This week's chapter cover features the building of Fairy Tail Guild itself. At first glance I threw this cover illustration as a random one but seeing this is the place where Zeref was heading made me change my view on it. We can also point the flow of wind in front of the Guild premises, a gentle wind if you ask me. This is crucial as if we take the events that happened in the chapter, not only this is the place where Zeref headed but the atmosphere over there is completely changed after Zeref went there. Though Mashima could have given a better chapter cover but not gonna say it was any bad or good one either.
You must be registered for see images
This week's chapter started with the one who is responsible for the death of Mavis, Zeref carrying her dead body to the Fairy Tail Guild. There he met with Precht Gabelog, who was a current Guild Master of Fairy Tail to whom Zeref delivered Mavis 'dead body'. Well, to be more accurate, Zeref threw the dead body of Mavis. This shocked Precht who is very composed and natural till that time. He checked the heartbeat of Mavis for confirmation and to his surprise her heart still lives. Which seems like Mavis is dead physically but she is not in the form of her soul(magic). Such is the Curse of Contradiction. One more point is the mentioning of Harvest Festival.
You must be registered for see links
So, Harvest Festival is something that has been celebrated since long back in Magnolia. Very Good point Mashima Sensei.
You must be registered for see images
After that We can see Zeref crying as he moves on which is very sad taking into account of what happened to his 'lover'. It is at this point Zeref named himself as a Spriggan, an ugly fairy in contrary to Mavis, a fairy.
You must be registered for see links
And that is how the body of the Mavis is in the Lacrima. After many attempts of reviving Mavis which all are failed at the end, Precht came to the conclusion that Mavis is under the Curse of Ankhselam. It is after that time, Precht publicly announced the death of Mavis Vermillion, the first Guild Master and built her grave on Sirius Island.
You must be registered for see links
You must be registered for see images
After formally becoming the second Guild Master, Precht carried out his duties as a Guild Master and he tried for a ways to revive Mavis. After 3 years, in x700, Yury Dreyar passed away not knowing the reason behind her wife, Rita Dreyar's death. For nearly 30 years Precht tried any possible way to revive Mavis only to find out that with the deadly combination of Precht's genius work and Mavis 'immortal' body, it gave rise to a new magic which challenges the very foundations of Magic, the eternal magic, Fairy Heart. This tied very well with Precht's backstory. Overall a nicely thought out background story for Precht who was a wizard that went onto dark side later on.
You must be registered for see images
Later on Mavis gives more in depth knowledge about Fairy Heart by comparing it with Etherion. Fairy Heart is weapon that can fire Etherion, a magical weapon which consists of 2.7 billion edea of magical energy for unlimited times. To be more accurate, Mavis says FH has no limit.
You must be registered for see links
That is expected given that only ones who knew the Fairy Tail's Biggest Secret are Guild Masters. Good to see Mashima not ignoring a minor detail such as this. Another Good mentioning in this chapter is about Ivan by Makarov himself. And we can Mavis predicting they might want FH to destroy Acnologia, one of the few things in Zeref's way.
You must be registered for see images
So the sole reason why Makarov hesitated to release Fairy Heart during Tartarus arc to put off face bombs for activating is due to controlling. He wasn't sure whether he can control it or not. The spotlight in this chapter is stolen by Gajeel tho. I like it how Mashima drew Levy right after Gajeel made that comment. And funny how Jet, droy, Macao and Wakaba reacted to what Gajeel said. Juvia is so sad that Mavis might fight the one who she loved once. Nothing less expected from Juvia if you ask me. We can everyone comforting Mavis who cried after saying her part of story to her fellow Guild members. While everyone is thinking about the ways to defeat Zeref, an immortal being, this chapter ended with Natsu saying that he has a secret plan to take down Zeref pointing at his bandaged right arm.
You must be registered for see images
Final Verdict - Overall an Very Good Chapter to conclude the tale of Cursed Boy and Cursed Girl which explained what is the nature of Fairy Heart and an old reference being brought in along with the needed background story for Precht Gabelog, Mavis Vermillion and Zeref Dragneel & very good depiction of expressions of characters and art as overall is Good.
Regarding next chapter.....it is titled as 'Prelude to the Final Battle'. So we might see the preparations for the upcoming battle or Albareth might attack Fairy Tail/Ishgar. Next chapter, 452 is 25 page long chapter with color opening. Way to start Mashima Sensei.