Timeline misunderstanding in Fairy Tail

Question

In Fairy Tail episode 287, Zeref, talking to Makarov, mentions that 10 years ago he stopped the invasion ten years ago (from the time of the episode) was a mistake and Zeref stopped his Empire because it was not yet time.

However, from that time point, one year ago Fairy Tail dissolved, and Zeref left Tenrou Island only eight years ago.

I haven't read the Manga, so it would be good to know: When and how did Zeref enter Tenrou Island, and if he was there at the point the invasion started, how did he stop the invasion?

Answer 1

The following is about what happened in the third/final season of Fairy Tail.

For how Zeref got to Tenrou Island, Zeref is immortal and rules over an empire. We can presume that he used one of his ships to get there.

As for when Zeref got there, there isn't anything stating the time he got there, but I think we can presume that it's like a little getaway for his curse of immortality due to there not being too much life around there.

As for how he stopped the invasion, he said that he told the shields to stop due to the invasion being something that the shields did on their own. There is also a part of him being a legendary mage, so we can presume that he can use some sort of communication with the shields. Even though nothing shows telepathy or something like that to be his main magic, we can presume that he used it, just like Mavis used a form of communication to tell the other Fairy Tail members not to go near the guild.