The following morning, Gray wakes up; he is informed of the village's destruction and is directed to Lucy's room. There, he finds Lucy, Happy, and Cain bound by Erza, who scolds him for partaking this mission along with Aira. She orders him to look for Natsu and Aira and leave, but Gray, like Lucy before him, mentions the state of the village, but Erza responds with a cold "So?"
"Crap. I overslept. I'd just come up with a great idea, too..." Natsu yawned, rubbing his eyes. "Why didn't you wake me up?"
"I'm not responsible for you." Aira replied. They stand in front of the ruins.
"All right! Time to get started!" Natsu clenches his fist while looking up at the ruins.
Gray continues to defend his case, but Erza is as stubborn as ever, and doesn't care. Gray then discloses that he misjudged her, to which Erza responds by summoning her sword. She threatens that if he breaks the guild's rules he won't get away with it, but Gray replies that this is the path he chose, and leaves. Erza then decides to help him, but reminds them that they won't get out of their punishment.
Toby and Lyon are seen in his improvised throne room. They discuss his defeat to Fairy Tail when Zalty enters the room. He announces the arrival of Erza, and also the fact that the ritual must end tonight. When Lyon claims he will not be defeated, Zalty also informs that he will fight. While they talk, fire explodes from the floor.
Natsu and Aira are seen tilting the ruins. Natsu uses his breath attack to break through the floors. They look beneath him and see the Dragon Slayers.
"I usually destroy stuff without realizing it; trying to destroy it on purpose is actually pretty tough!" Natsu laughs to himself.
"You do everything on purpose." Aira said, stuffing his hands in his pants pockets.
"Shut up, bluey!" Natsu yelled back.
"What is the meaning of this?" Lyon asked.
"We turned the building. Now the moonlight won't shine on the demon below!" Natsu explained.
"You...! How dare you...!" Lyon snarled. "Curse you, Fairy Tail!"
"I'm lost... I have no idea what's going on..." Toby asked, confused about the situation.
"It appears they have tilted the building. By destroying half of the support pillars below, they were able to tilt the ruins, thereby preventing the moonlight from reaching Deliora." Zalty explained. "I assume that was his strategy. I guess they're sharper than they look."
"Enough of your blabbering!" Natsu flies off the ground with his fire.
"Fire from his feet?" Lyon pointed out.
"Yeah! Fire comes all outta his body!" Toby stated. Natsu charges at Lyon, head butting him in the abdomen. Lyon's body shatters into ice pieces.
"What?! A fake?!" Natsu looks behind him and sees the real Lyon.
"Ice-Make: Eagle!" Lyon spawns eagles. "You can't dodge them in the air!"
Aira jumps in front of Natsu, using his breath attack. After the smoke disappears, Aira melts the ice using his magic. "Sorry, but anything that water can melt doesn't work on me."
Natsu spits fire from both his feet and starts swinging them around.
"Such ridiculous magic...!" Lyon commented.
"Fire Dragon's Roar!" Natsu aims at the front.
"Water Dragon's Roar!" Aira aims behind Lyon. Zalty opens the ground beneath the two Dragon Slayers, making them fall and saving Lyon.
"You were quite lucky, Cold Emperor." Zalty said.
"Could we keep the fact they got me on the down-low...?" Half of Toby's body is burnt while the other half is drenched with water.
"What did you do?" Lyon asked, furious that Zalty interrupted their fight.
"Whatever do you mean?" Zalty asked in return.
"Don't play dumb. It was your magic that caused the floor to crumble." Lyon stated.
"You could tell? You're truly impressive, Cold Emperor." Zalty complimented. "But please understand. We cannot afford to lose you before Deliora is revived."
"You're suggesting those measly flames and water could've beaten me?" Lyon asked, releasing his Magic Power. He freezes the room in the temple. "Begone. I will take care of them myself." He looks down at Natsu then turns around to see Aira. "I am Cold Emperor Lyon, the only wizard capable of defeating the Deliora. Letting these brats give me trouble would tarnish my name."
"Oh, my..." Zalty sighed.
"Defeat Deliora?!" Aira asked.
Meanwhile, the others are running towards the ruins.
"He's practically halfway defeated as it is!" Natsu said. "You're acting like you wanna break him out of the ice and fight him? You're messed up, that's for sure."
"It is all to surpass Ur..." Lyon said. He attacks with Ice-Make: Eagle. "And to have the rest of my dreams!" Natsu dodges his attacks while Aira uses his Water Magic to melt them.
"Then why don't you just fight Ur personally?!" Natsu asked.
"Haven't you heard? Ur is long dead!" Lyon responded. Natsu remembers when Gray told him that Ur sealed her life away.
"You mean she died along that...?" Aira asked.
"That's right. It was Gray's fault, too!" Lyon creates an eagle behind Natsu. Aira defends Natsu from the attack with his arm. Aira drops down on one knee, taking the damage, but had no effect.
"Aira!" Natsu called out.
"I'm fine! Anything that water can melt doesn't work on me!" Aira gets back up.
Natsu furiously turns to Lyon. "I dunno what happened in the past. But what you're trying to do now is causing trouble for a lot of people. I'm going to bring you to your senses..." He lights his hand on fire. "...with a scorching-hot scolding!"
Gray explains about Lyon's behavior to Erza, Lucy, Happy, and Genie. He states that by defeating Deliora he would defeat Ur, but what Lyon doesn't know is that Ur is still alive. Gray's past with his mentor, Ur, and fellow student, Lyon, is revealed.
Lucy and the rest look at the titled temple, wondering how and why it's tilted. They all assume it was Natsu and Aira. Out of nowhere, some priests attack them. Erza lets Gray to go and settle things with Lyon while they fight the enemies. Natsu and Aira are still fighting Lyon.
Gray recalls his past as he runs.
"Man, there's no end to this! Just give up already, slanty-eyes!" Natsu said.
"Your eyes aren't much different." Lyon spat back.
"Let's finish this!" Natsu's fist turns into flames.
"I just want this fight to end." Aira sighed as his fist gets covered in water.
"Amusing." Lyon uses his Magic as well. The fight gets interrupted by a crack in the wall.
"What the...?" Natsu looks at the cracked wall. The wall breaks open and Gray appears.
"Gray!" Natsu and Aira stare at him in shock.
"Natsu. Aira. Let me deal with him." Gray said.
"What?! He's already beaten you once before!" Natsu refused.
"This will be the end of it. There won't be a next time." Gray said.
"You're rather confident of yourself." Lyon said.
"Ur died ten years ago because of me." Gray admitted it. "But I can't let you get away with hurting my comrades, harming the village, and trying to melt that ice. We will accept our punishment together, Lyon." Gray puts one arm over the other, one palm facing up and the other down.
"That stance...! Iced Shell?!" Lyon immediately recognizes the pose.
"Iced Shell?" Natsu asked. He recalls his memories about Gray and Lyon talking about Ur and Iced Shell.
"Have you gone mad?!" Lyon asked.
"Return the villagers to their original forms this minute!" Gray demanded. "And then take your accomplices and leave!" A Magic Circle appears under Gray. "This is the last chance I'll give you!"
"I see. So you're using that spell as a bluff. What nonsense." Lyon scoffed. Gray releases his Magic even more.
"I'm serious." Gray said.
"You...!" Lyon tries to block the attack.
"G-Gray!" Aira called out.
"The fact that Ur died because of me will never change no matter how much time passes. I have to take responsibility for it at some point. I'm going to do it here. I've been prepared to die..." He glares at Lyon with a serious face. "...for the last ten years!"
"Are you serious?!" Lyon asked.
"Answer me, Lyon!" Gray shouted. "Will we both die or will we both live?!"
"Do it. You don't have the courage to die. You can't possibly have it!" Lyon answered.
"Sorry. You're wrong." Gray said.
"Gray!" Natsu and Aira shout for their comrade.
"Natsu... Aira... Erza... Everyone in Fairy Tail... I leave the rest to you... Sorry, but it's time for me to go." Gray thinks to himself, finally making his exit. "This is... the end!" He releases more Magic Power. "Iced..."
"You idiot!" Natsu punches Gray.
"Natsu!" Gray yelled.
"I'm the one that's gonna beat him!" Natsu said.
"Hey, Natsu! I'm the one who's gonna beat him!" Aira shouted.
"And did I ever agree on that?" Natsu asks Aira.
"Why you little..." Aira growled.
"You wanna go?" Natsu asked, grinning at him. Natsu and Aira start to fight. Gray interrupts the Dragon Slayers by getting in between them.
"I have to be the one that finishes him off! I'm prepared to die!" Gray shouted, grabbing onto Natsu's scarf.
Natsu grabs Gray's wrist. "Since when is dying finishing a battle? Well? Ain't that just running away, huh?!" The temple starts to shake. "W-What's that?"
Outside, Lucy, Erza, Happy, and Cain are fighting against the priests. They too witness the re-tutoring of the ruins to it's original form, which is shown to be Zalty's doing.
"What the heck?!" Natsu pounds on the floor, angry and annoyed.
"Now the light of the moon will land on Deliora again!" Gray stated.
"Sorry for the interruption." Zalty runs into the room.
"Zalty, is this your doing?" Lyon asked.
"The moon will be out soon, so I returned the temple so to normal." Zalty informed.
"What the heck is he?" Gray asked.
"After all that hard work tilting it!" Aira complained.
"How'd you fix it back up?" Natsu shouted. Zalty turns to them and begins laughing. "How did you fix it back up?!"
Zalty ignores Natsu and turns to Lyon. "I suppose we should begin the Moon Drip ceremony." He then runs away.
"Ignored?!" Natsu scoffed. "Oh, it's on, masked man!" Natsu chases after Zalty, leaving the room. "Hold it, bub!" Gray calls after Natsu, but he continues to run.
"Idiot... We're gonna go take care of that bastard. You handle things here!" Aira leaves the rest to Gray. "You lost last time, and it's a disgrace." Gray agrees with him. "Not for you. Show him how Ice Magic is supposed to be used."
"I know." Gray agreed.
"For all of Fairy Tail!" They both shouted, smiling at each other.
Gray then asks Lyon what he would do, if Iced Shell hit, to which Lyon replies that he would take it, since he has comrades with the same goal as him. Gray then tries to persuade Lyon to leave Deliora be and tells him the truth about Ur. Unfortuntely, Lyon already knows this and unleashes a blitz attack on Gray. He puts down everything Gray says, which makes Gray furious. He punches Lyon into the wall, and states that he is done trying to save him. They decide to fight barehanded, without Magic, but since Gray is injured, Lyon gains the upper hand.
"Hold it right there, you masked bastard!" Natsu shouted, chasing after Zalty, with Aira behind him. "How did you fix the ruins?!" He asks once more. Zalty stops running and breaks the ground above them. "You think that'll work on me?!" Zalty puts the pieces back together and fixes the ground.
"As you can see, that is how I returned the ruins back to how they were." Zalty performed.
"What kind of magic is that?" Natsu asked.
"One of the Lost Magics. Magic so powerful and with such grave side-effects that they have been erased from history itself." Zalty explained.
"From history?" Aira questioned.
"Your Dragon Slayer Magic is also so." Zalty said.
"Ours?" Natsu asked, confused about it. "He disappeared! Where'd he go? Damn it!" Natsu yelled, pounding on the floor. Aira easily gets annoyed with Natsu, wanting to strangle him.
Meanwhile, Gray and Lyon keep fighting. He remembers about Natsu's encouragements about not giving up a fight. This makes him get up and determinedly punched Lyon into the wall. He continues to beat down Lyon, getting the hang of it.
Outside, Lucy, Erza, Happy, and Cain realize that the priests aren't Mages like them and can be defeated easily. Erza wants Lucy to finish them, so she summons Cancer, he acts loyal to Erza which makes Lucy annoyed. Cancer goes and defeats every priest in the battlefield.
In the meantime, Lyon gets up, humilated, uses Magic to attack Gray, who seems this unfair since they agreed to fight barehanded. Lyon states that he doesn't care, because Deliora will soon be revived. Gray then confesses the Dragon Slayers' strength.
Zalty stands in front of the demon. "Finally."
"Found you!" Natsu gets closer to Zalty who turns around. "Let's start by burning you to a crisp!" Natsu punches him with a fire fist.
Zalty dodges him, jumping on a rock. "Those are some fine fighting words. But... How did you know I was here?"
"I've got a good nose." Natsu replied. "And you smell like women's perfume for some reason..." Aira finally catches up to Natsu who ran a couple steps ahead of him. "About time you came!"
"Shut up! You run too fast!" Aira huffed.
"You should've picked up the pace!" Natsu teased.
"Bastard..." Aira growled.
Zalty laughs out loud, catching both of their attention. "You see, I must ensure Deliora is resurrected no matter what."
"Just give up already! It's not going to happen." Natsu chuckled.
"Oh yeah? And why is that?" Zalty asked.
"Gray will blow that guy away, and I'll blow you away." Natsu responded. "One million times. And that'll be that."
"We'll see..." Zalty turns around to see the Moon Drip being performed.
"Who is above doing the ceremony?!" Natsu asked.
"With just a single person the moon drip effect is quite weak... But we've already gathered plenty of moonlight. Just a tiny bit more, and... See?" The ice in which Deliora is encased starts melting.
"Oh, crap!" Natsu and Aira shouted, shaking in fear.
"The ice is melting off Deliora!" Aira pointed out.
"I have to do something about the guy on top!" Natsu starts running to the top to stop the guy doing the ritual.
Zalty stops him by breaking the ground beneath Natsu. "I will not let you escape. Chasing after me was a mistake, you see. My little 'Salamander...'"
Aira chuckles under his breath. "He called you 'little'."
"Shut up!" Natsu shouted with his head on fire.
Outside...
The priests remove their masks and Erza realizes that they are survivors of Deliora's attack from Brago.
In the cave...
Zalty laughs out loud but gets interrupted by Natsu. Natsu starts attacking him with his Fire Dragon Slayer Magic. Aira uses his Water Magic to slow down the process of the ice melting. Zalty jumps back, landing on a rock. "You sure about that? If you use fire magic here, it will accelerate the ice melting off Deliora! Plus, Water Magic will only speed it up." Natsu kicks him off the rock.
"If you could've used fire magic to melt the ice, then you wouldn't have had to go through all this trouble! It'll be fastest to beat you here, then smash the guy on top." Natsu stated.
"I am surprised at how quickly you can think on your feet in the midst of a battle." Zalty said. Aira continues to use his Water Magic to try and slow down the melting.
The ruins start to shake which means the ceremony is almost finished. 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 he followed Ur's advice of finding more powerful Mages in the west. He recalls 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 only see his ambitions. He attacks, but Gray disarms him, and blocks his Ice-Make: Snow Tiger using his Ice-Make: Prison. The tiger cannot release itself from Gray's cage, which Gray explains it's because Lyon's creatures are out of balance, having been created with one hand. He then uses his Ice-Make: Cannon to finish Lyon off.
As he does, a roaring noise fills the air. Deliora's eyes glow bright red and breaks through the ice.
"Here it comes!" Zalty shouted. Natsu and Aira cover their ears as they stare at Deliora. Secretly, Aira shakes in fear as he sees the demon in front of him.
Gray recalls his past as he hears Deliora's roar. Gray's only choice of defeating it is through Iced Shell.