But still, Lucy has never done anything of this sort. She never summoned ten spirits periodically except for the Eclipse Gate which was the combined power of hers and Yukino. The only celestial spirit we know of that can do this is Layla and that nearly costed her life.
It isn't even close though. Summoning 3 spirits may consume a lot of MP for Lucy but not necessarily for everybody, especially those with higher MP.
Like I said, Lucy collapsed after summoning CSK. On the other hand, Gray was still able to stand and walk away after using 2 finisher moves (
Ice Devil's Zeroth Longsword and
Ice Devil's Zeroth Destruction Bow). We now for a fact that both of these attacks are stronger than CSK because that celestial spirit couldn't even take on Base Mard Geer. And because they're stronger, that means they consume more MP. My point here is that Gray used more MP than Lucy and was still able to hold his ground. If this doesn't prove that he has more MP than Lucy, I don't know what will.
I don't disagree with the notion that one spirit may require lots of MP. But it definitely isn't as exhausting as you're making it seem. From what I understand, you think that every summoner has higher MP compared to a regular mage.
But it depends on the caster. Take Yukino for example. Do you think she has higher MP than Team Natsu? No. But she can even summon the 13th Gate (Ophiuchus), right?
Arlock was a fodder. None of his spells were that impressive and it is safe to say that his MP wasn't that high either (considering he was beaten quite easily).
No, my point about Lucy having her MP gradually drained after summoning a spirit is that her magic is of different nature to Gray. Look at it this way. Gray's magic
may not show his energy being zapped away like Lucy, but
he could still very well have more MP output than her. The only MP feats Lucy has was summoning three spirits for a short period of time (10 minutes max) and CSK. Everything else after that was done off of Aquarius' power. Meanwhile, Gray used the majority of his MP in his fight against Silver, and then proceeded to use two finisher moves to defeat Etherious Tempesta + Etherious Mard Geer.
It doesn't have to be stated. It's logic. Do you agree that a stronger attack requires more MP, yes or no?
If you say no, then the conversation ends here. If you say yes, then that proves that Gray has more MP. Using two different types of magic is irrelevant because Lucy's magic is still weaker than Gray. So less MP would be burned. Even if opening a gate gradually zaps the user of their magic, it clearly isn't to the point where one would be totally drained of their magic power (unless they have low MP to begin with).
Remember Aquarius? Lucy summoned her repeatedly when
she was only a little child because she was bored. Are we going to say Kid Lucy > Gray, now? No. That would be completely absurd.
What feats though? The only argument I've seen is that Lucy is a summoner and can summon CSK (which wasn't even sustained only by her magic power). Not to mention, it was stated that only Lucy's body couldn't handle summoning three spirits at once. I bet you if Layla was there, the spirits wouldn't have said anything.
Okay. I respectfully disagree with you here.