User blog comment:Miskos3/Fairy Tail 522 & 523: Gray's Trump Card & Is Destiny Burning, Review/@comment-31.132.65.54-20170218162605/@comment-7418318-20170222174251

Yeah... really great alternatives Ultear had back then.

Destroying the Eclipse Gate? You are aware that this meant walking through quite a bit of a city that was overrun by Dragons and Dragon Spawn, right? Not to mention that she had no way of knowing whether she even could destroy the gate on top of not knowing whether it would help at all. Not a good alternative.

And the realization that she nearly killed another innocent being made her completely break down mentally. How is that a legitimate and better alternative from Ultear's perspective? Not to mention that it would have been a desperte gamble to begin with and not something she was sure or even particularly hopeful to have worked in the first place.

Turning back time on the other hand was something she was realtively sure would help, even if it came with great costs... but with the guilt trip over nearly killing Rogue and all the things she did in the past, that cost might have been an added incentive to her rather than a obstacle.

As for Gray's alternatives: There is a very easy one with a good chance of working. Knock Zeref unconscious, clap him in magic sealing cuffs and lock him up in the deepest hole you can find and bury the entrance so that nobody will ever get in range of his death waves. Sure it might not work, but it has a good enough chance to work to be worth a try.

Another one would be to sit down and talk with the others to see if anyone has ideas. Ultear had to do something fast, because every minute people died all around her.

And the current situation? All the Spriggans are dead, August is stalled for the moment by Gildarts and Zeref was just sitting around waiting for someone to fight him. Sure with Acno being unaccounted for and nobody knowing if Gildarts can handle August they can't afford to waste too much time, but they do have some time to at least talk about it. If nothing else they have as much time as it takes to walk/run from their previous position to the guild hall.