Fairy Tail 280 Discussion/ 281 Predictions

[Krono]

If Kagura and Erza fight, who do you think would win? I can't choose, paritally 'coz Erza has yet to make her debut in the tournament. I really love the fight, so epic. Just from that chapter, I'm beginning to wonder if there is a chance that there might be more important keys that the 13 keys.Chances are: Maybe it won't be Lucy who'll be kidnapped but it would be Yukina instead. or the both. Still there is the fact that Yukina wasn't shown in CHarle's vision. It was still Lucy there who was crying. That could just be coincidence since Charle's vision doesn't necessarily tell what exactly happens but just a snippet of a whole picture which isn't usually important. Wonder what exactly is this eclipse plan.

Or it could be that Lucy's crying because Yukino died. Charle's visions are usually direly short on context, which is probably part of the reason that she hasn't shared her vision of Lucy and such with everyone else.

Personally I found this chapter kind of meh. It's a lame deflation of Sabertooth's hype, and really lame to have both remaining zodiac keys, and the long lost legendary 13th key job to some unhyped random chick we'd never heard of before the time skip. Unlike a lot of other people who seem to find Kagura cool, I just find her arrogant and annoying.

[Zancrow]

Awesome chapter ! more mangas and animes need girls like erza and kagura imo but kinda dissapointed how they introduced the 13th zodiac. i thought it was gonna be some epic powerful spirit but it lost almost as soon it got summoned and does that mean yukino belongs to mermaid heel or does she still belong to sabertooth ? either way it was dumb of her to make such a bet .

[mashimashilove]

oh myy, what an intense chapter. i was worried because i wanted kagura to at least have a fair chance, and since sabertooth's been so hyped up and all...but wow. i was not expecting that - a great surprise~ libra looks cool, too...picses were interesting but creepy. aah, now i'm even more excited for the next chapter.

[wooticus]

lol so this datasheets on the competitors basically say that... quatro cerberus is made out of total idiots

[McNuss]

Okay now let's make some guesses:

1. The entire purpose of the Grand Magic Tournament is to find a Celestial Spirit Mage. Since they never found one, the dark Magic could be feeled on the 7. day, but nothing happened.
2. Originally, Angel of Oracion Seis (member of the Balam Alliance) was supposed to carry out the plan, however, after she was defeated and arrested 7 years ago,
Arcadios was in trouble, so he manipulated the King to held the tournament.
3. Arcadios might be related to Tartaros, since both names are greek + the entire Zodiac Signs are from greek mythology

[Impossibility]

Exciting chapter. A lot of build-up to the final day of the tournament has occurred over the past few chapters. The appearance of the final two Zodiacs wasn't particularly surprising. Interested in seeing what the 13th spirit is capable of if it actually gets a chance to do something. Yukina pales in comparison to Lucy, that much became clear in this battle. The reason why Yukina occupied a position on Sabertooth's team when she seems so weak in comparison to her teammates is obviously so that Lucy could gain access to the final two Zodiacs, although I would've preferred if Yukina seemed as though she was actually deserving of the keys. Kagura was obviously the ace of Mermaid Heel so her power level is completely reasonable, although I'm still unclear on her magic. She clearly utilises a blade, but is she akin to Ikaruga or is their something more going on? I think, or rather hope, we will get the chance to see Kagura in action again. And why was Arcadios unaware that Yukina was a stellar spirit mage? It may have been her first time participating in the competition, but she's from Fiore's most famous guild. One would think that he would at least gather a bit of info on the mages competing in the tournament, if he is going to such lengths for his plan. Another villain needs to appear soon because I'm finding him to be rather lacking in the role.

[greenpiece]

Just like most of you, I felt disappointed at how the gold keys and the 13th Zodiac lost right away. Though I'd like to somehow admire Yukino for being able to summon 3 spirits all at the same time. I would also love it if Mashima were to add a plot twist that will maybe relate her to Angel coz they really look similar (Yukino actually just looks more angelic than Angel).

Also, if Mashima's planning to give Lucy the other Golden Keys sometime in the future, it'd really be hard to imagine her having Pisces and that 13th key. It just doesn't suit her. I doubt those would change their forms the way Virgo did.

Hmm... That kind of evil look Kagura had after saying that she already possess Yukino kinda scares me. Either she collects girls for her guild or she works for the evil hosts of this tournament. But I doubt the second because since the cat like girl in the hood (Yeah, Erza's friend who loves cats. I think that she's the one wearing the cloak in MH) wouldn't join a guild that works for the bad guys unless she doesn't know. And I want Erza to fight her or Kagura! (More on Kagura. That'd be more bad ass!)

I'm still curious about what's behind that dark gate. The only thing I can think of are the dragons. But I don't understand why they'd like to go to open a gate to the dragons' realm. I mean they'd only get killed. Maybe that's wear Zeref's powers were sealed... I dunno. Maybe it's even related to Tartaros? Hmm... we'll just see.

Hmm... Anyway, do you guys think FT has "the evil mind that's really behind everything that's happening"? I mean, I know that Zeref's like the dark mage and all but he doesn't seem to have evil intentions. I have a feeling that in this arc, either FT's finally gonna get it's long term villain introduced (aside from Zeref who I still don't really consider as a villain as of now) or that dark gate will become Mashima's tool to connect everything and end FT. :O But I hope not. Fairy Tail is still too young and that 7 year timeskip would be such a waste if he'd end it with this or just 1 more arc since there's still lots of things to explore and it's been a "quiet 7 years" so a lot of things could've happened.

Edit: Another thing I've noticed is that Mavis seems to know something about the 12 Keys. This makes me think she has something to do with the Stellar Spirits. (Maybe Mavis was a Stellar Spirit mage back when she was alive? :O) The makes me think even more that she's related to the spirits, the dragons, Layla, and Zeref. Hmm...

---------- Post added at 10:01 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:51 AM ----------

Okay now let's make some guesses:

1. The entire purpose of the Grand Magic Tournament is to find a Celestial Spirit Mage. Since they never found one, the dark Magic could be feeled on the 7. day, but nothing happened.
2. Originally, Angel of Oracion Seis (member of the Balam Alliance) was supposed to carry out the plan, however, after she was defeated and arrested 7 years ago,
Arcadios was in trouble, so he manipulated the King to held the tournament.
3. Arcadios might be related to Tartaros, since both names are greek + the entire Zodiac Signs are from greek mythology

I like the way you think! But let's just hope that's how Mashima imagined the events so that he won't mess up or contradict stuff again. I'm getting bothered by some of the choices he makes since he seems to forget some elements/important events that occurred in his manga. Oh, and also, a lot of stuff from FT is actually taken from Greek Mythology and other mythologies. But yup, maybe Arcadios is like an "Ultear" and actually works for Tartaros.

[Ifrit]

As much as I loved Sabertooth faces after their member got . I think Mashima made a mistake. It was explained that a spirit mage has a weak defense, but he just trashed the Strongest Zodiac key..LOL

When they said life for a life. I thought its fight till the death :P.

Loved the chapter 8-10. But Sabertooth didn't get the slap on the face yet. Laxus will give it to them hehehe. Now only he remaining. Its his turn now. I can't wait

[Uriel]

En epic battle, I really, really LOVED this chapter. Great work Hiro! This made a turn of events that will surely change the meaning of the vision. Now things can vary and more unpredictable.
Yes, we all knew that She would be a Stellar Mage, but I liked it anyway. Also, Libra design looks AWESOME. Can't wait to see her in Lucy invo. Pisces and Ohpicus were meh, I always get bored of snakes.

Prediction: Now that Yukina belongs to Kagura I think that we will see both of them. Why? Probably Kagura will defend Yukina if Arcadias tries to kidnap her as well. So it's very likely that we see a fight side by side with Erza to release the stellar mages.

I knew that Sabertooth chick was a stellar spirit mage!! She reminded me too much of Angel from the Oracion Seis.

To everyone here, to be fair.

[JunKisaragi]

I'm guessing either Yukino would die (eventually, as that knight's guinea pig) so that Lucy will inherit her keys, OR since in essence, Yukino "lost her life", that terminates the contract between her and her gate keys, leaving Lucy as the primary target. The latter is a long shot though, but I'm thinking it could happen.

This was good. I could see a bit of Erza in Kagura; ruthless when needed, and the situation really called for it. It was foolish for anyone to wager their lives, especially for a Stellar Spirit Mage (sorry, but with only three keys I didn't find her threatening at all, even if it were two of the remaning Zodiac Keys and one secret key).

I still want to know Ophiuchus' powers though. Poison perhaps? Too predictable if that were the case. Hehe.

As always, looking forward to the next chapter.

[-Ken-]

Just because the Opiuchius is stomped now doesn't mean he'll be stomped if used by others. I think it's explained in one chapter that power of the zodiac keys depends on the user. If the user is stronger, he'll be stronger too. Lucy's most likely stronger than Sabertooth.

However, this is really unexpected. After Opiuchius is shown, I totally was expecting Mermaid Heel to lost. This is an awesome chapter. This makes me want to see Kagura vs Erza, so badly, though.

[HaiSuShi]

Damn, Yukino is soooo cute!
Best female character I've seen in a while, though Kagura's pretty good too.
And when is Kubo going to reveal the cat girl's name or show us it's Miliana?

It is not very surprising Yukino is a stellar spirit mage, but we got to see the remaining stellar spirits of the zodiac and even one more.
But it was interesting which course the current chapter took. Never expected Kagura to be THAT strong...
Wonder what Kagura means with "Your life is mine." Will she kill her or ask her a favour?
Seeing Arcadios reaction, they surely won't let Yukino be killed before they used her for their plans.

And 5 days left until "IT" happens, so the games probably won't be interrupted .

[shnugin]

Sting's conversation with Yukino seems like she is new to the guild.
As if he is reminding her what it means to be Sabertooth. Everyone else in the team gets it already.

http://www.mangahere.com/manga/fairy_tail/v26/c280/4.html

I think Kagura actually looks like Erza from some angles of the chapter and Yukino reminds me of Meredy.

Great chapter! I love them both

[-Ken-]

It is said that this is Yukino first time in the tournament. This means that Sabertooth probably had another member hidden, that will most likely replace Yukino on the next day?

http://www.mangahere.com/manga/fairy...25/c258/8.html

5 very strange, but very capable mage.

[Krono]

Mangastream's version is out.

It was foolish for anyone to wager their lives, especially for a Stellar Spirit Mage (sorry, but with only three keys I didn't find her threatening at all, even if it were two of the remaning Zodiac Keys and one secret key).

I would remind you that Angel only had 3 golden keys, and 1 silver key. She nearly killed Ichiya and Jura with Gemini, had Gemini take out Lucy and Gray in the big group fight, and nearly killed Lucy and Hibiki after luring Natsu into a trap and freezing Happy. Yukino by virtue of being able to summon two spirits at once like Angel, shouldn't be all that far below Angel as best we can tell. Which is part of the reason it's so disappoint to see her be fodderized like this.