To be fair, Gildarts is the weakest here, but that is strictly speaking in terms of power. His magic doesn't need him to be the strongest, and we saw he successfully used crash on August, although it didn't help in the long run because August copied and negated it (something no other person can replicate tbh). Well, this would have been a sure battle for Zeref without the nerf, and would have been sure for Irene if Zeref wasn't here to reverse her if she did turn into a dragon. Irene has more MP, but what would she do against crash for example? Same for Zeref? Also, before Gildarts is written off, it's fair to mention that he fought August for an extended period of time, and managed to take numerous attacks without suffering much damage. Heck he and August were mostly in the same condition by the end of the fight, with neither doing significant damage to the other. Although, I'd admit that August would definitely triumph over him regardless, and August is the superior fighter, but claiming Gildarts is fodder here doesn't follow, when he was able to go against August despite his copy magic for that long.
Well that aside, it's tough to pick a winner. It feels like a toss up between Irene and Zeref. Can't really decide for now.
Well that aside, it's tough to pick a winner. It feels like a toss up between Irene and Zeref. Can't really decide for now.