Sun Village arc

The Sun Village arc is the fourteenth story arc of the Fairy Tail series. Arising victorious at the Grand Magic Games and regaining their former building, Fairy Tail is bombarded with numerous requests from various clients. Among the numerous request, one particularly calls for Natsu and Gray's help, with the client actually being one of the four highest ranked Wizard Saints, Warrod Sequen. Accepting his request, they head towards Sun Village with the rest of their team and are quickly confronted by new enemies and old foes. Returning to their former guild's building, the Fairy Tail girls happily take to the newly built-in bathhouse, with Cana even claiming that having such a bathhouse will keep her from working. The girls make note of their recent bombardment of Job requests since the Grand Magic Games and comment on the matter, while also playfully teasing each other about their relationships with their guildmates, especially Lucy. As they continue their conversations, they discover that one of the girls bathing with them is actually Flare Corona of Raven Tail; her appearance startles the Fairy Tail girls, though Lucy stops her guildmates from attacking her. Flare reveals that she has nowhere to go with Raven Tail's disbandment but still has no intention of joining Fairy Tail, confusing them. Later, Lucy walks home to find Erza, Wendy, and Carla inside with candy to offer from their mission.

 They contemplate Natsu and Gray's location and eventually head to the site of their mission, finding the boys arguing with Happy watching them helplessly. Erza attempts to stop their fight but is unrecognized and receives a punch to her face from both of them; angered, she punishes them and brings them back to the guild with rest of the team. At the guild, Makarov is handed a new mission from Mirajane for Natsu and Gray; reading through it, he becomes increasingly frantic and tells the two Mages to not fail, as it is a personal request from the fourth-rank Wizard Saint, Warrod Sequen. Accompanied by their teammates, Natsu and Gray promptly head out to discuss their mission with their client. They encounter Warrod Sequen in a rusty-looking house where he elaborates on the details of his Job request. Warrod explains that while on a mission to afforest the deserts on the continent, he stumbles upon the Sun Village, only to find the village and its inhabitants frozen alive in a mysterious ice; because he cannot save them himself, he wants Natsu and Gray to accomplish the task for him. The Fairy Tail Mages accept his request and are escorted to the village itself through the use of Warrod's Magic. Upon arriving at the village, Natsu and the others notice that the village is truly encased in ice, including the weapon-wielding giants within the premises; upon seeing them, Gray is reminded of his past, causing him to feel uncomfortable; when inquired by Lucy he explains that the situation reminds him of the Galuna Island incident years ago. Suddenly, a trio of men appear from a cliff and identify themselves as treasure hunters of Sylph Labyrinth and that they are searching for the village's eternal flame. They provoke the Fairy Tail Mages' interests with a bottle of "Moon Drip" before running off. Erza promptly sends everyone to chase after the men while she investigates the village further. Meanwhile, Minerva, now a member of Succubus Eye, discusses her next action in the Sun Village with her new teammate. Natsu and his teammates continue to chase the treasure hunters in hopes of obtaining the "Moon Drip" bottle, though the men stand their ground and refuse to surrender to the Mages; however, they soon grow tired of the chase and resort to fighting. The three treasure hunters respectively split into separate battles with Natsu, Gray, and Lucy and Wendy. her teammates continue their battles and succeed in forcing the "Moon Drip" from the treasure hunters, although it is promptly destroyed by Happy's incompetence.

The liquid melts into the ice from which it broke upon, which Natsu inspects and discovers that he is able to hear voices through the opening; immediately, he heads in the direction of the voices with his allies following him, and he encounters a man who ultimately transforms Natsu into a child himself. Natsu attempts to fight the new enemy but discovers that with his age reversion, his powers have also severely regressed and is forced to retreat. Concurrently, after her teammates have left to pursue Sylph Labyrinth, Erza hypothesizes that the Eternal Flame can be found in the opposite direction of the giants of the village. She hurries in the appropriate direction only to come to a dead end at a mountain peak. As Erza turns to head back, she finds her clothes slipping from her body and discovers that she has promptly turned into a child. As she contemplates on what to do about her situation, She finds that she is still able to utilize Magic albeit weakly. While trying to adapt to her form, she discovers Minerva behind her and that the young woman has since regressed to joining a Dark Guild. Because of Natsu's sudden leave and Gray's disappearance in the follow-up, Lucy and Wendy have the Exceeds search for Natsu from the skies while the girls continue their search on land. They are suddenly attacked by the treasure hunters again, who are now intent on taking Lucy's Celestial Spirit Gate Keys. The girls are reluctant to fight but end up doing so anyways when Wendy becomes enraged with their evident disregard for the giants' lives. In the midst of their fight, Lucy is nearly shot down by one of them but she is saved by Flare Corona, who also helps to defeat Sylph Labyrinth with the girls. Shortly after her arrival, Flare also reveals to Lucy and Wendy that the Sun Village is her home and that she has decided to return due to Raven Tail's disbandment.Concurrently, Gray encounters Doriate and is reverted into a child by the latter's Law of Retrogression Magic; consequently, he is forced to fight the Dark Mage. Gray initially struggles in the fight but eventually manages to defeat him creatively in his child form. At the end of the fight, Gray realizes that Doriate is not the person who froze the Sun Village. With his seeming defeat, his Magic gradually loses effect on his victims throughout the area. However, he then reveals himself to be a Demon from the Books of Zeref and begins to overpower Gray, even using his Magic to transform everyone in the village into a child. He is ultimately defeated by Gray and his Magic is reverted once more. Doriate warns Gray of his action of "opening" the Hell's Gate, though before he can elaborate, he is eaten by a large one-eyed monster that Happy and Carla had encountered previously.Elsewhere, Natsu meets up with the Lucy, Wendy and Flare; he is told that Flare will guide them to the Eternal Flame, which appears to be the mountain above the village itself. The group soon discover Gray, Happy and Carla running towards them while being chased by the one-eyed monster. Unable to fight back, Gray decides to unfreeze the Eternal Flame himself while allowing Natsu to take care of the creature.As Natsu attacks the creature, Gray approaches the Flame and decides to try manipulating the ice around the flame; his method succeeds and the the ice starts to disappear, although it ultimately causes the Flame to disappear. Wendy confirms that Flame is still present albeit weakly. Natsu quickly finishes his fight against the creature and uses his Magic on the Flame, causing it to glow brightly. From the fire emerges the Dragon Atlas Flame who greets Natsu as the son of Igneel. It is soon revealed that the Dragon's presence is due to Wendy's use of Milky Way, therefore it being a temporary resurrection. Atlas uses the short time that he has to explain the circumstances to the Mages. The Dragon reveals that an Ice Devil Slayer is the one responsible for freezing him and the village, mistaking Atlas himself to be a Demon, when instead Atlas is truly the guardian of the Sun Village and its Eternal Flame; additionally, it also warns Natsu that Igneel had previously failed to defeat the most evil Magic from the Books of Zeref, E.N.D..[20][21] With his final message to Natsu, Atlas disappears and the rest of the Sun Village thaws out. The thawing of the village allows Erza and Minerva to conclude her fight and for Natsu to ponder the Dragon's final words. Elsewhere, a fearful lizard creature asks Silver to report to headquarters as all members of the Nine Demon Gates have been summoned summoned. The member of the Dark Guild, Tartaros, rises and tells the messenger not to be afraid as he only consumes the souls of Demons.