undo all their hard work and hurting the entire world in the process! I may not have known Sparda, but if he could see you now he'd be ashamed of you! Even Sparda thought Earthland and all its people were worth protecting and me, Dante, Natsu, Erza, and everyone in our guild thinks the same way! Fairy Tail will never lose to someone like you, not by a long shot!
    • Vergil then responds to this by shifting into Devil Trigger, with Dante doing the same. The fight soon becomes a blur of red and blue lights that Happy can barely follow. Eventually victory goes to Vergil when he stabs Dante with Yamato, then channeling demonic energy through it to knock him out. And while it's definitely a tearjerker, credit to backing up his claim to Happy that The Power of Friendship isn't always enough, and sometimes power does count the most.
  • Though using his minions to fight for him, Belphegor manages to keep Trish on her toes. Modeus soon arrives at the end of the chapter to provide backup.
    Modeus: (noticing Belphegor's minions) This could be bothersome.
    Trish: No shit. Come on, we'll cut them all down!
• Ch 52: Sins Born of Desire
  • Both Lisanna and Lucy, and Juvia and Gray's groups manage to dispatch the demons sent after them with little difficulty. Gray and Juvia apparently defeated over fifty, which they treat as annoyances rather than genuine threats.
  • From the same scene, Gray shoots down Juvia's suggestion that Vergil could be sending waves of enemies after them to wear them down before their encounter with him, noting that's not his style at all. Goes to show he has a good grasp on the mans character despite knowing him so briefly.
  • Gray and Juvia find themselves facing Mammon, who possesses Gold-Make Magic. Not only can he make objects out of solid gold, such as shields and shurikens, but he also reveals that he can control hot liquid gold as well, burning his way through Juvia's Water Lock before trapping her in a gold coating as a statue.
    • Though Mammon proves to have an advantage throughout his fight with Gray due to gold being harder than ice, Gray takes the fight to the representative of Greed, managing to freeze the liquid gold Mammon fires his way at one point, and even making ice replicas of Rebellion and Cerberus.
    • During the fight, Mammon employs psychological tactics against Gray, bringing up the ice wizard's desire for revenge of Deliora for his family's death, stating his wish for power is no different than Vergil's desire for power, or Mammon's for money.
    • Crossing over with Heartwarming is Juvia's rebuttal towards Mammon's words when she breaks out of her gold trap.
      Juvia: You don't know anything about Gray! Greed is only a selfish desire, everything he does is solely for the sake of others! He'd even throw his own life in jeopardy if it means protecting those he loves! That's who he is! Gray Fullbuster is the most selfless person I have ever met and I'll be damned if you ever say otherwise!
    • Losing much of his treasure at this point, Mammon pours all of his energy into a hot liquid gold ball dubbed Golden Meteor, which Gray and Juvia counter with their Unison Raid. Both sides are evenly matched in their respective moves, with Gray and Juvia winning thanks to unseen assistance from Ultear, who is able to escape from her imprisonment and weaken Mammon's attack with her Arc of Time.
  • After escaping Mammon's imprisonment, Ultear decides to leave the tower, noting that no matter who wins between Fairy Tail and Devil Hand, they will not live to see the 'Grand Magic World'. Given her ruthless and pragmatic nature, this level of confidence in Grimoire Heart's combat capability is a scary indicator of how formidable they truly are if she considers the likes of Dante and Vergil as obstacles that can definitely be overcome.
  • Terrifying as she is, Asmodeua is not taken lightly in her fight with Lucy and Lisanna, taking down Taurus and Aries with little difficulty, and paralyzing Lucy and Lisanna with her Venom Kiss. And while horrifying, the fact that she manages to almost completely undermine Lucy's confidence and determination with words alone shows how experienced and competent she is at psychological warfare, befitting someone who had the title 'the Black Widow'.
    • Just as Asmodeua is about to have her way with Lucy after giving her a breaking speech about how she lusts for the Celestial Zodiacs and their power, and not caring for her spirits like family, Loke shows up with a huge punch that sends the Black Widow flying across the room, as well as a retort of his own.
      Loke: You don't know the first damn thing about Celestial Spirits, and you certainly don't know anything about Lucy. It's true that some Celestial Wizards treat their spirits as objects or weapons. But Lucy, she has nothing but love. We weren't forced to her service, she offered to form contracts with them and we chose to accept them. She treats all of us like family, there is nothing lustful about her! She has nothing but love, and I'm going to make sure you learn that the hard way!
    • Lisanna then comes to Loke's aid, using the fire magic from her Dragon Soul to forcibly burn out the poison from Asmodeua's kiss. All preceded by another Dare to Be Badass speech.
      Lisanna: That Venom Kiss is some nasty stuff. But she's right, Loke needs help! I promised myself I won't be helpless anymore... and I won't! Lucy, Loke, Mira, Natsu, they're all counting on me, and I'm counting on them! I'll stand up no matter what! And this stupid venom won't stop me!
    • Breaking free thanks to stray fire from Lisanna, Angel transfers all of her Celestial Magic to Lucy, allowing her to cast Urano Metoria on Asmodeua, turning the sadistic witch into ash.
• Ch 53: Advent of The Fairies
  • The other Fairy Tail mages arrive at Temen-ni-gru, ready to fight off the demons sent by Arkham. For his part, Arkham quickly adapts to the interruption, sending the hordes of demons to face the incoming members so those in the tower will be denied reinforcements, and ensuring his plans continue uninterrupted.
  • Satan facing off against both Gajeel and Natsu, putting up a good fight before his magic takes effect, making him grow stronger the more the two Dragon Slayers attack him. After a minute or two of the two wailing on him, he approaches full blown The Juggernaut status, having the two powerful Dragon Slayers on the ropes for the rest of the fight, outright manhandling them even as he shrugs off everything they throw at him.
    • Lily and Gajeel soon figure out that the key to stopping Satan is by not fighting him, with the latter letting himself be used as Satan's punching bag, protecting himself with his Iron Dragon Scales. Eventually, Satan runs out of energy, allowing Gajeel to finish him off with a chop to the neck, knocking him out.
    • Gajeel seeing through Satan's attempt to goad him into killing him, correctly guessing that doing so would actually give the latter a massive power boost. Shows he can be quick on the uptake when needed, and adds a pragmatic reason for simply knocking his opponent out.
    • As the above happens, Natsu shows enough self restraint to not intervene as Gajeel weathers Satans assault.
    • While it's not focused on, Natsu gets another moment for managing to restore his power by drinking lava instead of eating fire, and when questioned by Gajeel nonchalantly says he just tried it then and there. Guy ate something tangentially related to his element for a boost, and with such ease he didn't even consider it that big a deal.
  • Based off the brief contact Warren made and the lack of demons she, Wendy, and Carla have encountered thus far, Erza accurately deduces not only the presence of the rest of Fairy Tail outside the Temen-ni-gru, but Arkham actions and the reasons behind them. She is also the first person to question Jesters motives for aiding Fairy Tail, noting he definitely has his own agenda, and generally showcasing the intelligence expected of an S-Class wizard.
  • Deciding to fight Modeus and Trish himself, Belphegor combines his seven most powerful minions into a suit of armor dubbed Chimera, displaying impressive speed, power, durability and a powerful Breath Weapon. This form proves to be too powerful for the demons, and Modeus has to break out his Devil Trigger for the first time since Edolas to fight Belphegor. The fight soon turns into Modeus' favor, forcing Belphegor to attempt to escape, only to be stopped by Modeus' Artemis arrow.
    • When Belphegor tries to get the last word in by pointing out that there will always be some evil Fairy Tail has to fight, and that their efforts are ultimately futile, Modeus is having none of it and gives the below response.
      Modeus: No. We'll never do that. True, if one evil is defeated another one may rise to take it's place, but there will always be good to rise against it and stop it. Even the most grueling of battles are less tiring than taking no action at all. I would rather endure battle that puts me on death's door than just sit back and let a disaster happen when knowing I can stop it.
  • Once Belphegor is defeated, Vergil arrives to kill the lazy mage before overpowering Trish and Modeus, acquiring the Devil Sword Sparda for his plans.
  • After the above, Modeus shows his perceptiveness by quickly dissecting Vergil's motives, having managed to realize that he kept himself, Dante and Natsu alive for potential Worthy Opponents. He also gets the distinction of being one of the few people to break the composure the Son of Sparda by accurately pointing out he avoided killing Trish due to her resemblance to his mother, which Vergil retaliates with an uncharacteristic angry attack.
• Ch 54: Sins Born of Sorrow
  • Beelzebub proves himself as a terrifying force for Mirajane and Elfman to deal with, displaying sufficient speed and strength, despite his thin appearance, to overwhelm The Big Guy, and in his fight with Mirajane, proves capable of eating her Darkness Stream like how Dragon Slayers eat their respective elements. All with the extra scare factor of passively absorbing the heat from physica contact, leaving Elfmans arms blue after a holding him.
    • Despite being injured earlier, Elfman manages to transform into his Beast Soul again to hold back Beelzebub long enough for Mirajane to knock the boy out of his form with a Soul Extinction.
    • Overlaps heavily with Tearjerker, but Adrian makes the Wendigo eat its own soul, wiping it out along with himself and forcing it to experience the same fate as so many of its victims.
  • While Erza is noted to be holding back during the fight, Leviatha is still a tough opponent for the mighty Titania. Not only does Leviatha's Magic Drain give her access to all of Erza's armors, but she also uses Carla's wings for a speed boost, before finishing Erza with a Sky Dragon Roar, mixed with fire from the Flame Empress armor.
  • Realizing she needs to fight her former friend, Wendy charges towards Leviatha herself, and shows off the results of training so far with Modeus.
    • First she catches Leviatha's sword arm in her hands before tossing her over her shoulder, and gives the below Badass Boast.
      Wendy: Sheeree…I don't know what happened to make you so jealous and hateful. But I won't let you hurt my friends! You want to fight someone, you fight me! But I'm not the same helpless little crybaby from Cait Shelter anymore! Do you hear me?! I've changed! I'm Wendy Marvell, daughter of the Sky Dragon Grandeeney, and I'm a Fairy Tail Wizard!
    • Then she manages to cast Vernier, Arms, and Armor on herself, increasing her speed, defense, and strength to fight Leviatha, letting her easily dodge or block any of her opponents attacks.
    • Using what Modeus taught her in her first lesson, Wendy observes Leviatha and notices that using so much power for the many armors and Aera magic depleted her stamina, so she decides to run and dodge Leviatha's attacks.
    • Growing frustrated, Leviatha tries to attack Erza, Carla and Lady with a Sky Dragon Roar, only for Wendy to eat the wind-based attack. Fully reinvigorated, Wendy unleashes a series of Sky Dragon enhanced melee attacks that send Leviatha falling to her knees, ending the battle.
  • As vile and villainous as he is, one can't deny Arkhams skills as a Manipulative Bastard, having managed to find a decent candidate to fulfill the role of Envy, and successfully corrupted her into better fitting the role all on top of giving her the power to match some of Fairy Tails heavy hitters.
  • Dante and Happy find themselves facing Iblis, the leader and most powerful of the Seven Sins, whose presence an intimidated Happy compares to Erza. Despite still hurting from fighting Vergil earlier, Dante stands his ground, even dispensing his trademark snark.
  • Vergil closes out the chapter by killing Arkham, deciding his usefulness has passed, before departing for the Lair of Judgment to claim unlimited power for himself.
• Ch 55: Pride Before Judgment
  • When the Magic Council is appraised of Temen-ni-gru rising, Org puts his foot down and vehemently objects when one of them suggests firing Etherion at it to destroy it and Fairy Tail at once. He quickly points out that even leaving out the morality of simply offing Fairy Tail because they don't like them, doing so could cause a repeat of the R-System or blast open a portal to the Underworld, something that earns him the agreement of Gran Doma.
  • The Fairy Tail mages outside the tower holding their own against the entire horde that was contained inside. As they become exhausted from fighting the demon army and worried for their friends in the tower, Levy rallies them with a Rousing Speech.
    Levy: We don't have time to worry about that right now. Dante, Natsu, and everybody else are working their hardest to try and stop Devil Hand, and we should be doing the same! We're all members of Fairy Tail just like they are; no matter how many of these monsters stand in my way, there's no way I'm going to let them keep me from helping my friends!
    Cana: Atta girl! I'm with you all the way! Come on guys, let's show these bastards just what Fairy Tail's made of!
  • With Happy helping him fly, Dante engages Iblis in an aerial battle, with the female warrior showing why she's the leader of the Seven Sins, putting Dante on the ropes with her Morning Star magic, which combines light and darkness together. Dante even acknowledges Iblis as being more powerful than Erza, and just as skilled a swordswoman to boot.
  • During the duel, Iblis explains her intentions of becoming a magic goddess by allying with Vergil, more powerful than the Wizard Saints. Dante and Happy proceed to tear into her motivations.
    Dante: Did you hear her just now Happy? She wants to become a goddess.
    Happy: Yeah, I heard her just now. Looks like we got another cocky, power-hungry nut-job.
    Iblis: Excuse me?
    Dante: You know how many times I heard that kind of speech before? You got some special power, and you automatically think you're on top of the world and that everyone is your little plaything, or an insect to be squashed, or whatever. To me, that's just a load of bullshit. Some of these 'insects' are pretty good people just trying to make their own mark in life, and you got no right to knock them down just because you think you're stronger. That's why I'm here, to knock guys like you down a peg. It's what my old man did, and it's what I'm gonna do.
    Happy: Aye! Same goes for me! Weak or strong, we're both Fairy Tail wizards and we're the ones who are gonna protect this world!
    • Throughout the duel, Happy and Dante prove to be an effective duo against Iblis, showing her that despite her strength and pride, teamwork can put anyone on the ropes.
    • Reaching her limit, Iblis unleashes the Heavenly Black Hole, her most powerful and dangerous technique that kills her instantly. How does Dante destroy the black hole? By going into his Devil Trigger, and combining the energies from it with Quicksilver and Happy's Aera magic, splitting the black hole in half, creating an explosion that shakes the entire upper part of Temen-ni-gru! Jester pretty much speaks for the audience here.
      Jester: That was amazing! Not even a black hole can stop old Devil Boy!
  • The fact that Wendy is the first one to suggest they go straight to Vergil, impressing Erza, Lady and Sheeree with her resolve. The other Fairy Tail members aren't far behind, showing no doubt in their chances of defeating Vergil despite knowing just how dangerous he is. Sheeree is suitably awed.
  • Dante, Natsu and Gray all making their entrances in the Lair of Judgment at the end of the chapter, ready to fight Vergil, who is ready himself for a rematch.
• Ch 56: Let's Welcome Chaos
  • In the fight outside the tower, the Fairy Tail mages get backup when Lamia Scale's Lyon, Sherry, Yuka, and Toby arrive with Ichiya and the Trimens to even the odds.
  • Vergil putting the trio of Dante, Natsu and Gray on the ropes with Beowulf, making Natsu realize that getting them off him could turn things around.
    • Worth mentioning is Gray is the one that plays a big part in robbing Vergil of Beowulf. Natsu and Dante combine Agni and Rudra's elements together with Natsu's Fire Dragon Roar, creating a smokescreen that blinds Vergil long enough for the Ice-Make Wizard to freeze his body, allowing Dante and Natsu to literally knock Vergil out of Beowulf, thus giving Dante a new Devil Arm. Even Vergil can't help but admit the plan was clever.
  • After Vergil states his intentions of killing Mundus and becoming the new king of the Demonic Realm, Natsu brings up a part of his plans he never seems to have considered. Namely what he plans to do after he has conquered the demon world, accurately noting that all the power he would gain is worthless if he just sits on an oversized throne for the rest of his life.
  • After Dante acquires Beowulf, the fight with Vergil changes gears, the Fairy Tail wizards putting their foe on the backfoot. For his part, Vergil start wielding both the Devil Sword Sparda and Yamato at once, and does a good job fighting off three opponents simultaneously and displaying masterful use of both swords properties.
  • After failing to hit Vergil with her Sky Dragon Roar twice in the story, Wendy finally lands the attack, sending him flying across the room. Erza joins the battle by intercepting his counterattack and what follows is a furious exchange of blows between Vergil and the various members of Fairy Tail, each of whom gets their own licks in. By the end of the fight, everybody, including Vergil, is exhausted…
    • Enter Jester, who revealing himself as Arkham and catches Yamato when Vergil attempts to slice before easily dispatching both his former 'partner' and the present members of Fairy Tail, having waited for them all to exhaust themselves.
    • He outlines his entire plan to Vergil and Fairy Tail, having assembled the Sins to both unlock the tower and keep the members of Fairy Tail occupied, gathered the descendants of the priestesses who sealed the tower while omitting Lady's identity as the final key to prevent Vergil from successfully activating it either, and manipulated both sides to whittle each other down and ensure that nothing could interfere in his goal of reaching the Underworld and acquiring Sparda's power. Villain though he may be, the man deserves credit for having managed to manipulate both Vergil and the members of Fairy Tail so effectively in spite of their distrust of him, and his entire plan went off without a hitch.
    • At the end of the chapter, Arkham succeeds in opening the gates to the underworld, his plans having reached the final stage the heroes unable to stop him.
      Arkham: Just sit and wait. Wait for the birth of a new god! I... shall take over the power of SPARDA! (Evil Laugh)
• Ch 57: Ascension to Hell
  • Having difficulty at first reaching Dante and the others in Temen-ni-gru with his telepathy, Warren is eventually able to contact them by combining his magic with Hibiki's Archive magic, allowing them to find everybody located in the tower.
    • …and then Arkham hijacks the telepathy with his own demonic energies, delivering a speech as he opens the portal to the Underworld, unleashing hordes of demons on Fairy Tail and their allies.
      Arkham: He plucks the threads that make us dance finger and toe. We surrender, in joy, to the lowest of the foul and rank. We submerge through darkness, rancid filth. Hour-by-hour we move downward, ever closer to hell in a slow... steady... gait. Now, let the world resonate. Sloth. Gluttony. Greed. Envy. Lust. Wrath. And Pride. The bell of chaos that tolls human desires. After two thousand long years... the once sealed gate to the Demonic World will open. DESRUCTION! CARNAGE AND DESPAIR! Let your instincts drive you! Entrap this world with fear as its very name Temen-ni-gru strikes terror into heart of mankind! Then I will become the ultimate ruler of this wasteland, engulfed with pandemonium! The Demonic Power...that Sparda once imprisoned...will be...MINE! (Evil Laugh)
  • Despite Arkhams apparent victory and the above speech, the heroes quickly manage to rally together and come up with a viable plan. Dante recalls his discussion with Vergil about why Sparda couldn't destroy the tower and notes that its activation makes it vulnerable, giving them a chance of destroying it for good. Meanwhile, Happy suggest Warren and Hibiki use his the amped up Telepathy to send a call for backup from the guilds other powerhouses, giving them a fighting chance.
  • Mixed with heartwarming is Carla volunteering to fly in an exhausted Happy's place with Natsu and Dante into the Demon Realm to fight Arkham, showing her resolve as a member of Fairy Tail.
  • Despite Arkham having obtained a fair amount of Sparda's power, Dante and Natsu show zero fear towards the man, even openly mocking his appearance. The chapter ends with them and Carla getting ready to end the madman once and for all.
    'Dante: You guys ready?
    Carla: Absolutely!
    Natsu: Yeah, time to end this!
    Dante: I'm all fired up now.
• Ch 58: Dawn of Light
  • Fairy Tail and their allies fighting back against the demons unleashed by Arkham opening the gate.
    • Gajeel and Lisanna using their respective Dragon Roar's to a annihilate multiple demons in one shot each.
    • Despite their injuries and exhaustion, both elder Strauss siblings enter the fray as well, easily dispatching multiple demons.
    • Sorano also joins in the fight, wielding Trish's pistols alongside Lucy and Loke.
    • Even Mammon and Satan help out the heroes, upset over being used by Arkham. The formers helps even helps mitigate the weakness Lyon and Grya have against Frost demons, his Smelter Gold Make countering their cold resistance.
      Mammon: I'm supposed to represent the Sin of Greed, right? The sin of wanting something more than anything? Well, what I want more than anything right now…is to make Arkham pay!
      Satan: Got that right! My Wrath is making my decisions for me right now! I'm so angry, and I know exactly where to direct it!
    • Sheeree gets to fight alongside Wendy as well, both girls using Sky Dragon Roar against the demon army.
  • Just when it seems that the exhausted members of Fairy Tail and all their allies are about to be finished off by the demon army, Makarov arrives with Gildarts and Jura Neekis to turn the tide of the battle. And the auras all three powerful wizards give off is enough to make the demons back away in fright.
    • Their entrance is then followed by a Curb-Stomp Battle, with the trio hardly breaking a sweat.
  • Dante and Natsu clash with Arkham in the Demon Realm, with Carla providing assistance as well. Despite barely being able to contain the power he now wields, Arkham proves to be a formidable opponent, shrugging off the increasingly heavy attacks the two powerhouses keep throwing at him.
    • At one point in the fight, Dante has Natsu launch him like a rocket, and sends Arkham flying with a Beowulf-strengthened punch.
    • At first the fight is evenly matched… until Vergil arrives, slicing off one of Arkham's limbs and leading to an Enemy Mine with the three Fairy Tail members. The fight then intensifies, culminating in the twin sons of Sparda transforming into their Devil Triggers, and the son of Igneel entering Dragon Force, just from the ambient energy of the demon world!
    • We even get a moment of Dante and Vergil wielding one another's swords, with all the grace and skill as they usually would. Throughout the entire fight with the three powerhouses, Arkham can barely keep up with their blistering assault.
    • Natsu delivering rapid fire punches to Arkham, stating that it's for all of his heinous actions, with Dante following it up with his Million-Stab-Technique.
      Natsu: Lisanna! Angel! Mira! Lucy! Sheeree! Dante! AND LADY! THIS IS FOR ATTACKING THEM! AND MANIPULATING THEM! EVEN YOUR OWN GUYS!
      Dante: AND THIS IS FOR RIPPING OFF MY OLD MAN YOU PIECE OF SHIT!
    • The fight with Arkham comes to an explosive and epic end, with Vergil and Dante shooting him with Ebony and Ivory, and Natsu forming a gun with his fingers to shoot a fireball, with all three of them yelling one word.
      Natsu/Dante/Vergil: Jackpot!
    • Throughout all of the above, Carla deserves credit for being consistently useful in this clash of the titans, helping Natsu avoid Arkhams various surprise attacks and set up moves that require extra height and momentum. This continues even after the Enemy Mine with Vergil and everyone enters their respective Super Modes. Little wonder Natsu is so proud of her afterwards.
  • A villainous one, but despite the monster of a beating he took from three powerhouses in their Super Modes, Arkham manages to survive (albeit sans demonic powers and so weak he has to crawl), and is just as determined to try and turn things around. He even remains Defiant to the End when confronted by Erza, still dismissing her an insect.
  • Erza ensures that Arkham can't escape by stabbing him in the leg, much like how Arkham did to Lady earlier to fully unlock Temen-ni-gru's power, allowing Lady to finally finish off her wicked father with multiple gunshots.
  • Once the last of the demons are wiped out and Arkham is killed, Makarov brings the battle to a permanent end by unleashing Fairy Law on Temen-ni-gru itself, finally bringing down the demonic structure. The force of the spell is so powerful, that even Vergil, Natsu, Dante and Carla can see it reach into the Demon Realm.
  • Dante manages to knock out Vergil long enough to escape the tower with him, ensuring his brother doesn't stay in the Demon Realm to continue his quest for power. Seconds later Vergil is able to regain consciousness despite being fatigued himself, and escapes his twin's grip.
• Ch 59: A Bittersweet Aftermath
  • During his confrontation with Vergil, Makarov gives a profound speech and criticism of his philosophy, admitting that the latter is right about the importance of strength and that power often determines ones path in life. However he also points out that power isn't the answer to everything and how one chooses to wield said power determines who they are, even picking apart his motives by repeating Natsu's earlier question of just what Vergil will actually do with all that power.
    • Notably, this actually leaves Vergil at a loss for words, unable to refute the mans words like he did with the other members of Fairy Tail. The whole thing also makes Vergil briefly consider Makarovs offer of joining Fairy Tail, showing the wisdom of the man who made Fairy Tail what it is today.
  • After giving Vergil some advice on where to go next, Makarov then gives him a Death Glare, warning him to never mess with his children again. The eldest son of Sparda actually backs away, knowing that Makarov is an opponent he couldn't beat even at full power.
  • When the Rune Knights arrive to take Mammon, Satan, Sorano and Sheeree into custody, all of Fairy Tail stand in protest to Sheeree's arrest, along with Lamia Scale and Blue Pegasus. When Sheeree gives herself up, Makarov brings up an article in the custody procedures of the Magic Council stating that as a minor Sheeree can be taken to a juvenile detention center as a temporary sentence as she didn't kill anybody. Lahar states laws can be changed if necessary given Sheeree's affiliation with a former Dark Guild, prompting Makarov to state that he will not tolerate hypocrisy or abuse of power, stating that Sheeree will get the proper treatment, with Lahar relenting once convinced that Sheeree didn't kill anyone.
  • After Sheeree and Sorano are taken into custody with Mammon and Satan, Lahar tells Dante that the Magic Council wants him to join the Rune Knights, but it would mean leaving Fairy Tail. Dante, knowing the Magic Council and Fairy Tail's history of bad blood, turns down the offer, and delivers one hell of a speech to Lahar, epically calling out the Magic Council on their blatant hypocrisy and Skewed Priorities.
    Dante: Your bosses don't like the idea of someone like me, someone like my old man, outside their control, so they'll try to make me one of their tin soldiers. That ain't happening. I'm sticking with Fairy Tail.
    Lahar: You'd stay with this problematic guild as opposed to helping protect the land?
    Dante: 'Protect the land', you say? Let me ask you something; how long were you and all your buddies here? You've got at least a hundred guys, so you must have been watching as Fairy Tail was fighting back hundreds of demons coming out of a dark tower the size of a freaking mountain! Why didn't you step in and help? Answer me that.
    Lahar: I was under direct orders not to engage until the conflict was decided.
    Dante: 'Conflict was decided', as in you were waiting to see who would die first, right? Look four-eyes, I'm sure you were just following orders so this ain't personal, but it seems your bosses aren't exactly looking out for this kingdom's wellbeing. If that were true, they'd have you guys come in and help right away! It's no secret those old cronies hate Fairy Tail, so if our side lost, you'd come in and finish off the demons and make yourselves look like the heroes, and if a few Fairy Tail guys die, well, less trouble for you. Right? Say what you will about Fairy Tail. Yeah, they can be troublesome, but at least they have a moral compass! So, if I had to choose between them or your control-freak bosses, well it's really no choice at all. But I'd like to give them a message: tell the Council they can take their job request, and their condescending attitude, and shove it up their asses! And also tell them, if they ever try another dirty move to mess with Fairy Tail, I'll personally march right up to their doorstep and knock them off their high horse!
    Lahar: You would threaten the Magic Council?!
    Dante: If they hurt my friends, or even try this kind of stunt on innocent people, then you're damn right I would!
    • Lyon and Hibiki also declare that if it comes to a war with the Magic Council, then Lamia Scale and Blue Pegasus will take a stand as well.

Tenrou Island

• Ch 60 He Who Extinguishes Life
  • Org standing up to the rest of the Magic Council when they decide to disband Fairy Tail after the above incident, pointing out they merely acted in self-defense against Devil Hand and that the Council should not change the rules to suit themselves. Gran Doma grudgingly agrees, since they said they'd give Fairy Tail one more chance.
  • Dante arm wrestling Natsu and Gajeel at the same time. When it looks like the Dragon Slayers are gaining the upper hand, he easily turns the tables with his Devil Trigger.
• Ch 61 The S-Class Trials
  • The chapter opens with a three way sword fight between Erza, Trish and Panther-Lily, and all three appear evenly matched. Trish even compliments the Exceed, remarking he could give Dante a run for his money.
  • Carla beginning to exert conscious control over her Seer powers, managing to predict a conversation between Macao and Wakaba.
  • Alongside the canon participants, there are two extra candidates for the S-Class Trials. Dante is no surprise, but the second is actually Lisanna, showing how much she's grown recently. Made especially impressive when the former has been a member for just a few months and the latter only recently returned from Edolas, meaning she hasn't used her magic in years.
  • Minor, but Dante and Modeus immediately something is off about Mest, showing perceptive intuition.
  • When asked about Sparda Modeus reveals that before his Heel–Face Turn he was actually Mundus' best tactician, being incredibly adept at applying the forces under his command, and making sure to learn from whatever mistakes he made. It's clear that power was not Sparda's only asset.
• Ch 62 Who are the Lucky Ones?
  • The initial stage of the trial (actually getting to the island) has a few.
    • Despite his severe motion sickness, Natsu is the first on the draw once Makarov announces the challenge, getting Happy to carry him asap. What's more, he prepared a pack in case he needed any extra supplies, displaying impressive foresight.
    • Freed managed to set up a Jutsu-Shinki barrier without anyone noticing, giving him and Bickslow a head-start, and stopping Natsu and Happy cold.
    • Undeterred, Dante enters his Devil Trigger and smashes right through Freeds barrier, before overtaking everyone (including Freed and Bickslow) while carrying Lady to shore.
    • Overlaps with Funny, but Modeus accompanies Juvia by surfing on the wave she generates using his swords.
  • Lucy and Cana's fight with Freed and Bickslow is a string of these and funny moments. Despite being outmatched in terms of power, and having lost to the Thunder Legion members before, the girls manage to succeed through a combination of skill and ruthlessly exploiting their opponents weaknesses. To elaborate:
    • Upon discovering that Freed is uncomfortable at their current attire, Cana manages to keep him incapacitated using summoned bikini babes of all things, meaning they only have to fight Bickslow for most of the fight. This is also used to set him up for a trap to finish him off.
    • Meanwhile, Lucy shines as well, using Ares wool to lock down Bickslows dolls and knocking the man out with a well placed kick. When they have to face Freed she summons Aquarius by putting her hand in the stream of water Cana generated (which had enough pressure to cut through rock). Sadly amounts to little when the spirit refuses to listen, though she gets points for trying.
    • Despite being incapacitated for most of the fight, the second Freed is able to enter the fray again it is clear he is in complete control, managing to dodge or deflect everything they throw at him. The Reveal at the end of the chapter that he and Bickslow makes it clear that even his 'weakness' didn't really hinder him. Could also count as one for him and Bickslow, able to put on a performance convincing enough to fool the enchantment.
  • Meanwhile, Dante and Lady end up facing off against Mirajane, with an unfazed Dante saying they actually got lucky.
    Dante: Two Devil Hunters against the She-Devil? I think we got this covered.
    • Mirajane shows what an S-Class mage is made of, keeping pace with the two experienced Devil Hunters, managing to Offhand Backhand Lady's attacks several times, and after taking a Combination Attack from Dante's use of Doppelganger, Agni and Rudra, emerges relatively unscathed. What's more, she manages to deduce that it is his first time using it, as well as the mechanics behind Doppelgänger within a few seconds, displaying plenty of brains along with her power. Even when Dante and Lady have her at their mercy at the end, it's clear she could continue fighting if she wanted to, despite all the heavy hits the two managed to land, selling just how tough she really is.
    • When questioned on why he hasn't used his Devil Trigger during their fight, Dante displays wisdom, pointing out that (A) he doesn't know what the next few tests will involve, so he wants to save his stamina and (B) he's intentionally avoiding using it too much to ensure that he doesn't become dependent on it.
    • Lady does a brilliant job backing her partner up, keeping Mirajane on her toes with well timed shots from her guns and rocket launcher. Even when Mirajane manages to catch her, she pulls out a flash grenade, letting her escape and leaving the She-Devil open for Dante at the same time. This fight really shows off her Badass Normal credentials, especially since she's explicitly avoiding any potentially lethal shots and tactics.
    • Throughout the fight, Dante and Lady display excellent teamwork, requiring minimal communication to coordinate and taking advantage of any opening the other makes. Special note to how they finish it, with Lady launching a rocket at Dante that he proceeds to ride like a surfboard, shocking Mirajane and letting him close in. He then uses Beowulf and Quicksilver to barrage her with attackes faster than she can react, slamming her into the ground and letting them both pin her down.
• Ch 63: Trial of Fire and Fear
  • Lisanna and Trish's fight against Modeus and Juvia has several for both sides, each showing why they're S-Class candidates.
    • Modeus wastes no time gunning for Trish, knowing that her lightning gives her an obvious advantage against Juvia, and looking out for his partner. The She-Devil spends the entire exchange on the defensive, unable to find an opening to help Lisanna.
    • We get a reminder of just how powerful Juvia can be, using her water body to No-Sell every attack Lisanna throws at her and quickly managing to trap her opponent underwater, giving her a massive Home Field Advantage, which she emphasizes with a Badass Boast. A reminder that despite her almost comical obsession with Gray, she was one of Phantom Lord's best mages and is a force to be reckoned with.
      Juvia: I'm not sure you quite understand the nature of my abilities. I don't just control water, I am water. (forms water vortex) Simply put, you are inside me; while your ability to transform may provide an advantage, it can hardly compensate when your opponent is literally the environment around you.
    • Lisanna is no slouch either, displaying the versatility of her Animal Soul Take Overs, using Harpy to affect Juvia's water body when physical attacks prove ineffective and Barracuda to adapt to underwater combat and Speed Blitz her opponent. If not for her Nigh-Invulnerability, she may very well have defeated Juvia a few minutes in. When all that fails, she takes a page out of Natsu's book, shifting to Dragon Soul (while still underwater) and using the heat to boil the lake away.
    • Spotting the above, Trish quickly takes advantage by sending a bolt of lightning at the water, creating an explosion that knocks Juvia unconscious. She also displays knowledge about chemistry, pointing out that electrolyzing water breaks it down into oxygen and hydrogen, two highly flammable gases and displaying an impressive knowledge of the applications of her Shock and Awe powers. The two quickly surround Modeus before he can react, making him surrender.
    • In the aftermath, Modeus reveals that Juvia specifically requested he not use his Super Mode during the trials, wanting to pass on her own merits. Shows that she's taking this seriously.
  • Natsu's fight with Gildarts is a total Curb-Stomp Battle in the latter's favor, taking all of the destructive Dragon Slayers attacks with nothing worse than Clothing Damage to show for it. Even his Secret Art: Flame Lotus Exploding Flame Blade does little more than push him back a few feet! While Natsu is happy about this, Happy realizes that means Gildarts spent the whole fight kicking Natsu's ass without even moving from a single spot!
    • Not to say that Natsu doesn't get some cool moments though. After Gildarts hits him with a One-Hit KO spell that splits him into hundreds of tiny copies of himself, all the mini-Natsu's continue to attack despite Gildarts declaring the fight over, with his reaction indicating no one has ever done this before. The ensuing assault does little actual damage, but annoys Gildarts enough that he undoes the spell... revealing a grinning Natsu, who (without missing a beat) unleashes aforementioned Flame Lotus Exploding Flame Blade at point blank range, and even manages to power through his hallucination of Vergil.
    • When Natsu insists on continuing the fight despite Gildarts having declared that he passed (as well as denying his fear of Vergil), Gildarts unleashes his full magical power, which manifests as a pillar of light. This is felt all over the island, with Trish assuming it to be an earthquake, and Dante remarking that the power he feels surpasses anything else he's faced, including Vergil! Perhaps most impressively, it makes Natsu, who is defined by his refusal to back down no matter how tough his opponent, meekly surrender, accepting that he is outclassed. Strongest member of Fairy Tail indeed.
• Ch 64: Mest
  • Gray and Loke against Mest and Wendy. While Mest's Teleport Spam gives the Ice-Make mage some trouble at firs, he quickly manages to adapt and swiftly take him out of the fight.
    • Meanwhile, Wendy fares significantly better than her partner, managing to hold her own against the S-Class candidate and his partner despite fighting alone and having significantly less experience than either of them. In the end, the two win by tricking her rather than overpowering her, showing how far she's come in so little time, which Gray commends her on.
  • Meanwhile, Elfman and Evergreen have the misfortune of facing Erza, who is in complete control for the entire fight, calmly lecturing Elfman for his reliance on raw power and easily dealing with Evergreen despite her Magical Eye. How does she do this? By literally fighting them with her eyes closed, mentioning she trained herself to the point where she can do this without fear of accidentally injuring her friends.
    • The two manage to pass by catching her off-guard with the 'reveal' that they are engaged. While it's Played for Laughs, the fact that they only needed a brief opening to get past the mighty Titania is impressive.
  • Dante, Panther-Lily and Modeus independently manage to deduce that something is off about Mest. While the former used his intuition, the latter two wonder why someone as secretive as Mystogan would have an apprentice, and why he wasn't present to help out during the Edolas arc.
  • While most of the other teams typically flee from the monsters on the island, Natsu, Dante and Lady effortlessly dispatch any that come after them.
  • Dante and Lady encounter a certain black wizard, who briefly mistakes Dante for his father. In doing so, he casually mentions that Sparda was able to withstand his curse.
• Ch 65: Enter the Black Wizard and Grimoire Heart
  • When Zeref's curse hits Natsu and Dante, the former survives thanks to the protection from Igneel's scarf, while the latter survives it all on his own. It renders him clinically dead for a few seconds, but still impressive he managed to survive Zeref's "Instant Death" Radius.
  • Cana deducing that Makarov did give the candidates hints at the start of the Trial, and Lucy picking up on the fact that he said there wasn't a riddle 'at the grave', not that there wasn't a riddle at all. From there, she quickly manages to figure out the location of Mavis' grave being the first to do so, and showing that while she may be overshadowed in terms of combat prowess, she is definitely one of Fairy Tails smartest members.
    • Lucy also mentions they should hurry, since it's likely that Levy and Dante will figure it out as well.
    • It's underhanded, but Gray correctly anticipated that Lucy would figure out the riddle, and opts to simply follow her to it.
    • From the same scene, a monster slowly creeps up on the two girls, seemingly unnoticed. Right as it's on top of them, Cana delivers an Offhand Backhand, not even needing magic to deal with it.
  • As Grimoire Heart approaches the Tenrou Island, the experienced fighters like Dante, Erza and Modeus get an ominous feeling, and remarking to their comrades that experienced warriors hone their instincts into highly accurate intuition. The only other person on the island that shares this trait is Lisanna, owing to her years on the run in Edolas.
  • Yomazu (a goat in samurai armor) and Kowazu (a humanoid chicken) make their debut by ambushing Levy and Gajeel and quickly putting the two on the ropes. The former stands out for using a more offensively oriented form of Solid Script than Levy, and a katana that is revealed to be imbued with demonic energy, which proves capable of cutting through Gajeel's iron skin!
    • For the rest of the fight Gajeel shows what he's made of, holding them off for Levy to get help and telling them to Bring It. He manages to take Kowazu and even with a katana piercing his arm, gives a Slasher S Mile that unnerves the psychopathic goat man before snapping the weapon in two and eating it. He then unleashes his Dragon Slayer Secret Art: Karma Demon: Iron God Sword, a fifty foot tall blade as thick as a tree! Even though his swing misses, the shockwave is enough to shatter Yomazu's armor, along with many of his bones, netting the Iron Dragon Slayer the win. All of this preceded by the following Badass Boast.
      Gajeel: I will not be defeated... Not gonna happen! I'll never lose to trash like you! Because... I'm a Fairy Tail wizard.
• Ch 66 Clash of Light and Darkness
  • Azuma makes his debut by ambushing Mest, Wendy, Carla and Panther-Lily. When the former calls in a fleet of Magic Council airships (each filled with over a hundred soldiers), he nonchalantly destroys all of them in seconds. That's on hell of an Establishing Character Moment.
    • During his subsequent fight with Panther-Lily, he easily handles the experienced Exceed warrior (even with a speed boost from Wendy), who compares the force of his blows to Satan, showing he is no slouch in the physical department. He also manages to anticipate Wendy and Mest's sneak attack, before defeating them all with a single explosion, disappointed they didn't present more of a challenge.
    • From the same scene, when convincing Mest/Doranbolt to to join forces, Wendy gives a lovely Badass Boast after the man says he came there to destroy Fairy Tail.
      Wendy: And you'll fail! There's no one in existence who can take us down!
  • As Grimoire Heart arrive on their airship, Makarov intercepts them in his Titan form, taking its Jupiter Canon head on with minor injury and wrecking it in two blows! If not for Ultears Arc of Time, Grimoire Hearts invasion may have been stopped right there.
  • When Makarov threatens to use Fairy Law on Grimoire Heart, Hades counters with his own Grimoire Law spell, removing that as an option. The two master wizards then duke it out in a fast-paced exchange of advanced spellcraft, with the guildmaster of Fairy Tail in full Papa Wolf mode.
    • Despite the above, Hades wins by a comfortable margin, barely being winded while Makarov is on his last legs. A quick reminder that Makarov managed to intimidate freaking Vergil, and the master of Grimoire Heart just cleaned his clock. Even his last ditch attack is easily countered.
    • To further up the intimidation factor, Hades reveals that he has demonic power as well, and not just any demonic power. Oh no, he has power straight from Mundus himself! The fact that he can withstand this while retaining his human form is especially impressive when one remembers what happened to Arkham.
  • Minor, but in addition to Dante and Modeus sensing the demonic power being used in Makarov and Hades fight, so does Juvia, recognizing the feeling from Temen-ni-gru. Girl learns fast.
  • After Capricco deploys members of Grimoire Heart all over Tenrou Island, the members of Fairy Tail all give some variation of Bring It when faced with the small army of Mooks. In the ensuing fights, they are more worried about wearing themselves out than actually losing to their opponents, with the only ones showing any difficulty being those who were previously injured (like Wendy, Panther-Lily and Gajeel), yet still fighting anyway. Even Happy manages to take out a few, while Natsu essentially treats the whole thing as an opportunity to vent.
  • Modeus manages to detect Azuma's presence, something not even a Dragon Slayer like Wendy could do. Azuma is clearly impressed.
  • Zancrow establishes how much of a threat he is by producing black flames that actually burn Natsu when he tries to eat them. He then declares that he is a Flame God Slayer, to everyone's horror.
  • Meanwhile, Job appears before Dante and Lady, having vaporized the Grimoire Heart members the two defeated already and wastes no time blasting Dante when the Son of Sparda refuses Hades offer. What's more, Dante is shocked that the wound doesn't heal, prompting Job to reveal that he is a Devil Slayer, giving Dante and Lady an Oh, Crap! moment. This is the first time an opponent not named Vergil got such a reaction out of them.
• Ch 67 The Flame God and the Holy Devil
  • We get a glimpse of what several of the Eight Kin of Purgatory are capable of and they are not to be trifled with.
    • While it was mostly offscreen, Capricco proved capable of fending off a team of some of Fairy Tails most versatile members with nothing more than hand-to-hand. Everyone (barring Trish) is exhausted while he himself doesn't even look winded. And while it's also Nightmare Fuel, his anti-human magic means he's functionally unbeatable by everyone but Trish and Loke.
    • Zancrow establishes that his proclamation of being a God Slayer was not idle boasting, creating flames that overpower and outright consume a Combination Attack from the Dragon Slayer and Lisanna in Dragon Soul. He also displays impressive skill, forming a scythe out of his flames and proves capable of matching all three in hand-to-hand alone. Even when they start fighting fighting smart with hit-and-run tactics he simply unleashes his full power, knocking them all back.
    • Then there's Job, a Holy Devil Slayer who engages Dante and Lady at the same time, and holds the upper hand all throughout. He also shows off his skill by effortlessly countering Dante's use of Quicksilver, casually mentioning having killed several demons with the same power. The fight itself is one long showcase of just how broken his magic really is, giving him such a large range of abilities including Flash Step, Beam Sword's, Frickin' Laser Beams, light explosions and even after taking several strong hits from the two (from which he is only moderately injured) reveals he can eat ambient light to recover! By the end of the fight, Dante is in critical condition and Lady is forced to flee, remarking that not even Vergil managed to beat either of them so thoroughly before.
  • Trish deducing Capricco's magic only affects humans, and that only she and Loke have a chance at beating him.
  • Modeus and Mirajane manage to avoid Azuma's sneak attack, which was something not even a Dragon Slayer like Wendy could detect.
  • Dante and Lady's fight against Job isn't completely one-sided, with the Son of Sparda pulling off a Deliberate Injury Gambit to create an opening for Lady, and proceeds to unleash his full arsenal against him, in an impressive display of power and teamwork (even if Job simply healed himself afterwards). The fact that Dante took a hit from Devil Slayer Magic (which nullifies his Healing Factor and is toxic to demons) makes it all the more impressive, with Job even remarking that it usually takes him six hits to down a demon. Dante was stabbed, impaled, and took the full brunt of many of Job's strongest attacks, and was still alive and kicking, albeit barely.
  • The fight against Zancrow has several ones for the heroes, especially with Natsu and Lisanna fighting him as a team.
    • Wendy shines in the second phase, showing off the results of training with Modeus by playing her role as a Support Party Member to boost everyones speed, strength and durability. She also up with the idea to use hit-and-run tactics, not giving the Flame God Slayer a chance to breathe or bring his power advantage to bare. One particular highlight has to be when she countered his Flame Gods Bellow with her Sky Dragons Roar, smugly noting that magic or not, fire can still be affected by strong winds.
    • When it looks like Zancrow turned the tables, a furious Makarov grabs him with an enlarged hand, immediately trying to crush him to death despite his injuries. He refuses to budge even after Zancrow starts burning him with his black flames, content to take the guy with him.
    • After an epiphany Natsu deliberately empties his magic power, letting him eat Zancrow's flames (which he casually calls 'having a trick to it') and turn his own power against him. He proceeds to send the bastard flying with the black flames along with a Unison Raid with Lisanna and Wendy.
      Natsu: FIRE SKY DRAGON GOD BRILLIANT FLAME!
• Ch 68: Grand Magic World
  • Despite only encountering her once before and the confusion of events going on at the time, Natsu is able to detect and recognise from the time the two fought on Galaluna Island. Guy has a surprisingly good memory, even recalling the magic his opponent used.
  • The fight between Zeref and Ultear is brief but intense, showing powerful magic on both sides. And despite her opponents vast destructive power, Ultear proves victorious through creative application of her Arc of Time.
  • Makarov displays his insight into magic, advising Wendy to simply remove the lingering Devil Slayer magic in Dante, leaving his Healing Factor free to do the rest and conserving her own stamina.
  • Azuma continues to prove his badass credentials, putting Modeus on the back-foot, before proceeding to go toe-to-toe with the apprentice of Sparda in his Devil Trigger and Mirajane at the same time! Mans declaration of being the strongest of the Eight Kin is definitely well-earned.
    • The two prove to be no slouches either, and quickly start to blitz him one after the other, displaying few openings he can take advantage of. Even when he does manage to fire off attacks, the two proceed to tank them without any visible injury, culminating in Modeus overpowering his strongest attack and cutting his arm off to incapacitate the Great Tree Arc user, managing to save Levy and Gajeel in a nick of time.
    • ...Only to get stabbed In the Back by Azuma's magic, who managed to stay conscious despite the loss of his arm, even chiding them for assuming he was finished. He then finishes off his opponents with a blast (from the branch impaled within Modeus) and makes himself a new arm with his magic before carrying on.
    • A retroactive one for Dante and Lady, Mirajane admits that she's too drained from her fight with them to do so at her full potential.
  • Rustyrose's fight with Elfman and Evergreen has him in control from start to finish, showing off the power and versatility of his Arc of Embodiment by summoning: Belcusias the Thunderclap (a monster that proves strong enough to overpower Elfman, Jet Black Sword and a Golden Shield. Each lets him foil every tactic the two throw at him, even avoiding the effects of Evergreens eyes by simply summoning another pair of glasses, before finishing the two off.
    • Not to say the duo were complete chumps, with Elfman in particular showing some surprisingly clever tactics to win. These include tricking Belcusias to break the cliff it was standing on, using Take Over to nab a copy of Jet Black Sword, and cleared the way (or so he thought) for Evergreen to use her Magical Eye.
  • Trish's Shut Up, Hannibal! to Capricco's attempt at getting her to rejoin Mundus.
  • Despite having the advantage of his anti-human magic removed, Capricco proves capable enough in hand-to-hand to take on Trish and Loke simultaneously. And while horrifying, his Human Enslavement magic lets him harvest souls of long departed warriors, who prove capable of giving Trish and Loke a tough fight through nothing but skill and tactics.
• Ch 69: The Bonds of Family
  • Ultear is impressed when Dante manages to detect and avoid her ambush, and further compliments him after hearing he survived his encounter with Job. This is followed by Dante utterly rejecting her offer to join Grimoire Heart, punctuated by him and Natsu telling her and Job to Bring It, both groups squaring off.
    • Knowing his magic and skillset counters Dante's, Natsu and Lisanna engage Job, and display some excellent teamwork, landing several good hits. The Battle Couple actually manage to put the experienced Devil Slayer (who recently beat Dante) on the defensive.
    • Meanwhile, Dante and Lady take on Ultear and despite some initial trouble with her Arc of Time magic, quickly manage to adapt and get some good hits in. When she starts gloating, Lady manages to subdue her with hand-to-hand, already having deduced her magic cannot affect sentient beings. Later, Dante pre-empts her attempt to pull off a powerful attack using Quicksilver, taunting her that she's not the only one with time powers.
  • Loke and Trish's fight with Capricco, with the duo managing to fend off the Kin member, his summons, and protect a fleeing Lucy at the same time. Trish in particular shines, needing only one good hit to dispatch each of Capricco's enslaved summons. Other highlights include:
    • One of Capricco's summons displays Improbable Aiming Skills, managing to fire accurate arrows while mid-air, upside-down, and curving shots in his attack on a fleeing Lucy. The duo's defense tactics are just as impressive, with Trish showing enough accuracy to shoot the arrows, and Loke working around his lack of ranged attacks by smashing a nearby pillar and launching the debris, displaying impressive creativity.
    • Trish quickly deduces that rather than Capricorn, their opponent is actually a wizard possessing his body. When he attempts to do the same to her and Loke, she manages to resist, casually noting it's not the first time someone tried that on her, and he's nowhere near Mundus' level.
    • While Zoldeo manages to possess Loke, a freed Capricorn free's his friend using his own magic, the Lion spirit having managed to transfer his magic in the brief opening of the possession process. Quick thinking on his part, and shows he's not considered the spirits leader just because of his power.
    • Trish wastes no time finishing off Zoldeo after he emerges, with extreme prejudice.
      Trish: Yeah, you're yourself alright. And there's nothing to stop me from cutting you down!
  • Meredy's magic makes the likes of Erza and Juvia wary, and stands out as one of the few capable of bypassing the latters water body, as her blades stimulate her opponents pain receptors
  • Levy's Rousing Speech at the end, imploring her guildmates to truly come together, and not as some sort of 'truce' before getting back to the trials.
  • Despite his injuries, Elfman successfully managed to make it to the campsite while carrying Evergreen.
  • While underhanded, and a sign of how desperate she is, Cana deserves some credit for managing to manipulate Gray and Lucy to let herself go to Mavis' grave and 'pass' the trial.
• Ch 70: Awakening
  • Kain Hikaru proves to be a formiddable opponent despite his silly demeanor. Like canon, he affects himself with 'Mr Cursey'. Unlike canon, this actually gives him an advantage, changing the composition of the doll to give his body the properties of materials such as iron, diamond, magma and light, each of which he implements to counter whatever tactic his opponent throws at him, displaying excellent knowledge about their respective properties. Trish tries to slice him? Iron, then diamond to stop her lightning as well. Aquarius blasting him with water? Magma lets him steamroll this, and cotton mitigate the damage from her Desperation Attack. Their attempts to flee are thwarted when he just uses light to cut them off. All this on top of his sheer durability (enough to take hits from powerhouses like Trish and Dante) makes him a legitimately terrifying and borderline unstoppable opponent, who Trish and Lady are forced to flee from, and it takes Dante to put him on the defensive.
    • Even as he is overpowered by Dante during their fight, he's cunning enough to snag one of his hairs in their scuffle. This shows how terrifying his magic can really be by turning Dante against his friends, and then leaving him unable to fight back against Ultear and Job.
  • Lucy needs to summon Aquarius, but there's no water around. Her solution? Use her own blood as the catalyst. And when the spirit gives her usual angry tirade about how she hates being summoned (despite Trish almost dying), Lucy delivers a slap, having had enough of her pettiness, and calmly states that from now on, she will not accept the spirit refusing to help her out, especially when lives are on the line.
    Lucy: Look, I'm sorry I interrupted your date. But I really needed your help! My friend was about to die, and you're one of my most powerful Celestial Spirits! I only summon you when I absolutely need to, but I'm still your owner! SO stop with your complaining and help me, cause when my friends' lives are on the line, I'm not gonna take crap from anyone! Not even you!
    • An impressed Aquarius admits she was hoping for something like this, and promises to obey in the future, proud of her master. She then proceeds to hold back Kain Hikaru despite him turning into lava. Even when he manages to get his hands on her in a bear hug (while he was made of lava no less), she still manages to get the last laugh by breaking her urn and setting off a geyser in every direction, complete with the below one-liner. Kain admits if he hadn't turned to cotton at the last second, he'd have been done for.
      Aquarius: You still hungry... fatso? Well... EAT... THIS!
  • When Lucy and Trish join up with the others, as Kain Hikaru does the same with Grimoire Heart, the heroes shuffle opponents and we get quite a few cool matchups.
    • Dante tags out against Ultear, with Trish and Lucy helping Lady. Trish's lightning proves too fast for Ultear to avoid, and Lucy bypasses the aging effect of her Arc of Time by summoning Scorpio, smugly noting that sand doesn't age all that much.
    • Natsu and Lisanna continue to engage Job, making tactical use of smokescreens to catch him off balance and their teamwork ensures he has very few openings to capitalize on. One standout moment is Natsu anticipating where he'd teleport and nailing him with a kick, shocking the priest for the first time. His subsequent boast of having fought light magic before see's the first crack in Jobs stoic demeanor, growing enraged for the first time.
    • Dante's fight with Kain Hikaru has him counter every form in the voodoo users arsenal, noting he can make himself faster or tougher, but not both like Dante can. Even his attempt to grab him while made of lava is countered by Dante starting to blow away his now liquid body with Agni and Rudra, flippantly thanking him for the tan. Too bad Kain used that opportunity to snag one of his hairs.
  • Despite being completely at Grimoire Hearts mercy through Kain's magic, and Jobs magic beging incredibly painful to him, Dante is Defiant to the End, outright spitting in Ultears face. After a prolonged beating from Jobs Holy Devil Slayer magic, leaving him in immense agony, he delivers his last words to Ultear, complete with a trolling grin.
    Dante: Go... fuck... yourself...
  • Seeing Dante about to be executed triggers a Traumatic Superpower Awakening in both Lady and Trish. The former gains a silver aura, as both her eyes start glowing and a magic circle forms beneath her feet. Meanwhile, stormclouds gather before a bolt of lightning strikes Trish, who emerges emitting multicoloured lightning in her own Devil Trigger. The two engage Job and Kain respectively, while a pissed off Natsu goes after Ultear after freeing the others. The encounter has all three Kin struck by an unfamiliar emotion: fear.
    • Trish's 'fight' with Kain boils down to a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown. After making sure to swipe 'Mr. Cursey' (preventing him from using Dante as a hostage), she destroys the doll before launching the bastard into the air, and delivering a midair lightning fueled Speed Blitz, which she ends by slamming him into the ground in the form of a bolt of lightning and the force of a meteor.
    • Lady starts her fight with Job with her first ever spell, Steel Devil Rage, a Breath Weapon similar to Gajeels Iron Dragon Roar, and evoking a This Cannot Be! from Job as she pummels him with speed and power the narration compares to Natsu. She shows an excellent grasp of the magic she's had for all of two minutes, trouncing the evil Devil Slayer and sending him straight into a Villainous Breakdown. She caps it all off with a Neck Lift, warning him to never go near Dante again, before launching him with another Steel Devil Rage all the way to the other side of the island. Ladies and gentlemen, we have the payoff of Arkhams implanted Lacrima, and Lady's elevation to a new tier of badassery.
    • Meanwhile, an enraged Natsu blows past Ultears barrage of attacks with his Flame Lotus: Fire Dragon Fist, and while the brunt of it was taken by her crystal balls, the shockwave was enough to inflict some injuries. Despite needing help to stand, Dante still manages to help out with some well placed shots from Ivory, injuring Ultears arm and legs. A still pissed Trish and Lady arrive after finishing off their opponents, everyone giving Ultear a collective Death Glare, leading her to break out her Ice Make magic to desperately cover her retreat. To sum up, the group just annihilated two more of the Kin, and sent their leader packing. The tide is turning.
• Ch 71: Hope and Love vs Despair and Hate
  • Gray quickly realizes that Cana suggested they split up merely so she could complete the trial herself, showing solid critical thinking skills. Later, he also shows sufficient skill at stealth to tail Ultear without her noticing, with the main difficulty arising from the flashes of pain as a result of Meredy connecting Juvia's senses to his.
  • Dante, Lady and Trish being quick on the draw, having their pistols trained on Doranbolt the second he teleports in. Dante actually manages to detect him even before he teleports in.
  • When Doranbolt tries to convince Fairy Tail to leave the island, they flatly refuse noting 1)both his and the Councils recent actions have given them very little reason to trust either, and 2)Grimoire Heart decided to pick a fight with them, and they're damn well going to finish it. Their conviction is enough to convince Doranbolt that they can do it, with him agreeing to stall for time on their behalf.
    • Dante calling out the Council for resorting to Etherion or some other sort of nuclear option as their second plan whenever things get dicey, as opposed to the last resort they should be.
  • Bluenote Stinger is hyped up as the most powerful member of Grimoire Heart outside of Master Hades, with the Rune Knights mentioning that actual demons quake at his mere presence. Sensing him come to the island inspires fear in several of the remaining Kin of Purgatory, noting that his presence means the island itself is doomed. He lives up to this in his confrontation with Fairy Tail, as Trish fearfully notes his power is in another league even compared to the Kin of Purgatory, and puts many demons to shame. He then demonstrates what he can do, casually standing even as he amplifies the gravity to the point where everyone craters the ground and powerhouses like Natsu and Trish are barely able to rise up on their knees.
  • Meredy initially has Erza and Juvia on defensive, but when she makes the mistake of ranting about how she'll kill Gray, the latter enters a chilling state of deadly focused rage, overpowering her subsequent attacks. Her demeanor actually manages to make Erza stutter, before advising her friend to go on, as she can handle this alone.
    Erza: Wait... try to calm down Juvia...
    Juvia: How can I do that...? She plans to kill my beloved over pure nonsense, and you think I should remain calm?
    Erza: No... but I...
    Juvia: I'm afraid there's no way that's going to happen... Not now...! You're gonna pay for even thinking about hurting him!
    • The following fight proves her boast was well founded, as she manages to outright overpower the Kin of Purgatory's magic with her own, making her one of the few members of Fairy Tail capable of going one on one with Grimoire Hearts elite. It's also telling that the best strategy Meredy could come up with was to link their sense, and then Grays, in order to kill them both with her. Juvia then halts her attempt to do so by exploiting their shared sense of pain and breaking her own leg! Bad. Ass!
    • Mixed with heartwarming, Juvia manages to talk Meredy out of her desire to kill Gray by taking herself out as well, convincing her to continue living for Ultears sake. Meredy shortly negates the link between the three of them, right before both girls collapse, the fight a draw. Massive props to Juvia for finding a nonviolent way of taking out her enemy.
• Ch 72: Fairy Glitter and the Tenrou Tree
  • Bluenote continues to dominate the members of Fairy Tail in their 'fight', shrugging off everything they throw at him with minimal difficulty. The only thing that does any real damage is Cana's use of Fairy Glitter, and even then he quickly manages to mitigate the effects before intensifying his Gravity Magic to lock everyone down. Mans reputation is clearly well earned.
  • Not to say the heroes were complete chumps, making a few good moves, starting with Natsu, Trish, and Lady summoning enough strength to stand while under the intense gravity and unleash a Combination Attack. After that fails, Cana shows up brandishing Fairy Glitter, and everyone rallies to give her a chance to use it. To start, Natsu exploits the increased gravity to ram his head underground and unleash a widespread Fire Dragon Roar, disrupting the ground and Bluenote's concentration, meaning everyone can move again. Everyone gets a hit in on the powerful Dark Mage, with Lucy (briefly) holding him down with her whip, and Trish landing a blow with the Sparda sword, which clearly dealt some damage. After dealing with them and intercepting Natsu's charge with a Neck Lift, we get the below exchange.
    Bluenote: Do you honestly think you can beat me with such puny power?
    Natsu: (smirks) Course not, that's the point of a distraction jackass.
    • Cue Cana with a charged up Fairy Glitter, and despite being her inexperience making it incomplete, and Bluenote managing to deflect it into the ground, the spell is so potent that it leaves the previously untouchable Bluenote yelling in pain as he is bombarded by a pillar of light. All preceded by a glorious Pre Ass Kicking One Liner.
      Cana: Jackpot, ya sack of shit! FAIRY GLITTER!
  • Just when it looks like Cana is finished, enter Gildarts, who sends the previously unstoppable Bluenote reeling with a single punch. He then gives an impressive display of the power and versatility of his Crash Magic, quickly closing the distance and matching Grimoire Hearts second strongest member, with the Punch Parry between the two causing a shockwave that knocks back the spectators, despite their distance from the fight proper. Strongest S-Class Mage of Fairy Tail indeed.
  • When Rustyrose starts his attack on the base camp, Freed and Bickslow make their own Big Damn Heroes moment, managing to put the Arc of Embodiment user despite his broken magic. Between Bickslow managing to possess his summoned beast, and Freed besting him physically, the Kin of Purgatory actually starts to feel fear.
    • ...which he quickly turns to his advantage. In contrast to his colleagues who panicked and lost at such a thing, he manages to use his own fear as inspiration for another summon, an endless horde of specters that quickly immobilizes the members of Fairy Tail. Villain or not, that's an impressive turnaround.
  • Dante and Erza's fight against Azuma kicks off with a bang, both sides exchanging a rapid fire series of attacks, dodges, and blocks, and acts as a great showcase of what the strongest of the Eight Kin of Purgatory and Fairy Tails two biggest aces are capable of.
    • Erza dodges most of Azuma's incredibly varied attacks, and proves capable of tanking what she cannot, all on top of creating openings for either herself or Dante to exploit.
    • Dante makes excellent use of his arsenal, using Ebony and Ivory to intercept Azuma's ranged attacks, Rebellion to both stop his branch attacks and deal damage, and Agni and Rudra to really inflict some damage on his opponent whenever an opening presents itself.
    • Azuma deserves credit for matching two of Fairy Tails biggest badasses, despite recently losing an arm, even taking advantage of his prosthetic several times in spite of how recently he acquired it. He also decides to up the stakes by toppling the island sized Tenrou Tree, which, combined with his magic, functionally depowers the rest of Fairy Tail, with only Dante and Erza being spared because he wants a good fight. If not for his honour, he would have single-handedly ensured Grimoire Hearts victory then and there.
  • Azuma reveals that he joined Grimoire Heart after Hades defeated him in a fight that didn't even last ten seconds! Dante and Erza are rattled that there's such a gap between the Dark Guilds elite and its master.
• Ch 73: Titania and The Crimson Knight
  • The whole chapter is dedicated to a fight between two of Fairy Tails biggest aces, and the strongest member of the Kin of Purgatory.
    • On Azuma's end, he proves capable of holding his own, and even pushing back his opponents despite the numerical disadvantage, making effective use of his Arc of Tree's surprisingly varied arsenal of abilities. He blasts them up close and at a distance, manipulates plant life for remote attacks, and his skill in melee proves enough to match the two in a rapid fire close quarters exchange, even before he starts enhancing his attacks with magic.
    • On Dante and Erza's end, the duo display just as impressive use of their arsenals, switching between weapons (and powers in Dante's case) as needed and displaying near flawless teamwork. The two manage to create and exploit numerous openings against their opponent, both individually and together, and every time he seems to be making headway against one of them, the other is able to land a hit, keeping up the pressure and preventing him from gaining the advantage. On particular highlight would be their joint Speed Blitz using Dante's Quicksilver Style alongside Erza's Flight Armour, Azuma barely able to block, let alone retaliate. While he complains at the two not going all out, they retort that besides conserving their strength for his master, they don't need to in order to beat him, an assessment he agrees with, leading to him breaking out the Tree of Life.
  • Azuma's Tree of Life produces a fruit, that when consumed grants him the magical energy of the entire land they're fighting on, in this case Tenrou Island, albeit with the downside that his body will burn out afterwards. This lets him enter his Eden form, doubling his size and giving him volcanic skin, with Erza comparing the boost to his magical energy to Natsu's Dragon Force. His speed, strength, and durability all skyrocket to the point he can send Dante and Erza flying so fast they can barely react, and flat out ignore most of their attacks.
    • The two match him by using Devil Trigger and Armadura Fairy armour, the battled ratcheting up in intensity. Both sides exchange an even faster series of blows, as Dante and Erza resume pressing the advantage their teamwork gives them, even turning one of his attempts to repel them into a way to build momentum for a Fastball Special, dealing even more damage.
    • Both sides gear up for one final exchange, Azuma charging up EDENS INFERNO, a massive orb of energy, while Dante and Erza (the latter switching over to her Spectral Sword Crimson Blossom) charge a Unison Raid, FAIRY KING: CRIMSON OBERON, consisting of the two flying forward, swords extended and wreathed in a crimson, arrow shaped aura. While the two struggle to overcome their opponent, some encouragement from Sparda's spirit and a reminder of who they're fighting for gives them the determination to break through and finish off Azuma. Keep in mind, he explicitly stated his Eden form channels all the magic of Tenrou Island, and those two managed to overcome it by themselves. Little wonder Azuma was so impressed.
  • During his internal monologue, Azuma gives Dante the moniker 'the Legendary Crimson Knight', noting he's already a legend in his own right, and may one day surpass even his father.
• Ch 74: Frozen Kindred Spirits
  • The restoration of the magic power lets the various members of Fairy Tail turn the tables on Grimoire Heart.
    • The group fighting Rustyrose gets their Heroic Second Wind, starting to put up a much better fight. Even then, the Kin nearly pulls off a win with his Dark Tower of Dingir... only to be interrupted by an attack from a reawakened Modeus, who is the first to point out the weakness of his Arc of Embodiment, i.e., his creations los power if he can't concentrate. The present members rally together, and despite their injuries and exhaustion manage to defeat him, taking down yet another one of the dreaded Kin of Purgatory.
    • Meanwhile, Gildarts wastes no time knocking back Bluenote once he recovers. He then proceeds to resist his opponents 'Black Hole' attack before shattering it with his magic, and follows up with his Crushing Evil, Spreading Truth: Empyrean, an uppercut that sends Bluenote flying into the sky with enough force to scatter the surrounding storm clouds!
  • Gray easily sees through Ultears attempt to trick him, impressive given Azuma's assessment that she is the most cunning of the Kin of Purgatory and has manipulated countless others behind the scenes without ever being caught.
  • Played for Laughs, but Juvia manages to give chase to a fleeing Meredy at a breakneck pace in spit of her broken leg, all because Gray asked her. One cannot deny the woman lacks drive.
  • Gray's fight with Ultear, The Leader of the Eight Kin of Purgatory and a woman who gave the likes of Dante and Lady difficulty, has him show off just how creative he can be even though her Arc of Time magic lets her instantly cause any Ice-Make constructs he makes evaporate.
    • First, spotting her gunshot wounds from her previous fight, he gets in close to overwhelm her in hand-to-hand. She manages to get some distance again with her crystal ball but the whole thing clearly hurt for her.
    • After realising her magic cannot affect living beings, he exploits this by making Ice-Make weapons from his own blood, starting with a blood ice version of Rebellion that she is unable to defend against.
    • In response to this, Ultear reveals that she can use Ice-Make as well, to his initial shock... right before going back to kicking her ass, his constructs easily overpowering hers. He even lectures her on having depended so heavily on her Arc of Time, the rest of her combat skills have waned, especially her Ice-Make, and holds the upper hand for the rest of the fight, even as the two continue to battle underwater.
    • While her actual defeat was in large part due to her emotional breakdown at realising her mother never abandoned her, Gray still deserves massive props for being decisively on the winning end of a fight with the leader of the Eight Kin of Purgatory, who wielded one of the most broken magics around that near perfectly countered his own. The fact that he defeated a Kin of Purgatory member all on his own is a feat few of his companions can claim.
  • Modeus deducing that the enemy must have a former member of Fairy Tail in their ranks, based off how they knew to attack the Tenrou Tree. Impressive deduction given how little information he had to work with.
• Ch 75: Into the Devil's Heart
  • Zancrows threats to Meredy and Juvia are interrupted by Zeref waking up and killing him with the same sort of magic that nearly did in Natsu and Dante. While he's remorseful over the fact, it's rather karmic that such an Ax-Crazy Smug Super met his end in such a way. Never has the term Death Glare been so literal.
  • The merest hint Acnologia's presence is enough to make the Magic Council forces decide to get the hell out of dodge.
  • Villainous moment for Mundus, during Hades flashback to his confrontation with the Demon Emperors avatar on Mallet Island. Despite Precht (as he was called then) being an incredibly accomplished mage trained by Sparda himself, and his opponent being the equivalent of a Thought Projection, thus wielding only a fraction of Mundus' true power, what followed was an absolute slaughter in the Demon Emperors favour, proving that his boasts of being akin to a god are not idle ones. And while it overlaps with Nightmare Fuel, his subsequent claims of being the 'One Magic' Precht had been seeking as well as claims that Sparda had lied to him about magics true nature create enough doubt in the man for Mundus to inflict a brutal Mind Rape, imbuing him with his own demonic power and turning one of Sparda's closest allies into his own loyal, ruthless and powerful minion, Master Hades.
  • Natsu shows some good foresight, advising the Exceeds to search the ship for Hades heart while the rest of them deal with the Big Bad himself. It also means that rather than beat him, they just have to last long enough to net a win.
  • The entire fight with Hades is a long string of these, for both Fairy Tail and Grimoire Hearts master, who shows just why he is in charge.
    • Despite being worn out from all their previous fights, the members of Fairy Tail unleash a blistering assault on their opponent, all of them getting a hit in and displaying exceptional teamwork in order to keep up the pressure. This culminates in Wendy, Lucy and Dante firing off a Unison Raid to further boost Natsu's attack...
    • Which Hades emerges from unscathed, before deciding to get serious by flaring his full power, which is a mix of magical and demonic energy that Dante notes is even greater than Arkhams when he absorbed Sparda's power. While Dante manages to anticipate and save Wendy from his attack, his subsequent attempt to attack Hades is stopped by the man catching Rebellion with two fingers, while Dante was using Quicksilver to boot! He then proceeds mop the floor with Fairy Tail, making masterful use of Darkness Magic (which he temprarily wields as literal finger guns to mock Dante), magical chains capable of being detonated for binding and offense, and barriers for defense. He even takes time to lecture Dante about his use of Rebellion, with the Son of Sparda noting he has plenty of skill to back up his already immense power, and doubting even Vergil would be able to win against him.
    • Hades gives Dante one last offer to join him, even offering the opportunity to bring back his mother. In response Dante gives an epic Shut Up, Hannibal!, before calling out Precht for abandoning his beliefs and submitting to Mundus. This rallies everyone to unleash another series of attacks, though it sadly amounts to little.
    • Just when it looks like Hades is about to finish off everyone, enter Laxus, who manages to halt his attack and knock the evil guildmaster back. Not one to let someone hog the spotlight, Dante equips Beowulf and joins the Lightning Dragon Slayer on the attack, the two practically pinballing the Big Bad between them with a series of well coordinated attacks, displaying near perfect teamwork despite just having met. Later on, Laxus shoves Dante out of the way of an attack so potent, Hades remarks people can die from the magical energy required to block it, and is able to follow up on Dante's subsequent counterattack with little drop in performance. Man was considered S-Class for a reason, with Dante even admitting his lightning is superior to Trish's.
    • Credit to Hades, he still comes out on top, standing none the worse for wear even as his opponents are brought to their knees from exhaustion. When he goes to finish off Dante, Laxus once again takes the attack for him, having realised that his partner was conserving power, and showing both tactical thinking and an impressive sense of comradery by passing on some of his magic power to Natsu, giving Dante a source of backup to help even the odds, and demanding that the Fairy Tail members kick the villains ass. Entering Devil Trigger and Lightning Flame Dragon Mode respectively, Dante and Natsu prepare to face down the Big Bad of the arc, complete with a Pre Ass Kicking One Liner.
      Dante: What do you say, Natsu? Wanna ride the freight train into hell with me like our dads did?
      Natsu: Ready when you are bro.
      Both: LET'S GO HADES!
  • The battle back at the basecamp has quite a few.
    • Bickslow having the foresight to remove Rustyrose just in case Grimoire Heart has any failsafe that lets them track their members.
    • Despite them having managed to injure him with a surprise attack In the Back, Bickslow holds his own admirably against Yomazu and Kawazu, opponents who gave Gajeel and Levy an uphill battle.
    • Kain makes his return, and despite his goofy demeanor, proves to be as deadly as ever, managing to overwhelm Lisanna in her Dragon Soul. He also shows off his intelligence by revealing not only does he reveal he has two backup 'Mr Cursey's', but displays greater creativity with his magic by using one of Lisanna's hairs to control Elfman through their shared DNA. This not only lets him use the man as a weapon, but he manages to swap places with him to mitigate damage from Cana and Levy's attcaks when they join the fight as well, before turning his body into mist to make himself quite literally untouchable.
    • Cana reenters the fray and shows just why she was considered an S-Class candidate, being one of the few people that has a counter for every form in Kains arsenal, despite lacking raw power of the likes of Dante and Erza. Steel? Lightning. Diamond? Hole beneath him. Cotton? Soaks him in water to make him drop. Also notable in that she can switch tactics even faster than he can, showing off the absurd versatility her Card Magic really brings to the table. While Levy's assistance and Freeds trap helped finish him off, she likely had a means to counter even Kains mist form.
    • Just as Kain is gloating about being untouchable in mist form, he wanders into a trap set up by Freed which renders enemies incapable of using their magic, something he set up just in case the enemy destroyed the main barrier. Impressive foresight and allows Lisanna, Levy and Cana to finish off the Kin of Purgatory with a three way Unison Raid, 'Triple Unison Explosion', involving Lisanna in Harpy Form launching a blast of fire and wind magic.
    • Job enters the scene by injuring Modeus, having gone from a composed Badass Preacher to an unhinged, Ax-Crazy Sadist. This actually makes him more dangerous, as his 'fighting style' has become so erratic that experienced combatants like Lady, Trish, and Modeus are unable to anticipate his movements, and he manages to keep all three badasses on the defensive at the same time. He also shows that despite his newly unhinged state of mind, he still has plenty of tactical sense, targeting the members of Fairy Tail most vulnerable to his magic, and when Kain is defeated he forcibly empowers his remaining allies to even the odds a bit. It came at the cost of warping their bodies and minds, and was a horrible thing to do, but one can't deny its effectiveness.
  • Mirajane gets a retroactive one when Job reveals that any use of demonic power by humans requires immense willpower and discipline to avoid a sanity degradation, hence why he had his whole Badass Preacher persona, having gone completely Ax-Crazy after dropping it. By contrast, Mirajane has been using demonic Take Overs since childhood, and has never been seen so much as struggling to maintain even her cheerful demeanor, which paints a very impressive picture of her mental fortitude. No winder she's S-Class.
• Ch 76: Out of the Abyss-Into the Daylight
  • The fights at the basecamp, with the members of Grimoire Heart initially holding the upper hand thanks to their new demonic abilities and Fairy Tails accumulated exhaustion and injuries, culminating in Job having Lisanna in a Neck Lift. She is then saved by none other than Mirajane, who doesn't even need to use a Take Over to do so! Turns out that the Evergreen and Gajeel have also awakened, and everyone quickly help to turn the tide.
    • Evergreen joins Freed and Bickslow against Kawazu, and the three manage to quickly overwhelm their demonic opponent.
    • Gajeel helps Elfman and Lady against Yomazu, the former two making impressive contributions despite their injuries. After the Take Over mage manages to shatter their opponents light katana, the Iron and Steel Slayers unleash a joint Dragons Roar and Devils Rage attack, which obliterates their opponents body.
    • Mirajane, Modeus and Trish using their Satan Soul and respective Devil Triggers to engage Job, and all three manage to evade his Holy Devil Starburst before each landing a solid hit, with Trish even cutting off his arm. Modeus gears up to deal the final blow by gathering his power, which results in his swords combining into a single red blade (which he dubs 'Hunters Moon'), even as Job unleashes one final, desperate Holy Devil Rage. Right before the attack lands, Modeus cleaves straight through the attack and vertically bisects the Ax-Crazy Devil Slayer, right before he explodes in a flash of red light, and based on the narration, did so at a speed exceeding Job's own light-speed!
  • The final battle with Hades is a long strong of these, the Big Bad revealing the full depths of his power while the heroes pull out all the stops to defeat him.
    • Devil Trigger Dante and Lightning-Flame Dragon Mode Natsu's entire beatdown of Hades counts, their speed enough to easily dodge whatever attacks he can muster, and their increased power is such that the force of their blows are breaking his bones, all at such a furious pace that can barely bring any attacks to bear. The one time he manages to catch them with his chains, Natsu easily breaks his, while Dante uses the one attached to him to pull Hades in for a rope-a-dope. The two finish it off with a combined blast of demonic energy and Natsu's Lightning-Flame Dragon Roar, which not only completely engulfs Hades, but blasts straight through the ships walls, lights up the entire night sky, and the shockwaves alone prove enough to displace all of the surrounding water, leaving the ocean floor exposed! Now that is an epic way to finish off the Big Bad!
    • Unfortunately for them, Hades simply says "I'm impressed", before standing right up, his injuries already healing. He then removes his eyepatch, unleashing his Devil's Eye, which causes his already immense power to skyrocket, complete with a glowing red eye. The power in question is that wielded by Mundus himself, and allows him to create a horde of shadowy masses of demonic power, whose might Dante compares to the ones he obtained his own Devil Arms from. This, plus his immense power is such that everyone present all but give up on the idea of defeating him, with even the normally unflappable Dante being driven to tears. The man has done what not even Vergil could not, and made some of Fairy Tail's biggest Determinators seriously consider just giving in.
    • This leads to a big moment for Natsu, who recalls his lesson from Gildarts, and works past his fear to come up with a viable plan on the spot. He also manages to rally the others to keep fighting, overcoming their feelings of hopelessness, and launching one last assault, Dante's coat in hand. As everyone charges, dodging attacks from the shadowy demons all the while, they give him several boosts to help him close the gap on Grimoire Hearts master, who prepares an attack to finish him... only to falter at seeing Sparda's image superimposed over Natsu and missing, the Dragon Slayer obscuring his view with Dante's coat. This gives Dante an opening to run him through with Rebellion, and shoot him through the Devil's Eye with an anti-demon bullet from Ivory, complete with his trademark 'Jackpot'. Notable in that this was all Natsu's plan, and one he formed on the spot, in spite of the overwhelming difference in power and everyone not having so much as a drop of magical power left. Guy is very resourceful and crafty under pressure.
    • Just as Hades is ranting about the futility of them attacking him with his Healing Factor, his power starts dropping and wounds stop healing, the Exceeds having succeeded in destroying his heart. In a further twist of karma and irony, at the same time the Tenrou Tree is restored at Ultear's hand, giving everyone a boost to their reserves of magic. While Hades puts up an admirable fight despite this, Fairy Tail decide to go all out, with Dante and Natsu reentering Devil Trigger and Lightning-Flame Dragon Mode, and all of them unleashing some of their most powerful attacks. Among these, Lucy's summoning of Capricorn gives the Celestial Spirit some payback against the man who employed the one who enslaved him, Wendy unleashes 'Dragon Slayer Secret Art: Shattering Light: Sky Drill', something her canon counterpart didn't manage until well after the timeskip and training with Grandeeney's notes, Dante halts his use of Grimoire Law by slicing off his arms, and Natsu delivers the final blow with by integrating his new power into his ultimate attack, 'Advanced Dragon Slayer Secret Art: Flame Lotus Exploding Lightning Blade'. The sun finally rises as Fairy Tail stands triumphant over their most powerful foe, having succeeded where even Makarov fell short.
  • Relatively minor, but Dante and Hades maintain that the amount of Mundus' power Hades used was only a fraction of that of the genuine article, and was still enough to bring a group of Fairy Tails most powerful, courageous and determined members to their knees. Paints a very impressive, and terrifying, image of the Demon Emperors might.
  • Panther-Lily's fight with Baskerville, an actual demon dog, managing to fend it off barehanded before using a sword he simply swiped off a nearby Grimoire Heart Mook. He not only shows impressive sword skills, but makes tactical use of his Flight for both maneuverability and to add extra momentum to his attacks, managing to kill the thing with moderate difficulty. Then, the swords absorbs the demonic power from the downed Baskerville, turning it into a Devil Arm! After dubbing it Baskerville, he shows what it can do by producing shockwaves capable of sending the nearby members of Grimoire Heart flying, as well as the gate to the room containing Hades heart with a mere two swings. Guy just got a major equipment upgrade.
  • Despite the above beatdown, which left him with several severe injuries, including stab wounds, slash wounds, severe blunt trauma, second and third degree burns from both fire and lightning, all on top of having his eye blown out and his arms cut off (to say nothing of the blood loss), Hades is not only still alive, but remains conscious and lucid enough to have a conversation with Makarov. With hardiness and determination like that, it's little wonder he was made Fairy Tails second master.
  • The basecamp members of Fairy Tail showing up just in time to save the wiped strongest team from the remaining Grimoire Heart members. While the others return, Makarov has a last conversation with Hades, promising that if they ever cross paths again, the former master of Fairy Tail will not survive, and giving a truly epic rebuttal to the mans insistence that Mundus is the 'One Magic'. The fact that he does so citing the lessons Precht himself taught him, as well as Sparda's actions is all the more karmic given how Hades has been dismissing both this whole arc.
    Makarov: Even if what you say is true, it wouldn't have changed anything. If it is true that magic is born from Mundus' darkness, I can accept that. And if it's true nature is light, a counter-point to darkness I can accept that too. Because magic is alive, so too is demonic power; I guess in a way, they are similar, because they both grow along with people and demons who use it. Darkness does not always mean 'evil'. The Dark Knight Sparda cam from the Underworld just as Mundus did, yet he chose to defend the world, he chose to defend the light. And if it's true that he was indeed a founding member of Fairy Tail and we've been unknowingly following his principles all this time, then I am nothing short of honored. There is no definition of power because everyone thinks of it differently, be it darkness or light, what's more important is how that power is used, not where it comes from. Fairy Tail is free to use our magic, power, and strength however we choose. These are all things we learned from you, Master Precht.
• Ch 77: Acnologia
  • While it overlaps with Nightmare Fuel, Zeref gaining conscious control over his curse is pretty epic, managing to paralyze the remaining members of Grimoire Heart's elite through sheer presence. He also makes sure to lay into Hades for abandoning the principles Sparda taught him and turning against Fairy Tail, declaring himself an enemy of Mundus rather than any sort of herald, and is furious at all the pointless atrocities the Dark Guild fulfilled in his name. Using the true power of his curse, he ends Grimoire Hearts master then and there, in a chilling display of power.
    • A small moment, but during his speech to Hades, Zeref states that Sparda and several others were able to resist the effects of his curse. The confirmation that Sparda was unaffected was already impressive enough, but this implies there are others in the world on the same level as him.
  • After the above, Mundus manifests from Hades body, revealing that his conversion of the man into his servant and the formation of Grimoire Heart was all one big Batman Gambit to goad the Black Wizard into taking an active role in the world again. Even as Zeref determinately states he will fight him, the Demon Emperor gives a few parting shots that get under his skin, laughing even as Zeref burns the body he is inhabiting. Scary just how effective the Demon Emperor is at getting others to do what he wants, having gotten his desired outcome and displaying an impressive ability to play the long game.
    • Not to say Zeref doesn't shine, saying Mundus made a mistake provoking him to take action and giving a declaration of war.
      Zeref: Even if that is true, I will do what it takes to end you. I will destroy you Mundus, even if I have to turn the whole world against me!
  • Played for Laughs, but despite his injuries Makarov still proves capable of defeating Natsu in one blow.
  • Acnologia shows up, and immediately establishes himself as on a whole other level compared to anything Fairy Tail has faced before, with powerful and experienced members like Gildarts and Modeus visibly panicking and insisting everyone get the hell out of dodge from his mere presence. His first act is to obliterate the surrounding forest with nothing more than a regular roar, no magic or Dragon Roar required. Modeus outright says that his power is at least the same as that of Sparda. He proves this by swiftly overpowering Makarov, who can do little more than briefly hold him off, and more or less shrugs off the damage from two large scale Unison Raids, before preparing to finish them all off with his Dragon Roar.
    • Not to say Fairy Tail did nothing of note, with Dante managing to make the Dragon of the Apocalypse bleed by impaling him above the eye, before unloading shots from Ivory straight into the dragons eye, causing him visible pain. The others quickly rally behind him, unleashing two separate Unison Raids from nearly all present members, and the Devils and Dragon Slayers respectively. While Modeus says the damage they did was akin to papercuts, the power of their attacks was sufficient to obliterate the coastline of the island and briefly knock the dragon underwater, with Acnolgia emerging with visible wounds.
    • While it's mainly motivated by his enmity with Sparda, Acnologia deciding to speak to the present members, something he typically considers beneath him when fighting mere wizards. This, plus the additional visible scars on his body, indicates that the Dark Knight was one of the few able give the Dragon Butcher a run for his money.
  • As Acnologia prepares to finish them off with his Breath Weapon, the members of Fairy Tail join hands in a last-ditch effort to empower Freed and Levy enough to form an adequate defensive barrier. On top of their determination to go out swinging, the all make sure to smile in their potentially final moments, refusing to give in to despair.
• Ch 78: Epilogue-Fairy Tail's Stylish Return
  • While they're at the bottom of the guild hierarchy and at the mercy of Twilight Ogre, the fact that Fairy Tail managed to stay together for seven years in spite of losing their most powerful members in one fell swoop is impressive in its own right. Especially Macao, who took up the mantle of guild master and displayed enough maturity and sense of control to avoid rising to Twilight Ogre's provocations, ensuring they have no reason to try and have them disbanded.
  • Romeo standing up to Thibault and the other members of Twilight Ogre, and Macao getting ready to enter the fray at the first sign his on might be hurt.
  • The Tenrou members of Fairy Tail returning just in time to thrash the members of Twilight Ogre sent to wreck the guildhall, easily dispatching all of the thugs. Dante in particular starts them off strong by shooting Thibault's club straight out of his hand.
  • Sparda and Mavis' use of Fairy Sphere was sufficient to protect Tenrou Island from the full power of Acnologia, even if it did have the unintended side effect of keeping them in suspended animation for seven years. They also make it clear that while their skill with the spell was a factor, it was powered using the magical and demonic energy the members of Fairy Tail were channeling, meaning their combined power was sufficient to survive the wrath of Acnologia.