Being there only shortly, he tells them that Face is not Tartaros' objective and that they should tell Makarov to release the light. Such act releases all the captured souls, one of which ends up being the soul of Hades himself, who appears behind the three, shocking them. As Franmalth reminds the Mages that Magic doesn't work on him, Natsu ends up grabbing a huge rock and throwing it at the former, being unable to absorb it and making Natsu throw more rocks at him, ultimately defeating him once and for all. As Natsu thanks Lucy, he subsequently rushes at Franmalth and punches him, sending him flying away and, thus, saving Lucy and Happy from his clutches. Having Franmalth confused, Lucy takes advantage of that and manages to trick him by pretending to close Natsu's gate as well, with the former releasing him, thinking Natsu is a Celestial Spirit as well. This makes Lucy close Aries' gate as well, forcing the Demon to eject a soul once more. However, to avoid such fate, the latter ejects Taurus' soul, keeping him in place. As the trio manages to somewhat resist the Demon's Curse, Lucy decides to forcibly close Taurus' gate, succeeding in doing so and, thus, starting to send Franmalth in the Celestial Spirit World as well. As he then starts absorbing their souls and effectively weaken them, Natsu starts standing against him, encouraging Lucy and Happy to not give up. Positive that he is now able to absorb his enemies' souls, Franmalth grabs the three, preparing them for Connection. Now utilizing Hades' Chain Magic, Franmalth grabs Lucy and hits her against the floor, all the while using Bullet Magic to do damage to Natsu as well as Happy. As Natsu manages to stand up, he only gets poked by Franmalth's Bullet Magic. Meanwhile, Natsu, Lucy and Happy are being dominated by Franmalth. On the run, Kyôka decides that she has no choice but to awake E.N.D.
In the meantime, as Kyôka is shocked to realize that Face didn't go off, she leaves and decides to leave Erza at the hands of Minerva. Shortly after, though, by using Hades' stolen power, Franmalth uses Formula 28. While Natsu is temporarily fending off against the Demon's swift attacks, Lucy thinks of a way to help him. As Franmalth first gets seemingly terrified due to the failed plan, he subsequently lunges at Natsu, angrier than ever before. However, the Mages prove the Demons wrong by still being able to use Magic, greatly shocking them in the process. Thinking Face has activated, Franmalth starts laughing at his opponents. 4 Magic, Curses, Spells, and Abilities used.