Panther Lily

Pantherlily (パンサー・リリー Pansā Rirī) is an Exceed that used to work for the kingdom of Edolas as the Magic Militia's First Division Commander of the Royal Army. He is currently a member of the Fairy Tail Guild and is Gajeel Redfox's companion.

Appearance
His head is that of a black panther's, but he has a tall, muscular build similar to that of a human's. Later, this body is called his battle form. He has a white muzzle, small red eyes, and a scar running down across his left eye. Like his fellow commanders (except Hughes), he wore a personal set of battle armor with a long cape draped around his body, as well as a helmet vaguely similar to that of Lyon Vastia.

However, when he reached Earth Land, he took a form which is more typical for Exceeds, as a small, bipedal black cat with round ears. His facial features are retained, albeit in a very deformed manner. Although he can return to his former form, he can only do so for a very limited amount of time. His guild tattoo is on his back in the same place as Happy and Carla's, and is gray in color.

Personality
Pantherlily seems to have a grumpy disposition and detests noisy people. He first appears by demanding that Byro and the hyperactive Hughes quiet down (although Sugarboy noted that Pantherlily was in a nastier mood than usual). He also seemed to have reservations about Operation ETD, unlike the other commanders. This was presumably because he did not want his own race to be destroyed, despite the fact that he had also said that Extalia was a fake country, one he discarded a long time ago. However, Pantherlily is on good terms with Mystogan as he saved the young prince from death when he was a small child. Pantherlily does not discriminate against Exceeds or humans and treats them as equals, unlike the Exceeds in Edolas who viewed themselves as superior to the humans.

According to his Guild Card, Pantherlily likes kiwi (the latter of which can be seen when he, Happy and Carla are having a snack break) and hates thunder (the latter of which can be seen in his time on Tenrou Island). He also seems to have a penchant for oversized weapons, as shown from his handling of the Bustermarm Sword and his liking for the Musica Sword.

History
Pantherlily was once an Exceed that lived in Extalia and worked for Extalia's army. One day he saved the Prince of Edolas from certain danger. However, his act of bringing the young prince to Extalia was considered as an act of treason by the elders, who labelled Pantherlily as a 'Fallen', a traitor, and exiled him from Extalia immediately and permanently. After these events, Pantherlily went to live in the human world with Mystogan. He trained himself and joined the Royal Army of Edolas as the Royal Captain of the 1st Magic War Division.

Edolas arc
Pantherlily is first seen with the rest of the Royal Army Captains. He tells Byro and Hughes to be quiet, as he dislikes noisy people. When Erza Knightwalker questions him about it, she speculates that a recent military issue has made him grumpier than usual. Later, he is seen in a meeting with the rest of the Royal Staff, and Faust himself. As the meeting is dismissed, Pantherlily starts to voice his disapproval of a military agreement he is unhappy with, but stops and apologizes the moment he sees Faust's stare growing even more unsettling than usual.

He later appears running towards Erza Knightwalker, yelling at her not to let the escaped Lucy Heartfilia and the "fallen" (Carla and Happy) get away. When the two Exceed grab Lucy and fly away, Pantherlily is then seen staring upward at them from the ground with the rest of the Army Captains after they have been cornered from both sky and ground. Later, when Faust orders the initiation of Code ETD, which involves the overthrowing of the Exceed and the destruction of their homeland Extalia, he shows intense rage upon learning about the military and King's true plan. However, this does not make him falter in his duty, as when Gajeel Redfox and Happy set out to destroy the giant Lacrima, a vital part of the King's plans. Pantherlily uses his giant sword to slice away part of the floating island to prevent them from getting closer. As Gajeel tries to slash him, Pantherlily just flies away, before slamming down his massive sword and cutting away a bit more of the island along with it. He and Gajeel then prepare fight each other seriously.

Their fight starts to get intense when Gajeel's iron scales allow him to withstand an attack from Pantherlily's sword, but the giant Exceed refuses to give in, loudly exclaiming his personal history of being an exile of Extalia. Gajeel immediately takes a liking to him and tries to make him his cat companion. However, before deciding to make him his companion, Gajeel decides to show him who is stronger, and manages to break Lily's sword, shocking the black Exceed. With his weapon destroyed, Pantherlily moves the fight to one of hand-to-hand combat. Later on during their fight, Pantherlily and Gajeel observe the Dragon Chain Cannon being fired. Seeing that Gajeel has run away from the fight to stop the Dragon Chain Cannon succeeding in its job, Pantherlily yells at him for running away, only to be stunned by what Gajeel has to say: "I'll be back to get you, to bring you to my guild, and if you don't come, I'll beat you up and drag you there". Pantherlily then notices that Coco is helping the enemy, and screams at her to get away.

As he watches and yells at them that it is useless to try to stop the Lacrima, he notices that more and more Exceed are coming forward to push the Lacrima back, much to his surprise. He himself remembers a crueller Extalia, one that banished him for his helping of an injured human child, and cannot believe that such a country would come together to help one another. He then watches as the Queen falls from the sky due to her poor flying capabilities, and quickly rushes to her aid, asking her if she is finally finished with all of her lies. As the Queen apologizes, so does Pantherlily, stating that no matter how much he tried, he could never bring himself to hate Extalia, as it is his home country. He then notices that the Lacrima Island is being pushed back due to the Exceeds valiant efforts, and watches as Mystogan arrives and sends the Lacrima back to Earth Land using the Anima.

Mystogan tells him that he was glad to have saved his country, causing Pantherlily to thank him and refer to Mystogan as the Prince of Edolas, who turns out to be the very child Pantherlily saved those many years ago. The reunion is cut short however when Erza Knightwalker appears and shoots Pantherlily through the stomach, declaring that the battle is far from over. This angers Gajeel, who yells at Knightwalker for daring to touch his cat. Though badly wounded, Pantherlily survives the attack and watches the Dragon Slayers battle Faust with Mystogan, and is shocked when he realizes that Mystogan apparently faked being defeated by Faust to help treat his wounds. He then follows Mystogan into the room that produces Anima, and is stunned when Mystogan reveals his plan to transfer all Magic in Edolas to Earth Land.

Mystogan then carries out his plan, leaving the people of Edolas in distress as they watch their world begin to crumble. Mystogan tells Pantherlily that for the people to be calmed the two of them must take on the roles of a villain and a hero, and once the people see that the villain has been defeated, they will gain their confidence once again and follow their new hero into the future. Mystogan tells Pantherlily to kill him, becoming the hero and the "King of the New World".

Pantherlily refuses to kill him and instead offers to be the villain because they need to quell the chaos. Mystogan is adamant that Pantherlily has a happy life. They are interrupted by somebody who says that a riot is beginning to amass outside the palace, and Pantherlily follows the guard outside to help deal with them. When he asks how many people are involved, his subordinates reply that there are only 3 people, causing Pantherlily to become distraught at the soldiers inability to halt the mayhem caused by only a few trouble-makers; but the soldiers further reply that the perpetrators are rather powerful, and Pantherlily ultimately learns that the trio of rioters are none other than Natsu, Gajeel and Wendy. Natsu claims to be the "Great Demon Lord Dragneel" and boasts that he has defeated the King and is now taking the world's Magic power.

Mystogan tells Natsu to stop, but Natsu simply challenges him to beat him while revealing him as the Prince of Edolas. As Mystogan and Pantherlily wonder how such events unfolded, Nadi reveals himself and tells the duo that he overheard their conversation and asked the Dragon Slayers to become the "villains" instead. As the Anima starts to strengthen, Nadi tells Pantherlily to get ready for what they are gonna do next. Pantherlily suddenly starts to glow, and realizes that the Anima will transfer all of the Exceed to Earth Land too, as the Exceed -unlike the humans in Edolas- possess Magic within their bodies. Before all the Exceeds are transferred to Earth Land, Pantherlily tells Mystogan that he can take his time in rebuilding the kingdom, and the two bid each other farewell one last time.

Later, Pantherlily (with other Exceeds and Fairy Tail members) is transported to Earth Land. After the Exceeds have left, Gajeel wonders aloud where Pantherlily has gotten too. Showing up in a normal Exceed-sized form, Pantherlily requests that he join the guild that the Prince was once a member of, asking Gajeel to keep his promise of letting him join. Gajeel could not be happier, and holds him tightly as he cries in happiness. Pantherlily then pulls the rope he has been holding the whole time and states that he had caught someone suspicious. As he pulls the person into view, everyone is left speechless by the fact that the person is Lisanna. Lisanna asks Pantherlily if he is an Exceed, to which he replies by stating his name, and Gajeel angrily asks her if she is picking a fight with his cat. When Lisanna reveals that she is actually the Lisanna from Earth Land who was sent to Edolas two years ago, Pantherlily alongside Natsu and the others helps Lisanna to return to her siblings.

Tenrou Island arc
Back at Fairy Tail, everybody is acting hyper and rambunctious again. Pantherlily is surprised by how noisy everyone is, and finds it hard to believe they all have Magic Power inside of them. Erza explains that that is how Mages are in Earth Land, and also points out that the Magic is not important, but the hearts and the people who wield it. Pantherlily tells Erza that it is comforting to see a familiar face like hers, even though she is not the Erza he knew. When Gajeel propose a fight between the Dragon Slayer's Exceeds, Pantherlily refuses, saying that picking a pointless fight only will get them hurt. He suggests that he get along with Happy and Carla, but everybody else in the Guild starts to fight anyway. A while later, everyone finishes fighting and is sleeping from exhaustion, with Gajeel hugging Pantherlily with one arm.

Pantherlily is later seen having a brief sparring session against Erza in his large form. The match ends shortly after when Pantherlily can no longer sustain his Magic and reverts to his chibi form. He then notes that he can only remain in his true form under a set amount of time while he is in Earth Land. He nevertheless ends up being the object of Gajeel's gloating -the studded Mage having apparently been overseeing the match- to Erza. The next day, at the S-Class Mage Promotion Trial ceremony when Gajeel gets angry about the master not picking him, Pantherlily says Erza told him that the guild did not trust him. Moments later he is seen pleased when Gajeel shows his good intentions by offering to help Levy become an S-Class Mage.

A little while before the first trial reaches its end, Pantherlily and Carla fly towards Tenrou Island despite not being allowed to, though Carla defends their actions by saying that they are merely going to watch. As they are flying, Pantherlily notes that there is something strange about Mest's relation to his Prince. As they land on the beach, he states that Mystogan was a secluded person who would never socialize with anyone and would put everyone to sleep whenever he was around. He also finds it unlikely that Mystogan would take a disciple -the position Mest claims to fill- and ends his pondering by wondering whether Mest is really a member of Fairy Tail at all.

He and Carla find and confront Mest just as the red attack signal flare is sent up into the air, and question his motives and identity. Pantherlily transforms into his Battle Mode and pins Mest against a rock, but Mest teleports out of his grip to save Wendy from Azuma's attack. Mest then explains that he is a member of the Council who infiltrated Fairy Tail to find information to disband them. He also reveals that he has a battle ship nearby that will arrest the guild members; Azuma however, destroys the battle ship and engages them in battle. Pantherlily tells everyone to stand back as he prepares for the upcoming fight.

Pantherlily then charges Azuma and immediately gets engulfed in an explosion. However, he presses on and successfully punches Azuma in the face. After that, the residue left behind from the previous explosion explodes, damaging him once more. Wishing that he had his sword, Pantherlily then is empowered by Wendy's Arms x Vernier, which increases both his leg speed and his arm strength. He then proceeds to dodge Azuma's explosions, and flies high into the sky after Carla tells him to, thus serving as a distraction for a surprise attack by Mest and Wendy. However, Azuma notices the attempt and summons an enormous column of flame, defeating all his opponents in one attack, including the airborne Pantherlily. On the ground, Pantherlily then reverts to his chibi form, unconscious.

He wakes up after Natsu and Happy arrive at the scene. Looking to the sky, he sees Caprico releasing numerous bubbles, from which Grimoire Heart members emerge to fight them. As Natsu and Happy take out most of the members in their immediate vicinity, he notes that he does not even have enough Magic left to retain his Battle form. He looks on as Zancrow arrives to fight Natsu, and trembles in fear when he sees Zancrow incinerate his remaining allies. He then watched as the two do battle. After Happy commentates too much on the fight, an annoyed Zancrow burns them as well.

Sometime later, after Natsu and Makarov's fight with Zancrow has concluded, Wendy and the cats are seen next to the unconscious Natsu and barely conscious Makarov, with Wendy trying to heal them. Happy explains how Natsu's scarf was turned black, which makes Pantherlily wonder if the mysterious Mage present on the island is really Zeref. Some time later, Natsu wakes up and asks them where Makarov is, to which Pantherlily replies that he is right beside Natsu. Natsu then picks up a familiar scent of a former enemy that he fought on Galuna Island and runs off, despite the groups protests.

Pantherlily is later seen appearing somewhat shocked when Doranbolt -revealed to be Mest's real name- comes back to the island. After Doranbolt proposes to help get Fairy Tail off of Tenrou Island, Pantherlily, along with the others, refuses and states that Fairy Tail can take care of its own problems.

After arriving at the resting area, Pantherlily informs a worried Levy and Lisanna that Natsu and the rest of the group are on their way, and listens as Levy states that they need to unite against their foe. Soon after, Rustyrose shows up and challenges him along with Levy and Lisanna to battle. He is later seen when he notices Bluenote's Magic. When Freed and Bickslow arrive he is shocked to see them and marvels at the true power of the Thuder God Tribe.

Pantherlily, along with Lisanna and Levy, warns Freed and Bickslow to be careful when Rustyrose attacks them with his spell, Ghost of the Britear. He is later seen collapsing when Azuma uproots the tree on Tenrou Island that protects and gives power to Fairy Tail members.

After Rustyrose is defeated, Natsu and the others arrive at the camp. While Freed and Bickslow review the situation, Pantherlily informs them about the Grimoire Heart Battle Ship's location and suggests that they split the group into two teams, and attack team and a defense team. As Pantherlily waits at camp, it starts to thunder. Pantherlily covers his ears from the sound as Carla and Happy make fun of his fear. Shortly after, Natsu gets up and claims he is going to beat Hades. Pantherlily, along with Happy, Carla, Lucy, and Wendy join Natsu. As they head towards Hades' battleship, they meet up with Erza and Gray. When they arrive at the battleship, Hades awaits them outside. After Hades heads back into his ship, Natsu tells Pantherlily, Carla and Happy to search around the airship for its power source, to make sure the ship will not take flight during the battle.

As the rest of the group battle Hades, the cats crawl through the vents in the ship. Whilst they crawl, Happy sees something in the room below them. Carla and Pantherlily take a peek too and are amazed to see that "it" is alive. The cats drop down into the room below them and Pantherlily looks at the supposed power source and repeats the Dark Guild's name, finally understanding it. Just then, Grimoire Heart members run into the room. Pantherlily says he will defend Happy and Carla as they try to stop the power source. As Pantherlily fights, he takes one of the swords a member was holding. It enlarges, and Pantherlily realizes the sword is exactly like his previous sword, Bustermarm, and proceeds to attack with it. After Carla and Happy successfully destroy the power source, which turned out to be Hades' real heart, Pantherlily looks back and smiles at them. After the war with Grimoire Heart ends, Pantherlily goes to rest at Tenrou Island's base with everyone else.

Everything is interrupted when Acnologia, the infamous Black Dragon, lands on Tenrou Island and starts attacking everyone. All of the Fairy Tail members start moving towards the ship to escape as the Dragon goes on its rampage. To give them time to reach safety, Makarov enters full Titan mode and grabs Acnologia, holding it off from attacking the guild members. Everyone wishes to help Makarov, but he shouts for them not to disobey his final order. When Makarov is overwhelmed by Acnologia, all of the members run back and go all out against the Dragon. As Acnologia, having shrugged off all the combined attacks from its assailants, flies high up into the sky and readies to fire a breath attack against Tenrou Island, the guild members join their hands in a circle. While promising they will return home to Fairy Tail, they are struck by Acnologia's blast, which completely annihilates Tenrou Island, leaving nothing behind.

X791 arc
Pantherlily, along with the rest of the members on Tenrou Island, is rescued by Bisca, Alzack, Jet, Droy, Max, Warren and the Trimens from Blue Pegasus. He watches as Mavis Vermilion reveals that she was the one who saved them and then disappears. He, along with the other supposedly missing members, returns to Fairy Tail and is welcomed back by Romeo.

After Romeo reveals that he has been learning Fire Magic from ex-Phantom Lord member Totomaru, Pantherlily happily watches as Gajeel expresses his joy at the news.

Key of the Starry Sky arc
Note: Events in this arc occur only in the anime and do not constitute canon material.

Grand Magic Games arc
Whilst the guild members are talking about the current situation in Fiore, Pantherlily falls into the eye of the young Asuka Connell, who strokes him with pleasure. He also comments about Happy's feelings toward Carla.

When the guild decides to participate in the Grand Magic Games, the returned members separate into four teams, all heading to train in four different locations, and Pantherlily accompanies Gajeel for some secret training. Levy wants to go with them, but the two refuse her proposal. After arriving at their training grounds, the two immediately begin training and collapse at dusk, exhausted but happy with their progress.

The Grand Magic Games later begin and Pantherlily sits in the audience alongside the other nonparticipating members of Fairy Tail, bragging to Happy about how strong Gajeel has become. Upon Sabertooth's arrival, Pantherlily notices Lector and Frosch cheering for their guild and questions if the latter two are Exceeds. He watches with interest as the first event of the tournament begins, and upon seeing Rufus Lore of Team Sabertooth take out all of his opposition in less than two moves, Pantherlily comments on the man's incredible abilities. When Lucy battles Flare and has her Urano Metria spell cancelled, Pantherlily critically notes that Flare made no attempt to cancel the Magic, heightening everyone's feeling that someone outside the battle did so. When the third battle of the first day is announced, Pantherlily remarks that they will finally get to see Sabertooth in battle, seeming intrigued to see how Fiore's strongest guild is in a fight. Orga unleashes a huge wave of black thunder at Warcry, prompting Pantherlily to become scared and try to cover his ears, shaking in fear. When Jellal later appears to be choking on something during the final battle of day 1, Pantherlily can only watch in confusion.

After Fairy Tail's general failure in the first day, Pantherlily joins his guild in drinking at a local bar. Though most of the guild seem pretty downhearted, Gajeel and Pantherlily both express their excitement for the next two days, with Pantherlily commenting that they will finally get to see the results of his and Gajeel's training. After hearing Makarov's encouraging speech, Pantherlily sits back to watch the antics that take place between the drunk members of the guild.

When the event of day two begins, Pantherlily is seen to be utterly shocked at the Dragon Slayers' poor performances. Though not surprised by Natsu's characteristic hatred of transport, Pantherlily cannot contain his shock that Gajeel is having similar issues. Despite his confusion, he is seen smiling at Natsu and Gajeel's stern willpower to complete the task, as well as their words to the Fairy Tail members who missed them for seven years. During the battle portion of the day, after seeing Carla released from the sick bay, Pantherlily asks if she has fully recovered, and then he and Happy both express their slight embarrassment at Mirajane and Jenny's battle, which is taking place below. He later wonders aloud if there was some sort of rule the two implemented to allow such a competition to take place. Despite the odd contest though, Pantherlily is shown to be happy at Mirajane's victory.

On the third day of the Grand Magic Games, Pantherlily, Happy and Carla discuss the day's event and the different aspects that need to be taken into account to perform well. However, when Erza disregards strategy altogether and wins despite challenging all 100 monsters in the event at the same time, Pantherlily is seen smiling at the pure recklessness and strength she displayed. Mato then declares that a secondary event will have to take place for the other competitors, and upon seeing Obra step forward to compete, Pantherlily and his fellow Exceed comment on his attacking of Wendy with general looks of discomfort. He is also seen to be very pleased with Cana's use of Fairy Glitter, the attack that wins her the secondary event. Seeing the fight in which Laxus defeats all of Raven Tail participants by his lonesome, a proud Pantherlily smiles. Later that day when Wendy represents Team Fairy Tail A in a battle against Chelia Blendy of Lamia Scale, Pantherlily is seen shocked at Wendy's unleashing of Shattering Light: Sky Drill.

After the third day's events and battles, the Fairy Tail Mages head off to Ryuzetsu Land in order to relax after the day's events. While there, Pantherlily enjoys some fresh Kiwi juice. Later alongside Happy and Gajeel he sticks his head through a cutout appearing as an octopus. Later in the day, the Fairy Tail members celebrate their victories by throwing a party and having fun. Pantherlily complements Wendy's effort and the development she displayed during her awestruck fight against Chelia.

Pantherlily, along with Carla and Happy, watches anxiously as Team Sabertooth confronts Team Fairy Tail A after Minerva drops Lucy. He later watches as the new Fairy Tail team is announced and enters the arena.

On the fourth day of the Grand Magic Games, a tag battle between Quatro Cerberus and Blue Pegasus takes place with participants Bacchus and Rocker versus Ichiya and the Rabbit. Pantherlily is seen eager to know the identity of this mysterious rabbit. He is utterly shocked to see that the rabbit is his comrade from Extalia, Nichiya. Later, the most anticipated tag battle;Fairy Tail versus Sabertooth involving Sting and Rogue versus Gajeel and Natsu is announced. Pantherlily is seen very concerned about this fight.

Pantherlily watches the battle of the Dragon Slayers alongside the others. During the climax of the battle, Pantherlily is shown smiling at Natsu's and Gajeel's extreme endurance, which has allowed them to continue fighting despite the grievous blows they have taken. Pantherlily again smiles at the sight of Natsu overwhelming the Twin Dragons of Sabertooth with his attacks. He later becomes shocked following the explosion created by Natsu, Sting and Rogue's collision.

Later, Pantherlily and the other two Exceeds accompany the Dragons Slayers as Gajeel takes them to a location he has found. When they arrive, Pantherlily is shocked to discover that they've found a Dragon graveyard, making a remark that this confirms the existence of Dragons.

Not long after, Wendy suggests that she uses the forbidden technique, Milky Way, allowing her to be able to summon a Dragon's soul and learn the truth about the species' massacre. When the actual process takes affect, Pantherlily shows surprise at the fact that a soul is being brought forth, let alone a Dragon's. He then bears witness to the arrival of Zirconis' soul, showing great shock at the latter's appearance. He regains enough composure though to explain that he and his guildmates want to know the truth about the Dragon's. Despite some reluctance, Zirconis finally explains about the Dragons and Dragon Festival, adding additional information about Acnologia; the last piece of information visibly shocks Pantherlily.

Soon after, the group is approached by Arcadios and Yukino Aguria. Natsu shows immediate hostility towards the former, causing Happy and Pantherlily to remind him about Arcadios' high-ranking status in Fiore. Arcadios brushes it off, however, and tells the Fairy Tail Mages to follow them to Mercurius, where he elaborates on the details of the Eclipse Plan. Soon after, members of the Fiore Guard surround the Mages, with Darton leading them. Darton kicks Pantherlily and his guildmates, save for Lucy, out of the building.

Pantherlily then returns to the guild with his guildmates to discuss what to do about Lucy's arrest. He wonders if the Kingdom let they know about the Eclipse Plant so they would eventually speak against Arcadios; Carla, however, says that they wouldn't risk so much to achieve so little. Makarov then makes up a plan to rescue Lucy: while a team competes in the Games to get an audience with the King, another team composed by Pantherlily, Happy, Carla, Wendy, Mirajane and Natsu goes to Mercurius to rescue Lucy directly. While on their way to Mercurius and with the last battle of the games about to begin, the team wonder how they would enter the palace. Pantherlily listens to Happy and Carla talk about Happy's ridiculous plan and when it is ultimately decided against, Mirajane suggests her own with Pantherlily wondering why Mirajane is still wearing the hockey mask Happy gave her. Later, Mirajane sneaks the team into the palace under the disguise of a palace guard and while pretending to capture Natsu and Wendy with the Pantherlily and the other Exceeds hidden in her disguise.

Soon after, Pantherlily and the rest of group locates the cell Lucy and Yukino are locked in. After Natsu melts the bars and frees Lucy and Yukino the group stands outside the cell. Suddenly, the floor collapses beneath them sending Pantherlily and the rest of the group falling into the unknown. Soon, Pantherlily lands in an underground cavern where a strange voice tells him and the rest of the group they're in "Abyss Palace".

Pantherlily then spends some time examining his surroundings, along with the other Mages, later grumbling to himself that he would have drawn a map of the vicinity on his body had he known what was to become of his team. The Mages eventually find a way out from their pit and are lead into another, where they find a wounded Arcadios. Pantherlily studies him quietly when he and the others are suddenly attacked by the Garou Knights.

With the Garou Knights moving to attack, Pantherlily takes on his battle form and gets in front of Happy and Carla, telling the two to stand back. As Mirajane, Wendy and Natsu fight off Kamika's spells, Pantherlily notices a large group of vines rising from the ground to attack Yukino and Lucy, and quickly draws his sword to slash through them before either of the girls is harmed. Effectively destroying the onslaught, Pantherlily notices that the largest of the knights has come up behind him, and, as the giant man tries to crush him with both his large fists and acid Magic, just manages to avoid being hit by swiftly jumping backwards. Landing, Pantherlily is struck by one of Kamika's attacks, becoming paralyzed as Cosmos summons a gigantic flower on the roof of the cave to suck them all in. As a result of Wendy's healing Magic curing them of their binding, Pantherlily moves with Mirajane and Natsu to destroy the plant before it can consume them, the explosion of the three's attack smashing the cavern walls and separating everyone in a landslide of earth. Emerging and questioning where the rest of his comrades have disappeared to, Pantherlily is confronted once more by the largest member of the Garou Knights.

Being attacked by the huge man, Pantherlily draws his sword as a flurry of acid begins to swirl towards him in a wave. Needing to move to evade the attack, Pantherlily comments on the difficulty of facing acid, as he cannot utilize his sword to stop the attacks. As the battle proceeds, Pantherlily begins to remember the strenuous training he went through with Gajeel, which in turn gives him the strength to cut through the acid, defeating his opponent.

Pantherlily and the other Mages then try to find a way out, discussing Arcadios' health and Princess Hisui in the meanwhile. Soon, however, a hooded woman appears in front of the group, startling the Mages. Pantherlily is shocked to see that the other woman is Lucy, who came from the future using the Eclipse Gate. When Happy asks what is going on, he admits that he has no idea. The group then decides to leave and shoot a signal, meaning that Lucy's rescue was successful.

After the group becomes lost in the castle, Pantherlily notifies the group of the difficulty of contacting their guild in their current situation. After Lucy from the future awakens, he and the others learn of how she and her friends from her timeline were captured by the royal army, and why she came back to the past. After hearing about the impending attack, Pantherlily notes Natsu's loud reaction and also wonders whether it has anything to do with the events in the Dragon graveyard, as Wendy does. Later, the future Lucy explains her story of coming back in time, unfortunately without a strategy, at which point she is comforted by Natsu, who says he will protect the future. During their escape from the castle dungeons, and their subsequent battle with the castle knights, Pantherlily enters his Battle Form and protects Lucy, warning her to stay back, much to the latter's protest.

During the battle, Pantherlily tells Happy and Carla to get behind him as he fights the army. However, he is attacked himself by acid from a member of the Garou Knights, whom he immediately recognizes. The other Garou Knights arrive as well, claiming they won't let the rescue team leave the castle. During the battle, Pantherlily reverts to his chibi form, much to his disappointment. As they fight, a shadow envelops the area and swallows the Fiore army as well as the Garou Knights. As the shadow begins to dissipate, a man reveals himself. When he is recognized, he addresses Natsu, stating he came from the future and he is Rogue. Pantherlily and co. recollect him as Rogue from Sabertooth abd ask about his return to the past. Rogue simply reveals that he returned to open the gates, and continues on to explain the methods of which the Eclipse Gate may be utilized. Rogue reveals that a certain individual prevents the opening of the gates and he has come back in time to eliminate the person, to which Pantherlily says that killing is not necessarily essential with reasoning with others. After stating that words cannot remedy their situation and that the future is inevitable, Rogue reveals that the individual is Lucy Heartfilia, to which he lunges towards her with an assault. Before Rogue's strike connects, Lucy's future self defends Lucy with her own body and in turn, takes the assault from Rogue and loses her life. After Pantherlily and co.'s emotional parting, Rogue prepares for yet another assault, to which Natsu intervenes and strikes Rogue.

Natsu then tells Lucy to leave the place and despite her initial resistance, she is taken by Loke and together with Pantherlily, Happy, Carla and Wendy escape from the battle. They then find themselves at the location of the Eclipse Cannon as Hisui approves of the start of the firing sequence. When Happy asks about Loke's whereabouts, Pantherlily replies that he had to leave due to Eclipse's power to drain Magic. Suddenly, they are found out by Arcadios who tells them to reveal themselves. When Hisui congratulates them for winning the Grand Magic Games, Pantherlily smiles, saying that it was to be expected. Arcadios then asks about Future Lucy's location, to which Pantherlily replies that she's been killed by another person from future, surprising both Hisui and Arcadios. Afterwards, they watch, together, as the Eclipse Gate opens. Feeling the pressure of the Magic power the Eclipse Gate contains, Pantherlily and his Exceed friends stand awestruck, Pantherlily shocked that such a vast amount of power can be confined to one space; the group no longer doubting the Gates ability to take on the incoming Dragons. However, Lucy suddenly steps forward and demands that the Gate be shut. As Pantherlily wonders why on earth she wants such a thing to occur, the Gate fully opens and the ground begins to shake, Pantherlily gazing on open-mouthed as a humongous Dragon walks through it and into Crocus. With the Dragon causing mayhem in it's wake and sending everyone flying in all directions, Pantherlily quickly worries about Lucy when she rushes towards the Gate, trying desperately to close it.

As more Dragons begin to flood through the Eclipse Gate, Pantherlily grits he teeth worrying about how many are entering the city. After Lucy and Yukino close the Eclipse Gate, Future Rogue arrives on the scene, commanding the Dragons to hunt down the Mages left in the city. Pantherlily questions how Rogue is able to make the Dragons do his bidding, to which he smirks telling him he has obtained Dragon Manipulating Magic and heads off to view the battle from above on a Dragon, leaving those stationed at the gate at the mercy of the Dragon Zirconis. Pantherlily is then left speechless as Zirconis demonstrates his ability to rid people of their clothes.

Pantherlily watches as Zirconis threatens to devour Lucy twice, but is halted by Wendy and Mirajane, who promise to defeat him, while Happy takes off to find and save Lucy. He and Yukino remain on the ground, watching those events.

After Ultear's noble sacrifice to turn back time allowing all the Mages in the vicinity to envision the subsequent minute, Pantherlily remains perturbed by the occurrence and questions whether it was Carla's doing or not, despite Happy chiming in and receiving an apathetic retort from Pantherlily. Suddenly, Lucy runs in and joins Pantherlily and the rest of the Mages with important news. With her future counterpart's diary at hand, Lucy reveals that they must destroy the Gates to prevent the catastrophe from occurring, with Pantherlily analyzing the situation and noting that they may rewrite the past in theory by disrupting Future Rogue's means of travel.

Thanks to Natsu, the gates are destroyed not long after. Hisui notes that in the future, they should no longer be usable, to which Pantherlily states that such should prevent Rogue will no longer have any means to come to the present.

Later, Pantherlily is present at the great banquet of the Grand Magic Games Mages. With Millianna still feeling down, Erza uses Pantherlily along with Happy and Carla to distract her. While Millianna hugs all three Exceed, Pantherlily states that they're not stuffed animals.

When Pantherlily and the other Fairy Tail Mages return back to Magnolia, the whole town celebrates their coming first in the Grand Magic Games, leaving Pantherlily visibly impressed.

Sun Village arc
Some time after returning, Pantherlily goes on a job alongside Gajeel. Forced to go alongside Jet and Droy, the group comes across a band of masked fighters who kidnap and tie up Jet and Droy. Preparing to fight, Pantherlily asks Gajeel why he brought the two of them, to which he is told that they simply followed him.

Tartarus arc
As Levy researches the Books of Zeref, Pantherlily questions Gajeel about the Demons from them, but Gajeel states he doesn't know. Later, standing beside Gajeel, Pantherlily sternly listens in as Makarov lies to a grievously wounded Freed about the village that was harmed by his, Laxus, Yajima and the Thunder God Tribe's battle with Nine Demon Gates member Tempesta, wherein he is informed that all the villagers escaped perfectly unharmed; a far cry from the truth. After Loke appears and helps the Fairy Tail Mages track down some of the former Council members, Porlyusica tells Pantherlily and the other Mages that they should gather as much intel as possible from the Council members, as well as get a blood sample from the one who injured Laxus and the Thunder God Tribe. Pantherlily then listens to Makarov's inspiring speech about avenging the injuries that Laxus, Freed, Evergreen and Bickslow suffered.

Pantherlily, accompanied by Gajeel and Shadow Gear, is assigned to protect former Council member Belno from Tartarus, however when they arrive at her home they find her already dead and are contacted by Makarov for a status report, wherein Pantherlily tells him that her death was most likely an assassination. Later, with all their Lacrima connected, Pantherlily listen to Michello as he explains the necessary requirements to fire Etherion, one of the Council's most powerful weapons, where he states after listening that with the murder of all the Council members, Etherion was successfully nullified. Michello then reluctantly explains what Face is: a Magic Pulse Bomb, one that nullifies all Magic across an entire continent, and upon hearing that Tartarus doesn't use Magic, Pantherlily notes that with the dropping of Face, they would be able to do as they please with no resistance.

Returning to the guild, Pantherlily hears from Lucy's team that they lost Natsu and were not able to find Erza, Happy or Mirajane upon going to the ex-chairman's house. Pantherlily asks Gajeel if he could find them via scent but the latter notes that if Wendy could not, neither can he. Suddenly, Happy stumbles into the guild and reveals that Natsu, Erza and Mirajane were taken prisoner by Tartarus and that the ex-chairman is a traitor. As he expresses sadness over not being able to save them, Pantherlily tells him not to dwell on it and asks about their hideout. Finding out that Tartarus has a mobile base, the guild prepares for an invasion just as Elfman suddenly arrives.

After Elfman explains that Lisanna got captured and Yuri was already dead when he found him, Pantherlily reassures the Mage, telling him that Levy has already began calculating the location of Tartarus' headquarters. After Levy manages to pinpoint Tartarus' location, she reveals that it currently flies just above Magnolia, and Pantherlily along with the other Fairy Tail members prepares to fight Tartarus. However, as they get ready, a huge explosion suddenly goes off and destroys the guild, leaving the fate of its members unknown.

Pantherlily and the rest of the guild manage to survive though due to the quick thinking of Cana, who used her Card Dimension to seal all of the members into a deck of cards. Handing the decks to Pantherlily, Carla and Happy, Cana requests that they quickly fly towards Cube, the Exceed doing so just as the guild explodes. As they approach the floating Tartarus headquarters, they are suddenly pulled towards the underside of the cube by some sort of gravity field, and realize their presence is known. Allowing Cana to free the guild from the cards, Pantherlily prepares to face Tartarus. Exhausted from the fighting, Pantherlily worriedly states that while he and the other Mages tire themselves fighting the Tartarus army, Erza and the other prisoners are in danger. He is then sucked into Cube and petrified due to Mard Geer's Curse, along with Gajeel and the rest of the guild.

After being freed from Alegria, Pantherlily runs about the destroyed Cube and finds Happy, whose presence he finds relief in, as he lost sight of Gajeel. When he sees a mushroom on Happy's head, however, Pantherlily becomes rather perturbed and unsuccessfully tries to pull it off his head. Giving up, the Exceed merely walks down the destroyed corridors with his companion.

Pantherlily and Happy soon reunite with Erza, as well as Lector, Frosch and a redeemed Minerva. After the latter swiftly removes the mushroom attached to Happy's head, explaining that it actually is one of the Nine Demon Gates and thus can help them find the control room, Pantherlily congratulates Happy for his actions. With the group now walking towards the control room, Pantherlily mentions that regardless of all the things that happened during the Grand Magic Games, it's possible that those of Sabertooth are in fact good people; upon hearing from Lector that Minerva's specialty is cooking, Pantherlily comments that she would make a fantastic wife. However, his daydreams are cut short by an intimidating Erza, whose gaze prompts him to continue to walk forth, though as he does so, he wonders about how Gajeel is fairing. Later, Pantherlily and everyone else arrives at the control room, where he spots Crawford preparing Face for detonation. Before they can stop them, Kyouka and Sayla appear, and Pantherlily is forced to choke himself due to Sayla's Macro; when Kyouka threatens Erza, Pantherlily tries to move, but curses his inability to do so. However, his movement is restored when Mirajane arrives and takes out Sayla, though his happiness quickly turns into fear when he realizes that Face is close to activating.

Sternly, Pantherlily watches Erza and Kyouka fight; he listens to Mirajane explain what happened to her after Alegria was dispelled, until he hears a roar and expresses his wonder at what could be making the noise. Having learned that Acnologia is coming, Pantherlily looks on towards the sky with the other Exceed. Pantherlily then watches as Kyouka performs an Organic Link with Face's activation Lacrima, and wonders aloud as to what the markers that appear are, to which he is answered that they represent the number of Face bombs on the continent. Pantherlily then watches as Kyouka breaks Erza's armor, much to his surprise; before long, however, he is beset with incredible amounts of pain, courtesy of Kyouka's sensation manipulation. Watching the same fate befall Erza, Pantherlily grits his teeth in anger as Kyouka completely takes away all five of her senses.

His anger turning into cheer as Erza fights back, Pantherlily speculates that Erza's ability to continue to fight is due to her awakening a sixth or seventh sense, but then expresses bland surprise when Happy says that the reason is because she is simply Erza. Mere seconds later, with Happy calling out to Erza about Face's timer rapidly accelerating, Pantherlily yells out that Erza cannot hear them, and soon comments that Kyouka's strength keeps increasing whilst Erza's sensitivity does the same. Then, as Erza defeats Kyouka and Face's timer continues to rapidly approach zero, Pantherlily calls out for Erza to deal the finishing blow, but even when Minerva does so in her stead, the timer reaches zero regardless and Face activates, leaving Pantherlily stunned. Pantherlily watches on the projection as the Face bombs begin to go off all around Earth Land, but not for long, as the Dragons return and take them down one by one.

Magic and Abilities
Aera (翼 Ēra): Pantherlily, like every other Exceed, is capable of sprouting feathery wings that grant him the ability to fly, at the same time neutralizing the weight of one possible passenger carried by him. In his original, massive form, these wings are much larger than those of normal-sized Exceeds. Aera greatly helps Pantherlily out in battle, allowing him to remain out of reach of his enemies while he wields one of his large weapons to strike at them, or to rapidly dodge their ranged attacks, granting him added maneuverability and speed.

Battle Mode Shift (戦闘モードシフト Sentō Mōdo Shifuto): While in Edolas, he was known for his huge size and mass, especially large when compared to a stereotypical Exceed. After being transported to Earth Land, Pantherlily has undergone major changes: his body has been drastically reduced in size, with him now being the same height as most of his fellow Exceeds. This is, according to his own words, because Earth Land "doesn't fit well with his previous body". However, true to his role as a physical fighter, Pantherlily has developed the ability to temporarily transform back to his usual large size, regaining his original strength, stamina and power. This proves to be rather difficult, as he can only maintain his large size for a short period of time.

Enhanced Durability: In his true form, Pantherlily displays great resistance against attacks, both physical and Magical in nature. He was shown being able to withstand Gajeel's iron fists and roar, as well as Azuma's explosive Magic head-on, only to emerge relatively unscathed. Whether or not the same could be said about him while assuming his reduced form is still in question.

Enhanced Strength: Pantherlily has shown outrageous brute strength, being capable of swinging a titanic sword around freely, easily shattering rock without losing his balance or hampering his flying ability in any serious manner. He is also shown able to punch a large rock and make a crack in it. On top of this, he was also strong enough to cut through the acid produced by Neppa's Acid Magic, something which he himself noted to be extremely difficult to accomplish. It's unknown whether he retains such strength in his reduced form; however, he was shown capable of overwhelming and tying up Lisanna, who at the time was way larger than him, subsequently pulling her out of some bushes she was hidden in and onto her knees with a single hand movement (despite being subsequently pulled in the air by Lisanna rushing to hug Natsu Dragneel in a comedic way), something implying that, at least to a certain, minor degree, he still does.

Keen Intellect: Pantherlily has shown to be considerably intelligent and analytical, having seemingly been the first member of Fairy Tail capable of reading through Doranbolt's deception, exposing him as someone not belonging to the guild and even managing to work out the mechanics behind his Memory Control Magic, imputing his ability to slip into the members' memory to change or alter it.

Expert Hand to Hand Combatant: Pantherlily has proven himself to be skilled in the use of hand-to-hand combat, supported by his high physical prowess. He was shown capable of fighting on even terms with a melee specialist of the caliber of Gajeel Redfox, with the two of them exchanging punches, and could easily defeat several armed Grimoire Heart members who were coming at him without the aid of a weapon, subsequently disarming one of them in a single hand movement without much effort.

Master Swordsmanship Specialist: Pantherlily is a master swordsman, with his swordplay being good enough for him to evenly match S-Class Mage Erza Scarlet, known for her great swordsmanship, in a mock battle. Despite his massive size, he has shown himself capable of performing slashes which are not only strong, but also extremely fast and accurate. During his battle against Azuma, Pantherlily appeared confident that he might have been able to fight on even terms against the Grimoire Heart Mage, if only he had had a sword with him. After obtaining the Musica Sword from a member of Grimoire Heart, he was shown making short work of many of his enemies with a single slash.

Equipment
Bustermarm Sword (バスターマアム Basutā Maamu): A sword four times taller than Pantherlily decorated in a way that resembles a monstrous cat's face. This sword is able to easily cut earth with little force put behind it. It has two Lacrimas that glow red. It is also capable of cutting through iron. However, as Gajeel pointed out, the Iron Dragon's Scales that he manifests aren't made of "ordinary iron", and as such, proved resistant against the sword. It was later destroyed by Gajeel.
 * Buster Bomb: The Bustermarm sword's center glows in a reddish-orange color and a large explosion occurs when it strikes anything.

Musica Sword (ムジカの剣 Mujika No Ken): While fending off Grimoire Heart's lesser members, Pantherlily disarmed one enemy and started using his sword. This was revealed to be a Musica Sword, a reference to Rave Master which was an apparently very expensive weapon capable of altering its size, something Pantherlily noted to be similar to his former Bustermarm Sword, and which prompted him to choose it as his new weapon of choice.

Whose Clothes Are These?
Pantherlily, Carla and Happy discuss changing clothes themselves when Happy suggests a swap to the other two after watching other members of their guild exchange outfits. Pantherlily is not keen on this idea after agreeing with Carla's acknowledgement of Happy's attire, consisting of a single backpack. However, the trio end up exchanging clothes with Pantherlily receiving Carla's attire, much to his surprise.

Welcome Back, Frosch
Walking with Gajeel through Magnolia, Pantherlily and his friend are stopped by Rogue, Sting, Yukino and Lector, who question if they've seen Frosch. After correcting Rogue that Frosch is an Exceed, not a cat, he points them to the last place saw Frosch and is thanked by Yukino.

The Exciting Ryuzetsu Land
On the evening of the third day of the X791 Grand Magic Games, the Fairy Tail Mages decide to spend the next day in a theme park called Ryuzetsu Land. Upon getting there, Carla, Happy, Gajeel, Levy and Pantherlily decide to visit a fish tank, while the latter drinks his kiwi juice. Pantherlily, along with Happy and Gajeel, puts his face in a cardboard drawing of a fish, which amuses Carla and Levy. Later, Pantherlily admires the fish in the aquarium, and also comments on Happy's growing appetite when he looks at them, calling him a predator when he volunteers to feed the fish.

Pantherlily and the others decide to help Happy with the task, and Pantherlily comments on the convenient equipment used to feed the fish. Although he thinks that Happy is gathering the fish close to him to eat them, he is startled when some big ones appear attempting to eat Happy, Carla and himself. Pantherlily and Carla both swim away from the fish, until Gajeel beats them down, which triggers the "boss" of the aquarium to appear, a fish even bigger than the ones hunting the Exceeds, which sucks all the Fairy Tail Mages into a vortex and swallows them. Pantherlily somehow saves the two Exceeds after turning into his battle mode, but rages upon losing to a fish. Later, after Natsu comes flying towards his direction riding the sign of the Love Love Slide, Pantherlily and Carla both end up riding on the attraction, with Carla screaming and Pantherlily seeming both indifferent and slightly annoyed, causing Happy, however, to feel jealous of him. In the end, Gray, Lyon Vastia and Natsu destroy the theme park completely, which leaves both Pantherlily and Carla unconscious.

Fairy Tail: Zeref's Awakening
Pantherlily appears as a mini-boss once in the PSP game, Fairy Tail: Zeref's Awakening, and can be unlocked as a playable character later in the game. He is using the following spells:


 * Max Speed Attack: Cost 20 VP, Pantherlily is having that spell from the beginning.
 * Battle Mode Shift: Cost 0 VP, Pantherlily is having that spell from the beginning.
 * Flash Furoa: Cost 0 VP, Pantherlily is having that spell from the beginning.
 * Swing Attack: Cost 40 VP, Pantherlily must buy that spell in the shop.
 * Oneyu Clay: Cost 0 VP, Pantherlily must buy that spell in the shop.
 * Bustermarm Sword: Cost 0 VP, Pantherlily must buy that spell in the shop.

Trivia

 * While the rest of the Exceed have the usual pointed type cat-ears, Pantherlily has them rounded, like a real panther, in both his larger and his chibi form.
 * Pantherlily has a fear of thunder.
 * Pantherlily's Musica Sword is a legacy from Hiro Mashima's previous work Rave Master, in which Musica is a family known for its expert swordsmiths. It's also worth noting that the Grimoire Heart member who owned the sword bears a striking resemblance to a minor Rave Master character, working under a villain who's guilty for the slaughter of most of the Musica family itself.
 * In the manga, when Pantherlily is seen the first time without his helmet on, he has what seems to be hair. This was however removed in all subsequent appearances.
 * According to Hiro Mashima, Pantherlily's name "was inspired by a famous character from a famous children's story". The character in question is Tiger Lily from Peter Pan.
 * In FUNimation, his name was pronounced Panther Lily.
 * Pantherlily's favourite food is kiwi fruit, but he eats them with the skin left on.

Quotes

 * (To Shagotte and Extalia's Four Elders) "Even though it's a human, I can't just ignore a wounded creature."
 * (To Neppa) "My spirit of steel won't lose against anything!!!"
 * (To Neppa) " The hardness of iron is determined by one's physical strength and force of will. I will not lose to anyone IRON WILL !! "