Episode 43

Defeat Your Friends, To Save Your Friends is the 43rd episode of the Fairy Tail anime.
The Battle of Fairy Tail rages on. Most of the Mages are wiped out by the Thunder God Tribe, leaving only Gajeel and Natsu. Makarov is forced to choose between his position and his guild members. However, the two trapped Dragon Slayers manage to revive Erza, raising their number to three. Immediately after, Mystogan arrives in town, upping the remaining participants to four.
==Summary==
The townspeople start to notice that the Fairy Tail members are fighting against each other. As they speak, Vijeeter Ecor breaks out of a wall, and is apparently fighting with Nab Lasaro. Vijeeter doesn’t want to fight, but is faced with the fact that they are forced to. Elsewhere, battles begin between Max Alors and Warren Rocko, Macao Conbolt and Wakaba Mine, and Laki Olietta and four other girls.
Meanwhile, at the screen of runes that blocks Natsu Dragneel and Makarov, they witness the result of the battles. Happy concludes that this was indeed the battle Laxus Dreyar was looking for, and Natsu is furious, because he can’t participate. Makarov scolds him for his wishes and adds that what they really need to do is beat the Thunder God Tribe so that the spell over the petrified girls breaks. Surprisingly, Natsu thinks that Laxus is only bluffing since he is one of their allies. Natsu keeps trying to get out, but the age limit still seems to affect him.
Meanwhile, Reedus Jonah tries to get out of Magnolia and flee to Porlyusica. He is prohibited from doing so by Fried Justine’s Runes, and soon engages in combat with Fried himself. In the city, Gray faces off against Bickslow while Elfman battles Evergreen. Reedus is defeated by Fried, while Elfman is defeated by Evergreen.
Back at the contest hall, Laxus sends a Thought Projection of himself. He argues that now that Natsu and Erza Scarlet are unable to fight, victory is his, but Happy interrupts, reminding him of Gray. Laxus brushes this off, but Makarov agrees with Happy, stating that Laxus shouldn't underestimate Gray. However, Gray is defeated by Bickslow. With the hopes of Fairy Tail out of commission, Makarov surrenders. However, Laxus wants Makarov to publicly announce his retirement as Master and to name Laxus as the new one. He leaves shortly afterwards to let Makarov decide.
Later, they find Gajeel Redfox still in the contest hall. They try to send him out to help fight against Laxus, but he is unable to leave, as he is also prevented from doing so by the runes. Meanwhile, the Thunder God Tribe pulverizes the other Fairy Tail Mages who managed to win in their previous matches. Within the recent fights, the number of participants has dropped to only two: Gajeel and Natsu. Seeing as they can’t get out, Natsu decides to try to turn Erza to normal by heating her statue. The statue cracks at first, scaring everyone, but soon after, Erza is Fried. Her artificial eye has negated most of Evergreen's Stone Eyes Magic, weakening its effects on her. There are now three participants, but Mystogan arrives, bringing the total to four
Erza leaves the contest hall first and is the one who runs into Evergreen.
==Characters in Order of Appearance==
==Battles & Events==
==Magic, Spells, and Abilities used==
===Magic used===
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===Spells used===
*Sand Wave
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*Purple Rain
*Smoke Fake
*Word Enchantment
*Dark Écriture: Teleportation
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*Maid Lucy
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===Abilities used===
*Flight
*Swordsmanship
*Hand-to-Hand Combat
*Marksmanship
===Weapons used===
*Magic Guns
*Scythes
*Sword
*Possessed Dolls
===Items used===
*Magic Paint
== Manga & Anime Differences ==
*Laki was shown fighting more in the anime.
*The anime showed Elfman getting turned into stone, but the manga implied it.
*Reedus' fight with Fried was shown in the anime, wherein he created a fake Lucy in order to distract Fried. This was not shown in the manga as it simply showed Reedus defeated.
*Gray's clothes differ slightly; in the anime, he wears a plain red t-shirt with a low blue v-neck, but in the manga, the t-shirt has a crocodile like pattern to it.
*During his battle with Bickslow in the anime, Gray is distracted by a young girl looking out of her window at him, causing him to get hit by Bickslow's "babies." This is not in the manga.
==Navigation==
Category:Episodes