Episode 245

Tartaros Arc: Hell's Core is the 245th episode of the Fairy Tail anime, and the 70th episode of the 2014 series.
While Face has successfully been stopped by Wendy and Carla, the battle between Fairy Tail and Tartaros continues; Mirajane against Seilah, and Erza now facing Neo Minerva. As Natsu, Lucy and Happy defeat Franmalth, the soul of Master Hades suddenly appears and says that they must tell Makarov it is time to release the light.
==Summary==
Thinking Face has activated, Franmalth starts laughing at his opponents. However, the Mages prove the Demons wrong by still being able to use Magic, greatly shocking them in the process. As Franmalth first gets seemingly terrified due to the failed plan, he subsequently lunges at Natsu, angrier than ever before. While Natsu is temporarily fending off against the Demon's swift attacks, Lucy thinks of a way to help him. Shortly after, though, by using Hades' stolen power, Franmalth uses Formula 28. In the meantime, as Kyôka is shocked to realize that Face didn't go off, she leaves and decides to leave Erza at the hands of Minerva. On the run, Kyôka decides that she has no choice but to awake E.N.D.
Meanwhile, Natsu, Lucy and Happy are being dominated by Franmalth. As Natsu manages to stand up, he only gets poked by Franmalth's Bullet Magic. Now utilizing Hades' Chain Magic, Franmalth grabs Lucy and hits her against the floor, all the while using Bullet Magic to do damage to Natsu as well as Happy. Positive that he is now able to absorb his enemies' souls, Franmalth grabs the three, preparing them for Connection. As he then starts absorbing their souls and effectively weaken them, Natsu starts standing against him, encouraging Lucy and Happy to not give up. As the trio manages to somewhat resist the Demon's Curse, Lucy decides to forcibly close Taurus' gate, succeeding in doing so and, thus, starting to send Franmalth in the Celestial Spirit World as well. However, to avoid such fate, the latter ejects Taurus' soul, keeping him in place. This makes Lucy close Aries' gate as well, forcing the Demon to eject a soul once more. Having Franmalth confused, Lucy takes advantage of that and manages to trick him by pretending to close Natsu's gate as well, with the former releasing him, thinking Natsu is a Celestial Spirit as well. As Natsu thanks Lucy, he subsequently rushes at Franmalth and punches him, sending him flying away and, thus, saving Lucy and Happy from his clutches. As Franmalth reminds the Mages that Magic doesn't work on him, Natsu ends up grabbing a huge rock and throwing it at the former, being unable to absorb it and making Natsu throw more rocks at him, ultimately defeating him once and for all.
Such act releases all the captured souls, one of which ends up being the soul of Hades himself, who appears behind the three, shocking them. Being there only shortly, he tells them that Face is not Tartaros' objective and that they should tell Makarov to release the light. This confuses them, but Happy eventually decides to use Aera to tell Makarov about it. Shortly after, Franmalth remarks that the Demons of Tartaros cannot die, as they can be always resurrected in the lab, subsequently heading there.
At the previously mentioned location, Mirajane and Seilah are still fighting, both of them being exhausted. As Lamy is wrapping Lisanna, the latter is helpless to do anything to help her sister so she hits the former against one of the glass tubes, ending up in a small skirmish with the Demon. Seilah then wonders why she can't use Macro on her opponent, briefly explaining it to her. Afterwards, Ezel appears in one of the tubes, angry for losing to Wendy and Carla and desiring to be revived. As this confuses Mirajane, Lamy goes ahead and explains that the laboratory, known as Hell's Core, is used to respawn all the Demons who were defeated in battle, also mentioning it as a contact with a mysterious Underworld King along the way. This makes Mirajane determined to destroy all of its equipment. As Seilah questions if she could do that, she gets surprisingly shocked as she witnesses all of the tubes getting destroyed by Mirajane without even her needing to touch them.
The latter then explains that she took the control of all the tentacle Demons in the lab through Take Over. As such, due to being equal in those terms, Mirajane suggests Hand-to-Hand Combat instead, utilizing her Satan Soul: Sitri. Seilah then releases her limit and lunges at Mirajane with tremendous force, shocking her completely as Lamy says that Nine Demon Gates are never to be underestimated.
Elsewhere, the former members of Oración Seis are following Jellal and Meredy. Finding a place to rest, Sawyer wonders whether they should rebel against Jellal one more time, but Erik disapproves of such an idea, telling his fellow members about the screams of people he hears. Thinking he could find out where the voices are coming from, Cobra says that he will follow Jellal to confirm to see what he hears.
==Characters in Order of Appearance==
==Battles & Events ==
*Natsu Dragneel & Lucy Heartfilia vs. Franmalth (concluded)
*Gray Fullbuster vs. Keyes
*Erza Scarlet vs. Kyôka (concluded)
*Mirajane Strauss & Lisanna Strauss vs. Seilah & Lamy
*Erza Scarlet vs. Neo Minerva (started)
==Magic, Curses, Spells, and Abilities used==
===Magic used===
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*Bullet Magic
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===Curses used===
*Absorption Curse
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===Spells used===
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*Satan Soul (サタンソウル Satan Sōru)
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*Satan Soul: Hell's Core
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===Abilities used===
*Hand-to-Hand Combat
*Flight
*Forced Gate Closure (強制閉門 Kyōsē Hēmon)
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===Armors used===
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===Weapons used===
*Khakkhara
*Swords
==Manga & Anime Differences==
*The scene where Erza requips her Heaven's Wheel Armor while fighting against Kyôka is not present in the manga.
*In the manga, Erza requips her Clear Heart Clothing, when confronting Minerva after fighting Kyôka. However, in the anime, she requips her Heaven's Wheel Armor.
*In the manga, Natsu threw one rock at Franmalth to knock him out, while in the anime he threw three rocks until Franmalth was defeated.
*The scenes with Jellal, Meredy and the former members of Oración Seis are not present in the manga.
==Navigation==