Some believe Brandish can simply enlarge her foes' organs, to the point where it becomes a guaranteed fatal wound. Such hyperbolic claim also came from another character in the story.
Hypothetically speaking, she can achieve such a feat. But for all the hype surrounding her power, we know full well Brandish has never actually executed her magic in such manner during combat.
What she has displayed so far is to shrink entire islands into rock, shrink magic attacks and send them flying back to her enemy, turn herself into a giant, or shrink her foes down to the size of an insect. But doing so does not guarantee a win, as instead of casually stomping them like insects, it turned out to be counter-productive as someone at the calibre of Lucy was still capable of fighting back and counter attacking Brandish despite her size.
Someone who is adaptable and dynamic enough, could also achieve the same. No notable fighters have been shown to be defeated, or unable to retaliate, just because they got shrunk. Despite holding back, Brandish did fight Lucy on equal terms and managed to have the upperhand and eventually overpower her. But for all the expectations generated from her hype, it is not sufficient to consider her a credible threat to some of the most formidable and skilled characters.
In her giant form, despite having her foes in her grip, Brandish has yet to display an incredible feat of strength befitting her size. Whereas other behemoths like Celestial Spirit King, Titan Makarov, Acnologia, and even Ikusatsunagi, just to name a few, has shown exceedingly destructive feats of strength that matches their larger physiques. Therefore, I find it hard to be amazed by her power.
Then we go on to her ability to affect the mass of her enemies' organs. She used this power on both August and Natsu, and even secretly does the same for Mirajane after she got blast through her chest with magic. Notice a pattern? Brandish has only employed her magic in such fashion when she takes on the role of a medic. By shrinking the gravity of the wounds, she diminishes the magnitude from fatal to negligible, and is able to heal her foes. But in actual combat, how useful and efficient can this be?
In a straight up fight, Brandish cannot actually erase her foes' existence by shrinking them to nothingness, or enlarge their organs till they rupture and blow up into smithereens. But I guess if Brandish were to keep claiming Lucy and co should not bother fighting her and Alvarez because they would always win with marginal effort, at every chance she gets, shit actually turns from myth to fact.
We know she was unable to even touch Neinhart after he was enhanced by Irene's enchantment, while Natsu proceeded to take him out with a single punch. So her magic has its obvious limitations in what she can apply it to. If her enemies are able to dish out greater magical output in the instances they clash, I see her also unable to alter the size of them or their attacks. And in this group, Laxus, Jellal, Sherria and Erza all have a very strong and reasonable case of falling into this breadth.
Then, we get to her durability. Which I find it lacklustre against the aforementioned characters. Dammit, Mashima did not really help her either. If he wants Brandish to look strong, instead of doing so through direct quotes from characters in the story, which we know by now should be taken with a pinch of salt, he should have given her some legitimate feats during combat.
Unfortunately Mashima seems to have neglected doing so, as Brandish was struck down with a chop to the back of her head by Cana, who was amused by how easy it was.
Going by Cana's statements, if anything, Mashima seems to be backtracking and using her to remind the readers not to get too carried away with the Spriggan hype until it was shown they are able to deliver.
Brandish too, was done in with a knife slash.
Which should be fatal, if we are going by the standards of a regular human. But in a series where it was establish early some characters have ignored such degree of wounds and continue fighting without letting it affect them.
With help from Levy, so could Gajeel stand back up and defeat his foes.
And we have Natsu surviving a gun blast down his throat
All these feats took place even before the Alvarez arc. And it's not like Dimaria enchanted her knife. It leaves a lot more to be desired from Brandish when it comes to her resistance. With her abysmal track record, I have my doubts if she can endure and continue fighting after taking assaults from a few of the combatants in this group, who have some of the most formidable feats of attacks.
