After a week of hiatus, "Fairy Tail" chapter 498 will be coming out on Monday and the battle between two of the strongest Ice Mages, Invel and Gray will now commence. Also, it looks like Brandish remains on Fairy Tail's side and will be battling his former comrades in the upcoming chapters.
Early spoilers were leaked courtesy of Manga Sail and raw scans show that Gray will be able to hold his own against Invel using his Ice Devil Slayer Magic. Also, Natsu seems to be unaffected by the Winter Magic as he was able to melt the ice that temporarily froze his whole body. The Fire Dragon Slayer also rescues Juvia and Lucy from Zeref's right hand man's magic.
It seems like Brandish remains on Fairy Tail's side as she takes Natsu and Lucy away from Invel and Gray's duel. However, it seems like Invel still got the last laugh in this chapter as Juvia and Gray seem to be shackled by a Invel's magical chain. By the looks of it, someone will have to die for the other to survive.
Fans over at Reddit believe that Gray and Juvia will be able to come up with another Unison Magic technique that will defeat Invel. Also, this will lead to Gray finally accepting the love of Juvia, who has admired him for so long. Moreover, Brandish will likely be up against the Lumen Histoire version of Dimaria as there is clearly beef between the two characters. The same could be said with August, who spared the life of Mirajane and some suggest that he will be up against Irene later.
As a quick refresher on the previous chapter, Zeref and Irene continue to extract the Fairy Heart out of Mavis' body. However, Zeref felt guilty seeing Fairy Tail's first guild master getting hurt. Hence, he warns Irene of hurting Mavis further, which annoys Irene. He reminds Zeref that he will not be able to beat Acnologia if he keeps being soft. Also, Gray will have to beat Invel to free Mavis from the Ice Magic that was casted upon her. Here is a video review of "Fairy Tail" chapter 497.