User blog comment:LordLuminous/Fairy Tail 491: Mother and Child Review/@comment-5303512-20160629200401/@comment-5303512-20160629222134

I wouldn't be so sure, the fact that he was still alive to take Gajeel along with him to where ever they were going makes me think much about it. It is possible that he was transported to somewhere else away from Gajeel, or that he pulled a Franmalth and fused with Gajeel without him or Anyone else noticing. And another possibility that there are those healing pods like the ones that resurrected Natsu as END, I am not calling those Hell's Core because that is Mard Geer's thing, not those kinds.