Gray Fullbuster/Synopsis

History
Gray was from a village up in the North, but the entire village was destroyed by the Demon Deliora. Gray's parents were killed in the incident as well. Lyon, along with Ur, a powerful ice Mage who Jellal claimed could have been one of the Ten Wizard Saints, came investigating Deliora's destruction, and found Gray alive among the ruins. Ur took Gray in as her second student and taught him and Lyon Ice-Make Magic. Gray accepted the training in order to eventually avenge his deceased parents by killing Deliora using Ur's unorthodox methods. Gray also obtained the unusual habit of stripping unconsciously from Ur's training methods.

When Gray heard of Deliora's current location, he decided to challenge it, ignoring Ur and Lyon's warnings. Gray collapsed from battling Deliora and woke up to see Ur battling it. Ur told him to take Lyon and run. Gray carried Lyon and saw that Ur had lost her leg and replaced it with ice. Suddenly, Lyon woke up and tried to cast Iced Shell, but Ur stopped him by freezing him. She explained to Gray that Iced Shell was the only thing that would beat Deliora, and was surprised to know that Lyon had tried to do what she planned. She then used Iced Shell which caused her body to be destroyed. Before turning into ice, she made Gray promise to tell Lyon that she died and told him to step into the future, since she would seal his darkness. The next day, Lyon woke up and discovered Deliora encased in ice and Ur's sacrifice. He berated Gray for Ur's death and the two apprentices parted ways.

Following Ur's advice to find strong wizards in the west, Gray arrived at Fairy Tail and asked the master for a way to reverse the effects of the Iced Shell. Makarov, however, told him that the only method that could possibly reverse it would kill Ur in the process as she lived on as the ice encasing Deliora.

Gray was present when Erza entered the guild, having been told by Cana that that day would be lucky for him, though he regarded it as one of the worst days of his life, having lost his wallet and fallen in ditches. Later, when Cana pointed out Erza's loner behaviour and how she ignored Cana's own conversation attempts, Gray went over to talk to her, giving the excuse that he didn't like it when new members of the guild didn't introduce themselves to 'Gray the Great', but ended up arguing with her. He would constantly challenge Erza to battles after that, but was defeated each time. That is, until the day he found her crying by the riverside. He became flustered and refused to battle her. Upon questioning her about why she was always alone, she replied that she preferred being alone, but Gray retorted that she wouldn't be crying if that was true.

Gray was also present to welcome Mirajane, Elfman, and Lisanna into the guild, happily speaking with the latter two siblings who were able to fit in more readily than their older sister.

Gray was present when Natsu brought the egg from which Happy would later hatch to the guild. He suggested that they all eat it together, but was astonished when Natsu claimed the egg to be a dragon's egg as the marks on it were akin to those made by a dragon's claw. He watched on sceptically as Lisanna and Natsu decided to hatch the egg together. The next day, he was as surprised as everybody else when Natsu stormed into the guild, raging about the egg's mysterious disappearance. Gray got angry when Natsu went around accusing people randomly of having stolen the egg. But everybody calmed down when Elfman returned, revealing that he had taken the egg to help warm it up in the night. Soon afterwards, the egg hatched to reveal a winged, blue cat. After the event, everybody returned to their usual jovial mood.

Macao arc
Gray first appears when Natsu and Happy bring Lucy Heartfilia to Fairy Tail. He is sitting in his shorts, having forgotten to wear his clothes, and immediately gets into a fight with Natsu. He stops when Makarov orders them to do so and he gets scolded by him about his accidental nudity during his missions.

Daybreak arc
Gray finds out the reward for Natsu's latest mission and he quietly wishes him luck, saying things were going to be interesting. Later, he is attacked by Natsu while he is coming back from a job, finding out that Natsu and Lucy are also returning from a job and their paths just happened to cross. He tells Natsu, Lucy, and Happy that Erza Scarlet was coming back, making them uneasy. They decide to head back, but are ambushed by a band of Mages that kidnap Happy and plan to eat him. The team manages to defeat them and rescue Happy, when they hear one of the defeated Mages mention "Lullaby."

Lullaby arc
As Gray is about to get into a fight with Natsu yet again, hearing about Erza's arrival from Loke makes him stop. Later, he is forced to go on a mission with Erza along with Natsu, Happy, and Lucy, much to his chagrin. On their way to their mission, he shows Lucy his abilities as an Ice-Make Mage. Lucy then mentions that Gray's ice abilities and Natsu's fire abilities are probably what causes their quarrels.

When they get off the train, they continue to discuss the mission, only to realize that they forgot to bring the motion-sick Natsu with them. After they are reunited with Natsu, they learn that Natsu had a confrontation in the train with a member of Eisenwald, Kageyama. Natsu states that he had a strange kind of flute with three eyes and a skull. Lucy then pipes in, saying that she had only heard about it in books, but that it might be "Lullaby," the flute of death.

Eisenwald takes over the Oshibana train station, forcing the five of them to make their way in, quickly encountering Eisenwald's Mages and fighting them. Erigor, the Ace of Eisenwald, however, has other plans and flees the scene with Gray and Natsu in hot pursuit. However, the two decide to split up and Gray runs into one of Eisenwald's elite members, Rayule.

While the two are fighting, Gray learns about the plan to kill all the guild masters who are at their regular meeting. Gray promptly freezes Rayule's face, ending their fight. He then informs Erza of this and they go to find Kageyama, so he can dispel Erigor's wind wall. Kageyama, however, is stabbed in the back by Karacka, a fellow Eisenwald guild member, before he can help them.

After Lucy summons her new Celestial Spirit, Virgo, Gray compliments Virgo for being cute and as they escape, Gray is the only one to notice that Virgo and Lucy's skirts are flying up due to the wind. They then realize that Natsu and Happy are missing again. As they chase Natsu and Happy with the injured Kageyama, Gray gives him a speech about life and death, but the atmosphere is ruined when Lucy yells at Gray, asking him to kill Kageyama after he harasses her.

They catch up to Natsu and Happy, only to see that Natsu has beaten Erigor. Gray, as usual, insults Natsu for having difficulties in the battle and insults him for his choice of clothes. As Erza congratulates the group for a job well done, Kageyama grabs the Lullaby flute and uses the Magic Four Wheel Drive to get to Clover Town, much to everyone's surprise. Chasing after him, they arrive and see Kageyama with Makarov, and are about to go to their master’s aid, but are stopped by guild masters Bob and Goldmine. They then see that Makarov has persuaded Kageyama not to use the Lullaby's Magic. Suddenly, the flute itself starts to talk and transforms into a giant demon.

Gray teams up with Natsu and Erza to defeat the demon. When it attacks Natsu, it misses and heads for the guild masters instead. To protect the masters, he uses Ice-Make: Shield, and is complimented on how fast he can create the shield. He then proceeds to attack the Demon with his Ice-Make: Lance. With the three's combined efforts, Lullaby is defeated. However, they wind up accidentally destroying the Guild Masters' Meeting Building in the process, forcing the team and Makarov to hastily escape.

After their return to Magnolia, Gray arrives in Lucy's apartment, much to her dismay, to remind her that Natsu and Erza are about to begin their fight. As he watches, he is shocked to hear that Erza is to be arrested for property damage by the Magic Council.

Galuna Island arc
Gray waits for Erza's verdict like everyone else, but he learns that it was all a hoax and he voices his displeasure about that. Gray then falls prey, like everyone else, to Mystogan's Sleep Magic as the latter walks in. After Mystogan leaves and lifts the Sleep Magic, Gray explains to Lucy about Mystogan's actions. When Natsu, Happy, and Lucy take the S-Class request to lift the curse of Galuna Island, Makarov orders Laxus Dreyar to go after them, saying that he is the only one who can force them to come back. However, Gray stands up and volunteers to get them back instead.

Gray catches up with the three in Hargeon, who are looking for a boat to take them to the island. Gray tries to persuade them to go back, but when Natsu resists, Gray tries to use Magic. Bobo, the boat owner, then spots them using Magic and tells them that he will take them to the island. Natsu sees this as an opening and knocks Gray unconscious, ties him up and brings him along. On their way to the island, Bobo shows them the effects of the island's demonic curse. Bobo then vanishes, and although Happy checks to see whether he has fallen into the water, he is nowhere to be found. All of this is rendered irrelevant when a large wave hits their boat and washes them ashore. Gray, now agreeing to help, goes with Natsu, Lucy, and Happy towards the island's village and meets its mayor, Moka, who asks them to destroy the moon and lift the curse.

Deeming such a task impossible, they instead investigate the island's forest, getting attacked by a gigantic mouse which they defeat. In the process, the team manages to locate an abandoned temple. Natsu, commenting on the decayed floor, begins to slam it with his foot, causing it to crumble and hurtle them downwards into a cavern, also making Happy almost swallow a bone he had found. Lucy saves him from choking by pulling it out of his throat. In this cavern, they discover the frozen Demon Deliora along with three Mages: Sherry Blendy, Yuka Suzuki and Toby Horhorta, who converse about Angelica's defeat. Gray explains to the others what Deliora is: an immortal Demon that destroyed Ishban 10 years ago, and was sealed by his teacher, Ur, at the cost of her life.

The group decides to wait for the moon to come out to observe its involvement with the frozen demon. Lucy brings out her Celestial Spirit Lyra to pass the time. Happy wants her to sing a fish song, but Lucy tells Lyra to sing anything she likes. Her ability to sing songs reflecting what one has in their heart moves Gray to tears, much to the surprise of the others. When night arrives, they discover that the moonlight is hitting the Demon via the ritual Moon Drip which would melt the ice. As the team is hiding, Reitei Lyon, Sherry, Yuka and Toby arrive. Reitei Lyon inquires about the Moon Drip ritual, and, upon hearing that there are some intruders, orders the other three to obliterate the village as they are the only humans on the island.

Enraged by the order given by Reitei Lyon, Natsu jumps out from hiding and attacks alongside Gray. Natsu is quickly frozen, and Gray tells Happy to escape with Lucy while he continues to fight Lyon. After Happy and Lucy leave, Gray kicks Natsu down the hill to protect him from Lyon's Magic. Gray then argues with Lyon about his motives, saying that Ur died to seal Deliora and that he is trying to destroy Ur's legacy. Lyon then asks him how he can live with the knowledge that he killed Ur. The two then battle. While battling, Lyon reveals that he will resurrect Deliora and kill it, defeating that which Ur could not and allowing him to surpass her. Gray tells him it's impossible, but Lyon reminds him that that was what they said to him, but he challenged Deliora anyway, resulting in Ur's death. Overcome with grief, Gray loses the battle and falls into unconsciousness. When he wakes up, he sees Natsu, who carries him back to the village. On their way to the village, Natsu comforts him for losing, saying that they are from Fairy Tail, a guild that doesn't know when to stop.

While returning to the village, Gray falls unconscious again. When Sherry, Yuka, and Toby arrive at the village, the villagers take Gray, and leave Natsu and Lucy to fight them. The next morning, he awakens to find Erza, who has come to bring them back to the guild. He tries to explain the severity of the situation to her, but she states that she isn't interested. This causes Gray to insult Erza, telling her that she makes him sick. He then tells her that he will save the people of the island, whether Erza likes it or not. After his lecture, Gray storms off to find Natsu. While running towards the ruins, Erza, Lucy and Happy catch up with him, Erza now agreeing to help. He explains Lyon's motives, and reveals to the group that Ur is still alive.

Arriving at the temple, they see that the ruins are tilted, thanks to Natsu. Suddenly, they are attacked by Lyon's helpers, survivors from past attacks made by Deliora. Erza tells Gray to proceed while she, Lucy, and Happy hold them off. Gray arrives at the location of Lyon and Natsu's battle, and tells Natsu to stand back. He then confronts Lyon and tells him it's over for him. Gray begins to use Iced Shell, but Lyon thinks he's bluffing, so he stands his ground. However, Natsu, knowing what Iced Shell would do to Gray, punches Gray, causing him to stop. Then the two bicker: Gray says that he is willing to die to stop Lyon, but Natsu tells him to stop running away. Suddenly, the ruins begin to re-tilt to their original position, thanks to Zalty. Angered, Natsu runs after him, leaving Gray to deal with Lyon. Gray tries to persuade Lyon to stop fighting by telling him that Ur is still alive as the ice which encases Deliora. However, Lyon stabs him with his sword and says that he knew it all along. Gray falls to the ground and looks at Lyon, with eyes full of hatred and anger.

An angry Gray then attacks Lyon, saying that he has given up on trying to save him. Lyon is surprised by the amount of energy Gray has left, and counterattacks by using his Ice-Make: Dragon. Lyon says that Deliora will be revived soon because of Zalty, but Gray tells him not to underestimate Natsu. As the two continue their battle, the ruins start to shake. Lyon tells Gray of everything they did in order to achieve this. Gray thinks it’s pointless, and, when Lyon chastises him for playing in some guild, he simply counters by saying that he followed Ur’s advice of finding more powerful opponents in the west. He then tells him of his first day at Fairy Tail, when the master told him that Ur’s condition was eternal. He then proclaims his disgust at Lyon’s actions, who can't see past his ambitions. Lyon attacks, but Gray disarms him, and blocks his Snow Tiger using his Ice-Make: Prison. The tiger cannot release itself; Gray explains that it’s because Lyon's creatures are out of balance, having been created with one hand. He then uses his Ice-Make: Ice Cannon to finish Lyon off. As he does, a cacophonous noise fills the air. Deliora is free and Gray’s only apparent choice to defeat it is Iced Shell.

Gray is face to face with Deliora. Natsu tells Gray that they should take it down, but Lyon interrupts, saying that he will defeat it to surpass Ur. Gray knocks him unconscious and starts to cast Iced Shell again. However, Natsu steps in front of Gray, stopping Gray from continuing the spell. As Deliora is about to attack Natsu, it starts to crumble into dust, much to everyone's surprise. They realize Deliora was long dead due to Ur's efforts, and Gray cries, thanking her for sealing his darkness.

Back at the newly restored village (thanks to Zalty's Arc of Time), Erza explains that the villagers' transformation into Demons had never really occurred. She clarifies when she gets Natsu to help her "destroy the Moon," but what they really do is destroy an amnesia-causing barrier around the island that formed thanks to the Moon Drip. The barrier made the villagers think they were humans, when they were actually demons. With that, the team departs Galuna Island and returns to Fairy Tail

Phantom Lord arc
While returning to the guild, everyone but Lucy is displeased at Erza for not letting them accept the reward of 7 million jewels. Lucy's exclusive happiness is due to her receiving the additional reward of the gate key of one of the Zodiac Celestial Spirits, Sagittarius. Happy suggests that they should sell it, which Lucy immediately opposes. Erza then reminds them of their punishment, believing it will surely be "that" although what "that" is, is not explained. That's soon put out of their minds when they discover that the guild has been attacked by their longtime rivals, Phantom Lord. The team then confronts Makarov about the damages, who tells them to ignore it.

Gray and the others surprise Lucy when they welcome her to her own apartment, with Erza telling them they have to stick together in case anyone gets attacked. However, this has already happened to the members of Team Shadow Gear, Levy McGarden, Jet, and Droy, who were attacked and pinned to a tree. When Makarov discovers this, he declares war against Phantom Lord. Gray attacks Phantom Lord alongside most of Fairy Tail, but they are forced to retreat when Makarov loses his Magic Power because of Aria, leader of the team Element 4 of the Phantom Lord guild.

Back at the guild, Gray and the others are surprised at the revelation of Lucy's history and comfort her while she is depressed. Just then, they feel the guild quaking and rush outside to see what the commotion is: the Phantom Lord Guild is literally walking towards them on six legs. It attacks with its magical Convergent Cannon: Jupiter, but Erza narrowly stops the powerful bullet from obliterating the guild, rendering her incapable to fight. Jose Porla calls out, demanding that they gave Lucy to him, but receives an adamant refusal. In response, he tells them to quiver for 15 minutes as Jupiter reloads. Rather than wait to be destroyed, Gray and Elfman follow Natsu and Happy to destroy the cannon before it can fire again.

After the cannon is successfully decommissioned, Jose orders the guild to enter a more powerful form: Super Mage Giant Phantom MK II. Gray and Elfman arrive just in time to save the motion-sick Natsu from Totomaru, one of the members of the Element 4. Happy flies outside to see what's going on, and returns to tell them that the guild has become a gigantic Mage that is beginning to cast a spell called Abyss Break, which would destroy half of Magnolia. They then decide to split up to find the moving guild's power source.

Gray goes to the roof and, noticing that it is raining, wonders whether it was raining before. He is approached by Juvia Lockser, one of the Element 4, who shows an immediate romantic attraction to him. She begins by declaring her loss to him and starts to leave. However, she changes her mind and attacks Gray with her Water Lock. He quickly freezes his way out, but not without opening his wound ,which he obtained from his battle with Lyon, in the process. Gray strips as usual, causing Juvia to think that their relationship is going too fast. Gray then uses his Ice-Make: Lance on her, but is surprised that the attack goes right through her torso without damaging her. As she tries to convince Gray to stop and hand over Lucy, Gray announces that he'll never give up a comrade, even if it results in his death. Juvia takes this the wrong way and believes that Lucy is Gray's girlfriend.

She then gets angry at Lucy, confusing Gray, and attacks him with boiling water. He tries to freeze her water and succeeds, but accidentally grabs Juvia's breast in the process. He quickly lets go and apologizes to her, which surprises her. She then tries to confess her love for him, but he mentions how the rain is depressing before she can say it. This sends Juvia into a rage and she attacks him again, but Gray prevails and defeats her, stopping the rain around her in the process.

Later, he tries to fight the Phantom Lord master alongside Erza, Elfman and Mirajane, but given their already weakened states, Elfman, Gray and Mirajane are easily defeated while Erza tries to fight alone. Makarov then reappears and tells Erza to leave and take Gray, Elfman and Mirajane so he can fight Jose without worrying about his surroundings.

After Phantom Lord's defeat, Gray helps rebuild the guild, almost noticing Juvia spying on him. He then becomes surprised when he gets a lunch box from Juvia, not knowing that it was her who gave it when he said that he was hungry. Fearing what it could be, he gives the lunch box to Natsu. When Loke gives them Lucy's keys, Gray, together with Natsu, Erza and Happy, goes to Lucy's house, only to find a note saying I will go home. The team then goes after Lucy. Upon arriving at Heartfilia mansion, they find Lucy leaving her house and are surprised to hear that Lucy's family owns the place. The team then returns to the guild.

A few days later, when the guild was accepting job requests again, Team Natsu becomes official and decides to take their first mission as an official team. While doing the request, they manage to destroy half a road.

Loke arc
Noticing Lucy worrying over her lack of money, Mirajane suggests they do a simple job for a theater, making their performances more interesting using magic. But, upon reaching the theatre, they are informed that all the actors have ran away. Erza suggests that they perform in the play instead. Everybody warms up to the idea. Erza plays the heroic Prince Frederick, Lucy is the damsel-in-distress, Princess Yanderica, while Gray is the villainous Julius. Happy is given the task of carrying a Dragon suit that Natsu is in, playing Julius' Draconic Servant, and they are given a week to rehearse. They are also given the task of distributing fliers. Their show is atrocious, makes little sense and, to top it all, Erza develops stage fright, yet is insistent in hogging the spotlight. They eventually destroy the theater, but despite all this, they are hailed as a success to the point that they're kept there for another week, doing three performances a day.

They go out on another job and chance upon Loke after swiftly completing it. Seeing how they completed it so quickly, they decide to stay the night in Balsam Town. Natsu, Erza and Gray have a pillow fight. Back at the guild, an injured Gray argues with an equally injured Natsu about the outcome of the pillow fight, but neither is willing to admit defeat, so they ask Lucy to judge. An agitated Lucy silences Natsu and Gray's bickering, a feat Warren and Max believe only Erza is capable of performing.

Later, when Lucy goes back to her apartment, Gray suddenly barges in, saying that Loke had left Fairy Tail. After hearing this, Lucy and all the others go looking for him.

Tower of Heaven arc
Shocked by the announcement that Loke is a Celestial Spirit, Lucy explains to Natsu, Gray and Happy that he is actually Leo the Lion, leader of the Zodiacs. Considering how he can no longer spend long periods of time in the human world, Loke gives the four of them, as well as Erza, a ticket to a fancy resort. Juvia follows them and secretly spies on Gray. She then approaches Gray in the casino. While chatting, they are attacked by Simon, a tall and ruthless Mage who specializes in Darkness Magic, who asks them for Erza's whereabouts. Gray is able to escape the ambush with Juvia's help, by hiding inside her water body.

With Erza and Happy kidnapped, the team, plus Juvia, decides to rescue them, using Natsu's exceptional olfactory senses to first track them down. As they get to the island on which the Tower of Heaven stands, they find Erza and she explains her past to them. After Erza finishes telling her story, Simon and Shô arrive and join the team to stop Jellal Fernandes. When Jellal activates the Heaven's Game, Shô traps Erza in one of his cards in order to protect her and runs off, wanting to fight Jellal himself. Simon leaves the group to follow Shô, leaving Gray, Juvia and Lucy to find Natsu. But Gray goes after Shô, and entrusts to Lucy and Juvia the task of finding Natsu.

Later, he runs into the Death's Head Caucus Guild's Trinity Raven member, Fukuro, who has started digesting Natsu and started using his flames on Simon and Happy; the two begin to battle. Gray is able to withstand the heat of Natsu's stolen fire attacks and is able to freeze the flames, though Gray comments that Natsu had a stronger fire. Soon, Fukuro tries to absorb him, but Gray manages to freeze him enough to make him withdraw. In a fit of rage, he then uses Ice Blade: Seven Slice Dance to defeat Fukuro and free Natsu. During the fight, Gray takes a fair amount of damage and Simon asks Happy to take him outside the tower to recover. They flee the island on a boat along with Juvia, Lucy, Wally and Millianna, and watch as the weaponized satellite Etherion strikes the tower.

Thinking that Erza and Natsu might have died, they are all highly relieved when the two of them arrive on the shore. They recover in a hotel where Natsu sleeps for three straight days and wakes up briefly after Gray belittles him. He eventually stays awake and they socialize with their previous enemies, before sending them off with a fireworks display.

Battle of Fairy Tail arc
When they return to the guild, they find its reconstruction complete and Cana Alberona shows them around. Makarov startles them with the introduction of two new members: Juvia and Gajeel, their previous enemies. After settling down, they sit down for a song from Mirajane; this calm state doesn't last long, however, as the two Dragon Slayers soon cause a large brawl. A reporter comes the next day to write about the guild, and asks Gray why he always strips to which he angrily replies that he is not a pervert. The master also instructs Gray to accompany Juvia on a mission, since she is a new member.

During the Miss Fairy Tail Contest a week later, Gray is seen watching the girls showcase their talents until a member of the Thunder God Tribe, Evergreen, appears during Lucy's performance. Gray quickly warns Lucy not to look into Evergreen's eyes but it's too late as she is turned to stone. Evergreen then reveals that she turned all the girls to stone. Soon, the other two members, Bickslow and Freed, make their entrance along with Laxus. Laxus proposes a game to find out who is the strongest in Fairy Tail, and Natsu replies with much enthusiasm. Laxus holds the girls hostage and threatens to smash them if the men don't participate or break the rules. With a time limit of three hours to find and defeat them before the girls crumble to dust, the members of Fairy Tail rush out and the Battle of Fairy Tail begins. However, Makarov isn't able to go through the door because of Freed's runes. Gray then leaves to find Laxus, promising to beat him even if he was the master's grandson.

Gray goes and fights Bickslow and quickly starts to overpower him. However, Bickslow uses his knowledge of Freed's traps and traps Gray in one of Freed's enchantments, where no one is allowed to use Magic; this leaves Gray with no other choice but to try to attack Bickslow physically. Since Bickslow's Magic allows him to attack from the outside, Gray is defeated.

After Laxus activates his Thunder Palace, Gray manages to recover and find Warren Rocko. Using Warren's Magic, they are able to explain the situation to the other recovering Fairy Tail members. After initially bickering, the guild members are able to get along and destroy Laxus's Thunder Palace spell and save the town. However, due to the Organic Link Magic Laxus put on them, which causes the spell to counterattack with a lightning strike, all the guild members take more damage, but manage to live through it and are happy to survive.

After Laxus is defeated, the guild still decides to participate in the Fantasia parade. During the parade, Gray and Juvia perform on the same float as the King and Queen of a frozen kingdom. Gray, along with the rest of the guild, also signals to the excommunicated Laxus that they will always be looking out for him.

A few days after the festival, Team Natsu decides to take a job: to capture the escaped convict Velveno. Gray is seen surprised when Lucy suddenly leaves to go to Acalypha Town. Gray, along with the rest of Team Natsu, follow Lucy to the LOVE & LUCKY guild and are surprised to learn that she defeated the Naked Mummy Guild by herself; they also inform her that because she ran off, they cancelled the mission.

Oración Seis arc
Gray assists Lucy in paying the rent by helping her at a restaurant, and when they return to the guild, Mirajane explains about Dark Guilds and their power over the magical underworld. Makarov then arrives and announces that an alliance of guilds is being formed to take down one of the three strongest Dark Guilds, Oración Seis.

Makarov chooses Gray together with Natsu, Erza, Lucy and Happy to act as the delegates of Fairy Tail. At the meeting place, a villa belonging to Master Bob of Blue Pegasus, the group is greeted by the Blue Pegasus delegates and their leader, Ichiya Vandalay Kotobuki, who immediately begin to flirt with the females. Getting angered at their antics, Gray confronts them and things start to get tense. Erza tries to calm them down, but ends up punching Ichiya towards the villa's entrance, getting creeped out by his perverse obsession with her scent. Gray is surprised to see his former training partner, Lyon, now a member of the Lamia Scale Guild and also one of its delegates, enter, stopping Ichiya's flight using his magic, only to send him flying away again. Things start to really heat up when Sherry shows up, another delegate of Lamia Scale. The rivalry between Gray and Lyon and Lucy and Sherry resurfaces, while Natsu appears more than ready to take on the Trimens and Erza seems prepared to slice Ichiya open to stop him from getting close to her. Fortunately, the third delegate of Lamia Scale, Jura Neekis, is able to calm everybody down by reminding them of their original goal. Gray is astonished to see the delegate from the last guild of the alliance, a 12 year old girl named Wendy Marvell. Her talking cat also appears and tells them that despite her appearance, Wendy is a powerful Mage. After the matters are settled, the group discusses who the Oración Seis are and their plan to stop them; but Natsu pays no attention to the plan and rushes off, most of the other members of the alliance in hot pursuit.

The alliance unexpectedly finds their target, but lose the main weapon of their offensive. Gray tries to aid his allies against the six Mages by fighting Racer and Angel, but he ultimately fails like the others. When Brain spots Wendy and grabs her, Wendy tries to reach for Carla, but grabs Happy by mistake as the two are kidnapped. After being saved from death by Jura and Ichiya, the group notices that Erza has been poisoned by a bite from Cobra's serpent to her right arm, and the poison is spreading towards her torso, causing the members to argue amongst themselves on how to handle the situation. Acting on Erza's suggestion, Lyon attempts to cut off the poisoned arm, but is stopped by Gray, insisting that a method to save Erza without cutting her arm off might exist. Carla, however, is the one who calms everyone down, revealing that Wendy is the Sky Dragon Slayer and her healing Magic could fix the problem. But to rescue her, the group has to work together. The others agree and rally together, before splitting up to find their kidnapped comrades.

Gray goes with Natsu and Carla as they explore the area, Natsu using the time to ask Carla about Wendy's Dragon Slayer Magic before the three are ambushed by members from the Naked Mummy Guild, one of the Dark Guilds under Oración Seis. While Gray and Natsu are fighting the guild, Carla hangs back to watch. After all guild members are defeated, they try to interrogate the members about the location of the Oración Seis' hideout. Later, they reach an cave entrance to the Oración Seis base, but are confronted by Racer. Gray holds him off while Natsu and Carla enter the cave to look for their friends.

While Gray and Racer are battling, they notice Natsu, Happy, Wendy and Carla flying above them. Racer attacks them, causing them to fall and knock Wendy, Happy and Carla unconscious. Natsu carries the three and runs off. Racer tries to go after them, but Gray manages to stop him by using his Ice-Make: Rampart, giving Natsu the time to run for it and angering Racer.

Racer assures Gray that he could still catch up to Natsu if he wanted to, but his reputation would be sullied if he didn't defeat the person who had managed to stop him twice. Racer taunts Gray and activates his Magic, Death Grand Prix, causing multiple motorcycles to appear and charge towards Gray. Racer then hops on one of them and attacks Gray himself. Gray also hops on a motorcycle and the two start a race. While Racer is able to attack Gray easily by manifesting tyres around Gray and pelting him with them as well as shooting missiles from his own bike, Gray has trouble fighting back since he finds it difficult to drive and use Magic at the same time. While racing, Gray spots Lyon and Sherry, and asks Lyon to hop on as well. With Gray driving and Lyon attacking, now using both hands to cast his magic, which Gray notices, they are able to destroy Racer's motorcycle, thus ending the race. Racer counterattacks and knocks them off their motorcycle as well. Gray and Lyon attack Racer with their Ice-Make, but Racer easily dodges their attacks and attacks them. Lyon then whispers to Gray that he has found Racer's weakness.

After whispering something in Gray's ear, Lyon freezes him much to Racer and Sherry's surprise. Lyon then calls Sherry to help him, saying that Lamia Scale will take the glory. Lyon and Sherry then attack Racer. However, Racer easily overpowers Sherry. Lyon seemingly starts to run away, but Racer easily catches up to him. Taunting Racer that his lack of offensive ability means that he can never take down his opponent, Lyon uses Ice-Make: Hedgehog, apparently to stop Racer from attacking him using his speed, but it doesn't affect Racer in the least. Lyon keeps on moving away from Gray, but Racer finally pins him to the ground, pulling out a knife and threatening his life. However, Lyon smiles and reveals his and Gray's plan, revealing the workings of Racer's magic and how it should not affect Gray anymore as he was too far away. Gray breaks free from Lyon's spell and shoots Racer with his ice arrow from a long distance, defeating him. As Gray makes his way to Lyon and Sherry, saying that they had won, Racer gets back up in an attempt to kill them, along with himself, with a bomb. However, Lyon tackles him down the cliff just before the explosive activates in order to save Gray and Sherry.

After he and Sherry watch in horror, Gray decides to go look for Lyon, not believing that he is dead. While Gray searches for Lyon, Sherry, having been completely turned to darkness by Nirvana's activation, attacks Gray from behind with her Wood Doll, seemingly knocking him unconscious. Gray later regains consciousness and manages to stop Sherry, who is attacking Natsu and Lucy in order to avenge Lyon's death. He pins her to the ground when Lyon suddenly arrives, heavily wounded, but alive. Upon seeing Lyon, the darkness leaves Sherry and she is returned to the light. Later, when Nirvana's second stage is activated by Brain, Gray, Natsu and Lucy are seen climbing one of its legs. When Nirvana starts to move, Natsu's motion sickness kicks in, causing him to fall off, but Happy is able to save him. The team then decides to split up, with Happy and Natsu going in first while Gray and Lucy follow.

As Gray and Lucy enter Nirvana, they meet up with Jura and the Nirvana-affected Hoteye, who explains to them the power of Nirvana; however, as they leave to assist Natsu, Midnight appears and attacks them. Hoteye is able to save them and tells them to leave while he fights Midnight. Gray, Lucy and Jura manage to find Natsu as he is being dragged off by Brain, who was planning to make Natsu one of his new members after seeing him defeat Cobra. Brain then reveals to them his plan of attacking Wendy and Carla's guild. Jura asks him for the reason and attacks Brain when he does not answer, causing Gray and Lucy to comment on Jura's strength. Jura then continues to attack Brain and effortlessly defeats him. Carla and Wendy arrive just at that moment. The group head to the King's Room, from where Nirvana's movements can be controlled, only to find that Nirvana's course to Caitshelter is fixed. Wendy's Sky Dragon Slayer Magic cures Natsu and Happy's injuries. She also casts Troia on Natsu, countering Natsu's motion sickness.

Wendy rushes away, Carla with her, and the rest of them receive a message, supposedly from their enemy turned ally, Hoteye, via telepathy. He tells them that the strongest of the Oración Seis, Midnight, is directly below them and that his defeat will stop Nirvana. They rush downwards, but at the last moment discover it's Brain's trap. The group is saved by Jura's timely intervention, but he is heavily damaged by the ambush and rendered unconscious. As they try to make sure he's okay, Brain's staff, Klodoa, laments about Brain's pathetic power, and that he should just defeat them himself before being captured by Natsu and slammed around. He frees himself from Natsu's grip and tells them of their plan: to destroy the Caitshelter guild so Nirvana can never be resealed.

Klodoa begins to bash them, but abruptly stops when he feels that even Midnight has been defeated and that this will herald the arrival of Brain's split personality, the vastly powerful and bellicose Zero. Sure enough, Zero arrives and easily defeats the team. Nirvana then arrives at Caitshelter and Zero orders it to attack. The powerful blast from Nirvana is, however, stopped with another strike from the combined efforts of the other alliance members who managed to get the Magic Bomber: Christina up and working again, which was shot down by Oración Seis beforehand. Hibiki Lates, piloting the ship, telepathically details how to stop Nirvana: destroy the six Lacrima crystals within Nirvana's legs that serves as its power source simultaneously, as just one crystal is enough to regenerate the other five instantaneously in case they are destroyed. Zero interrupts, using telepathy himself, saying that their plan is futile as he stands in front of one crystal and will prevent anyone from trying to destroy it. The other alliance members desperately call on Natsu, Gray, Lucy and Happy to get up and they comply.

Using the map that Hibiki had downloaded into their heads, the group decides on which Lacrima they will go to. After choosing, Happy reminds them that if they find Zero, they will have to take him down themselves and that they have no backup. Gray manages to destroy one of the six Lacrima while Natsu manages to defeat Brain, stopping Nirvana once and for all.

Everyone is then re-united, when the New Magic Council's law enforcer Lahar shows up to arrest Hoteye for being part of the Oración Seis, and Jellal for his crimes in the past. As Jellal willingly gives himself up to the Council just like Hoteye, an enraged Natsu starts attacking the Council and tries to bring Jellal back, claiming that he is one of them. Gray soon joins in, saying that Jellal had helped disable Nirvana yet the Council is not showing even a shred of gratitude. This convinces all the other Mages to help fight to get Jellal back, while Jellal and Erza can only look on painfully. As the Council fights back, Lahar ordering them to arrest every single Mage rebelling against them as well, Erza suddenly yells for everyone to stop. With that, Jellal is taken away while everyone just watches sadly. Later, the group heads to the Caitshelter Guild, where they are all given traditional Nirvit clothing to wear. As the guild members start to thank them, Ichiya immediately starts telling about their exploits and Natsu calls for a party, to which Lyon and Gray agree, though they have both taken off their shirts already. Ichiya asks the Caitshelter members to join them as he along with Gray, Lucy, Natsu, and the Trimens start to dance, but his suggestion is received coldly, immediately spoiling the mood. Caitshelter's master reveals that they, the Caitshelter guild, are actually the Nirvit tribe and that he designed Nirvana. He narrates the history of Nirvana and the Nirvit tribe, concluding that he decided to seal Nirvana and guard it as atonement for his sins, until somebody could destroy it. His task now completed, the Caitshelter members start to disappear, revealed to be mere illusions created by Roubaul to make Wendy believe that she was in an actual guild. Telling Wendy that she no longer requires her illusionary companions, Roubaul, too, disappears, leaving Wendy in Fairy Tail's hands. Erza comforts a weeping Wendy and invites her to join Fairy Tail.

Daphne arc
Note: Events in this arc occur only in the anime and do not constitute canon material.

Edolas arc
The different guilds part ways, Fairy Tail taking a ship back. The group returns to the guild and a party is thrown to celebrate Wendy and Carla's induction into Fairy Tail. Gray is especially greeted with enthusiasm by Juvia, who almost drowns him and a few other Fairy Tail members with her waterfall tears as she expresses her worry. A few days later, the bells chime, signaling the return of Gildarts Clive, Fairy Tail's strongest Mage under Makarov. When Gildarts arrives and explains that he has failed the job he had taken, Gray is seen surprised along with the rest of the guild. A few days later, Gray teaches Juvia how to eat some Caramade Franks while Alzack and Bisca watch them, wishing that their relationship was like theirs. Gray, along with the rest of the guild and Magnolia town, is then sucked into Edolas by the Anima.

Gray re-appears just when Erza Knightwalker is about to kill Happy. He and Earth Land Erza beat up a few guards and declare Erza Knightwalker an enemy of Fairy Tail. Although a few soldiers mistake him for Gray Surge, he does not pay heed and demands to know where all of their crystallized companions are, while he attacks the soldiers of Edolas and Erza fights her Edolas counterpart. After hearing Wendy's scream, Gray frees Lucy of her handcuffs and proceeds to where the Dragon Slayers are held captive. While running, Gray reveals that the Lacrima that was at the center of the Capital was trapping both him and Erza, and that Gajeel was the one that released them from the Lacrima state, stating that Dragon Slayer Magic has the ability to release their trapped companions. With that, he asks Happy to support Gajeel and release their trapped companions near Extalia. Arriving at the room, Gray, Lucy, and Carla find both Natsu and Wendy unconscious on the ground. Gray immediately feeds Natsu and Wendy some X-Balls, a medicine that allows Earth Land Mages to use their Magic in Edolas. After Wendy wakes up and Natsu runs off to stop the King's plan, Wendy explains to Gray, Lucy, and Carla that the Royal Army is trying to use the Giant Lacrima stationed near Extalia as a bomb to destroy the Kingdom of Extalia.

Natsu runs back to the group after seeing Erza battling Erza Knightwalker. At first, Natsu is confused about the situation until Lucy and Wendy explain that Gajeel, Gray and Erza showed up. Now cleared up, the group splits into two: Gray traveling with Natsu and Lucy to find the king, while Wendy and Carla go to Extalia to warn the Exceeds. Gray and Lucy suspect that the King is in some important place, but Lucy starts to wonder since the courtyard and prison were in such strange locations for a castle. Natsu and Gray then summarize her whole speech as saying that the castle has a strange layout. Lucy responds by saying that she wouldn't be surprised if it contained an amusement park, and to their surprise, her prediction really comes true a few seconds later. However, Sugarboy and Hughes are inside the park, and they prepare to battle the three. Hughes starts the battle by sending a Viking ship straight into their path, but Gray blocks it with his Ice Shield, making Sugarboy and Hughes wonder about the nature of Earthland's magic. As Natsu then flies off to battle Hughes, Sugarboy traps both Gray and Lucy by softening the ground such that they sink waist-deep into it. Seeing Natsu helpless on the Hell's Coaster, Gray manages to physically pull out Lucy from the ground and throw her towards Natsu, freeing her to help Natsu. He then uses Ice-Make: Grappling Hook to escape from Sugarboy's attack before creating a giant death scythe to attack Sugarboy. However, his Magic proves ineffective because Sugarboy's weapon, Rosa Espada, makes anything limp and soft, including ice.

Later, when Sugarboy steals the key from Coco and slides away, Gray reappears, riding a motorcycle, and begins chasing after Sugarboy. Sugarboy tries to stop Gray by using his Rosa Espada on a section of the ground, but Gray merely dodges it and continues. As the chase continues, Gray asks how Sugarboy is able to keep sliding, but the latter does not know either. He then asks the purpose of the key, to which Sugarboy replies that it's meant to activate the Dragon Chain Cannon. Gray then freezes the ground, which causes Sugarboy to slide out of control as, though Rosa Espada can soften a substance, it cannot change its properties, so the ice remains as slippery as before. With Sugarboy stopped and distracted by the motorcycle that he throws, Gray takes the opportunity to grab and freeze the key, hoping it will shatter, but to no avail. Realizing that it wouldn't shatter easily, Gray decides to freeze it so that it can never be used. Sugarboy says that he can just soften the ice to get the key, but hesitates to do so when Gray explains that he might damage the key in the process. The two begin to fight again, but when the key begins to crack, Sugarboy tries to stop the fight. Sugarboy informs Gray that the cannon can return his friends back to normal if fired on the Lacrima itself. As Sugarboy tries to buy some time, Gray shatters the key. Angered by Gray's action, Sugarboy furiously attacks Gray with the Rosa Espada, but Gray defeats him with his finishing technique, Ice Blade: Seven Slice Dance. While Sugarboy yells at Gray for being reckless, the latter creates a duplicate of the key using Magic. Natsu later catches up to him and learns that they need to use the cannon and fire it on the Lacrima instead of the island it is floating on, so that the Dragon Slayer Magic can be transferred to the Lacrima, thus destroying it and releasing their friends. Suddenly, an Erza, whom Gray and Natsu identify as Edolas' Erza based on her attire, arrives on the scene and seemingly knocks them out. She then ties them up and brings them to the king.

Upon entering the royal chamber, the King asks Erza about the whereabouts of the key, and Erza tells him that Gray can make a copy of the key with his Magic. Erza presses her sword to Natsu's throat and orders Gray to activate the Cannon. Gray realizes that he has only one chance to try to change the course of the cannon to save his friends, but fails to find where to change it. Erza, revealing herself to be Earthland's Erza disguised as Erza Knightwalker, then releases Natsu, who attacks the guards, while she grabs hold of the King and threatens to kill him if the target is not changed. The plan almost works, but Erza Knightwalker arrives and attacks Erza, causing her to let go of the king. With the King safe, the guards reaim the cannon and fire it. Lucy then arrives with Coco on her Legion. Gray, Natsu and Erza climb on, and they try to stop the island from crashing into Extalia. Gray, along with the Fairy Tail members and the Exceeds, manages to hold the Lacrima island long enough for Mystogan to send it back to Earth Land, saving everyone, Just when everyone thinks it is over, the Edolas Royal army arrives. After the arrival of Dorma Anim and the defeat of Mystogan, Gray, along with Erza, Lucy, Coco, Happy and Carla helps to save the Exceeds from being turned into Lacrima, while the Dragon Slayers face Dorma Anim. While riding on her own Legion, Erza Knightwalker shows up and her troops ambush and blast Coco's Legion, sending it to the ground. Happy holds onto Lucy, and Carla holds onto Gray and Coco as they see the two Erzas fight.

Lucy, Coco, Gray, Happy and Carla fall into a forest, but some Edolas troops show up immediately. The troops spot Carla and Happy and aim to turn them into Lacrima as they are the only two Exceed remaining. Gray attacks the troops and protects them. Lucy summons Loke while Carla and Happy dodge the beams of Magic, but Carla jumps in front of one to protect Happy. They start to lose when even more reinforcements arrive, but Edolas Fairy Tail comes to the rescue and helps them fight. When Mystogan starts taking all the Magic away from Edolas, the troops lose their Magic weapons and retreat. Everyone panics, including Edolas Fairy Tail. Finally, when all the Magic is gone, all the Earth Land Fairy Tail members start being sucked into the Anima and return back to their home. Gray tries to console the Edolas Fairy Tail by telling them that they can still be a guild even without Magic. They all say goodbye to Edolas Fairy Tail and Coco as they finally return to Earthland.

After the Exceeds leave, Panther Lily arrives in his new smaller form, and everyone is shocked to see that he has captured Lisanna. Everyone is confused about Lisanna's reappearance, thinking that she is the Edolas Lisanna. When Lisanna sees Natsu, she embraces him and Happy tightly, and tells Gray and Erza that it has been a long time since she saw them. Gray then asks her whether she is Earth Land's Lisanna, which she affirms, much to everyone's surprise. After clarifying everything, Gray, along with the others, helps Lisanna get back to her mourning siblings and watches their tearful reunion.

Tenrou Island arc
While the guild is celebrating Lisanna's return, Gray and the others tell all the guild members about Edolas and their counterparts. During the process, he can't stop thinking about Cana's counterpart and her appearance and behavior as opposed to Earth Land's Cana, to the point that he is unable contain his laughter. Shortly after, he enters into another battle within the guild and ends up overexerting himself, falling asleep with the rest of the guild.

A few days later, he, like several other guild members, starts taking up numerous jobs to gain recognition for the annual Fairy Tail event. The next day, the master appears alongside Erza, Mirajane and Gildarts to announce the start of the annual S-Class Mage Promotion Trial. Gray is announced as one of eight candidates who will be participating. After the ceremony, he is seen talking to his friends about the contest, remarking that he has no problem with Happy being Natsu's partner as, though they might have the advantage in a race, he'd be at a disadvantage in a battle, a statement which Happy resents. After Natsu and Happy run off to train, Juvia says that she wishes to quit the trial because she wants to be Gray's partner; however, Gray tells them that he already has a partner, Loke, who shows up and tells Lucy that their contract has been suspended for the duration of the trial.

A week later, Gray, along with the other participants, heads towards the island, complaining about the scorching heat despite it being winter. He strips completely, much to Juvia's enjoyment. He marvels at the sight of the Tenrou Island as it hovers into their vision. After the master appears and tells the teams about the first trial, he becomes trapped in Freed's runes, along with several others, complaining to Makarov that this'd allow Freed to set traps all over the island. After the runes dissipate, he freezes the ocean to make a path and slide to the island. Gray and Loke manage to choose a battle path and face off against Mest and Wendy. Their fight ends somewhat quickly as they manage to knock out Mest, and they go on ahead.

As they keep walking along the path, they start talking about Mest. They both mention that, as Mest came close to winning last year, they expected him to be stronger, but Loke says that they also have become stronger. They later wonder about Mest's partner in the previous exam, but neither of them seems to remember. As Gray and Loke meet up with the others, the master arrives. Gray is astonished when the master announces that Cana and Lucy defeated Freed and Bickslow, and Natsu managed to clear Gildart's barrier. He later asks the master about how Juvia and her partner Lisanna are faring, but gets a clear idea of the result when the master says that they met up with Erza. They realize Elfman and Evergreen are the only ones left, and that they had to have been matched up against Mirajane.

However, Elfman and Evergreen appear, looking completely beaten up, but announce that they have proved victorious. As the master says it's time to start the second trial, Natsu comes to terms with what Gildarts told him, and he challenges Gray and the other remaining contestants to see who will be the new S-class Mage. Gray simply replies that Natsu is the only one he doesn't want to lose to and that he accepts his challenge.

When the second trial to find Mavis's grave begins, Gray and Loke get chased by vicious birds. With a scared expression on his face, Gray brags that the challenge isn't hard yet if it means becoming an S-class Mage. Loke just remarks on how Gray is acting tough. Later, Gray is seen with Loke spying on Lucy and Cana's conversation. Seeing that Lucy seems to have solved the puzzle regarding the location of the grave, they decide to follow Cana and Lucy, with Gray telling Loke that the second exam is also about greed.

While following Lucy and Cana, Gray and Loke notice the warning signal launched by Erza, indicating that the exam was on hold, and that everyone must prepare for battle against an enemy. They first emerge from their hiding spot near Cana and Lucy, and are seen scolding Cana for wanting to continue the exam, and telling her that they should head back to the emergency meeting spot together. However, numerous bubbles containing Grimoire Heart Guild members start raining from the sky, whom the four mostly dispatch with ease. The remaining Grimoire Heart members are suddenly transported away by Caprico, who has come to fight them himself, commenting that the grunts cannot defeat them. Right at the start of the fight, Caprico pummels them all with powerful kicks, prompting Gray to comment on his strength.

The group then questions Grimoire Heart's goals, and as everyone prepares to fight again, Loke tells the others to leave so he can fight their opponent one on one. Gray remarks that all four of them are having a difficult time fighting their opponent, but Loke explains that their opponent uses Human Subordination Magic, which weakens the battle and Magic Power of humans, but not Celestial Spirits. He then tells them that their opponent is the Celestial Spirit Capricorn, surprising Gray. Loke then yells for the others to go, and though Lucy is reluctant to leave his side, Gray and Cana persuade her to trust him and the three depart.

As the three walk together, Cana suggests that they split up. Although he is reluctant to, Gray agrees and walks off alone. While walking, Gray states Cana has a bad sense of humor, and he then realizes that he hasn't seen her drink since she arrived at Tenrou Island, making Gray wonder if she is just sober. Suddenly, he senses someone's presence. He hides behind a tree and notices Ultear walking past, speaking about Zeref. He at first mistakes her for Ur, but realizes that she is not, but a member of Grimoire Heart, and wonders who she is and why she resembles Ur.

As Gray continues spying on Ultear and Zeref from behind a tree, he wonders where they plan on heading and guesses that they are heading back to Grimoire Heart's master. Suddenly, from the skies, Gray is hit by a jolt which, unbeknownst to him, is a sensory link Magic between him and Juvia used by Meredy, causing any pain taken by one of them to be delivered to the other one. When Meredy slices Juvia's arm, Gray feels the pain too, and his yell almost attracts the attention of Ultear. Later, when Meredy adds herself to the link and takes damage, Gray again feels excruciating pain and kneels over.

When the Sensory Link cast on him disappears and he begins to wipe away the tears caused by them, Ultear appears behind him and asks if he was following her. She then goes on to explain that she is the daughter of Ur and that he shouldn't fear her, because they are comrades.

A skeptical Gray questions what Ultear meant by her statement that they are allies. She tells him that she holds no grudge against him because she knows that he didn't kill Ur, and that in the end, it was just pride, which provokes Gray to remark that she has done evil things and that she shouldn't say that what she did was Ur's pride. Ultear then states that everything she did was the will of Ur, which surprises Gray.

Gray is later seen grasping his side in pain when Azuma uproots Tenrou Island's tree. After Azuma's defeat, Gray regains his Magic Power, and Ultear comments that everything seems back to normal. Gray is still in shock about what Ultear told him about "Ur's will." Ultear tells him that it is up to him to believe her or not and states that she is going to take Zeref and leave the island, telling him to defeat Hades using Ur's Magic, Iced Shell, and that he is the answer to everyone's prayer. Gray tells Ultear that he'll defeat Hades using Iced Shell, claiming that it is not for her or Ur but for the guild.

After Ultear explains that the story she told Gray was a lie and reveals her true motives to Meredy, she finds Juvia and summons a sword to kill her. Before she can strike the killing blow, Gray blocks the attack and carries Juvia away from Ultear. He says that he figured that she was lying, telling Ultear he didn't believe a single word she said from the start.

He says that he swore he would never consider using Iced Shell again recalling how Natsu didn't want him to die. He says that his will is to live with his comrades. At this, Ultear remarks that he isn't a simple-minded fool and is disappointed she can't use him to kill Hades. Saying that she didn't want to fight Ur's beloved student, but now, she tells him that he has chosen to be killed in the cruelest way. Gray takes off his shirt, telling her to bring it on. Ultear then reveals that she's the head of the Seven Kin of Purgatory; as she is saying that he is no match for her, Gray attacks her quickly with an ice punch.

Gray wakes Juvia and asks her to chase after Meredy who has been ordered by Ultear to run to the "escape point" with Zeref. While battling her, Gray realizes that his Magic is useless as she can use her Arc of Time to render his ice useless by evaporating it. Pummeling him using her orb in conjugation with her magic, she tells him that she learned her Magic specifically for killing Creation Mages like her mother. This statement enrages Gray. He has a short flashback of when he was a child and saw Ur crying over a little girl's dress. As Ultear continues to dominate him, Gray yells that Ur had always been thinking about her and that it was sad that Ur couldn't convey those feelings to her.

Ultear easily overpowers him in hand-to-hand combat. When she asks him if he's resorting to physical attacks because his ice has been rendered useless, he replies that he'll strike her down with ice, with Ur's Magic, but Ultear is confident that her victory is assured. Gray uses his ice to slice the side of his own torso, surprising Ultear. He charges towards her as he declares that he'll seal her darkness. Ultear attempts to use Arc of Time on Gray's ice but it doesn't work. In reply to her confusion, he states that she can't manipulate the time of living things, and his red ice is made of his own frozen blood. Gray lands a direct hit with Ice Blade: Seven Slice Dance.

Ultear is impressed by his tenacity despite the torn flesh and broken bones. However, she regains her balance, swears that she cannot lose until she reaches the great world of Magic and assumes the stance for Ice-Make, much to Gray's surprise. She creates a huge garden-like ice with roses and thorns, Ice-Make: Crown of Roses, which Gray notes is exactly like Ur's Creation Magic.

After falling on the ground due to Ultear's spell, he stands up and states that he never thought he'd see Ur's Creation Magic again. However, he should have expected it as they have the same blood. Angered, she continues to shoot ice at him, but he retaliates by regaining his balance and pinning her down. As they roll along the ground, he asks her why she became that way and she yells for him to shut up. They continue to roll until falling of a cliff into the ocean.

As they fall, Ultear thinks about her past and how she had hated her mother the day she saw her happy with her apprentices, Lyon and Gray. When they fall into the water, Ultear casts her Ice-Make Magic once more. However, she becomes distracted with a voice in her head. Memories of her mother flood into her mind. Gray uses the opportunity to cast Ice-Make: Gungnir. A humongous lance of ice emerges from the water, trapping Ultear inside. He later floats to the surface of the water. With both of them rather immobile, Gray tells her a story Ur once told him: Ur had felt a light shining into her heart when Ultear was born and she dreamed of future full of hope for her. The ice trapping Ultear shatters and Gray is the victor.

Later, Gray brings Ultear to rest by a stone. He ties his shirt around his waist as he states that the battle is far from over. Ultear tells him that he can't win against Hades. Gray replies that he knows and that it would be impossible by himself.

Later, while walking, Gray is about to collapse out of exhaustion, but is then caught by Erza, who asks him if he's okay. Gray states that it seems that he always needs to be saved by somebody. Erza replies that she's the same, too. Natsu's group arrives, overhears the words said, and with a big grin, Natsu tells them that he is the same too. The reunited Team Natsu, along with Wendy, Carla and Panther Lily, prepares for the final battle against Hades.

Hades tells Team Natsu that he will be waiting in his airship for their battle. Before going up, Natsu tells Carla, Panther Lily,and Happy to search the ship to prevent it from flying during the battle. Gray then uses Ice-Make: Stairs and everyone enters the ship. They all agree to start with their full power. Natsu uses his Magic as a cover-up for Gray and Erza to attack. Gray uses Ice-Make: Cold Excalibur and hits Hades. After Wendy casts her enhancement Magic on everyone, Gray uses Ice-Make: Hammer to launch Natsu off it. Hades emerges unharmed from all the attacks and then yells Katsu. Wendy's body then disappears, with only her clothes left behind.

Wendy appears in Horologium unharmed. Horologium tells everyone he was in Automatic Danger Response Mode. He detected a powerful spell was about the be used, and saved Wendy's body. Horologium sends Wendy back down with new clothes, and everyone prepares to attack again. Hades overwhelms everybody with his Magic though. He shoots beams of Magic at Gray, right in his chest. Gray falls down defeated. Hades eventually tells the kids his history as the second master of Fairy Tail, and how Makarov has made bad changes in the guild. Natsu defends Makarov's changes, so Hades prepares to finish him off. Gray stares in shock as Hades winds up for the attack. Just before the spell is released, Laxus appears and head bashes Hades.

Gray watches as Laxus battles Hades on mostly even terms until Laxus is hit by one of Hades explosion attacks. As Hades uses a powerful attack to finish Laxus, Laxus gives Natsu his lightning, and Natsu, entering his dual element mode, seemingly defeats Hades. However, Hades recovers from Natsu's attacks, unaffected. He then unleashes his Devil's Eye by removing his eye patch. Having exhausted his Magic Power, the group can do nothing but watch as Hades prepares to kill them using Nemesis.

Everyone resolves to not give up despite not having any Magic Power, and they rush to attack Hades. Ridiculing them for attacking him with such a small amount of power, Hades orders his Demons to attack. Natsu trips while running to battle, but Lucy and Wendy grab him and throw him forward. Gray and Erza then boost his forward momentum. As Natsu closes in on Hades, a big explosion occurs on the airship.

The smoke clears, revealing that Hades' Magic had no effect while Natsu's punch landed, sending Hades staggering back. Hades realizes his heart has been destroyed, a deed performed by Happy and Carla. With his heart destroyed and his power source gone, Hades is defeated by Laxus, Lucy, Wendy, Gray, Erza and Natsu. The battle ends and the Exceed finally arrive while being chased by Grimore Heart members. Natsu and the others have already run out of Magic, but then the members in the camp come to their rescue. As the enemies run away from them, everyone starts to celebrate their victory. Shortly, Gray realizes that Juvia isn't there so he asks Freed about her but he doesn't know anything about her as she never made it back to the camp. After the war, Gray gets back to the Tenrou Island camp with his guild mates. Later Juvia arrives as well but reveals that she let Zeref get away and asks for punishment from Gray.

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 as the Dragon goes on its rampage. Makarov then enters full Giant mode and grabs Acnologia, holding it off from attacking the guild members. Everyone wishes to help Makarov, but he shouts at them to not to disobey his final order. When Makarov is overwhelmed by Acnologia, all of them return 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
Gray along with the rest of the others are 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 with one of the three great Magics of the guild, Fairy Sphere, and then disappears. He returns to the Fairy Tail Guild and, along with Natsu, Erza, and Gajeel, defeats the members of Twilight Ogre who were threatening Romeo and is later welcomed back by his comrades.

At the party celebrating their return, Gray is surprised when Lyon, along with some of his guild mates, show up to greet them. Gray gets angry when Lyon claims he loves Juvia, as Juvia starts making a complex love chart afterwards. Later on, Gray and Lyon meet alone. Lyon asks Gray if he knew people named Ultear and Meredy, and then tells him shocking information about them.

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

After the events around the Infinity Clock end Legion Corps comes to the guild to apologize and say goodbye to Gray and the others. Then after a short party, Legion Corps head off on their life long mission to find the pieces of the Infinity Clock scattered around the world.

Grand Magic Games arc
Gray, with other members of Fairy Tail, goes to the beach to train for the Grand Magic Games. However, instead they start having fun and decide to just relax for the first day. Later on the day, Gray trains his Ice-Make by creating shapes made of ice. Later at night, he and other boys that had come with him peep on the girls while they take a bath, only to get knives thrown at them by Erza.

On the second day of training, Natsu and co. are interrupted by Virgo who tells everyone the Celestial Spirit World is in great danger and they need everyone's help. After Virgo dresses them in Celestial Spirit clothes, they are sent to the Spirit World, where they find out there is no trouble, but all of Lucy's spirits had planned a party for everyone's return. After a day of celebrating, Virgo informs the gang that time runs differently in the Spirit World than Earth Land, thus they have lost almost the whole three months of training in the one day.

After venting their frustration, a pigeon shows up with a note telling Fairy Tail to meet in the West Forest near a bridge. The gang decides to go and soon finds out the ones who sent them the message were Jellal, Ultear and Meredy, who all stand before them. Ultear informs everyone about how she broke Jellal out of jail and the formation of Crime Sorcière, an independent guild dedicated to fighting Dark Guilds. Afterwards, Ultear tells them that at the Grand Magic Games, they always sense a strange Magic Power, and they want Fairy Tail to investigate it, as it may lead to where Zeref is hiding. In return, Ultear reveals she can increase everyone's power by activating their "Second Origin" with her Arc of Time. The gang cheers after hearing this news, but Ultear warns them the pain they will endure from it will be intense. Later, when Ultear performs the process on him, Gray writhes around on the floor in pain.

Later, Gray along with Erza, Lucy, Natsu, Wendy, Happy, and Carla, arrive in Crocus. After a brief meeting with the rest of the Guild members that arrived, he goes out and about in the city. While out and about in the city, he encounters Juvia, who asks him to join her for lunch, until Lyon Vastia arrives and interrupts them. Lyon challenges Gray, stating that whichever guild won the event, would be the guild that won Juvia. Gray objects to this saying that Fairy Tail already has her, but Lyon eggs him on, asking him if he is afraid of losing.

Later, Gray, Natsu, Lucy, and Happy barely make it back to the Honeybee Hotel in time for the 12:00 deadline to be in the lodging. When they get back, they are scolded by Erza, but it is interrupted when Lisanna and Elfman walk in, and they begin to greet each other. The meeting is interrupted, however, when it is announced that the preliminary for the Grand Magic Games is about to begin. The lodging they are in, as well as all the lodgings for the other contestants, begins to transform in to a giant labyrinth called the Sky Labyrinth. They are informed that in order to be in the games, they must be one of 8 teams that make it to the arena, Domas Flau, first, and that all of their team must make it there. The team worries that they wouldn't be able to compete because Wendy hadn't arrived yet, but Elfman takes her spot. In the labyrinth, the team encounters Thibault and his group of friends. Natsu, Gray, Elfman, and Erza easily defeat them. They find a map made by Twilight Ogre, and hatch a plan to take all the maps from the other guilds. Eventually, by defeating other guilds and taking their maps of the Sky Labyrinth, they arrive at Domas Flau, but they are informed that they are the last of the eight teams to make it.

Gray and the others change into their team outfits before they head out to hear which teams made it out of the labyrinth before them. As the teams are introduced, they learn that Raven Tail has entered into the competition, and are angry when they learn that they are the ones who injured Wendy and Carla. He is also shocked to learn that there is a second team from Fairy Tail in the running, consisting of Gajeel Redfox, Mirajane Strauss, Laxus Dreyar, Juvia Lockser, and Jellal Fernandes disguised as Mystogan. A few minutes later, after they hear the rules for the first event of the games, Gray decides to enter for them in that round.

Soon, the field opens and separates all the contestants in a large field resembling a large city. The rules are that each member must find their opponents and hit them but nobody knows where the others are. Whoever launches an attack first gains one point and the one who is hit loses one point, thus the game becomes 'hide and seek'. To make matters harder, numerous clones of each contestant will walk around the city to confuse everyone. Attacking a clone will result in a one point deduction. The game starts immediately after.

As Gray walks down the street, he hears a sound and turns to see Nullpudding of Raven Tail, who he immediately attacks. Unfortunately another Nullpudding shows up and states that it was a clone and Gray loses one point. Gray realizes that Nullpudding used his clone to confuse Gray and realizes a use for them as decoys. Later as he walks down the road, his name is called out, distracting him and leaving him open to be attacked by the real Nullpudding, giving Fairy Tail's 'A' team a score of -2 and Raven Tail a score of +1.

Gray is repeatedly attacked by Nullpudding. As Gray walks the streets, he narrowly dodges an attack from Beth, who is then attacked by Jäger of Quatro Cerberus, who is then subsequently attacked by Lyon. As Lyon prepares to attack Gray, Juvia jumps down from above and kicks Lyon (who was distracted by the sight of her underwear) in the head. After she tells Gray what the Master had promised, shocking Gray, who heard of no such rule that the master applied to their team. Natsu and the rest of the team agree to the terms as they also have an idea of what to do if they win. However, Nullpudding shows up again and attacks both Gray and Juvia. Suddenly, snow starts falling, caused by Eve, from Blue Pegasus.

Gray is shocked when he realized that, Rufus, from Sabertooth, is using Creation Magic. Gray is hit by one of Rufus' attacks. Soon, the game ends with Sabertooth in the lead and Fairy Tail 'A' in last place. The audience ridicules the guild for their poor performance, angering Natsu who has to be calmed down by Erza and Elfman and told not to do anything. Gray apologizes for his performance, but Lucy says it's only the first round. He walks off in disappointment, swearing to get back at Raven Tail and Sabertooth.

Gray is later seen moping by himself. After the days games finish, Gray joins the rest of the guild at a pub for their "post-defeat celebration," arriving just in time with Lucy to see the latest product of Juvia's imagination. After Makarov gives a speech, Gray joins in on the merry-making with the rest of the guild. He is shocked when he hears that Bacchus, a Mage from Quatro Cerberus and a reserve member of their team fought on equal ground with Erza seven years ago.

The next day, Gray along with everyone else in the guild is shocked at the event and Natsu's performance, making him wonder why they even chose Natsu for the race. As Natsu yells out his determination, Gray is seen grinning along with the rest of his team. During the first battle of the day between Toby Horhorta and Kurohebi, he is first seen sweating when Erza sympathizes with Toby and later trying to hold her back when Kurohebi tears up his opponent precious sock. When Fairy Tail A found out that they were up against Bacchus from Quatro Cerberus, Lucy asks what they would do if Natsu has to participate in this battle, Gray responds by saying that they'll just slap him awake. Gray later shows his concern as he witnesses Elfman getting thrashed by Bacchus, and is even more worried after Erza reveals that Bacchus has yet to get serious. When Bacchus stands Gray thought that their team has lost again, but when it is revealed that Elfman has won the battle, he cheers with the rest of the team.

After escorting Elfman to the infirmary to see if he'll be alright, Gray walks back with the rest of his team, and contemplates with the other members why Raven Tail was going so far to sabotage Fairy Tail. Deciding not to dwell on the attempted kidnapping, everyone instead focuses on the battle between Mirajane and Jenny Realight, the reserve member for Team Blue Pegasus. However, nearly everyone is shocked to see their duel turning into a "swimsuit battle," and Gray is as stunned as everyone else with how Mirajane chose to finish it. The last battle of the day was between Team Sabertooth's Yukino Agria and Team Mermaid Heel's Kagura Mikazuchi, earned quite a bit of shock since at the beginning of the battle, the Sabertooth representative decided to bet her life on the battle, but lost anyway. When Gray asked the reason for the loss, Erza stated that Kagura was too strong.

With the days battles finished, Gray is revealed to have been snatched away by Juvia and Lyon for, most likely, romantic reasons. Gray later manages to escape them and finds Erza staring out at the city. When he asks her what's wrong, she changes the subject to what has been happening with him recently. After revealing that he escaped the whole "mess" with Juvia and Lyon, Erza encourages him to respond to Juvia's feelings, before turning back to go to bed at their lodgings.

The third day starts with Pandemonium, a competition which competitors may take turns selecting a number of monsters to fight. Gray is then seen smiling with Natsu when Erza claims that she will choose all the monsters to be her opponents. After she defeats them, he and Fairy Tail Team A's members welcomes Erza happily. Then during the MPF event, Gray and Natsu are shocked to find out that Sabertooth's Orga has obtained a 3825 score, but later he is even more shocked by Jura Neekis's score, 8544. After that, Gray and other Fairy Tail members cheer for Cana Alberona as she achieves a score of 9999 by using Fairy Glitter.

During the third day's battle portion, Gray is extremely surprised to see what appears to be Laxus getting beaten around by "Alexei." Gray expresses shock when he sees Laxus suddenly disappearing and another Laxus popping up out of nowhere, with Raven Tail's members defeated and "Alexei" exposed as Ivan Dreyar. When Laxus is declared the winner, Gray is pleased, feeling that he asked Laxus to defeat his enemy.

The last match of the third day is between Wendy and Sherria Blendy. Before the match, Gray talks briefly with Lyon. When Lyon tells him that he will witness Sherria's true strength, Gray replies that he shouldn't take Wendy lightly. During the match, when Sherria still stands after a direct hit from Wendy's Shattering Light: Sky Drill technique, Gray is amazed that Lyon had such a powerful girl in his team. As Wendy and Sherria's match continues, Gray is shocked at Wendy's determination to keep fighting. When the two girls fight ends in a draw, Gray is visibly pleased. After the third day's events and battles, the Fairy Tail Mages celebrate their victories by throwing a party and having fun.

Whilst they are celebrating in the bar, Gray and Natsu overhear Levy talking to Erza, Lucy and Wendy about Ryuzetsu Land, a popular leisure center in Crocus. Claiming that is the perfect place to be on a hot night, Gray and the rest of the guild go to have some fun. Whilst he is looking around, Gray is approached by Juvia, who asks him to go on the "Love Slide" together, though Gray refuses after hearing that the point of the slide is that two people go down hugging. However, just as he refuses to go, Lyon appears and scoops Juvia off her feet, offering to take her instead, with Gray baffled at where Lyon suddenly appeared from. After the two glare each other down, Juvia once again asks Gray to slide with her, much to his annoyance. However, the three end up making their way to the top of the slide, only to be interrupted when Natsu flies towards them after being flung into the air by Ichiya. Though Lyon and Gray attempt to get out of the way, they are hit by the fire Mage and end up riding the slide together. As they begin to reach the bottom, both release their Magic to try and freeze each other, though all they manage to do is freeze the water in all the surrounding pools. Natsu, having landed and recovered, proceeds to melt their ice by using his fire, however he puts in far too much force and blows the building to pieces. As the people in the center are flung all over the place, Gray and Lyon land together in the rubble, frozen in a hunk of ice and still hugging.

On the fourth day of the Games, Gray watches as Lucy competes for their team in the Naval Battle event, knowing that the water field will allow her to use Aquarius. As Juvia unleashes her new technique, dedicated to her "love" for Gray, he shows his surprise towards her, much to her disappointment. When only Lucy and Minerva of Team Sabertooth are left, Gray expresses his curiosity towards Minerva's Magic and reacts furiously when she brutalizes Lucy.

Gray and Natsu run over Lucy when she is tossed out by Minerva. He asks Lucy if she is okay. Team Sabertooth, with an exception of Rogue, stand in front of Minerva, confronting him, Erza and Natsu. Gray, along with Natsu, wants to attack them but is stopped by Erza. After Erza threatens Sabertooth, Gray, with the rest of the members of Team Fairy Tail A and B are in the infirmary with Lucy. When Lucy asks forgiveness for losing, Gray and Erza try to comfort her. Makarov arrives and announces that the administrators have told them to join both Teams together, to which Gray asks the 5 new people will only have to do a tag battle. Gray along with Natsu, Gajeel, Erza, and Laxus, becomes a part of the new reorganized team. Out in the battlefield, Gray glares at Rufus.

When the battle portion of the fourth day begins, Gray stands beside Natsu and watches as Bacchus, Rocker, Ichiya and the person in the bunny suit take to the arena for a tag battle. When the person in the bunny suit is revealed to be none other than Nichiya, Gray appears shocked, seeing as the Exceed is someone he met earlier in Extalia. When Nichiya falls almost instantly in battle and Ichiya (as a result) dramatically wins in his honor, Gray comments that it wasn't anything special, as Ichiya is just an idiot. Before the battle of the Dragon Slayers begins, Gray, as well as his guild mates, tells Natsu and Gajeel to fight with everything they've got. As he watches the two Guilds clash, eventually Sting and Rogue enter Dragon Force, surprising him. He is shocked by Sting's vastly-improved strength in such a state. However, Natsu and Gajeel stand again despite their injuries, and Natsu moves to continue the battle alone. Seeing Natsu calmly and precisely rebut all of the Twin Dragon's attacks, Gray smiles from the stands with Erza and Laxus. When both teams then unleash their most powerful attacks on each other at the same time and kick up a flurry of dust and debris, Gray stands tensed, waiting to see which of the teams will come out victorious. Upon seeing Natsu stand victorious over his opponents, Gray smiles.

Later, Gray follows Gajeel as he takes the other Dragon Slayers and their Exceeds underneath the Domus Flau. When Gray arrives, he is shocked to discover the area is a Dragon graveyard. In addition, he is surprised when he hears about Milky Way, a spell Wendy believes she can use to communicate with the Dragons.

Gray watches as Wendy draws a Magic circle in the dirt, and stands back as she chants to activate the spell. When the surrounding Dragon skeletons begin to shake, Gray asks if the spell is safe, but Wendy is concentrating too hard to answer, and eventually locates a soul, which she latches onto in order to summon forth Zirconis, the emerald Dragon, his huge form and roaring scaring the living daylights out of the group as he charges towards them. Instead of attacking them however, the huge beast merely laughs at their reaction and continues to joke with them, threatening to eat Wendy, much to the groups annoyance. However, Zirconis soon sobers, and explains to the group the history of the Dragons, explaining that the Dragon Slayers are the reason for their disappearance, and that Acnologia himself was once a Dragon Slayer too, before he overused his Magic and turned into a beast. Shocked by this information, Gray and the group move to ask Zirconis for more information, but the Dragon soul vanishes and Wendy loses touch with it. When Gray comments that everything has become quite out-of-hand now that they know this information, the Dragon Slayers present begin to fear a fate like Acnologia's if they continue to use their Magic, however, before anyone can speak about it, Arcadios and Yukino appear from the shadows, the knighted man stating that such an outcome is impossible. He continues to ask if the group has ever heard of Zeref's book of dark Magic, and Gray instantly thinks of Deliora. Continuing, Arcadios states that he believes Zeref was the one who turned Acnologia from man to Dragon, and that if they get rid of Zeref, Acnologia will follow.

Upon seeing Arcadios and Yukino, Gray wonders why a high-ranking member of the Fiore Army would be in the catacombs and listens as Yukino states that they will be able to defeat Zeref and Acnologia with their plan, before following the two of them to Mercurius. Upon entering the castle, Gray comments on its size and, upon hearing of the purpose of the Grand Magic Games, wonders if they have been stealing Magic every year. Upon being shown and told of the Eclipse Project, Gray is shocked and quietly wonders about it. Surprisingly, the army shows up and surrounds them as Darton approaches and orders the arrest of Lucy, Arcadios and Yukino, much to Gray's shock. After Natsu's failed attempt to save them, his Magic Power is sucked from his body at which point the Fairy Tail Mages are ejected from the castle, but told that they may have an audience with the King if they win the Grand Magic Games.

When they return to the lodgings, he and the others explain to Makarov and Laxus about Lucy's capture. Gray says that they can not be sure if they will get Lucy back after they win. Gray strips and listens to the others as they discuss why would the King not capture them. The next day, Team Fairy Tail, consisting of Gray, Juvia, Laxus, Erza and Gajeel, enters the auditorium declared as first place so far. As the announcers explain the rules for the final day, Gray and the rest of the team listen in. While talking, Gray explains that aside from rescuing Lucy, they have another reason to win the games, with Laxus finishing that it's to make up for seven missing years as everyone joins in a group cheer. When the games start, the members of the other teams scatter but Gray and the rest of the team stay put, much to everyone's surprise even as battles rage. Soon after multiple Mages are knocked out by opponents, Mavis explains that she presented them with a strategy for victory and gives them the command to go, at which point they rush into battle.

While going in to fight, Mavis notes that Rufus will make a move, which he does. Using his A Night of Falling Stars, Rufus attacks Gray and the rest of the team, who manage to dodge, with the exception of Laxus, who blocks it. The Mages later follow Mavis' plan to eliminate their opponents, with Gray taking out Hibiki Lates of Team Blue Pegasus after the latter escapes from Gajeel. Gray later confronts Rufus inside a library, precisely where Mavis told him he could be found. As Rufus expresses the fuzziness of his memories surrounding Gray, the latter tells him he has no need for memories as he'll be defeated.

As the fight between Gray and Rufus begins, Gray attacks with various spells one by one. Unable to hit Rufus with his Ice-Make: Ice Impact and other attacks, who dodges and memorizes them, he listens as Rufus explains the nature of his Magic: he can memorize all the Magic that he has seen and can create new spells. Rufus combines the Magic of Gray and Orga Nanagear and creates his own Magic, injuring him. Gray guards with Ice-Make: Shield as Rufus continues his assault but as Rufus "forgets" this ability, Gray's shield shatters, allowing the attack to hit Gray.

As Rufus declares that there is no way he can be beat, Gray replies that since he's been a Fairy Tail Mage, he has never lost to the same opponent twice, much to Rufus' amusement. As Gray performs his next attack, Ice-Make Unlimited: One Sided Chaotic Dance, Rufus finds his memorization unable to keep up with the spell's speed, which causes him to be hit by this attack. As Rufus claims that he has memorized flames strong enough to defeat Gray's ice and uses his Memory-Make: Karma of the Burning Land Gray replies that he has memorized even stronger flames and delivers a final blow with Ice-Make: Ice Bringer, defeating Rufus and taking his hat for himself. Gray then stands over the defeated Rufus and enjoys his victory, as he is announced the winner, much to his opponents' shock and his guildmates' elation.

After the battle, a wounded yet still standing Gray continues to wander the city in search of opponents. As he walks, he watches Juvia and Sherria fighting, and thinks that he shouldn't have come. Juvia and Sherria stop fighting because they notice Gray and Lyon. Gray challenges Lyon to a fight, and Juvia, misinterpreting the situation, runs up to Gray and asks him where their honeymoon will be, to which Gray audibly, albeit comically, questions Juvia as to what goes on inside her head.

With Juvia still dazedly latched onto him, Gray prepares to do battle against Sherria and Lyon. As Lyon attacks, Gray dodges by flipping backwards, calling out to Juvia in the waters below. Juvia supplies Gray with an abundance of water, which he uses to attack, though the move is blocked by Sherria. As Lyon calls the idea of attacking with Juvia's water "dirty," Gray is attacked by his technique. Juvia comments on Lyon's strength but Gray notes that their teamwork is not particularly effective, giving them a chance to win. However, the two are heavily injured by Lyon and Sherria and begin panting heavily as their opponents decide on a way to finish them off. As Juvia looks down, Gray puts his hand on her shoulder and tells her that Lyon and Sherria still have teamwork as a weakness and that they can do better. Taking her hand, Gray tells her they can use their full Magic, which a determined Juvia agrees to.

Together, Gray and Juvia begin to cast their spells, springing forward towards Lyon and Sherria. Seeing them approach, Lyon demands that Sherria help him defend, though Sherria seems to be stuck in a daze at the sight of the two Fairy Tail Mages, and offers no support, allowing Gray and Juvia to commence their attack, their two spells sending the Lamia Scale duo flying. Their opponents defeated and two points added to their teams score, Gray smiles at Juvia, then becoming uncomfortable when she states that she is never going to let go of his hand.

Shortly after the battle, Gray spots a signal flare from Sting in the sky, and together the two head towards it, arriving with the other members of their team at the Dragon Slayers location. Seeing that Sting wants to take them all out whilst they are injured, Gray asks if he would prefer one on one, though Sting rebuts that he could easily take them at the same time, due to their conditions. Watching the Sabertooth man power up, Gray stands tall and proud beside his team-mates, awaiting whatever is coming next. Nothing does though, as Sting begins to second-guess himself, and eventually falls to the ground without trying to land a blow, openly declaring his defeat. Hearing that due to this act, Sting has granted Fairy Tail victory in the Games, Gray smiles at his team. Seconds later, Millianna appears with Lector, and, seeing Sting and his Exceed partner reunite, Gray smiles.

As Gray congratulates his other team members on their hard work, Sting suddenly turns to the group, asking them why Natsu was not participating in the event at all. Being reminded of their friends in Mercurius, Erza asks if anyone has seen the flare that was meant to signal their safe return, and Gray worryingly replies that he hasn't. Now on edge, Gray turns towards the castle, silently pondering Natsu and Lucy's safety.

Before Gray and his team can properly celebrate their achievements in the Grand Magic Games, they are hailed to the center of Crocus alongside hundreds of other Mages, where the King of Fiore waits with startling news. Stating that in the hours of the following day over 10,000 Dragons will approach and attack Crocus, the King begs for the assistance of the present Mages in helping to drive off the threat and save the people. Alongside everyone else, Gray agrees to help, and is later approached by Lyon, who seems excited at the opportunity to fight with Gray rather than against him. Gray, however, tells Lyon not to get in his way. With the start of July 7, Gray is present with the rest of the Fairy Tail members at Central Square, when Levy and Gajeel discuss that it's the day when the Dragons disappeared and now, in the same day, they're supposed to return. When Cana questions Erza's injuries and Erza replies that she's fine, Gray praises military healers and Sherria, saying that it's thanks to them that they were able to recover at least a little, although Juvia claims that Wendy would be able to heal them fully. Afterwards, they watch as the moon is in a state of Eclipse.

As a sound is heard coming from Mercurius, Gray realizes it is the opening of Eclipse. Soon after, destruction rages through Crocus and is noticed by Gray who wonders what it is, not knowing it is the work of a Dragon. Later, Gray and the rest of Fairy Tail encounter the Dragon Atlas Flame, who releases a Dragon's Roar and disperses the members of Fairy Tail. Blown back by the roar, Gray lies on the ground as he affirms that Atlas and Acnologia are not on the same level; only to be rapidly pushed back once again by the Dragon wrapped in flames. Motherglare then soars above the vicinity and deposits numerous eggs into the ground, which later hatch into Dragon-like beings. Laxus decides to confront Atlas Flame by himself and instructs the rest of the Fairy Tail members to defeat the Dragon-like beings, to which Gray and the rest of the members unleash their resistance against Motherglare's spawns.

Swinging his way through the enemies at hand, Gray reaches Bar Sun, where Juvia, Meredy, and Lyon are all holding their own against the small Hatchlings, when suddenly one of the small creatures releases a sharp beam towards Juvia and Meredy. Before the beam is able to hit either of the female Mages, Gray jumps in to save them and ducks just in time to avoid the attack. Moments later, Gray looks at the blushing Juvia who is flattered to have him touching her bottom whilst saving her. Getting up, Gray looks at Juvia directly in the eyes and demands for her attention, claiming that he has something to tell her. Without a second thought, Juvia approaches Gray and, passionately, ponders what Gray has to tell her; even thought he states that it's nothing important. However, before Gray is allowed to speak, one of the hatched eggs releases another blast from its mouth and directs it towards Juvia. He shoves her to the side and takes the hit for her, which creates a moderate size hole in his left pectoral. Spitting out blood, Gray is simultaneously ambushed by the opponents; having parts of his body scatter about due to the force of the blasts. Receiving one last shot through the head, his name is screamed out in agony.

Gray's bloodied corpse lies on the ground; Juvia sheds tears over his body. Lyon then screams, to no avail, for Sherria to come and help. Sobbing, Meredy weakly states that Gray was shot through the head, also mourning his death. Ultear then rewinds time by one full minute, bringing Gray back to the instant before his death. Gray once again pushes Juvia and Meredy out of the way of the way of the Hatchling's laser; Gray motions to talk to Juvia again, but experiences déjà vu. Seeing his impending death, Gray becomes unnerved at the thought, describing the sight as chilling. Just then, according to his memory, several hidden Hatchlings appear from behind a fallen piece of lumber. As they prepare to attack, Gray and Lyon combine their Ice-Make to create a large Shield. Following that instance, Gray looks off into the distance, realizing that someone helped them all escape certain death.

With the Hatchlings having disappeared (a direct result of Natsu having destroyed the Eclipse Gate), Gray sits down on the ground and breathes a sigh of relief.

In thanks to the Mages who helped fight the Dragons, everyone is invited to Mercurius for a dance ball. Gray arrives and instantly starts an argument with Gajeel, criticizing his choice of clothing only to be criticized in turn for not wearing any. During the party, Gray is approached by Juvia, who recently had a makeover and now calls herself "Juvia 2.0." As she reaches out to him confessing her love, Gray rejects the confession and walks away, leaving her to fall, stating that he is also changing and will firmly say "No" to that which he does not like. Hearing this, Juvia grows even more affectionate towards Gray, something which he states is even creepier. Lyon hears his words and tells him not to say such a thing, adding that he now knows Juvia won't come after him. Hearing this, Gray starts to wonder where Natsu is. Soon after, various guilds attempt to get Yukino Agria to join their ranks, among which is Fairy Tail, alongside the members of which Gray stands, proclaiming their desire. As a result, a fight breaks out amongst the guilds, during which Gray tangles with Rufus. However, the fight is stopped by Arcadios, who states that the King will arrive to greet them. Rather than the king, it is Natsu who greets them, wearing the crown and stating he is the king. While the other Mages are shocked, Gray simply shows embarrassment alongside his comrades before cracking a smile.

After the party, Gray, along with Natsu, Erza, Lucy, Wendy, Happy and Carla, return back to Magnolia riding on a carriage, and Gray complains about Natsu's motion sickness. Somewhere along the way, Gray notices and old woman standing and looking up at the sky, and, when she turns and smiles to him, Gray immediately asks his guild mates to stop the carriage. After she smiles at him and shakes her head, he changes his mind. As Gray looks back at his memory of being shot through the chest and killed, he finds out that Ultear, like her mother, chose to sacrifice her own life to save him, before bursting into tears.

With everyone returning to Magnolia afterwards, Fairy Tail is welcomed by many as the winner of the Grand Magic Games. However, as Juvia notices, Gray doesn't share everyone's happy mood. She tells him that it's not nice to have that kind of expression while everyone else is celebrating. Acknowledging this, Gray notes to himself that he needs to keep smiling for "her" sake as well and gives his thanks to Juvia, much to her delight. He then watches as Magnolia's Mayor reveals the reconstructed guild building.

Eclipse Celestial Spirits arc
Note: Events in this arc occur only in the anime and do not constitute canon material.

Sun Village arc
After returning to the guild, Gray and Natsu take a job together but after finishing their mission quickly, the two Mages break out into a 3 day fight. Despite his face being extremely swollen, Gray continues to throw punches at Natsu, yelling at him that he always acts without thinking. As Erza tries to break up their fight, the two punch her, not realizing what they are doing. As they come to the realization of what they have done, they begin to get scared and invoke her wrath. Back at the guild, both Natsu and Gray tell everyone they will never work with each other again. However, Makarov informs them they have a new job request asking for the two of them. Looking at the request, Makarov becomes eerily serious, but Natsu and Gray continue to say that they will not work together. Makarov tells them that they must take the request and they must not fail, as the request is from Warrod Cken, one of the top four members of the Ten Wizard Saints. Upon hearing this, Gray and Natsu are left speechless.

Heading to meet their client in the mountains, Gray continues bickering with Natsu, telling him he didn't eat his meat and asking him to fix his hair. Despite stopping momentarily, Gray soon gets into it and tells Natsu he can be defecated by Erza. Suddenly, Wendy spots Warrod Cken's house, prompting everyone to enter. Warrod tells everyone to keep quiet around his plants but soon reveals that he was joking, prompting Gray to wonder if he is really as great as he is said to be. As Warrod continues talking and telling weak jokes, Gray expresses his ire at the old man.

Moving outside, Warrod explains to the group about the Village of the Sun, which worshiped a powerful burning flame but had since frozen over by unknown means. Despite this, the people lived and Warrod explains that he wants them to save them. Natsu is eager but hearing the job description, Gray feels he is not suited, but is told otherwise by Warrod, who says his power will be needed as well. Hearing Warrod's further words about how friends in one's guild help one overcome their problems, Gray looks at Natsu and decides to accept the request alongside his friends. Gathering their stuff, the group is sent flying on a terraforming tree towards their destination, with Gray watching the sights that go by with amazement.

Arriving at the town shortly after, Gray and his friends are shocked to discover that the village is actually one inhabited by giants. However, everything is in fact frozen, and, putting a hand to the ice, Gray remarks that he has never sensed such Magic before, but that for some reason it seems familiar. As the group wonders what to do, they are approached by a trio of men, who reveal that they are treasure hunters who have come to steal the eternal flame from the village now that the giants guarding it are incapacitated. When Gray points out to them that the flame has also been frozen, one of the men procures a bottle from his pocket, revealing that it contains a liquid form of Moon Drip that they intend to use to uncover and procure the flame. Realizing that they themselves could use the liquid to save the town, Gray and the other hastily chase the treasure hunters to steal the bottle from them.

Gray and the other Mages continue chasing after the treasure hunters, who soon decide to stop running and fight against the Fairy Tail Mages. When Gray sees that Natsu has a hard time fighting against his opponent, Gray attempts to interfere, but is attacked by another member of Sylph Labyrinth named Hiroshi, who uses an extendable sword to attack Gray. The latter manages to dodge the blade just in time to not get injured. Soon, all the Mages come to realize that their opponents are very skilled fighters.

Continuing to stare down Hiroshi, Gray listens as the treasure hunter explains that Sylph Labyrinth won the Secret Treasure Games, making them the best Treasure Hunting Guild in Fiore; hearing Natsu praise them for such an achievement, the Ice-Make Mage demands that Natsu cease such an action. However, when Drake states that Team Natsu are a bunch of "random Mages," Gray scoffs at this and retorts that aren't random Mages before revealing that he stole their bottle of Moon Drip, leaving the treasure hunters utterly befuddled. Hiroshi then attacks Gray, demanding that he return their Moon Drip; Gray refuses, stating that they need save the giants and must therefore keep it. Dodging Hiroshi's strike, Gray throws the bottle of Moon Drip to Natsu. Gray soon looks on in shock as Happy fails to catch the bottle of Moon Drip, leading to its breaking and spillage unto the ground. However, seeing the Moon Drip melt only a small portion of the ice, Gray states that it wasn't enough to save the village, despite what they thought. Seeing Natsu run off, Gray demands that he wait and chases after him.

Chasing after the Fire Dragon Slayer, Gray becomes separated from the rest of his friends. Arriving alone at the Sun Village, he spots a man walking nearby, and calls out to him, asking if he is affiliated with the Sylph Labyrinth treasure hunters. As the man turns to look at him, Gray realizes that his mouth is furry and his teeth pointed and overgrown, and quickly questions what is wrong with the man. Ignoring him, the man claims that he is going to eat him, and begins to climb the rocky ledge separating them. Beginning to back up, Gray suddenly realizes that his clothes are too big: he has been turned into a child. Questioning what the hell is happening, Gray begins to recall the events of his childhood and the trauma he faced at the hands of the Demon Deliora, and, looking down at his opponent, suddenly relates the two when he realizes they look and act in a similar way. Breaking down and screaming in fear, Gray is reached by the man, who grabs him in his giant hands by his neck and hoists him up, commenting that it's not unusual for those turned into kids to remember their childhood experiences. As Gray squirms in his grasp, the man comments that there are certain places people must not go in their life, the Sun Village being one, as it is one side of the gate to the underworld. Beginning to cry, Gray hears a voice nearby, which tries to sooth him and calm him down by reminding him that Deliora is gone. As the voice encourages him to be strong for the sake of his friends, Gray realizes that the voice he is hearing is Ultear's, and angrily strikes out at the hands encasing him, causing the man to drop him to the ground. Landing and drying his tears, Gray recounts how so many nostalgic parts of his past seem to have accumulated in one place, and asks the monstrous man if he is responsible for the freezing of the village. As the man confirms that he is, Gray takes his stance, vowing to fight and show him what real Ice Magic can do.

Gray is told that thanks to the Law of Regression Magic, he won't be able to do anything with his child-like body but as the Succubus Eye member says this, he realizes that he's stepped off the cliff and is now on Gray's ice. Seeing this, Gray cancels his Magic, causing the Dark Mage to fall down the cliff. Asked when he did that, Gray reveals not all of his abilities were lowered, and his mind in fact feels better than ever, stating that due to being a kid, his imagination, the basis of his Ice-Make Magic, has been drastically improved. As the Succubus Eye member returns, Gray tricks him with a transparent layer of ice over the ground, allowing him to hide underneath. Taking the chance to attack, Gray uses his Ice-Make hammer but is shocked to see its minuscule size. Undeterred, Gray turns the ice into snow, setting a cold chill upon the Mage's head. Taking note of this, Gray realizes that the Dark Mage is not the one who froze the village as a real ice Mage would not such a minor amount of coldness. Telling him he's not very strong, Gray states that one has to make their opponents weak to fight them. Suddenly, Gray finds himself back in his normal body, whereupon he is promptly attacked the furious Dark Mage. Initially striking back, Gray is quickly knocked down and realizes his opponent has turned into a Demon. Seeing him, and remembering Deliora, Gray realizes his opponent is a Demon from the Book of Zeref.

Distracted by his shock at Doriate's identity, Gray is struck by the Demon and is quickly returned to his child-like state in one loud roar, confusing the Ice-Make Mage. Just then, Happy and Carla fall from the sky, warranting Gray their attention; Gray realizes that Doriate's roar affected the entire Sun Village. Attempting to protect his friends, Gray attacks Doriate multiple times with his Ice-Make, though each attempt is just as useless as the one before it. Very quickly, he is kicked away by Doriate and, reeling from the strike, panics as the Demon moves to attack him once more, though he is quickly saved by Happy and Carla. Taking note of Doriate's tendencies, Gray realizes that the Demon is weak to the magical properties of the ice encasing the Sun Village and that channeling the Magic into him is the only way he can win. Being struck once more, Gray gains the confidence he lacked during the start of their mission and successfully pours the Magic of the ice through his body and into Doriate, both defeating him and negating the effects of the Law of Retrogression. Perturbed by the power of the ice and Doriate's true form, Gray listens as the Demon tells him that he and his friends have forever opened Hell's Gate; shocked, Gray watches as a demonic, avian creature swoops down and bites Doriate.

Gray, along with Happy and Carla, runs away from the creature, running into Natsu, Lucy, Wendy and Flare in the process and warning them about the creature following him. Gray decides to melt the ice over the Eternal Flame, while Natsu beats the one-eyed creature. Unsure about being able to melt the ice, Gray explains to Lucy's group that he will channel the Magic Power of the ice through his body and change its form. Although he acts according to plan, the Eternal Flame vanishes along with ice surrounding it, much to the shock of the group.

Seeing this, Gray finds himself to be at fault and believes he will not be able to save the giants as a result. However, as Wendy tells everyone that the flame is not truly gone, Gray looks on and sees a small flame burning in the distance. Knowing that Natsu can restore the fire, Gray watches as he continues to deal with the bird which chased him. The battle becomes fierce and Gray is nearly hit by the monster's attacks, but the beast is soon subdued by Natsu. Once Natsu restores the fire, Gray is surprised as the guardian spirit turns out to be Atlas Flame, the Dragon whom Natsu fought alongside in the Grand Magic Games. Remembering who he is, Gray listens to Atlas attempt to remember who he is and notes that he doesn't have a grasp of his memories. Wendy reveals that she called him using Milky Way. Hearing his story about being frozen by an Ice Devil Slayer Mage, Gray realizes that such a person freezing the village explains why the ice was able to harm Doriate and wonders who the Mage is. Soon, Atlas remembers who he is and uses his power to send a wave of heat to melt the ice around the village. Lucy quickly asks Gray to use his Magic on her to keep her cool, which he quickly does. Seeing the village saved, looks around in amazement before staying silent upon realizing that Atlas was gone.

With the giants free, Gray and his teammates visit them and soon begin talking as they find it hard to believe such small people saved them. Soon, the girls begin wondering about the freezing of a village, with Erza suggesting it was an accident. Gray is hesitant to believe such a thing however, stating that they don't know the enemy's true motive. Considering Doriate's warning about the gate to hell, Gray believes Tartaros was involved and had Succubus Eye guard the village on their behalf. Soon after, Gray and the rest of the team spend their night partying with the giants.

The group then returns to the house of Warrod Sequen, praised by the Wizard Saint for their success. Gray asks Lucy about the thieves, with the latter revealing that they kicked them away. Afterwards, as Warrod jokes about paying the Mages with a potato, Gray yells out that they want cash. Later, the women head to a secret hot springs, but much to their shock, Gray and Natsu are also present, with the Ice Mage claiming that they can enjoy this as well. Lucy complains about it, but the guys state that they were there first and further brush Lucy's arguments off by saying that they've seen her naked plenty of times. Gray then backs off as Erza attempts to wash their backs, with the latter recalling the times when they used to take a baths together. Afterwards, Warrod reveals himself to be one of the founding members of Fairy Tail, much to Gray's shock. The Ice Mage listens as Warrod explains about the original purpose of Fairy Tail and sings the Song of the Fairies. Soon after, the organization of Tartaros becomes the focus, with Gray realizing the connection between them, Zeref and Doriate. As Natsu, upset for not learning anything new about the E.N.D., begins throwing punches in anger, and even though Gray tries to warn him, it's too late as the group witnesses an injured Erza get ready to pay him back.

Tartaros arc
Soon after returning to the guild, Gray is approached by Juvia who wants him to eat bread she baked with his face on it. Unwilling to eat his own face, Gray is given bread with Juvia's body image on it, alarming him. As everyone takes note of the scene, Gray decides to eat but inadvertently eats the bread with his face on it. Following the brutal defeat of Laxus, Yajima and the Thunder God Tribe at the hands of Nine Demon Gates member Tempester, Gray watches solemnly as Porlyusica informs the entire guild that their conditions are critical and they may not make a full recovery, and again when Makarov lies to Freed about the casualties in the village. Gray analyzes the situation and hears Lucy confirm that although their intel on Tartaros is insufficient for them to attack, they know that Tartaros' objective is to eliminate all current and former council members, leading him to question if they should head to the homes of all former members. However, Macao reminds him that their location is classified. Seconds later, Loke appears and reveals that he knows the location of several former council members, which leads Makarov to create groups and send them out to protect different councilors. Gray listens closely as Makarov announce that Tartaros is their enemy and that they must avenge Laxus and the others; the teams begin to head out.

Arriving at the house of ex-Council member Hogg, a saddened Gray and Juvia report back to the guild that they found the man dead, with the entire town looking like it was sliced to bits by some huge weapon. Gray is later shocked when he hears Michello explain that Tartaros are after Face, a Magic pulse bomb design to nullify Magic across Fiore. When Michello reveals that the weapon is sealed by being magically linked to three ex-Council members, Gray comments that it is for that reason that Tartaros are going around eliminating everyone with connections to the Magic Council. Gray and Juvia ride on a leopard-like animal as they head back to the guild, with Gray claiming that a big portion of the councilors' addresses has been found since their departure. Gray feels Juvia's grip around his waist tightening as the frightened woman remembers the heavily destroyed town they were sent to, but is sure enough reassured when Gray tells her that he is here with her; further stating that Fairy Tail will always arise victorious. Gray eventually returns to the guild and finds out that Natsu, Erza and Mirajane are nowhere to be found. A short while later, Happy returns, revealing their kidnapping to Gray and others. He also intends to tell Gray about Silver, however, in the end, decides to keep quiet about it.

Elfman is soon to return to the guild, receiving Gray's attention when the latter reveals that Lisanna has been captured by Tartaros. He attempts to console him, but is interrupted by Cana, who begins to scold the man. Before Cana can continue to name Elfman's faults, Gray ends her rant and tells her that there was no need for her to treat Elfman the way she did. After Levy manages to pinpoint Tartaros' location and reveals that it currently flies just above Magnolia, Gray and the other Fairy Tail members start getting pumped up to fight Tartaros and save their friends, when a huge explosion suddenly goes off and destroys the guild.

Prior to the explosion, Cana turned Gray and all the other guild members into cards and had the Exceeds head straight for Cube, where Gray and all the other Fairy Tail members are released from the cards to launch their counterattack. Doing battle with the Tartaros minions, Gray notes that their tenacity is annoying and attacks them with his Ice-Make; as he is about to be struck, Gray is comedically saved by Juvia, much to his disgust. Gray then watches in amazement as Erza creates a giant hole in Cube, courtesy of her attack on Kyôka, granting the fighting Mages a way into the fortress. Asked what is going on, Gray tells Erza that there's no time to explain but thanks to the hole she made, their forces can now proceed further.

Soon after entering the HQ of Tartaros, Gray happens upon Keyes, who is attempting to stop Lucy and Wendy from reaching the Face. As the Demon is about to activate his Curse, Gray appears, punching Keyes. However, the attacked part of Keyes' body turns into an unknown substance, causing Gray's fist to go through it. Lucy and Wendy are delighted to see Gray, but as they have no time to explain, they fly past him, being carried by Happy and Carla. While Gray wonders what this is about, Keyes utters Silver's name in relation to Gray, much to the Ice Mage's surprise. Cube shakes as a reaction to Face's pending activation. Meanwhile, Gray confronts Kieth, frustrated when realizing that his opponent remains unscathed.

In the midst of the battle, Gray is suddenly connected to Warren's Telepathy. As he listens to the Fairy Tail Mages' discussions, he notices the noise that turns out to be Mard Geer entering their conversation through his own Telepathy. Mard then uses Alegria and Gray, along with the rest of the Mages, ends up being trapped in the transforming Cube, in spite of his attempts to free himself. After being freed from Alegria by the Celestial Spirit King's Galaxia Blade, Gray arrives at the location of Lucy's victory over Jackal, where he stops Silver from freezing Juvia with his ice by canceling it out with his own. After getting a good look at the man, Gray begins to go wide-eyed, but his attention is drawn away by the appearance of Tempester, who attempts to kill them all with a breath of fire. He is, however, saved by Natsu, and together with him, Juvia and Gajeel, Gray stares down the four Nine Demon Gates attempting to kill them.

Subsequently, Gray eyes Silver, his appearance prompting inquisition. As Natsu, Gajeel and Juvia all note that the enemy reeks of Gray's odor, Silver swiftly moves in to snatch Gray from the battlefield, claiming him to be his opponent. Gray can only question Silver's actions before the two disappearing from sight. The two land shortly after in a separate part of the destroyed Cube, where Silver explains to Gray the true nature of the Face plan: there are over 3,000 Face devices all waiting to be fired in just under an hour. Questioning Silver's motive in revealing the plan, Gray listens as Silver replies that he just wanted to see despair on Gray's face, as he thought simply killing him would be boring. Appearing deep in thought, Gray asks Silver if they have met before, and Silver confirms that he knows the Ice Mage very well. Believing he knows Silver too, Gray states that though Silver's face and voice are familiar, he is a different person from the one he recalls, and, glaring Silver down, the Fairy Tail Mage demands to know his identity.

Asking who Silver is yet again, Gray listens as the man reveals that he is his father, something that Gray challenges, as he watched his real father, Silver Fullbuster, die right in front of him, and unsuccessfully attacks the Silver in front of him out of rage. Being continuously beaten away, Gray listens as Silver expresses his joy at Gray's rage, and tells the boy that his father is most assuredly alive, but states that their destinies are intertwined and that they are fated to fight one another—two claims that Gray doesn't understand. Attacking the Nine Demon Gate, Gray is pushed back as he learns that his father's body is merely a vessel for the man to use as his original, demonic form is rather inconvenient appearance-wise. When Silver says that he's been waiting to kill Gray, Gray questions this, as he has a right to hate the Demon for stealing his father's corpse, but that the Demon has no right to hate him; Silver reveals his true identity: he is Deliora, the Demon that led to the death of Ur and Gray's family, and that he wishes to annihilate the rest of Ur's pupils. Finding this to be impossible, Gray learns that Deliora was indeed killed by Ur, but that Hell's Core led to his revival; Gray goes on to angrily ask if he truly is Deliora, and when the Demon threatens to reveal his true form to the Fairy Tail Mage, Gray enters a fit of blind rage and rushes at the killer of those precious to him.

Rushing at Deliora, Gray attempts to attack the Devil Slayer, but his attacks are repeatedly proven to be ineffective against Deliora, as he is the Ice Devil Slayer and can eat Gray's Magic. Immediately after, Gray is sliced by Deliora's ice and is taunted by the Nine Demon Gate, which angers the Ice-Make Mage, prompting him to demand that he stop speaking with his father's face and voice. Attacking him again, Gray's spell is eaten once more and he is stricken by Deliora's Ice Devil's Rage; remembering the words of his father when he was still alive, Gray rises and promises to destroy Deliora with his own hands, something which the Demon states to be impossible. Utilizing his surroundings, Gray creates a cannon from ice and fire rubble at Deliora; as he cannot eat the rubble, Deliora is repeatedly bombarded with stone, leaving him with a fair amount of damage. However, Gray's plan is stopped by the man, who freezes their surroundings; Gray calls this Deliora's undoing and, under the pretense of Deliora being unable to eat his own ice, attacks the Demon with his own Devil Slayer Magic, redirecting it like he did to Doriate at the Sun Village. Much to Gray's dismay, Deliora emerges from the last-ditch effort without much additional injury and is further taunted by the terrifying Demon.

The Devil Slayer keeps beating Gray to the ground, all the while he threatens him and tells him that he needs to suffer even more. Despite his grievous wounds, however, Gray rises up again, vowing to beat his opponent before taking the stance to use Iced Shell. Despite Silver telling him that ice will not work on him, Gray insists on using the spell to seal his opponent for eternity. Silver tries to prevent him from utilizing the deadly spell numerous times, only to fail. Gray recalls the words of his friends, apologizing to them before seemingly using Iced Shell. However, his opponent manages to crush his spell, only for him to find out that in fact Gray tricked him again with an ice clone, saying that he will beat him without using that spell, because he does not want to make his friends cry; he uses a steel ball and throws it with his full force at the Devil Slayer using his Ice-Make: Vambrace, penetrating his chest with it and effectively defeating him. After his opponent congratulates him on his victory, Gray reveals that he knows that Silver is, in fact, not Deliora, but his father.

Gray refuses to kill Silver, albeit the latter insist that wishes to be killed by him. Confirming his declaration, Silver announces that he was, indeed, Gray's father, but is no longer human, and let alone a Demon. Silver explains that he has been a corpse for seventeen years, taking part of an experiment held by Keyes, a Demon who can control the dead, shocking Gray. With a grin, Silver reveals to Gray that it was all for the sake of his revenge against the Demons who stole his family; apologizing to Gray for mistaking Atlas Flame for a Demon and freezing Sun Village. After realizing that Silver did what he did in order to protect him, Gray creates a sword of ice and proceeds to comply with his father's wish—Silver apologizes to Gray for harming him. With his sword in the air, Gray recites his guild's way of acting, but reminds himself that Silver is his father, dropping his sword and weeping furiously. Silver stands up, moving in to hug Gray, who asks if he could hold him for a little longer.

Gray continues to embrace his father until, that is, the defeat of Keyes comes to pass, which causes Silver to cease to be among of the living. When he vanishes completely, Gray tells Silver that he can finally rest; as he receives his father's Ice Devil Slayer Magic in the form of a tattoo on his right arm, Gray states that as a Devil Slayer, he'll crush E.N.D. Afterwards, Gray returns to his previous location just to find an exhausted Gajeel being attacked by Tempester. He fires an ice arrow to intercept the Demon and, through unknown means, learns that Tempester is the one who poisoned Laxus and others, urging Gajeel to bring the Demon's blood sample to Porlyusica. Gajeel tells him to think about defeating his opponent first, so Gray proceeds rushing at Tempester, effortlessly freezing the Demon's wind-based spell and then defeating him with Ice Devil's Zeroth Long Sword. As Gajeel expresses his shock, Gray exclaims one more time that he will crush Tartaros. Later, Gray is shocked when he hears Acnologia's roar as the Dragon approaches the ruins of Cube.

Afterwards, Gray is seen making his way through the ruins of Cube, when he stumbles on something familiar. Gray then interrupts the battle of Dragon Slayers against the Underworld King, arriving just in time to freeze Mard Geer's attack. Giving Natsu what he has found, Igneel's scarf, Gray notes to Natsu that he should not lose it again if it is important to him. That is when Mard Geer finds his arm frozen, much to everyone's surprise. He questions who Gray is, with the latter introducing himself as the Devil Slayer that will defeat the Underworld King.

Gray then proceeds to attack the Demon, easily negating his Thorn Curse by freezing it.Saying that he will defeat Mard for his father's sake, Gray moves in to finish his opponent with a Devil Slaying technique, only to be blocked and pushed back by a new entry into the battle, Jiemma, who, like his daughter, has now become a Demon, his power far outstripping anybody from the Nine Demon Gates. He easily brushes Natsu aside and immediately engages the Twin Dragons, leaving Mard to Gray and Natsu. Gray remarks that Mard does not have anybody left to hide behind, but Mard chides Gray by saying that his newfound powers would not work against his true form. He finally reveals his true form and name, Mard Geer Tartaros. Teaming up with Gray, Natsu claims that they will defeat him in the name of Fairy Tail and the two rush forward. Mard distracts them with his Curse to fly up from behind them and grab their heads to carry them into the air, scraping their faces along the walls of the ruined Cube. The two finally manage to free themselves from his grasp and together punch his face into the very wall they were being dragged along.

The three continue to clash, albeit Mard undeniably regains the upper hand as he dodges Gray and Natsu's attacks, while simultaneously lunching his own. Gray uses his Ice-Make: Gungnir to distract Mard, allowing Natsu to appear from within the spear of ice and ambush the Demon; to no avail. The three cease fire as Mard begins to explain the power Curses rely on: grudges, envy, hatred and all negative emotions exuded by living organisms. Before Gray and Natsu get a chance to attack, Mard utilizes his Memento Mori and claims victory. However Gray blocks the attack, which causes half of his body to be demonized, seemingly falling defeated. He later participates in a tag combination with Natsu; using his Ice Devil's Zeroth Destruction Bow to hit Mard Geer only seconds before Face is activated.

Gray's Ice Devil Slayer mark disappears as the defeated Mard falls. Natsu comments happily that everything is finally over, though Gray replies that they still need to destroy the Book of E.N.D. Natsu reminds Gray that Igneel told him not to touch it and to just return it to him, though Gray angrily reminds the Fire Dragon Slayer that E.N.D. is supposed to be the strongest of Zeref's Demons, and that they have a duty to get rid of it before he can ever revive. Now angry, Natsu demands Gray hand the book over; however, before they can continue their fight they realize that the Face bomb has finished its countdown, and is firing. In that moment, Igneel falls to the ground with Acnologia pinned underneath him, and screams for the humans not to give up. With his words, the Dragon parents of the Dragon Slayers all appear from the skies, flying around the continent and using their large bodies to smash through the multiple Face bombs as Gray sighs in relief at their last minute victory.

With Face now destroyed, Gray looks at the ground and finds E.N.D.'s book to have vanished from his hand and made its way to the ground. Igneel then flies away to continue battle with Acnologia, telling Natsu to grab E.N.D.'s book, which Gray answers in reply to Sting's confusion by showing him the book in question. He then reminds Natsu that he made a promise to defeat E.N.D. no matter what, however the book vanishes from his hands yet again and reveals itself to now be in the hands of Zeref, who arrives claiming that the book is extremely important to him. He is shocked at Zeref's ruthlessness when the Dark Mage claims that Mard is unnecessary and burns him after reverting him to book form. He helplessly curses Zeref when he departs with the Book, then yells out in bewilderment to Natsu when the latter runs off to try and help Igneel against Acnologia.

After the fight against Tartaros ends, Gray, along with the other Mages, witnesses the Dragon Slayers reunite with the Dragons, albeit temporarily, as the creatures have already expended most of their remaining strength to destroy the threat of Face. As they ascend to the sky, they swear to watch over mankind for all eternity.

One week later, Gray returns to the wreckage of his childhood town in Isvan and visits the grave of his parents, only to find out that Juvia has followed him there. Upon learning that it was she who killed the necromancer that was controlling his father, which caused him to die once more, Gray grabs Juvia's coat and breaks down into tears before hugging and thanking her for setting his father free, as well as apologizing to her for her having to do such a thing. After calming down, Gray tells Juvia that he will defeat E.N.D. at any cost.

Avatar arc
After the battle with Tartaros is over, Gray lives with Juvia near Amefurashi Village, where the two train, eat, and work together, but do not sleep together, as Gray refuses to do so. However, six months after Fairy Tail's breakup, strange markings appear on half of Gray's body and he leaves Juvia in the village all alone, not making any contact afterwards. Six months after, as Natsu travels around trying to revive Fairy Tail, Gray sits with the members of the cult Avatar, revealing himself as having joined their ranks, his body still afflicted with the black markings. Later, some of the cultists discuss the presence of a Magic Council spy in their midst and accuse Gray as he doesn't have a reason to worship Zeref because his past is enough for him to hate the Black Mage. Gray reveals that his goal is to obtain and destroy the Book of E.N.D., and that he has given up his guild and is willing to use Avatar to accomplish this. He walks away from the group after this ominous declaration.

Later, Gray goes and sits by his lonesome, only to hear Natsu's voice inside Avatar's headquarters. Gray then follows the voice to Goumon's training chamber, where he sees him, D-6 and Abel defeated by Natsu; Gray tells Goumon that Natsu isn't someone they could ever beat and menacingly says that he'll take care of him. Immediately, Gray and Natsu attack each other, paying no attention to Lucy asking them to stop. They continue delivering and blocking the attacks supported by their respective Magic, with Gray explaining that he's doing all of this because that's what he wants. Natsu attempts to persuade Gray, mentioning both Juvia, as well as the revival of Fairy Tail, however, Gray wants nothing with that anymore, asking them to stop playing at friends. This angers Lucy, however, before she can do much, she is brought to her knees, with her stomach in pain. In spite of an initial surprise, Gray recognizes this as Mary's work, watching as the rest of his former friends get captured by Avatar afterwards. He notes that Natsu is just sticking his nose into other people's business again and when Natsu tries to continue the argument, mentioning that Gray has been possessed by Demons, the Ice Mage reveals that he's even gotten rid of the Fairy Tail mark, further proof of his change.

Afterwards, Gray arrives at the captured trio's cell just in time to freeze Goumon before he can kill Lucy, subsequently shattering the prisoners' Magic Sealing Handcuffs by freezing them too. Ruffling his hair back to its former style, he calls Erza and announces himself as a "Code Blue," then hands the phone to Natsu. Gray reveals that he joined Avatar because of his undercover mission, claiming that he wouldn't hang out with such guys otherwise. Together with Natsu, Lucy and Happy, Gray leaves the Avatar HQ and while on move, he explains about his mark, as well as his mission. Natsu questions the reason behind not informing Juvia just to learn that it was to increase the success of the mission. Gray also explains that they were unable to simply defeat Avatar, as they are just a small part of a bigger organization which doesn't get together till the day of Purification Plan. Gray then turns to Lucy, apologizing for his previous behavior, and smiles as he says that he didn't even mind the slap as Lucy was wearing a maid outfit, much to her embarrassment. Together, the group arrives at the entrance of Malba City just in time to stop the attacking cultists. Gray smiles when Natsu points out his improved ability and with the rest of his friends, he gets ready to face the main body of the cultists.

Gray easily takes care of a large number of cultists alongside his friends. As he is facing more cultists, Gray is attacked by a livid Briar, affirming to her that the time spent with them was a lie, which angers her further. Briar then calls Gray out on his desire for the Book of E.N.D., asking if that was a lie too, however Gray takes offense to this and claims that he will without fail destroy the book someday, but not with their methods, as he wouldn't be able to face his father if he did. He attacks her, however Briar makes use of her Clone Magic, which splits her into four; one of her clones claims that she loves Gray, and just then, much to Gray's fear, Juvia appears behind him and attacks the clone. With the other clones angry, Gray freezes them all instantly, including onlooking cultists, and then afterward apologizes to Juvia for leaving; the two strip and then do battle alongside each other, taking out many foes with their friends around them.

A short while later, Gray feels an ominous magical presence in the sky, only to witness the foot of the War God Ikusa-Tsunagi come down and kill many Avatar cultists, after which the entire God manifests itself. Gray then proceeds to witness the God attack with his proportionately large sword; though Gray comes out unharmed, he watches Natsu run up Ikusa-Tsunagi's sword. He then listens as Natsu gives a speech about the meaning of friendship and witnesses him strike down Ikusa-Tsunagi. As the scared cultists attempt to flee, Gajeel arrives with his squad of Rune Knights to arrest them. Gray is surprised to see him as a member of the Magic Council and apologizes for his actions while undercover when Gajeel expresses his gratefulness for his help, but also reprimands him. Their task completed, he can finally engage in casual conversation with the friends he has met after a long time, telling Levy to buff up her infiltration skills and praising Wendy on her growth. He then joins the group in a cheer celebrating their completed task. As he continues talking with his friends, he suddenly notices Frosch, who had followed Natsu with Rogue and Sting, but has now left their side. Gray questions the Exceed's presence, but finds himself unable to resist the adorable creature and cuddles it as his friends watch on happily.

After Avatar's defeat, Gray and Juvia go off on their own, though Gray tells Gajeel not to tell the higher ups at the Council about him and Erza, intent on returning to Magnolia to reform Fairy Tail. Some time later, Gray arrives with most of the other prominent Fairy Tail members, to fulfill the desire to get Fairy Tail back together, where he talks with Laki about her new haircut. He then smiles as Lucy tearfully states that she's finally come back where she belongs.

Alvarez Empire arc
During Fairy Tail's reconstruction effort, Gray asks Juvia for more nails; she brings them to him, although using her Magic, getting them wet. Gray then hears his friends talk about all the rumors surrounding the two, such as that they have kids and got married, and shamefully tells Macao that rather than living together, Juvia more or less just made herself at home in his house and refused to leave. Gray goes back to work, but he is knocked into by Elfman, courtesy of Natsu, which starts a full-scale guild brawl. The brawl rages on until Erza furiously demands them all to get back to work, after which she is declared to be the seventh guild master.

After Mest Gryder arrives and lectures everyone about how the location he is going to lead Erza to is off-limits to anyone but guild masters, Gray and several others follow them regardless, and they eventually get careless and reveal their presence. They then lay their eyes on Lumen Histoire in it's entirety. Mest starts conversation by sharing what he knows about Makarov's disappearance; about the mission Makarov gave to him, to infiltrate the Magic Council for information on the Alvarez Empire. Gray asks Mest if he really hasn't heard from Makarov in a year, to which he confirms. Mest questions if the worst could have happened and Gray and the others begin to look down in silence while Erza tells him to not think that way. Gray states that if Makarov's trick had worked, he would have been back already, to which Mest replies it's true but that they don't know enough of what is going on to state such a thing. Natsu then resolves to rescue Makarov, which everyone gets behind except Erza, who states she doesn't want to worry the guild as they must focus on rebuilding the guild building. However, she says that those currently in the room will go on an infiltration mission to rescue Makarov, exciting everyone.

Later, they all head to the Alvarez Empire via boat, something which afflicts Natsu and Wendy with terrible motion sickness, so Gray carries both Natsu and Wendy to their rooms to recuperate and returns to the others without clothes. On the way to Alvarez, Mest tells them they have to make a stop at Caracole Island to get supplies. As they approach the coast, they see Alvarez Navy ships, and Natsu and Wendy, who can hear what's going on in the naval vessels, tell everyone that their troops are at Caracole looking for a spy. To avoid suspicion, Gray and the others change their Fairy Tail Guild marks to Cait Shelter Guild marks and tell the Alvarez Navy men that they are just on vacation. They make it past the guards, but once they see a child about to be killed by one of the Alvarez Navy men, Gray, Erza, Natsu, and Lucy attack the Alvarez Navy while Wendy comforts the child.

With their cover blown, Team Natsu take out the rest of the Alvarez soldiers who attack them, settling afterwards to await any more who may come. As Wendy and Carla take the child to safety and Mest teleports away to look for the informant, Gray and the others sit down with a local vendor and talk to him about his business; however, the man's shop is suddenly blown away in a large explosion. From the rubble, a stranger approaches, introducing himself as a member of Alvarez Empire's Brandish Squad, Marin Hollow. Gray pays the vendor for the damage done to his shop, and joins his team in facing off against Marin. Marin cancels out Erza and Lucy's Magic and spirits them away in a cloud of smoke. Seeing their comrades disappear, Gray and Natsu ask Marin where he sent them. Marin replies that Lucy and Erza passed the test and thus were sent to his relaxation dimension, but angrily tells Gray and Natsu that they didn't pass the test. At that moment, he drops an injured Mest in front of them and says that he didn't past the test either. Gray and Natsu then angrily try to attack Marin, but he gets the best of them using his Spatial Magic. Before their battle can continue any further, however, Brandish μ of the Spriggan 12 appears and Gray is terrified by her incredible Magic Power.

Left astounded by Brandish's Magic Power, Gray is further surprised when she doesn't attack but rather states she came to the island to eat Star Mango gellato. When she sees the destroyed shack, Marin blames it on Gray and Natsu, leading the two to yell that it was him. After Marin refuses to return the Fairy Tail girls at Brandish's request, Brandish showcases her Magic by emerging the entire island from the ocean, shocking Gray. After Brandish kills Marin as compensation for the injured Mest, and warns them to stay away from the Alvarez Empire, Gray is thrown into the ocean when she shrinks the island down to a sliver of land. In the aftermath of their encounter with Brandish, Gray and his fellow teammates help the island's residents into nearby fishing vessels. After they are finished, Mest teleports them to an unknown location underwater, and Gray is surprised to see that Sorano is the spy. Gray is also shocked when Sorano says she knows where Makarov is, and that she is going to take them to his location. Later, Gray and his friends trek to Vistarion, and he witnesses Makarov's return, having been teleported to the group with Mest's help. The Mages are overjoyed at seeing him after such a long time, however, the revelry is cut short as Mest mentions that Zeref is in the Alvarez Empire as well, something which shocks Gray.

Afterwards, Gray watches as Makarov shows his regrets for going to the empire, with the Ice Mage claiming that not all of it was pointless as they have grown a lot in the last year. Gray is then surprised when Ajeel Ramal, another member of the Spriggan 12, stands against them. As per Makarov's request, the Fairy Tail Mages try to escape on a magical vehicle, but to no avail as they are soon caught up to by a sand golem, Ajeel standing on top of it. Gray asks Lucy to help him intercept Ajeel's attacks and they both get on top of their vehicle, with Gray using the Magic that Silver left him to freeze the golem, destroying it. Gray and Lucy continue fighting off numerous sand minions, until the group and their vehicle are trapped in a pit of quicksand, rendering them unable to move. Ajeel claims that no one has ever escaped this spell before, however, Natsu's explosion evaporates the sand and the Fairy Tail Mages stand against their enemy, revealing the symbol of Fairy Tail on their bodies.

Gray then watches as Ajeel attacks using his sands, attempting to freeze them, but is unsuccessful as the sand nullifies his ice. However, Makarov takes action, trying to protect Gray and others in his giant form by using his own body to shield them, just as Ajeel's Sands of Death rages towards them. At that moment, Laxus' lightning blows the sand wave away, saving them, and an impressed Gray watches as he sees the Lightning Mage standing on top of the airship Christina, with the rest of his team also aboard it. Mest then teleports his group into the airship and thanks to another of Laxus' lightning attacks, everyone manage to fly away safely. Gray is then present as a teary-eyed Makarov rejoices, having the best family one could ever wish for.

Soon after the rescue teams' safe return to Magnolia, the Guild throws a party to celebrate its rebirth. While being served drinks by Freed, Gray asks the male Thunder God Tribe members about their experiences in Blue Pegasus. A brawl soon breaks out and Gray immediately gets involved. The fight is halted by Makarov, who expounds on the threat posed by the Alvarez Empire. But Natsu succeeds in delivering a speech that encourages his guildmates to face this adversity. Gray decides to fight alongside his comrades, but also realizes that a battle against Zeref would mean a chance to get at E.N.D. Suddenly, Mavis appears in front of them, stating that they will need to know about her involvement with Zeref if they want to know why Zeref is after Lumen Histoire, whose true name is Fairy Heart.

Gray is left in utter shock when Mavis reveals that Fairy Heart is in fact an infinite source of Magic Power, capable of feats such as firing the Etherion nonstop. When Mavis is upset about causing all this strife, Gray expresses his gratitude for the creation of the guild, lifting her spirits. Obviously confused when Juvia starts crying out of nowhere, Gray asks her what's wrong and she explains that she feels for Mavis, since she now has to fight the one she loves. Afterwards, the topic of Zeref's immortality is brought up, and Natsu mentions that his right arm is something that can do the job, but he refuses to tell what it is, causing Gray to attack him. Shortly after, Gray listens as Makarov goes over all the information he gathered about the Alvarez Empire.

Sometime later, Gray stands alone on a balcony, where he is approached by Juvia; he tells her that he is grateful for her always being beside him, and tells her that when the battle with Alvarez is over, he'll give her an answer about how he feels towards her. He finishes by saying that for now he wishes to focus, and that like Natsu, he too has an ace in the hole for fighting Zeref and E.N.D. Not long after, Gray and Juvia witness a fleet of fifty Alvarez airships led by Ajeel Ramal descend upon Magnolia. As the fighting begins, Gray notices Bisca firing Jupiter towards the attacking ships and comments on Mavis' strategy being scary. Soon afterwards, Gray senses that the barrier Freed has erected to protect Magnolia has been breached and immediately heads off to face the invaders, encountering Wall's squad. Reinforcements soon arrive in the form of the Strauss siblings, with Mirajane revealing that she saved Seilah by taking her over. While her siblings praise her kindness, Gray deadpans that the result is just the theft of the Demon's body and powers, but is amazed when Mirajane uses her Macro to send most of their opponents to sleep, leaving only their leader and a few soldiers. A bit later, Gray is caught in Ajeel's Sand World and his visibility in his fight is greatly hindered.

Eventually, due to Ajeel's defeat at Erza's hand, Sand World dissipates and the group faces the robotic creations of Wall Eehto, each designed specifically to counter one of the five Mages present. As Gray and the group struggle with their respective robot opponents, Wall leaves to assassinate Freed. However, by swapping robot opponents, Gray and the others are ultimately able to overcome the weakness-targeting abilities of the robots, and ultimately stand victorious. At that moment, an explosion takes place at the Kardia Cathedral, surprising the group and making them worry about the Thunder God Tribe's safety.

After their initial triumph, Gray attends a meeting to discuss their future strategies. On hearing that he will support Lamia Scale and Mermaid Heel in taking back Hargeon, he smirks at the thought of reuniting with Lyon, then wonders about Natsu's absence. The Dragon Slayer is tracked using Warren's Magic Radar, only to be found heading right toward Zeref, his reckless act astounding Gray, who immediately prepares for a change in plans. When Erza disagrees and suggests that they follow their original strategy and simply believe in Natsu, Gray berates her for her excessive faith in the Dragon Slayer, only to have his own trust in his friend challenged by the knight. The argument is broken up by Lucy and Gray is dissuaded from following his own course when Mavis agrees with Erza's opinion. He then blushingly reveals that he is simply concerned about Natsu's safety, causing Carla to try an cheer him up by mentioning the fact that Happy is accompanying Natsu.

Gray later heads south with his team. As night descends, they decide to rest to revitalize themselves for the upcoming clash. They soon notice Laxus' absence, but shrug it off. While his companions sleep, Gray slips out in search of their missing comrade and soon finds him, only to discover the Dragon Slayer suffering from a chestache. He correctly surmises that this is a result of Laxus' consumption of Tempester's magical Barrier Particles and promises to keep quiet about Laxus' condition, simply smiling in confidence when the latter expresses his desire to protect his Guild. When the group finally reaches Hargeon, Gray immediately makes for the front lines to help Lyon. As he fights the Empire's grunts alongside his allies, he finds Lyon distracted by Laxus' fight and explains that Laxus has always been flashy, the two then returning to the task at hand. The trio is soon joined by Meredy, whose presence is questioned by Gray, to which Meredy responds by announcing Crime Sorcière's entrance into the war. However, Gray and Lyon are soon faced by an entirely different enemy as Ur herself joins the fray on the side of the Empire, her existence having been moulded from their own memories by Neinhart. Unable to comprehend the presence of their former master, the two Mages are too shocked to even move.

Forced into a fight against Ur's reincarnation, the two Mages are unable to even hold their own. When Lyon appears reluctant to fight the pseudo-Ur, Gray reminds him that they are facing a fake. He claims that their growth even after their former master's death will allow them to surpass this hurdle, and coldly expresses his fury at the sullying of his beloved master's memories. However, the duo is unable to land a single hit on their opponent, causing Lyon to doubt himself and cast a negative light on his own development as compared to Gray's after their mentor's sacrifice. But Gray claims that his improvement is a result of his resolve to head towards the future without repeating the mistakes of the past, encouraging his comrade to do the same. The two resume their assault with renewed conviction and cheer when their battle ends with the pseudo-Ur's banishment thanks to Neinhart's defeat. With their victory in the battle for Hargeon almost certain, Gray joins his comrades in Fiore's provisional medical facility and informs Erza about the situation as well as their plan to head back to the Guild.

Gray decides to carry Erza back to the Guild while Wendy and Juvia accompany him. On their way back, the four find themselves bathed in an ominous light, following which Gray, alongside Erza and Juvia, is teleported to an arid location. While Juvia searches for Wendy and Carla, he watches over Erza and attempts to ascertain the cause of their relocation. When his ally reports her failure to find their companions, the two exchange duties, but he has no better luck. As they wander about with Gray continuing to carry Erza, the trio happens upon Natsu, Happy and Lucy near Mercurius. Suddenly, the group is astounded to find themselves under the surveillance of a monstrous eye hovering above the landscape. However, they are soon distracted by a telepathic message directing them towards the Guild. Although Gray suspects the trustworthiness of the mysterious entity, his doubts are dispelled when Gajeel's voice confirms that he is accompanying their guide and the group sets off for their Guild, only to find it to be occupied by the enemy. While Erza, who has finally come to, guards them, the others rest to refresh themselves for the upcoming battle.

Gray and the group proceeds to ready themselves for the upcoming battle against one million Alvarez troops, and as they get into the proper mindset, Gray challenges Natsu to see who can defeat Zeref first, but becomes irritated by Natsu's grumbling stomach. Gray and his comrades then charge at the large army, and together, they break through a large number of their ranks and hold their ground until more allies arrive, such as Wendy, Carla, Elfman and Yukino. Before he can rejoice, God Serena appears before the group and assaults them with Purgatory Dragon Slayer Magic and Sea King Dragon Slayer Magic; Gray demands that Natsu eat the Magic, but as the sheer volume of Magic prevents him from doing so. God Serena then fires Gale Dragon Slayer Magic at Gray and the group, but they are saved by Gildarts, who broke apart God Serena's Magic with his Crash, causing Gray and the others to rejoice. Gray then goes on to cite Gildarts' reliability, but as he does battle with God Serena, Gray is caught in Ajeel's Sand World, until Elfman negates it. Gray goes on to watch as Gildarts defeats God Serena and opens a path for Fairy Tail to move forward.

As they move forward, Gray, Natsu, Lucy, Juvia and Happy encounter more soldiers, but find that it has become incredulously cold in a short amount of time. Gray is blamed by Natsu for the cold, but even in spite of Natsu utilizing his fire, everyone except Gray is frozen solid by the arriving Invel. Noticing that Invel is the cause of this, Gray targets him, but is attacked and partially frozen by the Winter General. Then, as he holds his freezing wounds, Gray shockingly remarks that Invel is actually making him feel like he's going to freeze.

Gray immediately blocks Invel's incoming attack and launches one of his own, however, Invel easily halts it and reveals himself to be a pure Ice Mage: one who only freezes rather than creates; as such, he freezes and shatters Gray's Ice-Make. In response, Gray makes use of his Ice Devil Slayer Magic, which takes Invel by surprise and allows Gray to wound him, but the second strike with his long sword is parried, after which Gray is caught in Invel's created blizzard, which is so cold that he admits it could freeze him. Gray then listens as Invel explains that Gray has darkness inside his heart, and that it allows him to be able to stand alongside the Spriggan 12 and other users of Black Magic. Gray, however, says that he was never a good person to begin with, and that he'd become anything to save his guild, which earn him praise from Natsu, who breaks himself and the others free from Invel's ice. At that moment, Brandish arrives and takes Natsu, Lucy and Happy away from the battle; Gray's distracted demeanor is used against him by Invel, who uses his Ice Lock to bind him and Juvia together and force Gray to kill her in order to awaken his darkness.

Reluctantly, Gray fights Juvia and quickly overwhelms her; however, in an attempt to stop himself from harming her, he impales himself, only to express shock that Juvia did the same thing as him. Gray explains his reason for suicide to Juvia, wherein Juvia expresses joy at his words before the two collapse. The dying Gray is saved by Juvia, who performs a blood transfusion with her remaining strength, explaining to him that she learned this to protect him in the event of a catastrophe. Hearing this, Gray breaks down and bargains with her to stay alive, but Juvia instead opts to say goodbye to Gray, claiming that her life will always belong to him. Breaking down, Gray holds her body in his arms and cries out as he remembers all the special moments they shared together, promising that he'll take her feelings more seriously if she opens her eyes. A bit later, a livid Gray approaches Invel (who left the scene) to exact vengeance.

The seething Gray immediately attacks, and overwhelms, Invel, forcing the man to unleash his ultimate True-Ice Kamui, which freezes anything and everything it touches. Gray clashes head-on with the might of the spell and is nearly frozen solid, but manages to mold Invel's ice and use it against him, shattering the True-Ice Kamui before soundly defeating the Winter General with Ice Devil's Zeroth Destruction Fist as payback for his stealing of Juvia's future. Gray then stands over his foe and resolves to leave him alone, as brutalizing him won't bring Juvia back. However, Invel taunts Gray about his misfortunes, stating that as long as E.N.D. lives, Gray will be forced to endure more and more of them; Gray says that he will, without doubt, defeat E.N.D., but Invel says that Gray is the only one who possibly could, revealing to the horrified Devil Slayer that his close friend Natsu Dragneel is E.N.D. After this, Gray learns from Invel that the Demons of Zeref's books have an inborn desire to kill Zeref stemming from being created to kill Zeref himself, and that Natsu is the strongest creation and Zeref's very own brother.

In search of his target, Gray ends up stumbling across an awoken E.N.D. in vehement pursuit of Zeref; seeing Natsu, Gray cryptically calls out to his friend. With Natsu screaming for him to step aside, Gray asks him if he was E.N.D. all along, and thinking back to Invel's description of Zeref's Demons lining up with Natsu's stated desire to kill Zeref, Gray muses that the one he needed to kill was by his side the entire time. Brimming with rage at Zeref's creations, Gray activates his Devil Slayer Magic and violently clashes with Natsu, fully intent on killing him. The two wounded Mages clash rather evenly, but when Natsu tells Gray that he can't be stopped, Gray angrily retorts that he will stop Natsu from breathing altogether.