Defeat Your Friends, To Save Your Friends

is the 43rd episode of the Fairy Tail anime. It first aired on August 23, 2010.

The Battle of Fairy Tail rages on. Most of the Mages are wiped out by the Thunder God Tribe, leaving only Gajeel Redfox and Natsu Dragneel. Makarov is forced to choose between his position and his guild members. However, the two trapped Dragon Slayers manage to revive Erza Scarlet, taking their number to three. Immediately after, Mystogan arrives in town, upping the remaining participants to four.

Synopsis
The townspeople start to notice that the Fairy Tail members are fighting against each other. As they speak, Vijeeter Ecor breaks out of a wall, and is apparently fighting with Nab Lasaro. Vijeeter doesn’t want to fight, but faced with the fact that they are forced to. Elsewhere, battles begin between Max Alors and Warren Rocko, Macao Conbolt and Wakaba Mine, and Laki Olietta and four other girls.

Meanwhile, at the screen that blocks Natsu Dragneel and Makarov, they witness the result of the battles. Happy concludes that this is indeed the battle Laxus Dreyar was looking for, and Natsu is furious, because… he can’t participate. Makarov scolds him for his wishes and adds that what they really need to do is beat the Thunder God Tribe so that the spell over the petrified girls breaks. Surprisingly, Natsu thinks that Laxus is only bluffing since he is one of their allies. Natsu keeps trying to get out, but the age limit seems to weight over him.

Meanwhile, Reedus Jonah tries to get out of town and to Porlyusica. He is prohibited from doing so by Freed Justine’s Runes, and soon he engages in combat with Freed himself. In the city, Gray Fullbuster faces off against Bickslow while Elfman battles Evergreen. Reedus is defeated by Freed while Elfman is defeated by Evergreen.

Back at the contest hall, Laxus gives a Thought Projection of himself. He argues that now that Natsu and Erza Scarlet are unable to fight, victory is his, but Happy interrupts, reminding him of Gray. Laxus brushes this off, but Makarov concords with Happy too because Gray is strong. However, Gray is defeated by Bickslow. With the hopes of Fairy Tail out of commission, Makarov surrenders. However, Laxus wants Makarov to publicly announce his retirement as Master and to name Laxus as the new one. He leaves shortly afterwards to let Makarov decide.

Later, they find Gajeel Redfox still in the contest hall. They try to send him out to help fight against Laxus, but he is unable to as he is also prevented by the runes. Meanwhile, the Thunder God Tribe pulverizes those other Fairy Tail Mages who managed to win in their previous matches. Within the recent fights, the number of participants has dropped to only two: Gajeel and Natsu. Seeing as they can’t get out, Natsu decides to turn Erza to normal by rubbing his fiery hands on her statue. After it cracks, Erza is freed. Her artificial eye had sucked away most of the Magic of Evergreen's Stone Eyes, weakening the statue. There are now three participants, but a fourth one arrives in the person of Mystogan who had just walked in town.

Erza leaves the contest hall first and is the one who runs into Evergreen.

Fights

 * Vijeeter Ecor vs. Nab Lasaro (started and concluded)
 * Warren Rocko vs. Max Alors (started and concluded)
 * Macao Conbolt vs. Wakaba Mine (started and concluded)
 * Alzack Connell vs. Unnamed Fairy Tail Mages (started and concluded)
 * Laki Olietta vs. Unnamed Girls (started and concluded)
 * Alzack Connell vs. Unnamed Fairy Tail Mages (started and concluded)
 * Gray Fullbuster vs. Bickslow (started and concluded)
 * Reedus Jonah vs. Freed Justine (started and concluded)
 * Elfman Strauss vs. Evergreen (started and concluded)
 * Evergreen vs. Unnamed Fairy Tail Mages (started and concluded)
 * Bickslow vs. Nab Lasaro & Laki Olietta (started and concluded)
 * Alzack Connell vs. Freed Justine (started and concluded)
 * Erza Scarlet vs. Evergreen (started)

Magic used

 * Beast Soul (ビーストソウル Bīsuto Sōru)
 * Beast Soul (ビーストソウル Bīsuto Sōru)
 * Beast Soul (ビーストソウル Bīsuto Sōru)
 * Beast Soul (ビーストソウル Bīsuto Sōru)
 * Beast Soul (ビーストソウル Bīsuto Sōru)
 * Beast Soul (ビーストソウル Bīsuto Sōru)
 * Beast Soul (ビーストソウル Bīsuto Sōru)
 * Beast Soul (ビーストソウル Bīsuto Sōru)
 * Beast Soul (ビーストソウル Bīsuto Sōru)
 * Beast Soul (ビーストソウル Bīsuto Sōru)
 * Beast Soul (ビーストソウル Bīsuto Sōru)
 * Beast Soul (ビーストソウル Bīsuto Sōru)
 * Beast Soul (ビーストソウル Bīsuto Sōru)
 * Beast Soul (ビーストソウル Bīsuto Sōru)
 * Beast Soul (ビーストソウル Bīsuto Sōru)
 * Beast Soul (ビーストソウル Bīsuto Sōru)
 * Beast Soul (ビーストソウル Bīsuto Sōru)
 * Beast Soul (ビーストソウル Bīsuto Sōru)

Spells used

 * Smoke Fake
 * Dark Écriture: Teleportation
 * Maid Lucy
 * Freeze
 * Fairy Ray
 * Maid Lucy
 * Freeze
 * Fairy Ray
 * Freeze
 * Fairy Ray
 * Fairy Ray
 * Fairy Ray
 * Fairy Ray

Abilities used

 * Flight
 * Swordsmanship
 * Hand-to-Hand Combat

Weapons used

 * Magic Guns
 * Scythes
 * Sword
 * Possessed Dolls

Items used

 * Magic Paint

Manga & Anime Differences

 * Laki was shown fighting more in the anime.
 * The anime showed Elfman getting turned into stone, but the manga implied it.
 * Reedus' fight with Freed was shown in the anime, wherein he created a fake Lucy in order to distract Freed. This was not shown in the manga as it simply showed Reedus defeated.
 * Gray's clothes differ slightly; in the anime, he wears a plain red t-shirt with a low blue v-neck, but in the manga, the t-shirt has a crocodile like pattern to it.
 * During his battle with Bickslow in the anime, Gray is distracted by a young girl looking out of her window at him, causing him to get hit by Bickslow's "babies". This is not in the manga.