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Nightmare Fuel / Fairy Tail

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https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/acnologia.jpg
The Black Dragon of the Apocalypse.

Fairy Tail is set in a magical world... and a very terrifying one at that. With powerful wizards, dragons and dark guilds roaming Earth-land, it can be a nightmarish place to live at times.

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     In General 
  • Extalia in general and Minister of State Nadi in particular are really, skin-crawlingly creepy.
  • Midnight. Especially in that illusion of his One-Winged Angel form.
    • Made scarier in the anime with those demons emerging. Plus, there are illusions of Rob and Simon getting sliced up, Jellal getting eaten, illusions of more than one Midnight and kid Erza.
  • The Gorn that was Gajeel's fight against Yomazu and Kawazu.
    • All the way through and then he grabs it and auuugh... Translation: when it looks like Gajeel's winning the fight, Yomazu skewers his arm with his sword, to the point that the tip was protruding from Gajeel's shoulder. And then he grabs it and breaks it by bending his arm (which, by now, is bleeding like there's no tomorrow.
  • Wendy hanging out with a guy who looked like he was thinking about pushing her off a cliff. The Dissonant Serenity in his face.
  • During the Tower of Heaven arc, Juvia's screams as Vidaldus Taka forcibly takes over her mind and uses her to attack Lucy. The Mind Rape overtones are not subtle in the slightest.
  • Everything that Monsieur Sol of the Element 4 did to Elfman during their battle in the anime.
    • Merci la Vie in the anime: You are slowly being turned into stone (not even petrified; just turned into a shapeless rock) and at the same time forces you to revive the worst moments of your life forever.
  • Zero is really, really creepy. From the omnicide to how he beat up Team Natsu with a big Slasher Smile on his face.
    • It's not just a beat up: first, he totally dominates the both Natsu and Gray and knocks them senseless, then he briefly look at Lucy (who's frozen in fear) and knock her out too. Then he keeps beating them up and hitting them with his darkness magic, again and again, just for fun. Then there's his final spell, Genesis Zero, which unleashes a tsunami of shadows who tears the target apart by biting him.
  • Acnologia, in spades. Let us count the ways:
    • The thing is Nightmare Fuel in-universe with its alien-like appearance for a dragon. Even Zeref does not want to be around when it appears.
    • It's known as the Black Dragon of the Apocalypse.
    • Was ridiculously close to killing all of Fairy Tail's top-tier mages at the time without even trying.
    • It's an Omnicidal Maniac who sees other living things so beneath it, it prefers to just scorch them right on the spot instead of having a conversation.
    • It is revealed that it killed Dragons in droves and earned both the title of their ruler and being a terror to them. Bonus points in that it used to be a human.
    • Also, if you go back to just before the Edolas arc and listen to Gildarts explain how badly his fight with Acnologia went, just his tone and the grim look in his eyes tells you about how hellish of a fight it was, plus he was fighting the behemoth alone. It was a very brilliant piece of Foreshadowing for what happens at the end of the "fight" at the end of the Sirius Island saga, unintentional or not. The dark music playing during that scene only makes it even more disturbing.
    • Chapter 415: The Reveal of the nature of his Dragonslaying magic: Apparently having something to do with souls. What makes this horrifying is that he could literally reap Dragon souls with it and leave them in a half-dead, weakened state, leaving them to waste away. Worse is the fact that he did this to all of the Dragonslayers' Dragon parents, and by releasing themselves from their children, they used up their remaining time. Who knows how many other Dragons suffered the same fate by his hands?
  • Fairy Tail of the Dead Meeeeeeeeen Special: Has a bit reference to those of Raccoon City Incident in Resident Evil (2 and 3) and Phineas and Ferb movie episode Night of the Living Pharmacist.
  • Guttman Kubrick is surprisingly creepy for a Filler Villain. His appearance may be humorous, as a giant anthropomorphic giraffe thing, but something is clearly off with him and he gets sick enjoyment out of torturing others. His magic itself just causes pain by making your own magic—a part of you—explode. And then there's the fact that he can only communicate through Telepathy, which means he gets inside your mind and ...!
  • The Eclipse Spirit King from the Eclipse Celestial Spirit Arc!

     Tenrou Island Arc 
  • In Chapter 228, Juvia hears that Meredy wants to kill Gray. Her response is, to say the least, absolutely terrifying.◊
  • Ultear being sent into a psychotic rage when Grey mentions how much Ur loved her during their battle.
  • The ending of Chapter 249, when Zeref finally starts acting like an apocalyptic monster of legend.

     Grand Magic Games Arc 
  • The merciless beatdown Minerva gave Lucy in Chapter 291 is pretty damn horrifying to watch...
    • We see where she gets her cruelty from in Chapter 300. Ziemma, her father, is a MONSTER.
    • Let's just say both of them in general. They are bad enough that everyone in the guild is in a cold silence when they are angry, fearing for not only being kicked out of the guild, but for their lives.
      • The moment Sting truly snaps is rather horribly well portrayed too. He doesn't scream or howl, on the contrary, he suddenly falls silent and looks up with a blank stare as you realize that in that exact instant, Ziemma's life just became worthless to him.
  • Chapter 316: Minerva spent the time waiting for Kagura and Erza to finish fighting torturing Millianna. Her screams were music to her ears. This causes Erza to violently snap.
    • Although it's Justified, Erza's rage to Minerva for torturing Milliana is also very scary. It's clear that you don't mess with the Fairy Tail Members, but if you nearly beat Erza's friends to death and torture them, She will end you.
    • A herd of 10,000 dragons are coming to attack the entire Kingdom of Fiore. Oh, Crap! doesn't even begin sum this up.
  • However, only seven of them got past the gate. Seeing how those seven were enough to give the best guilds absolute hell, imagine if it was all 10,000....
  • Chapter 318: Rogue being possessed by his own shadow!
  • Gajeel as the Iron-Shadow Dragon Slayer. His appearance ring any bells? He looks like friggin' Venom!
  • No matter how hilarious Zirconis removing Lucy's clothes was, you do have to remember, he's planning to eat her.
  • Chapter 334: The rather horrible way Gray apparently dies.
  • Chapter 335: On the first page, the mini-dragons are apparently eating Macao alive. And to make it worse, his son is right there! Also a tearjerker since Macao is assuring him that he's fine and telling his friend he leaves his son to him.
  • A Fridge Horror and sort of nightmare fuel, but Chapter 337: It is implied Future!Rogue's Start of Darkness involved Frosch's death. Then this chapter reveals it wasn't a death, but a murder. So who will take Frosch's life?
    • As of Chapter 425, it's apparently Gray
  • Chapter 340: There is something really unnerving about the look in Mavis's eyes when she gives Zeref the threat of '''annihilation''' if chooses to wipe out humanity. Yes, she gave a full-blown death threat.
    • I'm sorry, is no one disturbed by the fact that the man who can kill you with just a look is threatening to massacre every living being on the planet?
      • Personally, I'd be more disturbed by the normally cheery and optimistic ,and let's not forget dead, Mavis giving said man who can kill you with just a look a death threat and fully intending to follow through with it.

     Sun Village Arc 
  • Chapter 348: As if the masked man's face wasn't bad enough, he wants to ''eat'' Gray!!
  • In Chapter 354 we meet a member of Tartaros who took out all of Succubus Eye using her power to turn them all into shriveled-up, black, doll-things. Minerva shows up, is scared as hell, and appears to be the next victim. When you can make readers feel bad for a Jerkass like Minerva, that's a scary damn villain.

     Tartaros Arc 
  • In Chapter 356, we have another member of Tartaros named Jackal who single-handedly massacred the entire Magic Council except for Doranbolt, who was lucky to escape with his life, all while sporting a Slasher Smile that would give the entire Deadman Wonderland cast chills. And if that's not bad enough, all of Tartaros's higher-tier mages are demons from the Book of Zeref, and their Guild Master is none other than E.N.D., the most powerful demon Zeref has ever created, who even Atlas Flame was terrified of and supposedly even kicked ''Igneel's'' ass. Tartaros is really starting to make Grimoire Heart look tame by comparison.
  • Speaking of Jackal, in Chapter 361 (appropriately named The Two Bombs) has Jackal placing one of the surviving Council members and a pregnant woman inside of explosive spheres and then forcing Lucy and Wendy into a Sadistic Choice—choose who lives or who dies. What makes it horrifying is the way he just watches all involved squirm and plead for their lives, especially the woman who is pleading not for her life but for that of her unborn child and the Council guy who tells them the woman doesn't matter because he's more important—all the while Jackal is cackling and giggling in the background. Thank goodness Natsu survived Jackal's earlier attack, because if he hadn't...
  • In Chapter 363, Seilah of Tartaros uses Elfman's hand to try and choke Lisanna to death. Elfman is very much awake while this is happening.
    • The mere concept that the protagonists, barely over 20 even with the Time Skip, are coming across dead bodies of ex-Council members that require a Gory Discretion Shot for us...
  • Chapter 365: We see Erza tied up at Tartaros's HQ, completely at their mercy. And then, she's interrogated for Jellal's location. How effective is the torture? Turns out Kyôka can control feelings and increased pain sensitivity to maximum. It has Erza, one of the most powerful mages in Fiore screaming in agony and it reduces her to tears.
    • Kyôka decides that the shallow cuts she was torturing Erza with before aren't enough, and has moved to electrocution.
    • It's even more horrifying when you remember that the very reason Erza likes to wear armour is because of her trauma from the Tower of Heaven. And now she is completely stripped, restrained and tortured, it's Tower of Paradise all over again, if not worse.
    • Chapter 416 reveals that she was in fact reliving the Tower of Heaven.
  • Chapter 376: Just when you think the Tartaros Arc can't get any worse, Ezel, already having had his Establishing Character Moment as an Ax-Crazy nutcase whose moniker is Child Slicer, has a fight with Wendy. It starts off about as bad as you'd think it would go, but right before he goes for the finishing blow, Carla tries to stop him. How does Ezel respond? By trying to eat her. Right in front of Wendy, who has been best friends with her for years.
  • Chapter 382: That flying island Tartaros has as their headquarters? Use a curse called "Alegria", and it becomes a flying Eldritch Abomination that turns almost all of Fairy Tail to stone and assimilates them into the architecture of the guild hall. And this gets so much worse when you remember just how many other skulls, skeletons, and other assorted Scenery Gorn there are already built into the walls.
  • Chapters 383 & 384: Lucy is all alone with Lamy, Torafuzar, and Jackal all after her head. Even as she strains herself to open three gates simultaneously, she can only keep them at bay for so long. Eventually, she's left defenseless from overusing her magic, and while willing herself to stand up, Jackal suddenly blows up her left leg, leaving her fighting back tears of pain while Jackal and Lamy laugh at her suffering. Then as Lamy offers to help Jackal finish her off, Jackal suddenly blows her up without a trace, horrifying Lucy. If not for Aquarius, Lucy would have suffered the same fate.
    • Even worse, before that Lamy suggested Jackal blow Lucy's breasts up and for a moment it looked like he really was going to do it!
  • The "Face" magic pulse bomb looks really creepy, even without taking into account its purpose as a weapon of mass destruction designed to remove all of the magic from the continent. Chapter 387 makes it worse by revealing there are multiple Faces. A few of which are grinning. Who designed these things?
    • There are said to be three thousand Faces. Wendy (who put everything she had into destroying one of them) starts crying out of sheer despair.
  • Chapter 390: The Reveal concerning Silver: he's actually Deliora possessing the reanimated corpse of Gray's father. To think he was originally portrayed as the nicest member of Tartaros too. The Slasher Smile he gives while explaining this only makes it worse.
    • The colored page at the beginning of the chapter shows that the scar on Silver's forehead was from a fairly graphic gash ironically created by the very demon now possessing him.
    • Also, the sheer Death Glare Gray gives off upon hearing this would put anything that Erza's made thus far in the series to shame. Juvia gives a smaller one to Keyes upon him saying that Gray's story would come to an end.
    • The final page of Chapter 390 has Gray reaching Unstoppable Rage levels as he charges with pupilless eyes while Deliora laughs maniacally; a horrifying change from the calm air he presented for most of his appearance.
      • In the end though, it all turns out to be a lie. Silver's just the Reanimated corpse of Gray's father. But we do get some Nightmare Fuel from Keyes and his experiments instead. As well as the Skeletons he summons to bind Lucy.
  • Chapter 396 gives us Torafuzar's Curse ability, Tenchi Kaimei, which is a sea of black water enveloping everyone nearby. Not only does it combine fear of the dark as well as drowning, but it's also fatal poison to boot.
  • In Chapter 399 Acnologia returns and induces a Mass "Oh, Crap!" in everyone, even Tartaros and especially the Fairy Tail members, which is justified considering their past experience with it. Even Marde Geer is visibly nervous.
  • Chapter 405: Mard Geer's Slasher Smile at the end of the chapter is one for the manga history books.
  • Chapter 413: The very concept of Dragon Slayer magic... Knowing you turn into the very being you are slaying one day is horrifying to think about not to mention how Acnologia must feel in his current form and body.
  • Chapter 414: Igneel's very, very Family-Unfriendly Death, and it was right in front of Natsu. Zeref's not-so-subtle threat to Natsu right before that only makes things worse.
  • Chapter 416: We finally learn what E.N.D. truly stands for: Etherious Natsu Dragneel.

     Avatar Arc 
  • Chapter 424: Gray has seemingly pulled a Sasuke and joined a cult dedicated to Zeref. His demon slaying magic also has grown taking over more parts of his body.
    • The similarities only grow with Chapter 426. The whole reason he's joined the cult is to get at the Book of E.N.D., and he's willing to do whatever it takes to do it. The blow is softened somewhat by the realization that it's partially due to over-usage of his Devil Slayer Magic and getting hit with Mard Geer's Memento Mori that's corrupted him, but that's a whole different can of nightmares...
    • Thankfully, it turns out he was a Fake Defector the whole time, but those growing marks really were a threat, considering he had to go to Porlyusica to get them checked out.
  • Chapter 428: Mary looks way, way too happy about putting Lucy through pain, her eyes literally glimmer. Glimmer.
  • Chapter 429 has Gômon thinking of ways to torture some info out of Lucy and Natsu. He considers using the goat method which if look up medieval torture shows it actually can be gruesome and Gômon explains the painful process to Lucy. Eventually, he just decides to cut her into while Natsu is helpless to watch... until Gray shows his real agenda.
  • Chapter 433: Alok of Avatar provides some frighting concepts in just one chapter. The fact he burned his own face which forced him to wear a mask is one thing. Then not only did he harm his own body it was in fact a requirement to summon the War God Ikusatsunagi. This god would then kill everything in it's path including his cultists and followers including Mary! All of that just to bring Zeref to the priest...
  • Chapter 436: Oh boy. You know about the terror of E.N.D. and Zeref's magic right? Well turns out E.N.D. was Zeref's intention of reviving his long dead brother, who IS Natsu, by the way. Oh and Acnologia has a humanoid form and he looks just as frightening as does his dragon state.
    • The very conversation between Zeref and Acnologia. Not only was Acnologia planning to just kill everyone but Zeref decided to 'help' him in his homicidal crusade!

     Alvarez Empire Arc 
  • 439: Hey guys you remember that weapon called Face which took the effort of Dragons to destroy before it sucked away all the magic on Fiore. Well... turns out this weapon along with the Magic Council were the only things stopping the combined might of the Alvarez Empire a combination of 730 guilds from invading and taking Lumen Histore. Good job Makarov went to stall them for time right!?
  • Chapter 443: The Alvarez Empire might be this cranked up.
  • Chapter 444: The Reveal that Emperor Spriggan, the guy who rules the Albereth Empire mentioned above is apparently Zeref himself. The Omnicidal Maniac Big Bad who is in an alliance with another Omnicidal Maniac, who is a nigh unstoppable Dragon to boot, has an entire empire at his disposal and has twelve of the most powerful mages alive as his Praetorian Guard. Fairy Tail has its work cut out for them.
  • Chapter 450: Can we talk about the fact Mavis has the Curse of contradiction? Because of this she now kills everything she ever loves like the mother of Makarov or several innocent people. We then see the image of a Mavis who tried to starve herself to death to end her suffering, but only for the efforts to fail completely. We need to discuss Zeref seeing her as a person he can both walk with and love for the rest of his immortal life. So we need to think a paring people wanted to become canon only then for the Kiss of Death to end Mavis's life. I think we really need to talk about this...
    • To elaborate, the effects of the Ankhseram curse have always been rather horrifying to behold, but it is in this chapter that the sadism and injustice of it are really fleshed out. Within a year of its activation, Mavis was reduced from an innocent and cheerful girl to a disheveled, death-seeking shell of her former self. She wanted to die so desperately that she tried starving herself for half a year, and when Zeref finally found her, she full out begged him to kill her. Also consider that Zeref himself went through the exact same thing in the beginning, but unlike Mavis, no one with a similar condition would be coming to him for several centuries yet.
      • When they met for the third time, Zeref appeared rather well-adjusted compared to Mavis at first glance. He was dressed immaculately, telling her that there was nothing they could do to escape the curse and calmly advising her to change her perspective. Seems as if one could get used to it given the time? God no. Turned out, the entire thing screwed with his mind so much that he couldn't even notice contradictions in his own thoughts, and the moment Mavis pointed it out, he went into a breakdown. Mavis, despite her disheveled, pitiful appearance, was the far saner of the two. Those extra centuries of coping with the curse had only turned Zeref into an even greater mental and emotional wreck beneath his calm demeanor. Then consider that this guy is one of the most magically and politically powerful people on the planet.
  • Chapter 453: As mentioned on the Awesome page; Alvarez managing to sneak fifty airships right over the Fairy Tail guild completely caught everyone off guard, even Mavis.
  • Chapter 455: After a brief Hope Spot in the previous chapter, Fairy Tail finds out just how utterly outmatched they really are. Those fifty airships led by Ajeel? They were only the vanguard. A few hundred more airships are on their way. Along with an army of over a million troops. And all of the Spriggan Twelve are part of the assault. One of them is curbstomping Erza. Another is effortlessly breaking through Freed's barrier. A third is casually taking a bath in Lucy's home. The enemy forces vastly outnumber them, are far more powerful, and are already in their midst. Barring a miracle, outside aid, or both, Fairy Tail is screwed. Even Mavis can't see a way out of this disaster.
  • Chapter 466: We see the first deaths of this war by Bradman the God of Death. Then Marin goes batshit after Brandish's treatment of him, causing him to try to choke her to death. Keep in mind this manga, is (supposedly) for children.
  • Chapter 470: God Selena effortlessly survives the attacks of the other top 4 mages of the continent and utterly crushes them. But that is not the terrifying part. That comes when Acnologia of all people appears and effortlessly cleaves Serena almost in half in the span of one panel, reminding the readers yet again how absurdly powerful he is. He also seems to be homing in on the remaining Dragon Slayers whom he wants to kill.
  • Chapter 480: Gajeel's group heads to aid Sabertooth and Blue Pegasus... only to find them utterly defeated. Not only that, they were also ''crucified'' and paraded around like war trophies.
  • Chapter 486 has a minor but chilling one: As Acnologia is preparing to join the battle between Sabertooth, Fairy Tail, Bradman, and Irene, Alvarez's strongest woman starts messing with the magic of the very planet to such an extent that Zeref senses it. Not only that, he sweats at the thought while wondering what she's planning. Zeref is afraid.
  • Chapter 502
  • Chapter 503
    • And we finally get the answer for what the growth inside Natsu was, it was of Etherious origin, and it's power kicks right as Dimaria attempts to gouge Lucy's eyes out with a dagger... The next thing Lucy sees is Dimaria completely beaten and singed, muttering "monster" to herself and realizing what kind of person could do that. E.N.D. has awakened and is out for Zeref's head. The look upon Natsu's face as he is searching for him is unsettling, with black flame aura covering his hands, which become much more demonic, as he is muttering Zeref's name constantly. And then comes Gray...]]
    • Natsu as E.N.D is very frightening, even more than the demons of Tartaros. The Nine Demon Gates might have been a bunch of psychopaths and sadists but they were still rational individuals. E.N.D on the other hand walks around searching for Zeref in order to kill him like if he was Brainwashed and Crazy and hurting or even killing anyone that stands in his way, like what he did to Dimaria and those poor Alvarez troops.
    • As stated on the Awesome page: E.N.D.'s sheer power. The last time Dimaria was defeated, it required both a Dragon Slayer and a God Slayer, mages trained in Magic specifically made to kill Gods, at her full power with the intervention of another Time Mage who could only cancel out a Time Stands Still spell and cost the Time Mage and the God Slayer their magic and even then it was a very close battle. E.N.D. on the other hand had only just awoken, moved through the Time Stand Still spell and curb stomped a PhysicalGod so hard she had a VillainousBreakdown, muttering about how strong he was. Natsu was stronger before but END is a whole other level,
    • Natsu starts spewing out smoke, and when Lucy tries to justle him, remarks that he's cold as ice. Natsu, the fire mage, is cold to the touch, and Lucy can't wake him.
  • What? No mention for when Acnologia started stepping on Irene's corpse in Chapters 524 and 528? Pure Wendy can only stare on in sheer horror as Irene's corpse is viciously mutilated.
  • Zeref with Fairy Heart. He was already the world's most powerful mage before, but Fairy Heart has boosted him. How strong is he? Certainly strong enough to punch a hole through Natsu's sternum.
  • Chapter 538: Just when you thought the war was over, Zeref had been destroyed, and the Black Dragon defeated for good, the Time Lapse cracks open again. Acnologia ain't done yet.
  • Chapter 542: The Mages devise a plan to lure Acnologia's dragon form to Port Hargeon and make it land on a ship so he will succumb to motion sickness. It's also established that the body is operating on a sort of autopilot without the mind governing it. He completely annihilates the lot of boats docked there out of pure instinct to destroy his weaknesses with a tremendous number of devastating magical blasts. And then laughs at his destruction.
  • Acnologia's key motive for destroying things? He wants to, pure and simple. Well, at least till we learn he had loved ones before the meanest of the dragons came along and ruined all that. But even so, he's lived for so long now that he doesn't really care about the past and what has been lost and now gets his jollies out of causing total destruction.

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