Zeref Dragneel

Zeref Dragneel is considered to be the strongest, most evil Mage of all time, who possesses extremely dangerous, and powerful Magic. In reality, he is a reclusive, self-hating youth who cannot control his powers. He is the founder and current Emperor of the Alvarez Empire, under the alias of Spriggan, and the older brother of Natsu Dragneel. Despite being hundreds of years old, Zeref has the appearance of a young man. He wears high-collared red (black in the anime) and tan robes with gold trim, along with a large, flowing white toga draped around his torso. He has short black hair, dark eyes, and abnormally sharp canines. He also wears a circle-shaped necklace. When Zeref returned to the Alvarez Empire, he changed his wardrobe to a black and white outfit. When angered, Zeref's irises become red and gain a black ring around the pupil, giving him a much more menacing appearance. Zeref is said to have been the darkest, most evil Mage in the history of the Magic World, mastering the Black Arts and creating many Demons, some of which still wreak havoc in the present.

In the modern era, Zeref seeks to isolate himself and is very calm, sincere, and conflicted. He wishes to die to atone for all the sins he has committed, and may commit in the future. He shows concern for others when he warns them not to come near him, knowing that they would die if they did. He is also somewhat emotionally fragile, as when he realizes that Natsu is not ready to kill him yet, he breaks down in tears. Zeref often kills with no prior incentive or knowledge. In spite of all this, Zeref is very vindictive, and will punish those who he believes to be evil. This was shown when he ruthlessly killed Hades, whom he thinks has committed a number of unforgivable sins. As a result of his immortal life, Zeref has developed a misanthropic loathing for humanity and its repeated idiosyncrasies of hatred, evil, and conflict. Nevertheless, Zeref is also shown to be a man of the people as the Emperor of Alvarez, and is shown to display good will and friendliness towards his generals and subjects, which is also reflected in their opinion of him, sincerely cheering and welcoming him as he returns to the capital after a long absence. Zeref also compared running the Empire akin to playing a game, making the Curse of Contradictions' symptoms go away while at it. At some point in the distant past, stated to be around 400 years ago, Zeref witnessed the deaths of many people. Around this time, he also became cursed, and unintentionally took the lives of all those around him. Zeref was described as having alighted in an ancient land, mastered Black Magic, given birth to tens of thousands of Demons, and thrown the world into chaos. However, according to Mard Geer, Zeref cursed himself for becoming immortal, desiring to die and eventually created the Etherious born to kill him with E.N.D. as his final masterpiece. In actuality, Zeref was a student at a Magic Academy in Mildia, where he researched the connections between life, death and Magic to revive his brother Natsu, whom died at a young age. After creating things such as the R-System and the Eclipse Gate, he was expelled from the academy for breaching the sacred teachings of Ankhseram, however he was cursed by Ankhseram and then killed everyone around him with his newfound, unwanted curse of contradiction. After this, Zeref wished to die and wandered around, creating the Etherious in the hopes that they would kill him, but instead turned to reviving his dead brother, having preserved his body, as an Etherious, thus fulfilling his goal of bringing his brother back and creating something that could kill him: E.N.D.; Etherious Natsu Dragneel. At least a century ago, Zeref founded what later shaped itself to become the Alvarez Empire, which united 730 guilds of Alakitasia by martial force, but he rarely dabbles in politics unless necessary, preferring to stay beyond the capital, or even the empire itself, while his ministers and generals do the majority of the work. Zeref returns to the Alvarez Empire after a year of absence, cheered on by his subjects coming out to meet him and revealing himself to be Emperor Spriggan. At the palace, he is greeted by Invel, and Zeref asks him to gather the rest of the Spriggan 12. As they converse, Dimaria and Ajeel appear and Invel chastises them for the manner in which they speak to Zeref. At that moment, August walks in asking Zeref if he found his answer to Ragnarok, to which Zeref replies that in Ishgar Ragnarok is called the Dragon King Festival. Yajeel then enters the palace and greets the emperor, but backs away as he remembers the effects of Zeref's curse. Yajeel introduces Makarov to him and says that he is seeking an audience with the emperor. As the others leave, Makarov and Zeref then converse privately about the Dragon King Festival, Fairy Heart, and Alvarez Empire's origin. Afterwards, Zeref thanks Makarov for raising Natsu and prepares to kill him, but at that moment, Mest appears and teleports himself and Makarov away. Through this, Zeref learns of Natsu's presence in Alakitasia and smiles. After Natsu and the rest of Fairy Tail successfully escape, Zeref thinks to himself that "it" finally begins.

Zeref is later seen at a meeting with the Spriggan 12 where he states that the time has finally come to begin the invasion of Ishgar. He proceeds to ask if God Serena has any objections, to which the former Wizard Saint replies that he has none. Wahl Icht then reproaches Zeref for his selfish motive of trying to recover his former lover's body, but is told that Fairy Heart is a Magic and that Zeref's main motive is the annihilation of Ishgar. Ajeel then says that Zeref should leave the mission to him, however Zeref declines and states that he can't just leave it to Ajeel alone. Zeref continues and says it has more meaning to go on an all-out offensive with all their armies. Zeref ends with stating that the Dragon King Festival Begins and gives this Spriggan 12 the order to begin advancing their troops. Black Arts: Zeref was able to master all forms of Dark Magic at a very early age, and brought countless Demons to life. His Magic Power is enormous; so enormous, in fact, that he cannot consciously control his own Magic, though whether this was always the case is unknown. Zeref's lack of control over his Black Arts seems to come from his emotional state. He, himself, has stated that when he cares of the lives of others, his Magic becomes uncontrollable and randomly bursts outward, killing all those around him, but, when he no longer cares about others, he gains complete control over his Magic, and becomes the ruthless, cold-hearted Zeref spoken of in legend.  Ankhseram Black Magic: It is a Black Art that allows Zeref to kill any living thing he desires. This Magic seems to be uncontrollable at times, causing it to burst out randomly, killing anything within a certain radius around him. However, when Zeref forgets the value of, and no longer cares about, a human life, he can fully control this Magic. Certain Magic Items can protect people from Ankhseram Black Magic, such as Natsu Dragneel's scarf. This Magic also appears, contrary to the nature of the Black Arts, unable to be learned, as Zeref only gained this curse-like Magic by upsetting the ancient God of life and death, Ankhseram, who apparently bestowed this upon Zeref due to his making light of the connections between life, death and people in his race to bring his brother back to life. The side effect of this Magic is immortality and the inability to age. Death Predation: This usage of this spell creates a dark wave that kills everything in the user's immediate vicinity.Death Orb: A spell that, when used, destroys everything in its path. Death Pillar: Zeref swipes both of his arms in a circular motion until the bottom of his hands meet. The hand on top has the index and middle fingers pointing upwards, while the other hand has the little and index fingers pointing downwards. While doing this, he is surrounded by a dark aura. This spell creates a huge vertical explosion, and it's blast radius is seemingly controllable. It was used to kill Hades. Living Magic: A very ancient, long-forgotten form of Magic that breathes life into an object. Some of Zeref's creations are sentient, and seek to further Zeref's former, as-of-yet unknown, evil desires. Most of the beings that Zeref created were Demons. Deliora: One of Zeref's many creations, Deliora was a monstrous Demon that attacked the icy villages in the North. Deliora was imprisoned in a block of ice by Ur. Lyon Vastia tried to unfreeze it so he could kill the Demon, however, after years of being imprisoned in Ur's ice, the Demon's life force was greatly reduced, so much, in fact, that simply upon being released from the ice, it died. Lullaby: A flute that can transform into a giant Demon. Whoever hears Lullaby's song (aside from the caster) will die. Erigor hoped to use this to kill the Guild Masters at their meeting. As Kageyama failed to carry out the mission, Lullaby transformed into its Demon form to feast upon souls. However, Natsu Dragneel, Gray Fullbuster, and Erza Scarlet were able to defeat the Demon flute. It currently is in the Magic Council's possession. Nemesis: This spell creates Demons from rubble. It can create an entire army of Demons with just a few rocks. This spell was used by Hades while battling Fairy Tail. Hades learned this spell from Volume 4 Verse 20 of one of the Books of Zeref. Tartaros: Zeref stated that all of Tartaros' members are Demons he created. E.N.D. or Etherious Natsu Dragneel: The strongest of his Demons and the master of Tartaros. Mard Geer Tartaros: one of his strongest Demons and second in command of Tartaros. Immobilization Magic: A Black Art of Zeref's that allows him to freeze time for all except those he specifically chooses to remain mobile. After casting this Magic, the surrounding area and all those affected by the Magic appear inverted in color, whilst those unaffected remain as they are Enhanced Durability: Zeref is quite physically durable, as he was able to take a punch from Natsu Dragneel (no visible marks were left), and return to his feet, completely unfazed. Expert Sensor: Zeref was able to sense Acnologia approaching Tenrou Island from quite a fair distance, as well as talk to Mavis Vermilion despite not being able to see or hear her. Immortality: Approximately 400 years ago, Zeref successfully attained immortality, which is revealed to be a byproduct of him being cursed by the God of life and death, Ankhseram, with Ankhseram Black Magic. In addition, he is also unaging.