Tower of Heaven arc

The Tower of Heaven arc is the seventh story arc of Fairy Tail.

As Team Natsu takes a vacation at the popular Akane Resort, Erza's dark past comes back to haunt her when a few of her old friends kidnap her and plan to make her a sacrifice needed to revive the most powerful Dark Mage in history; Zeref. Now, Team Natsu must find a way to rescue her and Erza must come to terms with fighting the man who was once one of her closest friends...

The Ruined Vacation: Battle At the Casino!
After Loke gives Team Natsu tickets to Akane Resort, they head off for a vacation. Upon arrival, Natsu Dragneel, Gray Fullbuster, Lucy Heartfilia, and Happy decide to enjoy some fun on the beach. Elsewhere, Erza unwinds in her room and drifts off to sleep. She dreams of her childhood horrors at the Tower of Heaven where she worked as a slave to build the R-System. She hides in a corner and cries as Jellal Fernandes' voice whispers to her that freedom is just an illusion. Erza wakes up suddenly and looks at herself in the mirror. She changes back into her Heart Kreuz Armor thinking it fits her personality better. Lucy comes in and tells Erza to get dressed to go gamble at the casino downstairs where the others are already present. Erza then Requips into a rose patterned dress and heads out.

At the casino, Natsu Dragneel causes problems when playing roulette since the ball didn't land on his number. As Gray plays at slots, Juvia Lockser reveals herself and admits she tagged along. Natsu starts complaining again, when suddenly, a block-headed man named Wally Buchanan appears and tells him how to enjoy himself in an adult place. Natsu and Happy are shocked by his appearance. Wally spins around and points a gun to Natsu's head. Everyone in the casino starts running. Gray and Juvia start talking how she left the Phantom Lord Guild and became an independent Mage. She tells Gray she's interested in joining the Fairy Tail Guild. Just then, another man named Simon appears. He swats Juvia aside and demands to know where Erza is. While that is going on, Erza is playing a card game. One of Erza's childhood friends, Shô comes in to rotate dealer positions, but instead spells out the words DEATH with his cards to Erza. Erza stares at Shô, shocked to see him.

Shô remarks how its been a while since they saw each other. Erza is surprised that Shô is safe. Back where Gray is, Simon asks again where Erza is. Juvia suddenly appears ready to attack in her water form. She tells Simon she won't let him hurt Gray and she will take care of Simon, and tells Gray to go find Erza. Just then, Simon gets told, through his headpiece, that Erza was found. He then uses his Dark Moment spell to blind Gray and Juvia. While in the dark, Natsu gets shot in the mouth by Wally, and a bang is heard throughout the casino. When the light reappears Shô is gone but reappears behind Erza and shows her his Card Magic by displaying the trapped people inside his card deck by his spell Card Dimension. Shô remarks how it was strange that he learned magic too. Just then another of Erza's past friends, Millianna a cat like woman meows and uses her Nekōsoku Tube to grab Lucy. Erza gets mad and tells her that Lucy is her friend. Shô finds it insulting and thought they were friends, but then adds that it was until she betrayed them. Wally then reanimates himself to where Shô and Millianna are and tells Shô to calm down and tells Erza she turned out to be good looking.

Simon then appears as Lucy falls to the ground with her hands and feet tied. Lucy asks Erza why they are calling her sister, but she tells Lucy they were just old friends. Not liking the remark, Wally points his gun at Lucy who starts freaking out. Erza begs Wally to stop. Wally reanimates his hand behind Erza and shoots her with a sleeping bullet. As Simon grabs Erza, Lucy struggles in her position to get Erza back. Millianna just remarks how she'll be "cat food" in a few minutes. Wally then gets reminded that he has a gift for Millianna and presents Happy to her, knowing she loves cats. Shô gets excited and reveals that Erza will be returning to the Tower Of Heaven, where Jellal is waiting for her arrival.

After Erza and her former friends leave, Lucy tries to summon Cancer but fails to reach her keys, when she is suddenly poked by a knife belonging to someone inside of Shô's cards. He ends up cutting the ropes for her and the man is rewarded with a kiss. Once freed, Lucy runs over to Gray and when she touches Gray, his body breaks into pieces and Lucy freaks out. But it is shortly revealed to be just an Ice-Make: Ice Dummy. Juvia then gets up and lets Gray out of her water body, where she was hiding him. This weirds Lucy out so Juvia gets in her face and says that it was her body and not Lucy's. Gray sheds his shirt and asks where Natsu is. Just then, a breath of flame appears and Natsu starts yelling about how it was rude for someone to shoot inside his mouth. Natsu runs out of the casino, wanting revenge on Wally. Everyone else follows as Natsu has a sharp nose and can lead them to Erza.

At the Tower Of Heaven, Jellal sits on his throne as Vidaldus Taka walks in, reporting Erza was successfully captured. Jellal laughs to himself and tells Vidaldus why he didn't kill Erza, which was because Erza was going to be the sacrifice to the tower. On Shô's ship, Erza is tied to a pole. While everyone else is asleep, Shô comes down to Erza. She demands to be released, but Shô denies her, calling her a traitor again. Erza starts struggling to get free but Shô tells her its futile because Millianna's ropes can seal magic. Erza states she just wants to just equip her armor so she can feel more secure and Shô says that she looks nice in what she has on. Shô then hugs Erza and tells her he never wanted to do all this, but then screams, asking why she betrayed Jellal. Erza has another flashback of her old friends and her escaping. They are all worried as if they are captured, they would be tortured. But Jellal tells them it will be okay comforting Erza and the others, and that they will have their freedom soon.

Infiltrate! Staircase to Heaven
At the Magic Council, the magic council reacts to the news of Siegrain telling them the R-System still exists. They remember shutting down the R-System projects, but other members point out there was an 8th tower they must have missed and that it is almost completed. Siegrain interrupts the conversation saying the name of the 8th tower is The Tower of Heaven. The others tell him to shut up and to organize an army to take it down. Michello feels they don't have enough information to do that, but they do know that a cult leader, Jellal, is in control of the tower.

Gray, Juvia, Lucy, and Natsu travel by canoe to the Tower of Heaven. Gray thinks they're lost and Natsu is sick from the transportation as usual, though they are all counting on his nose. Juvia expresses how she's surprised that Erza got defeated. Gray gets angry, refusing to believe Erza got defeated. Lucy tells Gray to calm down since they don't know much about Erza. Soon, they see the tower ahead of them and continue sailing towards it.

Inside the tower, as Erza arrives, she is thrown in a prison. Erza then remembers her monstrous past; the guards are asking who was the mastermind behind a plan to escape. Jellal courageously said that it was him but the guard decided that it was Erza. Despite the fact that it was Shô who had the idea, Erza accepted the punishment trembling with fear but with a smile to assure the other that she is not afraid. Now in the same prison again after years, Shô tells her she will stay there until the "ceremony" starts tomorrow. Then, he tells her that she will be the sacrifice for "Paradise". Erza tells Shô not to use the R-System to resurrect the dark Mage Zeref because of the consequences it will bring to the Magic World. Shô then says that Jellal is reviving him to bring them to "Paradise" and that they will rule with him. Erza then brings Shô to his knees by kicking him in the face and requips into her Heart Kreuz Armor, determined to find and fight Jellal.

Happy wakes up in Millianna's room surrounded by plushie cats and cat pillows looking for Natsu. Millianna asks Happy how it is going, and Happy replies, making her happy that "her cat" can actually talk. Wally then shows up to telling that if it is talking then that makes Happy a cat which Happy says is completely nonsense. Simon then comes in to tell the two Erza escaped. Happy is surprised Erza is here. Simon tells them she's probably going for Jellal and they all set out to find her.In the throne room of the tower, Vidaldus worries about the Magic Councils actions.

At the Magic council, everyone is still arguing about what should be done, until Siegrain says the tower is way too dangerous to let it stand and recommends using Etherion. Everyone is shocked and refuses, claiming the Etherion is their ultimate weapon and is even more powerful than the R-System. Ultear Milkovich agrees to use the Etherion. Siegrain begs for three more votes to let the chaotic weapon be used.

Back at the tower, Erza continues fighting and looking for Jellal. On the outside, Natsu and co. think there are too many guards to just walk in so Juvia recommends they swim under to a secret entrance she just found. She makes them all water helmets to give them oxygen underwater. After they go through, Lucy points out how useful the water helmets were. Juvia is surprised Lucy didn't die, after admitting she made Lucy's tank smaller than the others. Guards spot the gang so they attack and quickly defeat the enemies. The door leading to the inside of the tower all of a sudden opens for them. In the throne room, Vidaldus asks why Jellal is letting enemies enter. Jellal just claims that everything is a game and they just passed a level. At the Council, Siegrain is able to gain one more vote, which leads him with two more votes needed.

Once Natsu and company get in, Lucy changes into clothes that Cancer gave her. Enemies start running towards the gang as Erza shows up. Erza fights her way through some guards asking where Jellal is. She eventually comes across Natsu, Gray, Lucy, and Juvia. Although she is surprised to see them, she tells them to go back and that this is her problem to deal with. Natsu refuses, one reason being because Millianna has Happy. Erza apologizes saying she will lose this fight no matter what. Erza tells them about the Tower of Heaven, otherwise known as the R-System. When Jellal was captured, Erza and the others decided to fight for their freedom starting a rebellion but by then, Jellal had completely changed.

Erza's Past: The Battle For Freedom!
A cult tried to build a tower to resurrect the fearful and terrifying dark mage Zeref. This is called the R-system, or Tower of Heaven. They used slaves to build it, of which Erza happened to be one of them along with Wally, Shô, Millianna, Jellal, and Simon. After an escape attempt, Erza was taken to the dungeons and was tortured with such severity that she lost her right eye. Her friend Jellal arrived to save her and told her they have to fight to survive now. Caught by another guard, Jellal got beaten and Erza was sent back to her prison. There he was possessed by what he believed was the Dark Mage Zeref, supplanting his former kind personality with a more violent one, which made him almost completely insane. No longer able to take the abuse, Erza attacks guards and starts the revolt. At its inception, the revolt appeared to be successful.

The sudden presence of Mages, however, begins to dampen their chances at victory. All seems lost the moment a magic blast comes towards Erza, but Rob another slave that was forced to work on the R-System, interferes, saving Erza, but sacrificing his life in doing so. To see Rob, who had nurtured her in the manner of a grandfather, blown to dust in an attempt to save her life seems to unlock something inside of her. She remembers Rob telling her what is magic and that it comes from the heart. She awakens her magic. In vengeful fury she calls to all manner of pickaxe and shovel in her proximity and sends a barrage of steel at her captives; and in that moment of rage she finishes the revolt, defeating all her enemies.

When everyone is on the boat to go home, Erza goes back in the dungeons to look for Jellal. Already possessed by Zeref, Jellal attacks Erza and tells her he is going to complete the R-System to resurrect Zeref's body to find his "true freedom". Jellal finishes off the guards who were torturing him. Erza tries to stop him but in vain. Jellal uses his Darkness Magic and attacks Erza, his own comrade. He tells her not to tell anybody about the tower or he will kill everyone. She then wakes up on an island, crying about the events she'd just witnessed.

Back in the present, Erza wipes her tears infront of her friends, and claims she will be the one to face Jellal.

The Countdown to Death Begins
Back at the Magic Council, Siegrain continues to try and get two more votes. They argue that by using the Etherion, it would kill everyone in the tower, including the innocent bystanders. Siegrain is willing to take the risk though. Eventually, Belno also agree to use the Etherion and so one more vote is needed. In the tower, Jellal smiles and claims there is one more vote until everything ends.

Meanwhile, Erza and the others discuss Zeref. Erza talks about Zeref and how the R-System is being used to resurrect him. She says he was the cruelest and most powerful dark Mage in history. Erza points out that Zeref created the Lullaby a terrifying monster, and she also thinks he created Deliora. Zeref can create these powerful monsters with little effort. Lucy then asks why Erza is considered a traitor to her old friends. Erza doesn't know why, but suspects Jellal made something up. Shô then appears, hearing what actually happened eight years ago and cannot believe that Jellal was tricking them all this time. Shô says that eight years ago Jellal told him that Erza planted bombs in their ships and that if Jellal hadn't noticed, everyone would have died. Jellal then made everyone get back to work on the tower, claiming it was a sign that the tower must continue to be built. Erza tells Shô she never did that, confusing him. Simon then appears revealing he knew all along Jellal was lying, Simon always trusted Erza. She then comforts Shô saying she was too weak back then and she is stronger now. They all decide to work together to stop Jellal.

After finally arriving at Millianna's room, Natsu tries on a cat-themed costume head but finds that it is stuck. But when Wally tries to ambush him again, he is saved by Millianna, who believes that he is a real cat, and doesn't want Wally to hurt him. He is nearly killed again when Wally points his gun at Natsu, but Millianna stops him claiming Wally shouldn't shoot cats. Wally convinces Millianna that he is not, in fact, a cat, and the two attack in tandem, but he is saved by Happy's return. He ends up defeating both mages by using a joke-move, the "Ultimate Strike: Kitty in Pain" to invoke Millianna's pity and make her release him from his bonds, allowing his magic to return and beating them with a single attack using his Fire Dragon's Wing Attack. At the tower again, after Natsu defeats Millianna, Jellal goes to his chess board made of pieces that represent all the people in his “game” and knocks Millianna’s and Wally’s pieces over, symbolizing their defeat.

He then tells Vidaldus that Simon and Shô have betrayed them but he’s okay with it since that’s how a game should be. Vidaldus just tells Jellal to hurry up with the ceremony. He gives Vidaldus the job of doing it instead, and Vidaldus awakens his true form, and his allies, Fukuro and Ikaruga appear alongside him. Jellal tells them it’s their turn to move.

Natsu and Happy are able to get the cat helmet off Natsu's head. Just as they do, Wally gets up to attack the two again. But Jellal uses magic to send an audio to everyone in the tower. He tells everyone it’s time to begin the Paradise Game. He states the rules are to try to prevent him from using Erza to resurrect Zeref and that they must get past Trinity Raven to get to him. He then informs everyone that the Etherion will also hit them soon and destroy the tower so they have an unknown amount of time. He then states that either way, nobody will win and everyone will die. An angry Shô claims that he will protect Erza and defeat Jellal so he uses his magic to trap Erza in one of his cards and runs, however Simon follows him. After hearing this, Natsu and Happy are excited to play a game, but instead decide that it would be easier to cheat; they fly straight to the top, but they are stopped by Fukuro.

When they land, they end up with Simon who tells them to run away from Fukuro. Simon uses his Darkness Magic, but since Fukuro is an owl he managed to see Simon and beat him. Simon, defeated, tells Natsu Fukuro is of Trinity Raven, a guild that goes around assassinating people. Natsu gets angry about hearing about a guild that only kills and prepares to fight him. Natsu and Fukuro send attacks back and forth, but Natsu starts to lose his lead immediately but is determined to win this battle. Somewhere else, Juvia and Lucy wander the tower looking for Natsu.

The Tide to Reach your Friends
As the battle between Natsu and Fukuro starts, the Trinity Raven mage proves that he is not an easy opponent. The battle is tight, Fukuro uses his Jet Magic and Simon realizes the power of one of Trinity Raven and Jellal in his throne room counts Simon as defeated.

Meanwhile, Lucy and Juvia wander around the tower hoping to find Natsu. Juvia asks Lucy why she has to look for Natsu with her, however she remembers that Gray told her that he is worried about Erza so he went after Shô while the girls were to look for Natsu. Juvia says to herself that she would do it, though she would be stuck with her love rival, later the girls are attacked by one of Trinity Raven's members, Vidaldus Taka. With his rock music, Lucy thinks he's just loud while Juvia says that he is good. Juvia fights him for a while and seemingly traps him in her water lock, but his hair absorbs the water much to Juvia's surprise. Vidaldus says that her wants to turn one of the girls into his slave he chooses Juvia for it and eventually turns her into his slave thanks to his Rock of Succubus Magic. During that time, Jellal knocks down Juvia's piece as she is out while he knocks Lucy's piece next, assuming that she is next to go.

Juvia starts to attack Lucy's with her Water Magic while Lucy tries to reason with her, to no effect. Juvia attacks Lucy a couple of times, first by ripping her dress off then by whipping her. Vidaldus states that if he turns the two of them into slaves, things would become boring so he wanted to see a cat fight like some girls fighting over some boy, which makes Juvia attack Lucy again. While Lucy is under Juvia's water, she states that she can't hurt her. However, she hears Juvia's real consciousness speak, telling Lucy that Juvia doesn't like doing that to her friend, saying it's okay to call her a friend despite the fact that she sees her as her love rival, and Juvia has come to love Fairy Tail, thinking that she has finally made friends. Juvia calls herself a woman of misfortune, crying. Lucy feels Juvia's hot tears inside her water. While out of the water, prepared one last time for one more attack, Lucy summons Aquarius using Juvia's body. Upon being summoned, Aquarius begins attacking everyone, including Lucy. Somehow, Lucy and Juvia join hands as Aquarius attacks and they perform Unison Raid to defeat Vidaldus, who couldn't absorb all the water, stating it was too much. While they celebrate their victory, Aquarius throws a tantrum, asking Lucy how she dare summon her in a place like that and tells she is going on vacation with her boyfriend so she better not summon her. Juvia tells Lucy that she defeated Vidaldus Taka, to which Lucy corrects her, stating that they both defeated him during that time she reminded her that she called her Lucy. Since both of them are tired, they decide to rest for while and regain their strength. During that time, Jellal, who said he heard a lot of people tried to use Unison Raid but never achieved it, praises the girls by saying that though they may be girls, they're still Erza's friends.

The Owl Assassin
During the council meeting when the members of the council reject the idea of using Etherion, Siegrain starts to argue by talking about the situation that they are in right now and he knows what Jellal wants to do: resurrect the black Mage Zeref. The council is stunned and asks Siegrain to tell them everything he knows.

During that time, as Natsu is fighting Fukrou, Fukrou launches his missile which get hold Natsu, resulting in his motion sickness kicking in which Fukuro, aware of the weakness, takes advantage of and stunningly eats Natsu. Happy tries to attack Fukuro but the Owl Assassin attacks him with no difficulty with Natsu's fire attack since he absorb the Magic of the Mages he eats.

Meanwhile, the council re-votes in 8 in favor and 1 against so the Etherion is now approved. Yajima, who was against it, asks Siegrain if he’s ready to accept the consequences of firing it. Siegrain says he is, but Yajima then gets very angry and asks him if he's ready to accept all the death he will be causing. Siegrain says to wait and see. While Jellal, during that time, knocks Natsu's piece down, wondering how Erza will win now that her strongest piece is gone.

Gray remembers back to his younger days. Cana Alberona is reading Gray's cards and says he will be lucky tonight but Gray complains that he just lost his wallet and fell in a ditch, so his day so far has been nothing but trouble. At that time, Erza arrives at Fairy Tail, saying that it was the place that grandpa Rob was talking about.

Back in the present, Gray is running, looking for Shô who has Erza trapped and he runs into Simon and Fukuro, who tells Gray that he is held up because of Fukuro. Gray indicates that they need to find Erza as soon as possible because as long as she is stuck in the card, she is defenseless. Happy tells Gray that Fukuro has eaten Natsu. Fukuro says that in ten minutes, Natsu's body will dissolve. Gray decides to take the matter into his own hands and attacks Fukuro but since he has absorbed Natsu, he uses Natsu's fire attack to counter Gray's Ice-Make Magic.

Gray remembers his younger days again. Cana talks about how Erza is always by herself, Gray suggests that she talks to her but Cana tells him that she completely ignored her when she tried. Gray tries to talk to Erza but she ignores him as well which pisses Gray off, who knocks Erza off her chair, telling her that this is a mage guild and she shouldn't go around wearing armor. However she replies by saying that he should take a look at himself before telling the others what to wear, and that this might be mistaken as a guild for perverts, which causes the rest of the guild to laugh at Gray, which pisses him off. Erza then says not to worry about her.

The arduous fight between Fukuro and Gray continues, with Gray still under Fukuro's fire but luckily Gray manages to freeze the flames and tells Fukuro that they can't be Natsu's flames, as it is not that powerful. Fukuro is impressed by Gray's Magic, so much so that he wants to capture Gray as well. But as Fukuro attacks him, Gray freezes his mouth, saying they don't have time to play around.

Gray recollects getting beaten up by young Erza and Wakaba and Macao praising Erza, which enrages Gray even more saying that he refuses to accept her as one of his nakama. Later, Gray finds Erza sitting alone and he immediately challenges her to another fight but he sees her crying. Instead of challenging her, he asks her why is she always by herself. She replies by saying that she likes being alone and does not feel comfortable around others to which Gray responds angrily, asking why she is crying on her own.

With all these memories powering up Gray, he finishes Fukuro off with his powerful Ice Blade: Seven Slice Dance, saying that Erza must be with everyone in Fairy Tail, so that she does not ever cry again.

Sword vs. Sword
After Gray's battle with Fukuro, Simon praises him, saying that he is a lot stronger than the information he had on him indicated. He says that his feelings for his friend fueled his magic power to a greater level. Gray says that he has to hurry up and find Erza, before collapsing due to his wounds. Simon adds that Erza had indeed joined a great guild.

Back at Era, where the Council prepares to fire Etherion, twenty-seven minutes remain until it is fired. Org thinks that they may have made a mistake in firing it. Michello states that they need to take full responsibility when it comes to maintaining order in the Magic World, and they cannot allow Zeref to be revived. Meanwhile, Ultear asks Siegrain if he is happy that his plan is finally going to be achieved after eight years. He asks Ultear if she is afraid but she replies that isn’t and says she will always trust him. Siegrain realizes this is only because her life is not on the line. Siegrain then tells her that he is shaking up a little bit in the event that Etherion were to fail and he would die. Yajima, who is eavesdropping on their conversation, overhears this.

Back in the tower, Jellal knocks Fukuro's piece off on his chessboard, saying it is time to say goodbye to Siegrain. Meanwhile, Shô is running, looking for Jellal and still has Erza trapped in his card. Erza tries to reason with him, telling to let her out but he tells her that he is going to protect her no matter what. He runs into the final member of Trinity Raven; Ikaruga who greets him. Shô attacks, telling her to move out of the way as he is not interested in fighting her but she cuts all his attacks. She then attacks Shô while Erza tries to tell him that he is not match for her but Shô tells her that the card is protected thus no one on the outside can attack it. However, Ikaruga attacks Erza, who manages to slice through the card Erza defend herself while inside. Fortunately, Erza successfully manages to break free out of Shô's card. She tells Ikaruga that thanks to her slices, she made space in the fabric, allowing her to get out and she tells her to leave but surprisingly, Ikaruga destroys Erza's Heart Kreuz Armor. Ikaruga tells her that she is sort of surprised that Erza didn't notice the attack.

Ikaruga tells Erza that she was too busy being concerning about finding Jellal that she didn't notice the attack. The promising battle starts as Erza starts to look more serious, which is noticed by Shô. Soon, she requipps into her Heavens Wheel Armor, which starts the battle. They fight; Erza uses her circle swords which Ikaruga destroys and she even destroys Erza's armor in process. Erza's opponent attacks her again, using a flame attack, however, Erza requips rapidly into the Flame Empress Armor to defend herself. However, it as quickly destroyed as the previous ones. Ikaruga praises her ability to requip in an instant. She suggests Erza use her strongest armor, Erza doing so by requiping into her strongest armor, the Purgatory Armor. She tells Ikaruga "None has seen this armor and lived to tell the tale." Before Erza begins to use it, Ikaruga destroys it in instant, she tells Erza no matter what armor she wears, she won't stand a chance against her blade.

However Erza stand on her feet and requips a sarashi (long, winding strip of cloth, usually thick cotton, wrapped tightly around the midriff up to the chest) with flamed bottom hakama. Ikaruga feels underestimated since she doesn't feel any magical power coming from her outfit. Shô says that she still has a lot of strong armors left and she is stronger than that however, she replies to him that she is not strong, but weak, and that's why she wears her armor all the time. Ikaruga tells her that even if my opponent "nake" I could slice them. However Erza continues by saying "I always believed that the armor could keep me safe but that wasn't right, that chink between people's hearts that allowed them to connect and i was just blocking that up, but Fairy Tail taught me the truth that is so much better to be close to people to feel their warmth ...I have no longer any doubts I well change my very being to strength and defeat you".

Preparing for one last attack both Ikaruga and Erza launch one final attack with their swords clashing for the final time. Erza's arm gets slashed twice, and her enemy tells her that she has lost. But then, surprisingly, Ikaruga realizes she got slashed too. Blood comes out her heavy wound and she falls to the ground, before Ikaruga loses her conscious she tells Erza that both her and Jellal would lose because there were 15 minutes left until the firing off the Etherion. Erza tells Shô to find Simon and take her friends from Fairy Tail out of the tower. Shô tells her what about she told him: that she is going to finish things off between her and Jellal.

The Dark Reunion: Erza vs. Jellal
When Natsu finally wakes up, he does not remember what happened to him aside from getting caught by the missile, which made him get sick. Simon yells at him for that, telling him that Fukuro ate him and Gray saved him but Gray took a lot of damage so he told Happy to take him outside of the tower. Natsu is in a state of shock as Gray won and he "lost", so he actively plans revenge on Fukuro but Simon pulls him away, telling him there is no time to do that. He tells Natsu that he got a message from Wally and Millianna that they found collapsed a Lucy and Juvia along with a Trinity Raven member since they don't know what is going on. Simon had told them to take the two outside the tower and protect them. As also receives a message from Shô that the three Trinity members were all defeated, Natsu gets even more surprised that he is useless but Simon tells him that only Jellal is left and that Erza is on her way to confront him. He adds that the two of them are destined to battle but Jellal is simply more powerful so Simon begs Natsu to save Erza, which he quickly refuses.

Erza finally makes it to the top of the tower where Jellal is. He knocks the Trinity Raven's pieces off his board, claiming that the game is over. Erza asks if playing with people's lives is fun and Jellal asks her if she could have fled this place if she wanted so. Erza tells him that she will free her friends. Jellal tells her he doesn't need them anymore, now that The Tower of Heaven is complete. Erza replies to him saying that the tower would be destroyed in matter of minutes. Jellal asks her if she meant that Etherion will fire. Erza thinks that he is bluffing but Jellal confirms that the Etherion will fall. Erza gets relieved, she says she can delay him enough until Etherion fires, however Jellal tells her that she will die, as becoming Zeref's sacrifice is her destiny.

Meanwhile, Natsu and Simon argue over why Natsu doesn't want to save Erza, his friend. Natsu adds that she needs to settle this on her own and that is something that he doesn't want to interfere in. Simon replies by telling him that she has no chance of defeating Jellal. Natsu gets angry and yells at Simon for bringing her down but Simon corrects him, saying that he wasn't referring to magical power. He says that Erza is still trying to save Jellal and she can't hate Jellal as she doesn't have that in her and Jellal is clever and will take advantage of her emotions and it gets even worse, reminding Natsu that the council is about to fire Etherion. If that happens, every person in the tower is dead and according to Shô's message, they have about ten minutes, leaving Natsu shocked. Simon continues saying that Erza headed to face him alone after telling everyone to evacuate. He adds that Natsu has known Erza for long enough to see right through her plans. Simon displays his concern that she might take advantage of the Etherion to die and take Jellal down with her. With the idea of his friend's suicidal plan making Natsu reach boiling point, he asks Simon where Erza went.

During that time, Jellal tells Erza that they have about seven minutes and he hopes to have fun together. Erza replies to him saying that she fears nothing, even if Etherion is fired, she will be satisfied as long as she can bring him down with her. Jellal attacks Erza with Darkness Magic. She dodges all them and cuts them up. Jellal then attacks her again, making her fly out the side of the tower. She manages to get back up by jumping on the crumbling rocks. As she swings her sword, she asks why Jellal is damaging his tower so carelessly. Jellal doesn't seem to care, but Erza does because Shô and her friends spent eight years making it. He uses his darkness magic again, hitting Erza. She manages to break out of it, slicing Jellal in the process, who is surprised, asking if she is the same Erza he knew in the past. Erza then pins Jellal down on the ground.

Erza asks Jellal what he is after, she tells him that she has searched for the R-system and it has never been completed, there is something still missing. Jellal repeats himself that she is the sacrifice, however Erza tells him that it is not what she meant and what the R-system needs is magic. In order to activate a strong magic weapon like that, he needs an amount of 2.7 Billion Ideas. Jellal reminds her that it is now three minutes until the Etherion is to be fired. She gets angry and she asks him if his dream is over and if he wants to die now. He tries to make her give up by saying that his body was being possessed by Zeref and how he is nothing more than a doll doing his bidding. He claims it was all over before it had even begun and that nobody can save him.

Back in Era, Etherion finishes charging and all the members pray. Outside the tower, in the escape boat, Happy sees the light. He hopes that Natsu and Erza can manage to get out of there. At the tower, Jellal says he knew he could not finish the R-System but Zeref would not let him stop. He asks Erza to strike him down but she refuses, and hugs Jellal as Etherion is about to hit the tower. Simon sees the light also, he says that it is too late and Natsu continues climbing the tower looking for Erza. Upon Etherion finally hitting the tower Jellal, unveils his true face.

Outside, the tower is seemingly destroyed. The escape boat that Lucy, Gray and the others board gets caught in the waves. However, Juvia protects them by using her Water Magic. Back in Era, Org asks how many people were in the tower. Michello tells him that sacrifices must be made, to which Org replies that they can justify the action but it well not heal the damage that they've done to the families of the people in the tower. On outside of the tower, Lucy, Gray and the others show concern that their friends might be dead. Back in the tower, Erza is alive after the blast. Back in Era, everyone is stunned that the tower is still standing. Outside the tower Lucy, Gray and the others are surprised to see the outer structure of the tower only got destroyed. Lucy displays her belief that the others who were still inside were going to be ok.

Back at the tower, Simon is surprised that he is still alive while Natsu wonders what just happened. Meanwhile, Erza realizes that Jellal tricked her. He explains that the true form of the tower is a giant lacrima and thanks to the council's attack, he succeeded in gathering the power he needed to resurrect Zeref. Back at Era, everyone at the council is surprised to see the tower still standing then everyone asks Siegrain in shock what happened. Yajima yells at Siegrain as he teleports away. Back at the tower, Jellal says that he had no choice since he couldn't have produce this much powers and Siegrain, having arrived, reminds Erza how they met and it was his biggest mistake ever. Jellal reveals that Siegrain and he are one person, Siegrain was created in order to invade the council. He asks Erza if she enjoyed her freedom because it was all part of Zeref resurrection plan. As the two merge, Jellal reveals that his powers have come back to him.

In Era, everyone wants to know what happened. During that time, the HQ starts to crumble. Yajima sees Ultear using her magic to destroy the council HQ, saying Jellal's dream has finally been realized. Back at the tower, Jellal pushes Erza. Erza tries to fight him a couple of times but he dodges her moves easily. He states that thanks to Ultear, his plans have finally been realized. Erza tries to fight him again but he reveals he used a Bind Snake to stop her from moving. He had put it on her when she hugged him, and all he needs now is a living sacrifice and her body will be composed and decomposed into Zeref's new body.Before forcing her into the R-System crystal in order to be sacrificed, Jellal claims that he loved her.

As she is being prepared as a sacrifice, Natsu arrives just in time to pull Erza out, telling Jellal "Erza belong to Fairy Tail. I won't hand her over to you". Natsu tells her that they need to go back to work, otherwise they won't have enough money to pay Lucy's rent on time. Erza tells him that she can't move, which he takes advantage of as he comically tickles her. Erza tells Natsu to leave and not to fight Jellal because she is afraid of the consequences. She tearfully begs him to listen to her, however, Natsu asks her why she is being like this and he can win, surprising even Jellal. Natsu knocks Erza unconscious. As he turns his attention to Jellal, who asks him if he enjoyed striking his nakama who couldn't even move, Natsu tells him in a shaking voice "Erza...She was crying...And saying depressing things with a shaky voice...I have never seen Erza like that, Erza should be strong, mean and scary...when she wakes up I hope she well be the Erza that I knew that what I well fight for".

Jellal gets excited as he wants Natsu to show him the Dragon Slayer Magic.

The Fight for a Friend's Freedom
As the battle for Erza's freedom starts, Natsu flares up at Jellal. Natsu has the upper hand, he attacks Jellal several times using his fire attacks. However, Jellal asks him if this was all he had and tells him he just wanted to test his Dragon Slayer Magic before destroying him. Then Jellal starts to get serious and begins to attack Natsu. Since Natsu can't keep up with Jellal's Meteor spell, he tries to predict his movement but fails to do so. Jellal tells him his attacks would never touch him again. After that, Jellal attacks Natsu using his attack Grand Chariot which causes huge damage to both Natsu and the tower. Jellal remarks that any further damage would cause the resurrection of Zeref to become problematic and says he had to hurry up now. However, Natsu hears that and starts attacking the tower directly, claiming breaking things to be Fairy Tail's specialty and that he is more fired up than he has ever been before.

As the battle continues, Natsu attempts to fight off Jellal only to get overpowered by him. Erza wakes up only to see Natsu getting beaten by Jellal's Meteor attack again. After several more attacks, Natsu asks if Jellal was holding back so as to not damaging the tower any further, since the last attacks were not as powerful as the previous ones. This angers Jellal even more and he hits Natsu again. Natsu stands up and attacks the tower again. Angered by Natsu's action, Jellal launches another attack on Natsu but Erza shields Natsu and asks Jellal if he is going to kill her as well, since she was actually needed for the resurrection ritual. However, Jellal claims that it wouldn't matter who is the sacrifice anymore due to the tower's fatal damage and prepares to cast a spell named Altairis that would well be able to kill both Natsu and Erza. Gathering up enough magical energy, he launches the spell towards Erza and Natsu, with Natsu telling Erza to move to which Erza responds that he has nothing to fear since she will protect him. Erza closes her eyes, prepared to take Jellal's attack, however when she opens her eyes again, Simon is standing in front of them, breathing heavily since he just took Altairis in Erza's place. He collapses and Erza runs to him, absolutely speechless. Simon confesses his love for Erza and dies in her arms. Erza cries and screams in sadness but Jellal laughes at Simon's act of sacrificing his life and states that no one will leave the tower alive anyway. He gets interrupted though since Natsu punches Jellal in the face out of rage and starts eating the lacrima. He'd absorbed Etherion before, which almost killed him due to the lacrima consisting of the other elements apart from fire. Nevertheless, Natsu manages to absorb it, reaching the Dragon Force level of his Dragon Slayer Magic for the first time.

Natsu starts to attack Jellal, claiming it was all his fault that Erza was crying and that he had made a promise to Simon that he would take care of Erza. After a fierce battle, Jellal shouts that he cannot be defeated and that he must bring freedom because Zeref chose him and he was going to build the kingdom of freedom. He tries to use Abyss Break, which surprises Erza because it would destroy the entire tower. Before he is able to launch, it he feels the aftershock of a slash Erza gave him during their fight before and his magic fails.

Natsu sees an opening, telling Jellal that he will never achieve freedom by taking away other people's freedom and that there is no freedom to someone who is possessed by a ghost and he should free himself first. Natsu charges at Jellal’s chest, punches him as hard as he can and then finishes him off with a huge smash to the ground, which then leads to Jellal's defeat.

Erza who had witnessed Jellal's defeat from close up says to herself: "So this is Natsu's true power... This is Dragon Slayer".

Live on for your Friends
The battle that Erza was fighting for 8 year is finally over and she says to herself everyone is now free. When Natsu turns back towards her, he faints out of exhaustion, Erza quickly embraces him, saying that he is truly amazing. At that moment, the tower starts to get out of control. Erza takes the unconscious Natsu and runs, hoping to find an exit soon, she realizes that the tower has a strong magical power. It isn't stable and it won't be stable for long and will create a massive explosion which will kill even the people outside.

She says she is not going to give up and it's now her turn to protect Natsu. Soon, she realizes that she needs to be sacrificed in order to control the tower to prevent it from exploding. She puts her arm in the liquified Lacrima which still works, Natsu finally wakes up he sees Erza's half body into the Lacrima and asks Erza what she is doing. She tells him this is the only way, Natsu yells at her to stop because if she keeps that she is going to die. However, Erza tells him she cannot live without Fairy Tail and can't imagine a world without her nakama and that's how much all of them mean to her. She further states if doing this can save all of them, then she have no regrets even if it takes her body. Offering her body to the R-system, she blanks out while Natsu continues calling for her to get out. From inside of the vortex, she tells Natsu to take care of everyone cause she will always be there for them. Natsu, crying, calls for Erza as the tower explodes.

At the same time, Lucy, Gray and others notice that the tower isn't exploding but is pouring magical energy straight into to the sky.

Erza remembers back to when Makarov was taking her to Porlyusica in order to fix her damaged eye. When Porlyusica asked Makarov where she was from, Makarov told her that Erza knew Rob. Porlyusica asked where Rob was now but Makarov tells her that he had died. Back at Porlyusica's House, she took the bandages off Erza and sees her eyes fixed and so she tells her to leave immediately. Erza sheds tears about her eye, however, Porlyusica notices Erza crying out of only one eye, after which she tries to look to see if she made any mistakes. However, Erza replies her by saying it was okay and that she had already shed half tears anyway.

Out of nowhere Erza, finally wakes up in a white dress. Wondering where she is, she sees a scene of her funeral. Every member of Fairy Tail was presently attending it. Makarov is delivering a speech on her behavior, saying that she was like a daughter to him. During the funeral, the council members appear and award Erza a place as a member of the Ten Wizard Saints but no one seems to care, they are only crying. The funeral is shortly cut by an angry Natsu who says there is no that way that Erza died, refusing to accept the facts, kicking the flowers on her tombstone and everyone in Fairy Tail pinning him on the ground. Seeing Gray's, Lucy's and Happy's sadness over her loss and mostly Natsu's anger and denial affects Erza and makes her cry, saying she didn't sacrifice her life to give them a sad future and that this is not the future that she wanted to see. She closes her eyes as she slowly fades away from the vision to reality.

Suddenly, Erza wakes up and doesn't know where she is. She sees Lucy, Gray and co. running towards her relieved that she is fine. She realizes that she is alive and notices Natsu is carrying her. Erza realizes that Natsu somehow did not only find her but managed to take her out of the vortex alive. As he lays her down, he tells Erza they are the same and it's the same for all of them and to never do a thing like that again ever.

Touched by his words, Erza promises not to risk her life again as she embraces him and gives him a genuine thanks. Erza finally says to herself she doesn't have to die for her nakama, she just has to live for their sake because that's the only way to bring about a happy future. For the first time in 8 years, relieved, Erza shed tears of joy down of both eyes.

Farewell
Back at the hotel, Natsu has been sleeping for three days straight. He wakes up for a few seconds once because Gray insulted him. Wally, Millianna and Shô apologize to Erza. She tells them that since they don't have a place to go, she wants them to join Fairy Tail. While she takes them to introduce them to her teammates, she hears Jellal's voice telling her that she has become really strong. She turns around and sees nobody, deciding that she heard nothing. Lucy is in her room, writing what Erza told her; Jellal may be the one who saved everyone once he got released of Zeref's possession. She says to herself that she kind of felt sorry for him since Jellal was one of Zeref's victims. As Erza enters the room, she asks Lucy where Shô and others are. When Lucy can't answer since she doesn't know, Erza tells her to tell Natsu and Gray to prepare some fireworks.

While Shô, Wally and Millianna decide to go on the journey to discover the outside world, Erza finds them and gives them a Fairy Tail Farewell bash as Team Natsu throws magnificent fireworks for them, as they promise that they will see each other again. Erza's friends set off on their journey, finally, free to live their own lives...

Manga & Anime Differences

 * In the manga, Wally originally pinned down Natsu with his gun and shot him in the mouth. Natsu's Dragon Slayer powers allowed him to survive. In the anime, Wally uses his block powers to pin Natsu to the game machine he was playing at. Then transforms his arm into a cannon and fires at him. Natsu lives through this as well.
 * In the Manga when Simon attacked Gray and Juvia, Simon slaps Juvia away when he first appeared. In the anime, he blows her up, using magic.
 * In the Manga, Jellal spoke to the contestants of the game through the use of mouths that were set up all over the walls and ceilings in the tower. In the Anime, his voice is transmitted through the statues.
 * Originally on the manga, Lucy summons Cancer to fight off the guards and to give her her dress. In the anime, she summons Virgo.
 * The anime shows the child versions of the Oración Seis (minus Brain) during Erza's flashback, however they weren't included in the manga.
 * Originally the fate of Trinity Raven was unknown in the manga and it presumed they were caught in the blast when the Etherion fired down on the tower. In the anime, its shows that the three managed to escaped thanks to Fukuro's jetpack.
 * The Trinity Raven's battle ground is different in the anime.
 * In Erza's vision when she wakes up in anime, a hand came and pull Erza out of her vision to reality. In the manga, Erza slowly fades away from dream to reality.
 * In the manga, when Lucy Invited Erza to go to the casino, Lucy wore a shirt with a floral design and skimpy shorts. In the Anime, Lucy wore a darkish red long dress.