Fairy Tail chapter 452, "Prelude to The Final Battle" is every bit as exciting as its title based on the spoilers.
It may be the final arc to the saga and a colored cover was released. View it here.
The spoilers translated by Mangahelpers have been released:
The first scene opens with Marin and Brandish, apparently having a pedicure (?) and Dimaria.
The scene returns to Fairy Tail, where Natsu reveals the secret of his right arm:
"There is a technique he developed that can be used only once. Even though it remains secret, it helps raising everyone's spirit."
One of the main highlights is Makarov's intelligence report which has some shocking reveals detailed here:
- Emperor Spriggan is Zeref
- Right after him comes the Winter General, Invel
- The one who pursued them before is the Desert King Ajeel
- The destroyer of the land, Marii (shouldn't that be Brandish? in the text there is a μ, after all)
- Then God Serena, former Saint of Ishgar who became an ally of Alvarez
- Then the so-called Magic King, August, who uses a kind of magic which is second only to that of Zeref
- After them, there are the three whom Makarov knows only by name (Bradman, Neinhart, another one that I can't figure out) and about the rest of them, Makarov says that he doesn't even know their names.
The rest of the translation:
"Zeref's plan is to have Fairy Heart and, after that, annihilate Ishgar. Something about God Serena being the strongest in the continent is mentioned, then Zeref orders Ajeel to go on with the attack. A whole army embarks towards Ishgar, as Mavis had predicted.
... Somewhere else, in an unknown location... Acnologia's left arm, the one Igneel had ripped apart, aches."
The war is approaching, but there might be some revelations in store.
There might be a deeper connection between Natsu and Acnologia (and of course, Zeref). The title of the next chapter is "The Duty of A Parent." Is that a clue to their connection? Who is the parent in question?