Fairy tail casino

Tower of Heaven arc

The Tower of Heaven arc (楽園の塔 Rakuen no Tō) is the seventh story arc of Fairy Tail.

As Team Natsu takes a vacation at the popular Akane Resort, Erza's dark past comes back to haunt her when a few of her old friends kidnap her and plan to make her a sacrifice needed to revive the most powerful Dark Mage in history; Zeref. Now, Team Natsu must find a way to rescue her and Erza must come to terms with fighting the man who was once one of her closest friends.

Summary[]

The Ruined Vacation: Battle At the Casino![]

After Loke gives Team Natsu tickets to Akane Resort, they head off for a vacation. Upon arrival, Natsu, Gray, Lucy, and Happy first decide to enjoy the beach. Elsewhere, Erza unwinds in her room and drifts off to sleep. She dreams of her childhood horrors at the Tower of Heaven where she worked as a slave to build the R-System. She hides in a corner and cries as Jellal Fernandes' voice whispers to her that freedom is just an illusion. Erza then wakes up and looks at herself in the mirror. She changes back into her Heart Kreuz Armor thinking it fits her personality better, before Lucy comes in the room and tells her to get dressed to go gamble at the casino downstairs, where the others are already present. Erza then requips into a rose patterned dress and heads out.

At the casino, Natsu gets angry when he loses a roulette game. As Gray plays at slots, Juvia reveals herself and admits that she decided to tag along. Natsu starts complaining again, when suddenly, a block-headed man named Wally Buchanan appears and tells him how to enjoy himself in an adult place, to Natsu and Happy's surprise. Wally then points a gun to Natsu's head, while everyone in the casino starts running in horror. Meanwhile, Gray and Juvia discuss her leaving the Phantom Lord Guild and becoming an independent Mage, as well as her interest in joining the Fairy Tail Guild. Just then, another man named Simon appears in front of them, swatting Juvia aside and demanding to know where Erza is. At the same time, Erza is playing a card game, when suddenly one of Erza's childhood friends, Shô, comes in to rotate dealer positions, but instead spells out the words DEATH with his cards to Erza. Erza stares at Shô, shocked to see him.^[1]

Shô remarks how its been a while since they last saw each other, but Erza is still surprised to see that Shô is safe. Meanwhile, Simon asks Gray about Erza's whereabouts a second time. Juvia suddenly appears ready to attack in her water form, intending to protect Gray and buy him some time to go find Erza. At that point, Simon gets told, through his headpiece, that Erza has been found, so he uses his Dark Moment Spell to blind Gray and Juvia and escape. While in the dark, Natsu gets shot in the mouth by Wally, and a bang is heard throughout the casino. When the light reappears Shô is gone but reappears behind Erza and shows her his Magic Card by displaying the trapped people inside his card deck by his Card Conversion Spell, remarking that he learned to use Magic too. At the same time another of Erza's past friends, Millianna, a cat like woman, meows and uses her Nekōsoku Tube to grab Lucy, despite Erza's protests about Lucy being a friend. Shô finds this remark insulting, saying that he thought they were friends too, until Erza betrayed them. Wally then reanimates himself to where Shô and Millianna are and tells Shô to calm down while also complimenting Erza's beauty.

Simon also appears as Lucy falls to the ground with her hands and feet tied. Lucy asks Erza why they are all calling her sister, and she replies that they are old friends, which triggers Wally to point his gun at Lucy, much to Erza's shock. Wally reanimates his hand behind Erza and shoots her with a sleeping bullet instead. As Simon grabs Erza, Lucy struggles in her position to get Erza back, but Millianna remarks that she'll be "cat food" in a few minutes. Wally then remembers that he has a gift for Millianna and presents Happy to her, knowing her cat-loving nature. Shô then exclaims that Erza will be returning to the Tower Of Heaven, where Jellal is waiting for her arrival.^[2]

After Erza and her former friends leave, Lucy tries to summon Cancer but fails to reach her keys, when she is suddenly poked by a knife belonging to someone inside of Shô's cards. He ends up cutting the ropes for her and the man is rewarded with a kiss. Once freed, Lucy runs over to Gray but when she touches him, his body breaks into pieces, freaking her out, until it turns out to be an ice clone. Juvia then gets up and lets Gray out of her water body, where she was hiding him, getting a freaked-out reaction from Lucy. Gray sheds his shirt and asks where Natsu is, but then Natsu's signature flame breath appears in the distance, before he starts yelling about how it was rude for someone to shoot inside his mouth. Natsu runs out of the casino, wanting revenge on Wally, with everyone else following, since Natsu has a keen sense of smell and can lead them to Erza.^[3]

At the Tower Of Heaven, Jellal sits on his throne as Vidaldus Taka walks in, reporting that Erza was successfully captured. Jellal laughs to himself and tells Vidaldus why he didn't kill Erza, which was because Erza was going to be the sacrifice to the tower. On Shô's ship, Erza is tied to a pole, and while everyone else is asleep, Shô visits her. She demands to be released, but Shô refuses to oblige. She then struggles to get free but Shô tells her its futile because Millianna's ropes can seal Magic, but Erza corrects him saying she just wants to just equip her armor back so she can feel more secure. Shô tells her that she looks nice in what she has on, and then he hugs Erza, telling her he never wanted to do all this, but it is her fault for betraying Jellal. Erza then reminisces her old friends and her escaping, worried about getting captured and potentially tortured, and that Jellal was the one who gave them the courage to carry on.^[4]

Infiltrate! Staircase to Heaven[]

The Magic Council reacts to the news brought by Siegrain that the R-System still exists. They remember shutting down the R-System projects, but other members point out there was an 8th tower they must have missed and that now it is almost completed. Siegrain interrupts the conversation saying the name of the 8th tower is The Tower of Heaven, while the others tell him to shut up and organize an army to take it down. Michello feels they don't have enough information to do that, but they do know that a cult leader, Jellal, is in control of the tower.^[5]

Gray, Juvia, Lucy and Natsu travel by canoe to the Tower of Heaven. Gray thinks they're lost and Natsu is sick from the transportation as usual, though they are all counting on his nose. Juvia expresses her surprise that Erza got defeated, which irritates Gray as he refuses to accept that she lost, until Lucy tells him to calm down since they don't know much about Erza. Soon, they see the tower ahead of them and continue sailing towards it.^[6]

Inside the tower, as Erza arrives, she is thrown in a prison, which triggers her to remember her monstrous past; when the guards came asking who was the mastermind behind the plan to escape, Jellal courageously said that it was him but the guard decided that it was Erza. Despite the fact that it was Shô who had the idea, Erza accepted the punishment trembling with fear, but also smiling, to assure the others that she was not afraid. Now in the same prison again after years, Shô tells her she will stay there until the "ceremony" starts the following day, in which she will be the sacrifice for "Paradise". Erza tells Shô not to use the R-System to resurrect the Dark Mage because of the consequences it will bring to the Magic World, but Shô is adamant, believing that Jellal will bring them to "Paradise" and that they will all rule together. Erza then brings Shô to his knees by kicking him in the face and requips into her Heart Kreuz Armor, determined to find and fight Jellal.^[7]

Happy wakes up in Millianna's room surrounded by stuffed cats and cat pillows, and he starts looking for Natsu. Millianna asks Happy how he is, and he shocks her when he reveals his ability to talk. Simon then comes in to tell Millianna and Wally that Erza has escaped, much to Happy's surprise that she is somewhere close. Simon tells them she's probably going for Jellal and they all set out to find thisisnl.nl the throne room of the tower, Vidaldus worries about the Magic Council's actions.^[8]

At the Magic council, everyone is still arguing about what should be done, until Siegrain says the tower is way too dangerous to let it stand and recommends using Etherion. Almost everyone initially refuses, claiming the Etherion is their ultimate weapon and is even more powerful than the R-System, but Ultear Milkovich agrees to use it, so Siegrain begs for three more votes to let the chaotic weapon be used.^[9]

Back at the tower, Erza continues fighting and looking for Jellal. On the outside, Natsu and the others think there are too many guards to just walk in so Juvia recommends they go through an underwater entrance she found. She produces water helmets to give the Mages oxygen while underwater, and after they go through and reach the ground, Lucy points out how useful the water helmets were, surprising Juvia, who admits to having made Lucy's tank smaller than the others so that she wouldn't last. Guards then spot the gang but they are easily defeated, and then a door leading to the inside of the tower opens for them. In the throne room, Vidaldus asks Jellal why he is letting enemies enter. Jellal just claims that everything is a game to him and that they just passed a level. At the Council, Siegrain is able to gain one more vote, which leaves him with two more votes needed.^[10]

Once Natsu and the rest get in, Lucy changes into the clothes that Virgo gave her. More enemies start running towards the gang until Erza shows up and fights her way through them, asking about Jellal's whereabouts. Although surprised to see her friends at first, she then tells them to go back and that this is her problem to deal with, but Natsu refuses, as they have even abducted Happy. Erza decides to tell her friends everything she knows about the R-System, meanwhile reminiscing that when Jellal was captured, she and the other slaves decided to fight for their freedom starting a rebellion but by then, Jellal had completely changed.^[11]

Erza's Past: The Battle For Freedom![]

A cult tried to build a tower to resurrect the fearful and terrifying Dark Mage Zeref by using the R-system, also known as Tower of Heaven. They used slaves to build it, and Erza happened to be one of them along with Wally, Shô, Millianna, Jellal, and Simon. After an escape attempt, Erza was taken to the dungeons and was tortured with such severity that she lost her right eye. Her friend Jellal arrived to save her and told her they had to fight to survive, but then was caught by another guard and received a beating, while Erza was sent back to her prison. Then, Jellal was possessed by what he believed was the Dark Mage Zeref, which greatly altered his former kind personality to a more violent one, making him almost completely insane. No longer able to take the abuse, Erza attacked the guards and started a revolution which at its inception appeared to be successful.^[12]

The sudden presence of Mages, however, began to dampen the slavers' chances at victory, and all seemed lost the moment a Magic blast came towards Erza, until Rob, another slave that was forced to work on the R-System, interfered, saving Erza, but sacrificing his life while doing so. To see Rob, who had nurtured her in the manner of a grandfather, blown to dust in an attempt to save her life seemed to unlock something inside of Erza, and as she remembered Rob telling her what is Magic and that it came from the heart, she awakened her Magic. In a vengeful fury she manipulated all kinds of weapons and tools like pickaxes and shovels in her proximity and sent a barrage of steel at her captives; in that moment of rage she ended the revolution, defeating all her enemies.^[13]

While the others went on the boat to go home, Erza went back in the dungeons to look for Jellal. Already possessed by Zeref, Jellal attacked Erza, telling her he was going to complete the R-System to resurrect Zeref's body in order to find his "true freedom". Jellal easily finished off the guards who were torturing him, despite Erza's attempts to stop him, and even attacked Erza herself with Darkness Magic. Erza remembers Jellal telling her not to tell anybody about the tower or he would kill everyone, and she then woke up on another island, crying about the events she had just witnessed.^[14]

Back in the present, Erza wipes her tears infront of her friends, and claims she will be the one to face Jellal.

The Countdown to Death Begins[]

The ones against Siegrain's proposal argue that Etherion would cause the death of everyone in the tower, including the innocent bystanders, with Siegrain announcing that he is willing to take the risk. Eventually, Belno also agrees to use the Etherion, with Jellal in his tower smiling and claiming that there is one more vote until everything ends.^[15]

Meanwhile, Erza talks about Zeref and how the R-System is being used to resurrect him. She then explains that he was the cruelest and most powerful Dark Mage in history, and also the creator of Lullaby, and probably Deliora. Lucy then asks why Erza is considered a traitor to her old friends, with the latter replying that Jellal probably made up a lie about her. Shô then appears, having overheard everything Erza said, furious about Jellal manipulating him and his friends, since he told them all that Erza planted bombs in their ships and that if Jellal hadn't noticed, everyone would have died. Jellal then made everyone get back to work on the tower, claiming it was a sign that the tower must continue to be built. Erza assures Shô she would never do that, confusing him. Simon then approaches the group, revealing that he knew Jellal was lying all along and that he always trusted Erza, who then comforts Shô saying she was too weak in the past but is stronger now. Then they all decide to work together and stop Jellal.^[16]

After finally arriving at Millianna's room, Natsu tries on a cat-themed costume head but soon finds himself stuck. When Wally tries to ambush him again, Natsu is saved by Millianna, who believes that he is a real cat, and doesn't want Wally to hurt him. He is nearly killed again when Wally points a gun at his head, but Millianna stops him once again. Wally convinces Millianna that he is not, in fact, a cat, and the two attack in tandem, but Natsu is saved by Happy this time. He ends up defeating both Mages by using a move dubbed by him as the "Ultimate Strike: Kitty in Pain" to invoke Millianna's pity and make her release him from his bonds, allowing his Magic to return to him and beating them with a single attack using his Fire Dragon's Wing Attack. Jellal, sensing his underlings' defeat, tends to his chess board made of pieces that represent all the people in his “game” and knocks Millianna and Wally’s pieces over, symbolizing their loss.^[17]

Jellal then tells Vidaldus that Simon and Shô have betrayed them, but that he doesn't mind since this is also part of the game. Vidaldus just tells Jellal to hurry up with the ceremony, but he gives the former the job of fighting for him instead, with Vidaldus awakening his true form, and his allies, Fukuro and Ikaruga appearing alongside him. Jellal then announces that it’s their turn to move.^[18]

Natsu and Happy are able to get the cat helmet off Natsu's head, but when they finally succeed, Wally gets up and attempts to attack them again. Jellal, however, uses Magic to send an audio to everyone in the tower, telling them that it’s time to begin the Paradise Game; the rules are to try to prevent him from using Erza to resurrect Zeref and that they must get past Trinity Raven to get to him. He then lets everyone know that the Etherion will also hit them soon and destroy the tower so they have an unknown amount of time and that they could potentially all die. An angry Shô claims that he will protect Erza and defeat Jellal so he uses his Magic to trap Erza in one of his cards and runs, with Simon following him. After hearing this, Natsu and Happy are excited to be par of the game, but instead decide that it would be easier to cheat; they fly straight to the top, but are soon stopped by Fukuro, who makes them fall to the ground.

When they land, they end up being with Simon who tells them to run away from Fukuro. Simon uses his Darkness Magic to help them escape, but since Fukuro is an owl he manages to see Simon in the darkness and beat him. Simon, defeated, tells Natsu that Fukuro is a member of Trinity Raven, a team that belongs to Death's Head Caucus, a guild that takes care of assassination jobs, which enrages Natsu, who now prepares to fight the other Mage. Natsu and Fukuro send attacks back and forth, with the former determined to win this battle despite his opponent's advantage. Somewhere else, Juvia and Lucy wander the tower looking for Natsu.^[19]

The Tide to Reach your Friends[]

As the battle between Natsu and Fukuro starts, the Trinity Raven Mage proves that he is not an easy opponent. Fukuro uses his Jet Magic and Simon realizes the power level of Trinity Raven, with Jellal in his throne room counting Simon as a defeated piece.^[20]