Apologies if this sounds a little incoherent. I just got off work
The issue I have with this is that Gray has a wide arsenal of spells that he could do instead. I dont think its reasonable to assume that he will flash freeze Anne on the spot in most cases. Like, it has been a hot minute since i last watched a Fairy Tail episode, but I know that Gray also engages in close quarter and I cant remember a fight where just went lol freeze as his first move. Granted I dont remember many Gray fights to begin with but still.
True, his arsenal is quite vast; most of his arsenal consists of a variety of ranged ice attacks. Gray typically only engages in CQC when his ranged options fail to amount to anything. Gray can also just freeze any of Anne's own ranged options she tries to throw at Gray; they would essentially become inert due to how absolute Zero temps work. Probably the most notable example of him starting with Freeze GG is vs Mard Gear or Tempester. There is the Sand Golem that he insta froze, the rest of the x792 fights he was in were against enemies that he couldn't freeze, aka Invel and END. In this Key, Gray fought Skullion, whom he attempted to freeze on his 3rd move. So, at the very least, it is an early option for him to go for it.
Crescent moons are as wide as skyscrapers are long. If Gray isnt literally teleporting away from his duplicates i dont see how he isnt getting hit. There is also the alternative of using a different Wave move, which is also in character for her to use early, like crimson flower, a AoE wave attack around her, or Chi-Strike, which is a strike that shoots invisible chi attacks.
Gray is kinda a master at dodging bullshit people throw at him. First, against silver he dodged several of his spawn on target freeze spells via the duplicates, even though Silver was looking at him both times when he did this. Gray can also just skill diff Line of Sight abilities. The Thunder Legion tried to use their eye magics on him, but he dodged the magic by completely leaving their field of View, despite them literally looking at him. Keep in mind that he was nerfed while doing this, as he couldn't use any of his ice magic against them. Gray can also just move incredibly quickly, capable of getting off the top of Aldoron, a several-thousand-kilometer dragon, within the span of a single battle.
But more importantly, Annes AP advantage is ginormous, its like 750 times. Anne destroying the ice and launching ice shards in Grays direction would oneshot him. Anything but instantly flashfreezing Anne solid would get him killed. Anne is also skilled enough that Gray stepping a single meter to close to her would get him destroyed.
The ice shards wouldn't do anything Slayers are almost entirely immune to their element, even when a bloodlusted August hit Natsu with a 5-A fire attack vs Natsu's High 6-A base at the time, August only did a small amount of damage.
As far as whether he would start with this, based on how Wave Attacks seem to work, Gray's ESP should be able to tell him that she is way stronger than he is, as Waves contain energy from the mind and body, something magic requires in its formation. If I am to believe that the Chi used here represents some form of spiritual power, that is another thing Fairy Tail mages use for their magic. If Gray has the knowledge that Anne is leagues stronger than him, he isn't gonna waste time and throw pointless attacks at her; he will just go for the Freeze strat right from the get-go.
