Fairy Tail {Lost Dragon Slayer}

Chapter 43 {The Cult of Avatar}

At Amefurashi Village, Juvia is seen wandering in the rain, clearly depressed, while Natsu, Lucy, Wendy and Shiro are on the move towards the location at the same time, noting the rumors about the constant rain in the village.

Juvia is eventually found by Natsu, who quickly catches up with her scent, but her health is severely crippled because of her extended exposure to rain, and is brought inside her house to recuperate. Juvia reveals that she lived in the village with Gray for six months, until his body was slowly overtaken by black marks. Gray left her shortly afterwards, driving her into depression. Natsu promises Juvia to bring Gray back and rebuild Fairy Tail, so they can be a family once again, but later is visibly angered, prompting Happy to question his mood. Natsu reveals that he wants to go to Sabertooth. Elsewhere, in a castle situated in a dark forest, a shady organization convenes about Balam Alliance's fall. Their priest, Alok proclaims that with the end of the era of the Dark Guilds, a new era has begun, the age of Avatar, and state their goal: to eliminate every Mage that does not pledge their loyalty to Zeref and create the world belonging to the Black Wizard. Every member agrees upon this course of action, the likes of Gray being among them.

While Shiro and Wendy stay behind. Natsu and Lucy head to Sabertooth. But before they've split Shiro told Natsu that they should better come back... with Natsu simply agreeing as they now Split into 2 groups...

The trio of Fire Dragon, Celestial Mage and a Blue cat arrive at the location. Natsu tells Lucy that from that point forward, he must stop trusting Gray, unless his suspicions turn out to be false, but promises her to bring him back to the guild regardless. After a brief reunion with Sabertooth, Natsu ventures to find Rogue, who was with Minerva and Frosch at the time, heading out to fulfill a request. Natsu quickly takes Rogue to talk in private and urges him to give a look at his request, which is the destruction of Avatar. Natsu immediately gets suspicious and urges Rogue to stay in the town with Frosch, and tells him that he will take the request instead. Rogue is baffled and unhappy because of it, and Natsu quickly rushes with Lucy to Avatar, recalling what Future Rogue told him about Frosch's killer, who is revealed to be Gray.

Natsu's team arrives at Mikage Forest and discuss the request that Natsu has taken from Rogue. Lucy explains that Avatar is a cult worshiping Zeref, that is reported to be on the rise since the downfall of Balam Alliance and the Dark Guilds. Natsu, hearing this is ready to attack them, and explains that they might encounter Gray as an enemy, as Future Rogue said his ominous warning one year later. He also notes that the black marks Juvia mentioned were similar to what Natsu has seen on Gray's body during their fight with Mard Geer. Meanwhile, in Avatar, the cultists discover that the Magic Council has discovered their base of operations, and Jerome suspects Gray to be a mole. Gray rebuts his accusations and points out a flaw in the intelligence gathered by him. He also states that his only reason for working with Avatar is to get the Book of E.N.D. and doesn't care about what lengths he will go to claim it, in order to destroy the Etherious.

Natsu prepares to storm the building through the front door, only to be stopped by Lucy, who notes that they don't know the enemy's strength and proposes to sneak in by the help of Virgo. Lucy also uses her Star Dress in order to borrow some of Virgo's powers and burrow into the basement of Avatar's church. Lucy then proposes to keep out of sight, while searching for Gray's location. Natsu, however immediately disregards the stealthy approach and yells for Gray, immediately alerting the cultists. Abel, Gomon and D-6 confront Natsu's group, but are defeated without much effort by Natsu. Shortly after, Gray shows up, telling the cultists that Natsu isn't an enemy of their caliber and that he will deal with the Fire Dragon Slayer himself.

Back at Amefurashi, Wendy continues to take care of sick Juvia, and is worried about Natsu and Gray fighting each other, but notes that fighting is not a new thing to both of them. Meanwhile, Natsu and Gray begin to exchange blows, and Gray asks what Natsu and his team are doing inside Avatar's base, to which Natsu replies that they have come to take him back in order to rebuild the guild. Gray, however has no intention of going back, stating that Fairy Tail is no more and neither feels any attachment to it now, which angers Lucy, who slaps Gray out of anger. Suddenly, Mary casts a spell restraining Lucy, distracting Natsu, which allows the defeated Avatar members to capture them. Natsu yells at Gray, telling him that he's possessed, but Gray simply responds that he's perfectly sane and joined Avatar by his own free will, showing his new mark to his former comrades.