Episode 42

Battle of Fairy Tail is the 42nd episode of the Fairy Tail anime. It first aired on August 16, 2010.

Magnolia's annual Harvest Festival begins. Fairy Tail celebrates the festival with a contest of beauty and Magic for the female Mages: the Miss Fairy Tail Contest. The festival and contest progresses with much merrymaking, until the Fairy Tail Mages are interrupted by the arrival of Laxus Dreyar and the Thunder God Tribe, who have started the Battle of Fairy Tail.

Summary
Lucy is walking down the street with her faithful Celestial Spirit companion, complaining that she doesn't have the money to pay her rent. She returns home with Plue, and after finishing her daily activities, she lies down, only to find Natsu and Happy already in her bed. Natsu is apparently still suffering from the consequences of eating Etherion. Before he leaves with Natsu, Happy gives Lucy a flyer advertising the Miss Fairy Tail contest, in which the winner gets 500,000. Lucy decides to participate since the money will enable her to pay her rent.

Elsewhere, in the town of Shirotsume, Laxus’ personal guards and fellow Fairy Tail Mages, the Thunder God Tribe, wipe out the entire Ghoul Spirit Guild, claiming that they were too weak to be considered a guild. They speak of something Laxus is about to do with much anticipation.

Meanwhile, Mirajane and Makarov are making preparations for the Fantasia Parade, and after learning that Laxus is in town, Makarov recalls the time when Laxus was young and remembers his love and respect for Fairy Tail. In this time, Lucy, Gray and Juvia meet with Warren Rocko, a Fairy Tail member with telepathic abilities. He speaks of the Miss Fairy Tail contest, and Lucy remembers that she is late for it.

The contest begins and is hosted by Max Alors. The first one to perform is Cana Alberona, who uses her Card Magic to change into a swimsuit. This trend is followed by Juvia, who dedicates her performance to Gray. The next one to perform is Mirajane, who, even though is the guild poster girl and quite popular, decides to use her Transformation Magic to change her head into Happy’s and Gajeel Redfox’s, and by doing so, disappoints everyone except Happy. The next one is Erza Scarlet, who uses her Requip to change into a Gothic Lolita costume, gathering a lot of attention. Levy McGarden follows, who uses her Magic to write something in the air behind her. Bisca Mulan performs and uses her sniper to hit 4 coins in the middle with one shot. The last one in line is Lucy, who would like to perform a cheer routine with her Celestial Spirits, but is interrupted by Evergreen of the Thunder God Tribe, who announces that the contest is over because she was the winner. Lucy angrily protests this and despite Gray's warnings, looks into Evergreen's eyes and is turned to stone while the Thunder God Tribe member reveals that she has done the same thing to all the female Mages of the contest.

The rest of the Thunder God Tribe and Laxus reveal themselves. Laxus proclaims that they will hold a contest to see who is the strongest Mage in Fairy Tail and that Magnolia would be the battlefield. All the Mages must battle one another, including the four of them, and the last one standing is the winner. They have three hours to do so, after the time limit, the statues of the girls will turn to dust. He leaves and starts the battle of Fairy Tail.

Everyone leaves the contest hall except for Makarov, who is prohibited from doing so by Freed Justine’s Runes. These rules are absolute, and only the caster can remove them. Oddly enough, Natsu can't leave either, even though the runes only affect those older than 80 years and stone statues. On the runes screen, they see that a battle has begun between Alzack Connell, Jet and Droy. Later, they see that Alzack is the winner. They didn't actually want to battle, but they were forced to when they were trapped in Freed's Runes which state that only the Mage who wins the fight can exit. Laxus is shown asking himself how long Makarov will be able to stand seeing his “children” fight one another.

Battles & Events

 * Thunder God Tribe vs. Ghoul Spirit (started and concluded)
 * Natsu Dragneel vs. Laxus Dreyar (started and concluded)
 * Jet vs. Droy vs. Alzack Connell (started and concluded)

Magic used

 * Summoned the Canis Minor, Nikora
 * Summoned the Canis Minor, Nikora
 * Summoned the Canis Minor, Nikora
 * Summoned the Canis Minor, Nikora
 * Summoned the Canis Minor, Nikora

Spells used

 * Lightning Body
 * Lightning Flash

Weapons used

 * Magic Guns

Items used

 * Celestial Spirit Gate Keys
 * Gate of the Canis Minor Key
 * Magic Seeds

Manga & Anime Differences

 * In the anime, Laxus is seen sitting on rocks on a hillside overlooking Magnolia Town while talking about the Thunder God Tribe; however, in the manga, he is seen sitting on a luxurious sofa somewhere.
 * Warren is introduced to Juvia in the anime but this does not happen in the manga.
 * Cana's clothes are different during the Miss Fairy Tail contest; in the anime, she wears her usual light blue bikini top and light brown cropped bottoms, but in the manga, she wears a long pale vest top with long, dark bottoms.
 * Lucy's Cheerleader outfit has "Fairy Tail" written across it in the manga, but simply has the Fairy Tail crest on it in the anime.
 * Makarov is seen to have a nose bleed in response to the contest in the manga. This was cut from the anime.
 * Bisca wears her regular clothes and shoots targets as her Miss Fairy Tail Contest entry in the manga; but in the anime she wears a bikini and shoots four gold coins perfectly.
 * Natsu throws a table into the air with his fire in the manga when Laxus reveals his plan. In the anime however, he simply stands and walks to him.
 * Reedus' clothes are different; in the anime, he wears a white t-shirt with black bottoms, but in the manga, he wears dungarees.
 * In the manga, Juvia was petrified in her basic attire, but in the anime, she was wearing the bikini that she was showcasing as part of the Miss Fairy Tail competition.