Sun Village arc

The Sun Village arc is the fourteenth story arc of the Fairy Tail series.

Arising victorious at the Grand Magic Games and regaining their former building, Fairy Tail is bombarded with numerous requests from various clients. One specific request that stands out, however, calls for Natsu and Gray's help; the client being one of the four highest ranked Wizard Saints, Walrod Cken. Accepting his request, they head towards Sun Village, and are quickly confronted by new enemies and old foes.

A New Adventure: The Request of a Wizard Saint
Returning to their former guild's building, the Fairy Tail girls are quick to venture into the newly built-in bathhouse; the ladies are all delighted with said wonderland. Cana, drinking alcohol, claims that having the privilege to bathe in this paradise will keep her from working. Lisanna, on the other hand, comments on the increase amount of request since their victory over at the Grand Magic Games, with Mirajane scrubbing her own head whilst agreeing. From a distance, Levy states that resting their bodies is as important as completing missions, but is soon asked by Lucy if she did not have a mission today. Levy responds quickly and affirmatively, telling the Celestial Spirit Mage that Droy and Jet told her that they would like to go out on missions on their own once in a while. Meanwhile, on the outskirts of Fiore, Jet and Droy struggle as they are captured by a jungle tribe, asking Gajeel and Pantherlily for help. Back at the bathhouse, Lucy reminds the girls that Natsu and Gray, accompanied by Happy, also went on a mission together, finding it odd that the two would team up. However, Mirajane reassures them and says that the two have been getting along a lot better since the end of the games. Cana approaches Lucy, questioning if the rumor of having her boobs groped by Natsu is true. Lucy tries to deny it at first, noting as it was Happy the one who spread the events that transpired during the battle, but Cana is not interested in the facts; rather, getting a chance to do the same. She then grabs Lucy's boobs and begins to rub them as Lucy begs her to stop. Suddenly, the topic makes Levy ponder Wendy's whereabouts. Evergreen walks in and reveals that she went out on a mission with Erza and Carla; playing roles of Haru and Elie for a public audience. Hearing this, Lisanna turns to state that Erza has been bathing with them for a while. As they turn to see who it truly is, they hear the woman saying "blondie" and realize it is Flare Corona of Raven Tail.

Cana rapidly jumps to attack, but is stopped by Lucy, who tells her that Flare is not a bad person. Flare then uses her hair to scrub Cana's body. Momentarily, Flare begins to speak by telling the girls that with Raven Tail gone, she has no place to call home. Lucy quickly tells her that they could try asking their master, with Juvia standing to the side considering Flare a new love rival, but Flare reveals that she is not interested, prompting the girls to question her prescene. Moments later, Lucy walks to her house and opens the door only to find Erza, Wendy and Carla inside, giving her some candy from their mission. The group talks and wonder how Natsu and Gray are doing, leading to them inquisitively head out in search for the boys. Once they arrive to the location, they see the target defeated, and Happy asking for help. They soon hear Natsu and Gray throwing insults at one another, and being asked to stop by Erza. However, not knowing it was Erza standing there, they punch her and tell her to shut up. Erza angrily gathers the two Mages and delivers a punishment, and soon enough takes them back to the guild. At the guild, the Fairy Tail Mages converse and watch as Makarov is handed a new mission from Mirajane. After reading it, Makarov is speechless, telling the Mages that Natsu and Gray are being requested by the client Walrod Cken, a Wizard Saint ranked fourth highest. This ultimately shocks the Mages of Fairy Tail.

The strongest team in Fairy Tail, accompanied by Wendy and Carla, head out in search for Walrod Cken, reaching a beautiful scenery with a peaceful nature. This, however, does not amuse Natsu and Gray as they bicker from a distance. Lucy and Erza talk about the Magic Council and the Wizard Saints, reminding each other that people like Jose Porla and Jellal Fernandes were once members. Looking at Gray and Natsu, Lucy wonders why a person ranked fourth strongest would request them for a job. Finally reaching a rusty-looking house, the Mages enter and are quickly told to keep silence by a man watering some plants. Though he then tells them that it is a joke, as plants love the human voices. The Mages look at the man, who looks like a tree, in amusement. Quickly enough, however, he reveals his identity: Walrod Cken. Walrod Cken begins to tell the Mages that since he retired he began to afforest the deserts, leading him to a village called Sun Village, which is famously known for their worshiping of an everlasting flame. However, he continues, the village and its inhabitants were frozen and are still alive inside the ice, stating that his request is for them to save the village.

Gray, feeling that, since Natsu is able to produce flames and melt ice, his help is not need, questions his motives for calling him as well. Walrod claims otherwise and tells him that the ice is not ordinary. Interrupted by Erza he is asked why he is not able to handle the task himself. He tells her that a title does not solely mean his is omnipotent. Smiling, the Fairy Tail Mages accept the request and gather at a specific location, where Walrod summons a plant that keeps growing and leads the Fairy Tail Mages to Sun Village. Erza looks down and notes the amazing Magic Walrod can use. Remembering the past, Walrod recalls the birth of Fairy Tail; commemorating the joyous moment along side Mavis Vermilion, Precht, and a young man one hundred and five years ago.

The Land of the Frozen Giants: Sun Village
Natsu and the others arrive at Sun Village, quickly noticing the frozen landscape. As they enter the village they begin to notice that everything, including buildings, is frozen. Continuing to walk about, Natsu bumps into a giant wielding a weapon, shocking him beyond comprehension. Exploring the area further, they see many giants and scream in shock. Gray looks at one of the frozen giants and remembers Deliora and his teacher Ur, as well as Ultear Milkovich. Lucy turns to ask him if he is alright, to which he responds affirmatively telling her that the situation reminds him of the Galuna Island incident. Natsu attempts to burn the ice, but it proves futile. Gray, too, inspects the ice and finds it foreign, but nonetheless reminds him of someone else's Magic. On top of a cliff, a trio of men enter the vicinity and announce their purpose and their guild's name, Sylph Labyrinth.

They warn Fairy Tail not to get in their way in locating the eternal flames, and now that the entire village is frozen their chances will increase. They quickly run off with a bottle of "Moon Drip" in their hands. Erza stays behind as Natsu and the others go after them. Elsewhere, a man speaks to a woman about the treasure hunters and Mages above. The woman states that the hunters will not be a problem, but that the Fairy Tail Mages will, leading the man to ask her if she knows about Fairy Tail. She nods and tells him that her revenge will be served swiftly. Not showing much interest, the man calls her a newbie and tells her to hurry and continue with their job. The woman, revealing to be Minerva: now a member of Succubus Eye, states her claim and tells the man to call her milady.

Natsu, Lucy, Gray, Wendy, Happy, and Carla chance after the treasure hunters in hopes of obtaining the moon drip bottle, but the men stand their ground and say that retrieving Moon Drip from an island filled with Demons was not an easy task. Lucy, Wendy and the Exceeds converse about Erza and hope that she does not shatter the giants to pieces. Tired of being followed, Sylph Labyrinth prepares for battle. Lala, wielding a hand as a weapon, shatters the ground on which he stands, barely missing Natsu. Natsu rapidly counter attacks with his Fire Dragon's Iron Fist, but to no avail as Lala blocks it with his weapon. Natsu is then thrown into a wall as Gray gets ready to attack with his Ice-Make: Freeze Lancer, only to have said spell deflected by Hiroshi's Super Slash. Changing the form of his weapon, Hiroshi attacks Gray with his Super Stab, creating great impact upon hitting nearby rocks. Meanwhile, Wendy saves Lucy from an incoming bullet, and quickly looks for the sniper, who turns out to be Drake.

Lucy summons Sagittarius to use in battle, but Drake proves to have the advantage with his great aim as he hits one of Sagittarius' arrows with his bullet. Natsu gets up and realizes that they are fighting vigorous opponents. Back at the core of the village, Erza begins to analyze the situation; stating that everyone is facing the same direction with weapons in hands. Struck by realization, Erza formulates a hypothesis and heads the opposite direction the giants are facing, in hopes of locating the Eternal Flames' whereabouts. Reaching the mountain's peak, she finds nothing. However, as she walks around, she looks at her reflection and realizes she has turned into a child.

Mages vs. Treasure Hunters
As she inspects her new appearance and tries to figure out how to change herself back to normal, her comrades continue their battle again the Treasure Hunters, who are revealed to be the winners of the Daihihou Enbu and recognized as the strongest. However, Gray is able to swipe the vial of Moon Drip from them and the Mages begin tossing it to one another to prevent the Treasure Hunters from taking it back. However, Happy fails to catch the vial and causes it to break upon falling to the ground. Everyone is shocked but, upon seeing that it only melted a small amount of ice, realizes that it wouldn't have helped their goals. Approaching the melted spot, Natsu puts his ear to the ground and claims to be able to hear voices underground, promoting him to run off in the direction he assumes it to be coming from and resulting in everyone following him. Running through the area, Natsu comes across a man he believes to be a friend of the thieves. Claiming he is not, the man turns Natsu into a child, stating that it will be easier to get rid of him that way.

Elsewhere, Erza finds that she is still able to use Magic, but it a much more limited capacity. Suddenly, Minerva appears behind her, revealing that she is now a member of a Dark Guild and prepares to fight Erza even as a child, revealing it to be the work of her partner's Magic. Meanwhile, Natsu begins fighting Minerva's partner after having been turned into a kid but finds that his abilities, physical and Magical, have been severely limited by his retrogression into a child. Seeing no way to win, Natsu tricks the Dark Mage into looking away, giving him an opening to escape.

At the same time, Wendy and Lucy lose track of Gray while Happy and Carla leave to search for Natsu from the skies. With the Treasure Hunters still following them, intent on taking Lucy's Celestial Spirit Gate Keys, the girls tell them they're only interested in saving the giants and don't want to fight. Hearing this, Hiroshi claims he doesn't care for the giants and slashes the leg of a frozen one, shocking the two. As he continues to do this despite being asked to stop, Wendy attacks and the two groups decide to fight. Suddenly, the girls are fired upon by Drake from above, making the fight three on two and against their favor. While dodging the bullets, Wendy slips and falls, leaving herself open. However, the bullet intended for her is blocked by Flare Corona, who arrives to even up the odds.

Everyone is surprised to see the former Raven Tail Mage, who tells them that since she had nowhere to go, she came to her home. Revealing that she was raised by the giants and wears the crest of the Sun Village upon her body, Flare tells the treasure hunters that she won't forgive them for what they did. Though they claim they aren't responsible for the freezing, merely that they want the Eternal Flame, Flare's anger does not subside and she tells them that that is bad as well and attacks. However, her hair is quickly cut by Hiroshi's sword, much to her surprise. However, Lucy summons Cancer to fix it for her and as he does so, everyone agrees to fight together.

Back to action, the girls attack while Lucy summons Sagittarius to watch out for Drake as well as Virgo to go after him. However, the maiden is instead unable to penetrate the ice to do so, giving Drake the chance to take out Sagittarius. Flare continues her fight and manages to knock down Hiroshi while Wendy is grabbed by Lala's hammer and rendered immobile. With Flare's hair tied up and Lucy forced to dodge Drake's gunfire, the girls are seemingly in a hopeless position with the treasure hunters telling them to give up as they can't compete with them. However, Lucy retorts that they are the ones who cannot compete as Wendy breaks free of her captivity, Flare lengthens her hair to entangle Hiroshi. Up on the cliff, Drake is found by Loke who knocks him off and allows Lucy and Virgo to finish him off while Flare and Wendy finish off their opponents as well, sending them flying away and thus winning the fight.

Search for the Eternal Flame
With the treasure hunters defeated, Flare tells Lucy and Wendy her story of having been raised in the Sun Village but joining Raven Tail after leaving. Hearing her story, the girls make up and decide to get on with work. Flare decides to take the girls to the Eternal Flame, believing it may be able to melt the ice. Elsewhere, their friends have their own trouble as Happy and Carla are forced out of the sky by a strange creature while at the same time, Natsu continues hearing voiced and Erza deals with Minerva in her child body, unable to fight back and wondering how to restore herself to normal.

Meanwhile, Gray encounters Doriate, who quickly turns him into a kid and makes a jump for him. Back in his child body, and seeing Doriate's strange appearance, Gray begins recalling the horrific events in his childhood such as Deliora's attack and the death of his parents. Grabbed by the head, Gray is told that the one place he should not go is the other side of the gate of Hades, the entrance of which he is standing on. However, Gray pays no attention and continues struggling and crying until he hears a voice calling out to him. Told to be strong for his friends, Gray realizes the voice is Ultear's and breaks free of Doriate's grip. Asking if Doriate froze the village, Gray receives an answer in the affirmative and so prepares to fight him.

Doriate laughs at this, telling Gray that his Magic makes ones body take a turn backwards for the worse, but Gray, by using his Ice-Make Magic in a different way, reveals that his imagination actually improved thanks to being turned into a kid, thus helping him fight despite his disadvantages. Dropped off the cliff, Doriate climbs back up only to realize he is on a fake cliff set up by Gray, which subsequently breaks and causes Doriate to fall into frozen bushes, injuring him. As Gray is unable to use his normal offensive techniques, he turns his ice into snow. Seeing Doriate shiver, the young Mage realizes he couldn't be the one who froze the village since a real Ice Mage wouldn't feel such a level of cold, angering him.

Meanwhile, a downed Erza suddenly notices her body changing back to its normal form, allowing her to dodge Minerva's attack and deliver a kick to her face. At the same time, both Natsu and Gray notice their bodies returning to normal as well. Suddenly, Doriate makes a jump for Gray, which he barely manages to block. Noticing a strange change in Doriate's appearance, Gray realizes he has turned into a Demon from the book of Zeref. Taking a powerful hit from the demon, Gray is knocked back a distance, noting Doriate's speed and strength. Looking up, Doriate uses his Law of Retrogression Magic once again, this time turning not only the Fairy Tail Mages into children, but everyone in the village, including his guildmate Minerva and the Treasure Hunters from Sylpy Labyrinth. Suddenly, a retrogressed Happy and Carla arrive in Gray's area and take note of the demon.

As Doriate returns to focus, Gray is forced to fight but finds his attacks to be ineffective while Doriate's cause him a great deal of pain. As he is knocked down and about to be hit, Gray attempts to think of a plan but is only able to think of the ice in the village. As Doriate prepares to attack, Gray braces for the blow just before Carla and Happy rescue him. Carla notes that they aren't able to fly too high off the ground, something which Gray takes notice of as he remembers that Doriate crashed into the frozen bushes and was injured. Believing that the Demon has a weakness to the ice covering the village, Gray places his hand on the ground and sends the ice through his body by using it as a vessel, attacking Doriate. As Doriate is knocked out, everyone is turned back to normal, much to their relief. However, Doriate tells that Gray he made a mistake by opening up Hell's gate but is is cut off before he can say anything maw as he is suddenly eaten by a large one-eyed monster, much to everyone's shock.

Secrets of Ice and Flame Revealed!
Elsewhere, Natsu meets up with the girls on their way to the flame, everyone having been restored to normal. Initially surprised to see their former enemy Flare, Natsu hears about her history and is told that she will take them to the Eternal Flame. However, he is surprised to hear that the giant mountain in the region itself is the flame, having been frozen over. As they wonder about this, the group spots Gray, Happy and Carla running towards them while being chased by the giant one-eyed monster. Unable to fight back, Gray decides to unfreeze the flame with the method he previously used against Doriate, allowing Natsu to take care of the creature.

As Natsu attacks the creature, Gray approaches the flame and remembering how he channeled the Magic of the ice, decides to try and manipulate the ice around the flame to allow it to be melted. As the ice starts to disappear, everyone looks on in happiness but suddenly, the Eternal Flame disappears completely. As the group questions what happened, Wendy suddenly feels a strange presence. As Gray blames himself for this turn of events, Wendy tells them that the flame is still there. Taking a closer look, the group realizes that the flame is still burning weakly. Knowing that Natsu can restore it, the group calls out to him. Still fighting the one-eyed monster, Natsu prevents the monster from causing too much damage to the surroundings during their fight. Attacking fiercely, Natsu smashes the creature down on the flame's altar before attacking. Defeating the monster and hitting the flame with his Magic, Natsu looks at the flame as it begins to glow brightly. As he and the others look on, Atlas Flame comes forth from the fire and greets Natsu, remembering him as the son of Igneel.

Atlas and Wendy explain Atlas Flame's presence is due to the Sky Dragon Slayer's Milky Way spell. Atlas states that he has long since been dead, and that his memory has been jumbled, to which Wendy theorizes that his memory has been affected by the ice. Atlas reveals that an Ice Devil Slayer did this to him and the entire village, mistaking the Eternal Flame to be a demon. At this, Flare prostrates herself in front of the Flames, declaring him to be the guardian flame of the giants and the Sun Village, and pleads that he helps both. At this, Atlas Flame starts to recall everything and using all his remaining power, unfreezes the village. Before disappears, he tells Natsu that Igneel had failed to destroy the most evil Magic from the Book of Zeref, E.N.D.

As the giants and the village thaw out, Erza and Miverva notice this and end their fight. Minerva runs off, and when Erza tries to warn her about being corrupted by the darkness, she replies that she will be the one doing the corrupting. With the village completely unfrozen, Natsu wonders about the mysterious Magic in the Book of Zeref. Elsewhere, a fearful lizard person asks Silver to report to headquarters as all members of the Nine Demon Gates were being summoned. The member of the Dark Guild, Tartarus, then gets up and tells the lizard person not to be afraid, as the only thing that he consumes are the souls of demons.

With the village saved, the group speaks to the giants about what happened to them. The giants recall being frozen before they were able to fight back. Lucy remembers Atlas Flame's story and suggests an Ice Devil Slayer believed the Dragon to be a devil and attacked him. As Erza believes it to be a mistake on his part, Gray, recalling Doriate's warning about the gates to the netherworld opening, tells her that they don't know the truth yet. Thinking about the Dark Guild Tartarus, Gray suggests the criminal is from Tartarus and hired Succubus Eye to guard the village. However, Natsu shrugs the issue aside, claiming that they still completed their job. Suddenly, Lucy looks around and notices that Flare is missing.

Finding her, Lucy asks why she is hiding as the giants come looking for her. Lucy attempts to get her to greet them but Flare is sullen, feeling she should not since she abandoned the village. The Giants find Flare and ask how the outside world was, to which Flare replies that she enjoyed it but found it difficult. Stating that such is the case wherever one may go, the giants tell her that the Sun Village is her home and that she always has a place with them as they welcome her back. Looking at them, Flare tearfully exclaims that she is now home as everyone smiles before celebrating all through the night and forgetting their troubles.

At Succubus Eye's headquarters, Minerva returns to find it decimated and small paper figures everywhere. As she wonders what happened, a voice behind her tells her that each paper is a person who was unable to grow stronger when strength-increasing Magic was used on them. Revealing themselves as Kyouka, one of the Nine Demon Gates of Tartarus, Kyouka defends her actions and tells Minerva that Tartarus doesn't need Mages who can't grow stronger. Wondering about Minerva's strength, Kyouka approaches her, much to her dismay.

Soon, the Fairy Tail Mages leave the village and report back to Walrod Cken on the completion of their mission. As a reward, the group is given the location of a secret hot spring which they take a trip to. The girls enter, thinking it to be separated by gender only to find Natsu and Gray on the other side nearby. Lucy and Wendy are disturbed by this, even more so when Walrod himself joins in, stating that the spring is unisex. While Erza is undeterred by this and begins scrubbing Natsu's back, Walrod expresses the joy of having comrades. As Lucy replies that he doesn't know their situation, Walrod states that he does, showing the Fairy Tail mark on his arm and revealing that he, like Mavis was one of the founders of Fairy Tail. The group is shocked to hear this, to which he confirms its authenticity by singing the Song of the Fairies which was made by Mavis. Hearing the song, the group thinks about the joys of their guild and friends.

Once the song is over, Natsu recalls Walrod's age and asks if he has any knowledge of E.N.D. or the devils. As Natsu explains that Igneel tried and failed to destroy E.N.D. and that he hopes to find Igneel, Walrod upon hearing apologizes that he does not know. However, having heard them mention Tartarus, Walrod reveals while nothing is really known about the Dark Guild, those who have seen them have claimed that they are a group of devil worshipers and may have the Book of Zeref in their possession. Hearing this, the Fairy Tail Mages are shocked, particularly Natsu, who angrily claims that he will attack all of them. As he flies into a fit of rage, he is soon pointed out to the fact that he injured Erza while massaging her, much to his horror as she brutally retaliates.