Natsu and his friends return from a mission to find their guildhall damaged by Gajeel Redfox, a dragon slayer from the rival Phantom Lord guild. Makarov willingly ignores the situation to maintain the law of neutrality between guilds, but when Gajeel brutally assaults Levy, Jet, and Droy, a furious Makarov declares war on Phantom Lord and leads a counterattack on their headquarters. Lucy stays behind to visit Levy and her friends at the hospital, but is quickly kidnapped by Juvia Lockser and Sol, two members of Phantom Lord's S-Class equivalent team, the Element 4.