On the Grimoire Heart Guild's Ship, the remaining members notice a gigantic Makarov waiting for them.
Master Makarov had expanded his body to colossal proportions. He stood like a titan of legend, his massive hand gripping the hull of the dark airship, shaking the vessel violently.
"Get off my island!" Makarov roared, his voice shaking the waves themselves. "You will not harm my children!"
Inside the ship, the Seven Kin were thrown about.
"Go," Master Hades commanded calmly from his throne, unbothered by the giant shaking his ship. "Lucien, deploy the troops. I will handle the little giant."
Lucien, a slender man with silver hair and bandages wrapped around his arms, bowed. "As you wish, Master."
Makarov saw the dark mages deploying. He knew he had to end this now. He began the incantation, his hands glowing with a blinding, holy light.
"I gave you a chance to leave!" Makarov shouted. "Now, face the judgment of the fairies! FAIRY LAW!"
The light expanded, threatening to engulf the entire ship and purify the evil within.
Hades stood on the deck. He didn't flinch. Instead, he raised his hands, and a dark, corrupted light began to gather—a perfect, horrific mirror of Makarov's spell.
"You have learned well, boy," Hades sneered. "But you forget who taught you. GRIMOIRE LAW!"
The two legendary spells collided. Light and darkness clashed, creating a shockwave that flattened the ocean waves for miles. But the darkness was heavier. It was older.
Through the magical distortion, Makarov saw the face of the enemy clearly for the first time. The eyepatch. The beard. The specific magical signature.
"Master... Precht?" Makarov's voice trembled, the spell faltering in his hands. "It... it can't be."
The realization shattered Makarov's concentration. The man he revered, the man who had entrusted the guild to him, was the enemy. The shock was physical.
Hades seized the opening. "Hesitation is death, Makarov."
The dark magic overwhelmed the light. Makarov screamed as he was blasted backward, shrinking rapidly back to his normal size, crashing onto the sandy island shore.
Makarov lay on the sand, looking up at the looming figure of Hades who had descended to the beach. "Why...?" Makarov wheezed. "Why, Master Precht?"
He couldn't do it. He couldn't unleash his full killing intent against his mentor. His heart was too heavy.
Hades said coldly. "You have let the guild become soft."
He pointed a finger. A concentrated beam of dark chain magic shot through Makarov's chest.
Makarov coughed blood, his vision going dark. "Run... everyone..."
Laxus who was at the base saw Makarov transforming into giant and goes to Makarov's location as backup as he gets an uneasy feeling.
"Old man!" Laxus grit his teeth, lightning crackling around him. "Don't you dare die on me!"
He abandoned the camp, turning into a bolt of lightning and streaking toward the beach.
The island descended into chaos. Dozens of Grimoire Heart soldiers landed, engaging the scattered Fairy Tail mages. It was a brawl of survival.
In the forest, Natsu Dragneel stood panting, having just saved the others from Zeref. But a new threat emerged. Zancrow, a blonde mage with a manic grin, stepped forward.
"So you're the Salamander?" Zancrow laughed. "I'm Zancrow, the God Slayer of Flame! Let's see whose fire burns hotter!"
"Fire is fire!" Natsu yelled, opening his mouth to inhale Zancrow's attack.
But the black flames burned his tongue. Natsu gagged, spatting them out. "Hot! It burns! Why can't I eat it?!"
"God flames are superior to Dragon flames!" Zancrow cackled.
Elsewhere, Lucien faces off Lucy, Gray, Brandish, and Cana.
In a rocky canyon, four Fairy Tail mages found their path blocked by Lucien.
"I am Lucien," the man said softly, unwrapping the bandages on his arms to reveal skin tattooed with geometric arrows. "My magic is Vector Manipulation. I control the direction and magnitude of everything I touch."
"Ice Make: Lance!" Gray fired sharp icicles.
Lucien simply waved his hand. The vectors of the ice reversed instantly, flying back at Gray.
"Whoa!" Gray created a shield just in time.
"Open, Gate of the Bull!" Lucy summoned Taurus. The bull swung his axe.
Lucien touched the axe blade. The kinetic energy was redirected into the ground, stopping the attack instantly, then reversing the force to send Taurus flying backward.
Brandish yawned. "This is annoying." She shrank a boulder and flicked it at him.
Lucien tapped the pebble-sized boulder. "Magnitude x100. Direction: You."
The pebble shot back like a railgun bullet. Brandish had to shrink herself to dodge.
"He can reflect everything!" Cana gritted her teeth.
Near the waterfalls, Erza and Juvia faced a woman in a crimson dress holding a parasol.
"I am Margery," she smiled, her eyes turning red. "My magic is Blood Weaving." She cut her own palm. The blood didn't drip; it floated, hardening into razor-sharp projectiles.
"Water Nebula!" Juvia attacked.
Margery mixed her blood into the water. "My blood controls what it touches."
The water turned red and suddenly solidified into spikes, turning Juvia's own magic against Erza.
"Juvia, careful!" Erza deflected the blood-spikes with her Adamantine Armor. "She's manipulating the viscosity and density of liquids!"
Deeper in the woods, Rustyrose adjusted his glasses. "The Arc of Embodiment. Imagination becomes reality."
He conjured a massive, griffon-like beast from thin air. "Tear them apart."
During the battle, Natsu is engulfed by Zancrow's flames.
"Die, Dragon!" Zancrow shouted.
"I won't... give up!" Natsu roared. He stopped trying to defend. He poured every ounce of his magic power outward. He emptied his vessel.
"What are you doing? You'll drain yourself dry!" Zancrow mocked.
A giant hand—Makarov, barely conscious—reached out from the trees to grab Zancrow.
"Let him go!"
Zancrow burned the giant hand, forcing Makarov to recoil. "Stay out of this, old man! The Dragon is mine!"
Natsu fell to his knees. His magic container was empty. A vacuum.
"Hahaha! Out of gas!" Zancrow laughed. He threw a massive ball of black fire to finish him.
Instead of burning him, the vacuum Natsu created sucked the flames in.
"What?!" Zancrow gasped.
The use of so much of his powers had made a significant room in his Magic reserves, allowing him to eat Zancrow's previously inedible flame.
"Thanks for the meal," Natsu grinned, wiping black fire from his lips.
Recharged, Natsu combines the flames of a dragon and a god, defeating Zancrow.
"Dragon God's Brilliant Flame!"
Natsu unleashed a breath attack that was a terrifying mix of crimson and black. It obliterated Zancrow's defense and sent the God Slayer flying across the island.
Natsu faints, before Wendy and the Exceeds work to heal him.
In a different place on Tenrou Island, Rina finally finds Zeref.
Rina, the Time Mage of Grimoire Heart, found the weeping wizard.
"Lord Zeref," Rina bowed. "We have come to retrieve you."
"Leave..." Zeref warned. "Before the Acnologia comes."
With his intimidation, Rina is left paralyzed.
The sheer weight of his aura froze Rina's time-stream. She couldn't move.
Rina managed to break free and used her Time Arc to age the trees around Zeref into dust, attacking him. Zeref, refusing to unleash the Death Predation again, took the hits. He fell, not because he was weak, but because he was holding back the apocalypse.
At another battleground, Elfman and Evergreen are battling against Rustyrose and his summoned monster.
The fight was brutal. Rustyrose's imagination was limitless. He turned his arms into extendable claws, then into shields.
Despite their best efforts to fight back, it is no use and they're nearly defeated.
"Imagination is the strongest weapon," Rustyrose lectured, creating a tower of iron to crush them.
"We will create the Ultimate Magic World," Rustyrose declared. "A world where those without magic cannot survive. A perfect world for Zeref."
"That's not a world! That's a graveyard!" Elfman yelled, punching the ground.
"Be gone.!" Rustyrose manifested a spectral shield that exploded outward, knocking Elfman and Evergreen unconscious.
"Now to finish you—"
But just as Rustyrose was going to make the final move.
Green runes appeared in the air, blocking Rustyrose's next attack.
"Not so fast," Freed stepped out of the bushes, his rapier drawn.
"The Thunder Legion is here, baby!" Bickslow's dolls cackled.
"You imagine too much," Freed said. "Dark Écriture: Absolute Shadow!"
"Formation: Baryon!"
"Beast Soul: Weretiger!"
The combined assault overwhelmed Rustyrose. He couldn't imagine a defense fast enough to block three different angles of attack. He fell, his glasses shattering on the forest floor.
---
Deep in the forest, the ground rumbled. A hand burst from the soil.
Azuma pulled himself out of the deep "Blue Hole" crater. He was bleeding from his head, his clothes torn, and his body screaming in pain. But he was alive. His connection to the earth had saved him from being crushed completely.
Blake Corvus was sitting on a nearby rock, cleaning his fingernails. He hadn't left. He knew the guy wasn't done.
"You..." Azuma spat, his magical aura flaring wildly. "You buried me like a worm."
"You survived," Blake noted, unimpressed. "The roots of the Great Tree protected you. Clever."
"I will not be humiliated!" Azuma roared. He drew upon the magic of the Tenrou Tree itself, his body glowing with green energy. "I will turn this entire island into a bomb if I have to! DIE!"
He condensed all the magical power into a single, devastating beam aimed straight at Blake.
Blake stood up. He didn't take a stance. He simply grabbed the hilt of Tensa Zangetsu.
The air grew heavy. The birds stopped flying. The wind stopped blowing.
Red lightning began to crackle around Blake's body—Conqueror's Haki of the highest order.
"You're loud," Blake whispered.
Blake swung.
It wasn't a fancy technique. It was a horizontal slash of pure, condensed Haki.
"Divine Departure." (Kamusari).
A wave of black and red energy tore through the forest. It bisected Azuma's magical beam effortlessly. It cut through the trees behind him. It cut through the clouds above him.
The shockwave hit Azuma.
He didn't fly back. He simply collapsed. The force of the Haki shock shut down his nervous system instantly. His eyes rolled back, and he fell face-first into the dirt, completely defeated.
Blake sheathed his sword. The oppressive pressure vanished.
He turned to the bushes where Wendy, Mest, Carla, and Lily were hiding, trembling from the sheer display of power.
"Show's over," Blake said gently. "Come on. It's not safe here."
He led them through the chaotic forest, avoiding the other battles with his Observation Haki.
They arrived at the makeshift camp. Mirajane was guarding the injured.
"Mira," Blake nodded. "Keep Wendy and the cats safe. Don't engage unless they come to you."
"Blake?" Mira looked at him worriedly. "Where are you going?"
"To watch the end of an era," Blake said cryptically.
Blake leaped into the air, using Geppo (Moonwalk) to ascend toward the airship. He landed silently on the upper rigging, concealed in the shadows.
Below him, the final battle was raging.
Natsu (recovered), Lucy, Gray, Erza, Juvia, and Laxus were engaging Master Hades.
It was a spectacle.
Laxus gave Natsu his lightning. Natsu entered Lightning Flame Dragon Mode.
The teamwork was desperate, messy, and beautiful. The "Power of Feelings" surged, breaking through Hades' Grimoire Law.
Meanwhile Blake silently destroys the "Devil's Heart" in the engine room, stripping Hades of his immortality.
Then Blake returned back to watch as Natsu delivered the final blow, a roar that shattered the dark master's ambitions. Hades fell.
As the Fairy Tail members celebrated their hard-fought victory below, screaming in joy and exhaustion, Blake looked up.
"Celebrate while you can," Blake whispered to the wind, his hand resting on his sword. " The Calamity is coming."