User blog comment:IamJakuhoRaikoben/Chapter 497: The Winter Mage, Review./@comment-24951162-20160810202218/@comment-7418318-20160815225042

Hmm... anyone know the exact words that were used when the translators chose "strongest Demon"?

Because if it's "saikyou" I can see how that can be interpreted as either "strongest" or "final".

If that is indeed the case (which I don't know, I don't have access to any raws so I'm just speculating) it might not have been a change of mind on Mashima's part, but a simple mistranslation.

Though I'm sure some people will misunderstand "final" as meaning the last Etherious to be created, when it is most likely the other way round with him being the first Ehterious and the final refering to it being the final attempt that Zeref made to revive his brother, final because it succeeded and thus there was no need for any more attempts.

I still wonder why Zeref only brought Natsu back and not his parents too.