Alright I have posted this theory around forums again and again for awhile, but this is a collection to prove this even further. So we all have wondered, why the hell does Mashima have to spend 3 chapters on these no one characters, while there are tons of other things to solve, on top of that is a near 60-chapters arc and still no sign of the true Big Bad, especially with his tendency to rush things like this chapter? Why can't Mashima let Natsu one shot them instantly, or the Fairy Tail team for that matter but have to separate them only to regroup instantly later? The answer is this scene:
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If there were no executioners, we couldn't have this scene. If Natsu one shotted them instantly, we couldn't have this scene. If they didn't get separated, we couldn't have this scene. If Arcadios didn't coincidently get separated to Lucy and Yukino but others, on top of that against a guy that can control lava and seemingly the most dangerous ability out of his group, this again couldn't happen.
Then, after serving the purpose of making this scene happen, the Hungry Wolves just become pointless and thus getting cleaned up instantly. Mashima even doesn't bother to give some of them their names or how their magics work.
And yes this is a major plot point that deserves the waste of 3 chapters and potentially more. Lucy joining the Eclipse Plan can lead to 2 entirely different scenarios. Of course there is the option that Arcadios can force Lucy to join but that would generate a FT vs Council sub arc that can drag thing even further, plus it would make Arcadios feel blatant evil rather than this way.
Now, with this Arcadios sacrificing himself moment, most of the doubts about him from Lucy, and us readers, have been erased. Of course, he didnn't force her to join the Eclipse plan, but knowing the nice girl Lucy is, she will certainly do so. The Horologium appears just in of time just erase the doubts even more, because Arcadios couldn't have planned that Loki or Horo could appear in this moment right? But wait, take a look at this pic:
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Arcadios had already sunk quite deep (had his face completely covered) before Horologium appeared.
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And even then, with Horologium level of durability (being able to completely protect from Anima which affected even Makarov or Wendy against Hades attack), he still couldn't take much more from the lava. THEN HOW WAS ARCADIOS ABLE TO SURVIVE? It was again backed up with this:
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Charle was surprised that Arcadios still survived. And look, everything in his body is still intact, he doesn't even suffer from heavy burns. Again how is this possible? But wait, remember that every top tier mages in this series have ridiculous durability feat compared normal ones? Or it is stated somewhere in the series that magical power also attaches to the very life force of a mage? This generates a possibility that Arcadios is an actually extremely powerful mage, which isn't even that far fetch considering that this is the chief knight of Fiore Royal Kingdom. But why does such a powerful mage gets smacked around like these fodder executioners? Of course, just like the reason why Natsu didn't one shot them all, he couldn't have had his heroic scene if he revealed his true power here right?
No, the purpose of the HW is not to solely hype up Fairy Tail. Natsu already has his glory against Sting and Rogue, one shotting the leader whose magic is not even mentioned changes nothing her. Same things apply to Mira and Pantherlily, if Mashima wanted to give them the spotlights he definitely wouldn't end their matches in a single kick or attack.
The fact that the Princess keeps worrying about him gives us the wrong feelings that he's actually in danger. But people forget one thing that maybe even the princess herself doesn't know fully about Arcadios true intention, kinda like Jellal and Erza friends in ToH arc. Hell we haven't even known anything about her yet. I normally don't take seriously FT and just use the it's FT logic/magic/bad writting and get over things, but there are so many coincidences in this one that I have to actually put up a long *** theory about it.
TL;DR: THE TRUE PURPOSE OF THE HUNGRY WOLVES IS JUST A SET UP FROM ARCADIOS TO ERASE LUCY DOUBTS AGAINST HIM AND PERSUADE HER TO JOIN THE ECLIPSE PLAN WHICH CAN POSSIBLY LEAD TO A MAJOR EVENT IN THE FUTURE.
. Nhưng dù gì cũng phải nói xử 1 Team trong đúng 1 chap như vậy thì đó giớ mới thấy truyện của Má 
. Quan trọng là có giải thích hợp lí là được rồi như Wendy khống chế được hiệu ứng và Mira chống được độc etc.
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. Có mấy tinh linh như ảnh hay horologium tự đông xuất hiện khi lúc nguy cấp cũng hay . Mà chả hiểu vẹo gì lúc Lucy bi con B1tch kia cho ăn hành thì lại ko xuất hiện 
!!!
mà ta thấy Jel đc phết đấy chư , nếu nhìn hot nhất trong bộ lịch thì Jellal với Mira hot nhất rồi còn gì 
, Demon trong bộ đồ bơi học sinh 
!!1
!! Ep sau mong nó làm cái Star Destruction cũng hoành tráng như thế mặc dù biết là sẽ bị troll 
! Còn một mục đích nhỏ là lấy thông tin về lối ra thôi 
