User blog:B214/Chapter 498: Gray vs. Invel

It's not a bad chapter, just an empty chapter? IDK, can't find the exact words to describe this chapter.

If Mashima wanted to set Invel up as a fearsome opponent he did, to an extent. But he also set up his inevitable defeat in the last page too. After the Gajeel and Mira incident, are we even suppose, more like are we able to be impressed, be awed or even be hyped by this chapter at all? The hype was created and destroyed in the same chapter, that's quite impressive in a sense but not a good one for sure. And the "purest of the ice" magic seems to have little effect on Natsu now, i'm guessing it has something to do with the slightly random Brandish appearance. Did she just appear for the sole sake of kidnapping Natsu, Lucy and Happy?

But personally i'm glad Invel did something winter related cause if not his nickname of Winter Mage would look somewhat dumb. And we get an explanation on why Gray isn't using the Devil Slayer so much despite inheriting it. I wonder if the corruption of soul will eventually come to play, but IIRC, wasn't it mentioned that this issue was solved by Porlysica in the Avatar Arc already?