This stinks! Oh well it's not like this will happen again.
Chapters: 47-69, Episodes: 21-29
Short Summary
Fairy Tail declares war on rival guild Phantom Lord due to several unprovoked attacks.Main Summary
After returning home from the Galuna Island mission, Team Natsu finds their guildhall damaged. Marakov confirms the culprits to be a rival guild, Phantom Lord, but is willing to overlook the slight since it's just a building. However, when three of their own members are attacked the following day, Marakov declares war between the two guilds. Lucy is targetted by Phantom Lord for kidnapping, who claim it's their main purpose in the attacks, but the guild rallies in her defense, causing the war to escalate including an attack by Phantom Lord's Transforming Mecha Base On Legs, and a summoned army of shades. Team Natsu and a few Ensemble Darkhorses shut down the base and defeat Phantom Lord's best wizards, and Makarov ends the fight with a Fantastic Nuke on the leader of Phantom Lord and his summoned army.The Phantom Lord arc contains examples of:
- Adaptation Expansion: Lisanna's death is more elaborated upon in the anime.
- All for Nothing: Phantom Lord was founded specifically to rival Fairy Tail and one day bring them down. Their efforts at doing so wound up getting them dissolved by the Magic Council by the end of this arc.
- All Your Base Are Belong to Us: Gajeel seriously damages the Fairy Tail guildhall, kickstarting the guild war between Fairy Tail and Phantom Lord.
- And There Was Much Rejoicing: Fairy Tail erupts in cheers after Makarov defeats Jose with Fairy Law, ending the guild war.
- And This Is for...: Natsu yells out all of the who suffered at Phantom Lord's hands as he deals the finishing blows to Gajeel.
- Base on Wheels: Phantom Lord's headquarters walks on legs.
- Batman Gambit: Jose Porla uses his super weapon Jupiter on Fairy Tail knowing Erza would most likely block the attack. This would leave Fairy Tail weak enough so that he could capture Lucy.
- Battle in the Rain: Gray has a brawl with Juvia atop Phantom Lord's headquarters, which eventually cements her Heel–Face Turn. It is, appropriately enough, set in a rainstorm since Juvia often causes downpours.
- Big Bad: Master Jose is the main antagonist of the arc.
- Bittersweet Ending: Fairy Tail is triumphant in the guild war with Phantom Lord, Jose's plan to hold Lucy for ransom is stopped, Phantom Lord is no more, Elfman regains his Take-Over powers, and Juvia defects from Phantom Lord and joins Fairy Tail. However, the guildhalls of Phantom Lord and Fairy Tail are destroyed, Fairy Tail is interrogated by the Magic Council, and Jude and Lucy are estranged.
- Both Sides Have a Point: On Jude's side, he's right that Lucy's willful actions in running away from home have caused some problems to those around her. On Lucy's side, she's correct that with Jude hiring Phantom Lord to retrieve her unharmed, it indirectly led to the guild war between Fairy Tail and Phantom Lord, nearly getting her friends killed in the process. She also knows that had he not gone that far, they could have worked things out together.
- Calling the Old Man Out: After Fairy Tail's war against Phantom Lord, Lucy decides to go home... whereupon she flat-out tells her father, Jude, not to cause any harm to her or Fairy Tail, or else they'll declare war on him, and also that she can't return to her estate again.
- Canon Foreigner: The anime adds Boze and Sue as Gajeel's subordinates.
- Didn't See That Coming: Jude had no idea that Phantom Lord would attack Fairy Tail and that Lucy would not go through the Arranged Marriage until it was too late.
- Didn't Think This Through: Jude left a job request for Phantom Lord, anticipating that they would retrieve Lucy unharmed so that she can help his family business. He didn't calculate what would happen should they decide to start a guild war with Fairy Tail...
- Downer Beginning: The arc begins with Fairy Tail's guildhall being destroyed by Phantom Lord's Gajeel Redfox. Then, Levy and the Shadow Gear team are injured and Makarov declares war on Phantom Lord. Not long after that, Makarov is seriously injured and Lucy is abducted. She learns to her dismay that Jude recruited Phantom Lord to retrieve her.
- Evil Is Petty: Jose starts the whole war once he finds out Lucy is part of the Heartfilia clan and Jude has him retrieve her. He thinks that her funds were benefiting Fairy Tail and doesn't know that she is in actuality The Runaway until it's too late. To make matters go From Bad to Worse, Jose decides that by keeping Lucy hostage for a certain amount of time, he'll obtain her family's whole fortune and make Phantom Lord the top guild in Fiore.
- From Bad to Worse: This is what Fairy Tail goes through. Their guildhall gets seriously damaged by Gajeel. The Shadow Gear team is wounded and Makarov and Fairy Tail declare war on Phantom Lord. Makarov is seriously injured and Fairy Tail retreats. Meanwhile, Lucy gets kidnapped by the Element 4 and before she can escape, she learns that Jude recruited Phantom Lord to retrieve her. Then, Fairy Tail's guildhall gets destroyed and Lucy is captured again. Later, Jose reveals his intentions to hold Lucy until he is able to completely monopolize her family's wealth. If it wasn't for Polryusica healing Makarov, Phantom Lord would have won.
- Groin Attack: Lucy kicks Jose in the crotch to escape his clutches.
- Heroic BSoD:
- Lucy goes into a major one when the Fairy Tail guildhall is destroyed and when she later discovers that her father, Jude, hired Phantom Lord to retrieve her, both of which cause her to get stuck in a dire situation.
- All Jude can do is stand in shock as Lucy decides to leave her family life behind for good.
- Humongous Mecha: Phantom Lord's guildhall can turn into a robotic mecha.
- I Choose to Stay: After Makarov stops Phantom Lord, Lucy decides to travel to her house so she can settle things with Jude, and ultimately returns to Fairy Tail for good.
- It's Personal: Marakov is willing to let the building go, but attacking his guild members? That's a big no-no, as Phantom Lord found out the hard way.
- Mass "Oh, Crap!":
- The members of Phantom Lord have this reaction when Fairy Tail busts into their guild.
- Fairy Tail's horrified reaction when Phantom Lord is about to deploy Jupiter onto their guildhall.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Lucy's actions in running away from home when she was young caused Jude to have Phantom Lord retrieve her for a business opportunity, which led to the guild war with Fairy Tail.
- No Kill like Overkill: Jose is willing to both fire a huge cannon and peform a spell that would wipe out the whole town just to destroy Fairy Tail.
- Oh, Crap!:
- The confused and horrified look on Lucy's face when she realizes Jude hired Phantom Lord to bring her back home unharmed says it all.
- Sol loses his composure when Elfman regains his Take-Over powers and sends him flying.
- Juvia has a brief one the moment Gray nullifies her Sierra magic and freezes her with Ice Geyser.
- Jose is utterly shocked the moment Makarov invokes Fairy Law on his guild.
- Jude has a small panic when he realizes that Lucy isn't going to go through with his arranged marriage after all.
- One-Man Army: Mystogan manages to defeat all of the Phantom Lord subdivisions offscreen.
- Parental Substitute: Lucy makes Jude aware that she considers Fairy Tail her real family after everything is said and done.
- Poor Communication Kills: If Jude had only told Phantom Lord of his plans to have Lucy back for an Arranged Marriage without starting a guild war, things would have gone a lot better. Jose instead instigates the war and holds Lucy hostage with the intention of obtaining the Heartfilia family's fortune, but doesn't realize that she actually ran off until it's far too late.
- Punched Across the Room: This is exaggerated when Natsu beats Gajeel.
- Ramming Always Works: When you ram something with a huge object, you're bound to do some serious damage, as Fairy Tail's guildhall can attest to when Phantom Lord's mooks did just that.
- Relative Button: Gajeel seriously wounding the Shadow Gear team is what pushes Makarov to declare war on Phantom Lord.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Despite being invited to help the Heartfilia Konzern, Lucy leaves them for good, feeling frustrated by Jude's behavior and preferring to stay with Fairy Tail as her new family.
- Thanks for the Mammary: Gray during his fight with Juvia when, in trying to freeze one of her attacks, accidentally grabs her breast by mistake.
- This Is Something She's Got to Do Herself: Lucy decides to go to the Heartfilia estate alone so she can tell Jude that she's leaving her family life behind.
- This Is Unforgivable!:
- Makarov is understandably furious when the Shadow Gear team gets seriously injured by Gajeel to the point that they decide to start a guild war with Phantom Lord.
- Lucy's understandable reaction when she learns that Jude's hired Phantom Lord to bring her back home for an Arranged Marriage is outrage.
- Trash the Set: Fairy Tail's guildhall gets utterly destroyed by Phantom Lord towards the end of the arc.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Jude Heartfilia unknowingly sows the seeds for the events of this arc via a job request, which was picked up by Phantom Lord. Phantom Lord unleashes the doom when they attack Fairy Tail; as a result, the guild war nearly destroys both factions and Lucy ultimately disowns her father.
- Wave-Motion Gun: The Jupiter Cannon can fire a blast powerful enough to level a guildhall. Fortunately for Fairy Tail, Erza intervenes when it fires and Natsu ultimately destroys it during his battle with Totomaru.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: Lucy realizes that Jude took desperate measures to have Lucy help his family business. It worked a little too well when he indirectly causes Phantom Lord to attack Fairy Tail.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Jude calls out Lucy on running away to join Fairy Tail without telling him first.
- Your Approval Fills Me with Shame: Towards the end of the arc, Jude praises Lucy for leaving Fairy Tail. This happens after Lucy realizes her father's efforts to bring her home had inadvertently caused the guild war with Phantom Lord to happen in the first place. Lucy won't have any of it and leaves the Heartfilia Konzern for good.
- You're Not My Father: Jude explains that he recruited Phantom Lord to retrieve Lucy unharmed so that she can help his Family Business. But Lucy, whose friends at Fairy Tail were involved in the guild war with Phantom, disowns him by telling him that he shouldn't interfere with Fairy Tail, having realized that he was indirectly responsible for the guild war in the first place.
