User blog comment:IamJakuhoRaikoben/Chapter 373: Life or Death?, Review./@comment-4999650-20140228191308

Vol 39's afterword says that "the next episode foreshadows a long story afterward. I still can't say much about it, but the next long arc will have more plot twists than you've seen before, and the entire story of Fairy Tail will change in a big way. We're getting close to that one thing that was in the original setup that has always been a mystery.

Obviously, this is referring to the Tartarus arc. I sure hope theres more to the plot twists and story changer than just the Council dying. <3