I thought this would be my last post on the matter as I'm fairly certain you won't change your mind, but I'm curious as to what you'll say to this.
Christ, never thought I'd be debating this extensively for Laxus...
So basically you refuse to listen to any evidence that requires the slightest bit of inference? No matter how unbiased and plausible it is?
Even if we play by your rules, Laxus has earned it because he managed to combat a Spriggan whilst half-dead. Wahl even said that he was surprised Laxus was even alive, let alone giving a Spriggan trouble. Wahl also notes that despite having large quantities of MBP's within his body, his Magic Power is still top-tier. I shouldn't have to explain why this is so impressive. On top of this, the only reason he was even damaged as much as he was by Wahl is because he kept having MBP attacks throughout the fight and wanted to cure himself. Had he not needed Wahl to cure him, he could have used Red Lightning from the start and one-shotted.
Literally no other character has done anything close to this kind of feat.
Except what I'm saying he likely can do is supported by solid statements in canon. I'm not just talking out of my ass saying "LOL Luxus can solo all of the Spriggans", I'm saying that reputable characters have made statements that he could casually one-shot Spriggans and that we have little reason to doubt these statements. After all, why would August unnecessarily humiliate Ajeel? And why would Zeref lie to Gray? Neither have anything to gain by lying, and both are reputable, so why should they be exempt from discussion? They may not be feats but when what's being suggested is pretty damn plausible and isn't coming from an unreliable source, I don't see why it should be excluded.
I did forget about Wahl being weak to lightning, so my bad there.
About Wahl having PIS though... all of the Spriggans did, and some to a more stupid extent. At the end of the day, my point is that Laxus had to be half-dead and suffering MBP attacks for Wahl to give him trouble, and even then Laxus was contending amazingly well.
He didn't scratch Ajeel because August saved his ass. Oh, and while Laxus' casual nuke didn't hit Ajeel himself, we have seen what happens when Ajeel's Sands of Death (hyped to kill Makarov, Natsu and co.) met Laxus' nameless bolt. The result? Sands of Death was stopped.
I'd say stopping a Spriggan's second strongest move with an unnamed, casual, non-nuke bolt is a pretty clear signal of major superiority.
I'm not acting like I know what MBP's cause, we flat out know what MBP's cause. They consume Ethernano within a mage, and Laxus consumed a crap load of them. Despite this, Wahl confirmed that he still has top tier Magic Power. So basically, a heavily nerfed Laxus is still a top tier fighter, but he suffers attacks at random moments as well.
Ultimately, Wahl fought a heavily nerfed Laxus, was immune to his magic and got free hits on him ... yet still lost.
Yes and no. Laxus vs Wahl is similar to Erza vs Kyouka in that the good guys always win, though I'm not sure what you're trying to point out here, as that can be said for pretty much any FT member vs Spriggan fight in this arc.
However, Erza vs Kyouka was far more bullshit. Erza had gone through days of torture, fought Minerva, was getting owned by Kyouka and had none of her senses and... she won. And the only reasoning given was "because she's Erza!". In comparison, Wahl's defeat came because he purged Laxus of his MBP's. What you're comparing is a heavily nerfed Erza that couldn't even see one-shotting Kyouka in her Etherious form, to a Spriggan cleansing Laxus of his nerfs and getting killed for it.
And yes, Red Lightning was an asspull, but at least there was some hints at the lightning being strange, whereas Erza just straight up punched Kyouka and it somehow KO'd her.
Please tell me, why does this matter in a power ranking? Going by this logic we should be putting Lucy above Laxus because she converted a Spriggan to being neutral and revived Natsu.
At this point I'm convinced you're being ingenuous, you should know that's a ridiculously irrelevant argument.
I know Deus Sema can be destroyed by Erza with every bone in her body broken.
Logical scaling should dictate that anyone above broken-bones Erza can destroy that meteor. Laxus and Gildarts are more powerful than broken bones Erza, not to mention their magics are more destructive, so naturally they should be able to destroy it.
You say that as if there isn't a major difference between Irene and Acnologia.
As I mentioned above, Irene's strongest attack has already been shown as destructible to broken-bones Erza, Gildarts, a man who specializes in CRASH magic should easily destroy it.
Irene has no reason to lie? May I remind you that basically every Spriggan was overconfident.
Also, what Irene said is irrelevant here as her talk about it "destroying the battlefield" only applies if Deus Sema actually lands, and considering that a broken-bones Erza managed to destroy it, Laxus should be able to bust that whilst taking a piss.
Again, I'm not wanking them, I'm just not downplaying them.
As for stating why they earned their positions, enjoy the above and below.
Well, Gildarts is basically a mages worst nightmare since he can crash any magic cast towards him and then curb them in CQC. Keep in mind his punches can be enhanced by Crash Magic and he managed to blitz August, the guy who murked CS with sheer ease.
As for Laxus, he has ridiculously powerful nukes that are quick to cast and he has endurance/durability feats that blow everyone else out of the water. Oh, and he's also a beast in CQC. I should probably also mention that even when half-dead he was considered top tier.
Natsu is powerful, but he's not consistent, and that's his biggest problem.
Laxus had a forced win? That's because it was a forced fight, had Laxus been healthy he would have one-shotted Wahl with Red Lightning.
As for Erza, basically just read the above, Erza has fuck all on Laxus and Gildarts, except maybe endurance.
You asked me what they had earned and I explained why I thought they'd earned that. I still believe in my reasoning. It's not my fault you don't like it and that you're trying to disqualify hype for no reason.
Erza was hyped?

Scans please, because I don't remember her getting any hype from characters like August and Zeref.
Also, I'm not saying you must accept Laxus' hype, I'm saying his hype comes from respectable characters who have no reason to lie, thus we should at least analyse this hype and make a judgement on it. I believe it's more than accurate.
And as for complaining that I'm giving Erza's feat of breaking Deus Sema to Laxus and Gildarts, I'm simply scaling broken-bones Erza to them. Are they more powerful than her? Yes, and they have more destructive magic, so they should be able to destroy it.
Dude... it was my opinion, my
belief, that they earned their spot. You're debating semantics.
Also LMAO at the over exaggeration, you're the one who is refusing to accept the idea that Laxus can one-shot Spriggans despite having feats and hype saying he can. You may think that I'm being ridiculous, but you're the one going out of your way to disregard Laxus' hype.
So scaling characters is wanking now, got it.
Let me give you a question: if broken bones Erza can destroy Deus Sema, why can't Laxus or Gildarts?

I got into a massive argument with another user just the other day about Natsu's feats and analysed them extensively. And as you've seen above, I've analysed Laxus' feats a fair amount.
> Saying stupid things like Gildarts's crashing Deus Sema
1) Gildarts crashed fucking August. August being the most powerful Spriggan, someone with enough MP to make anyone he's met (not named Zeref) shit themselves, surpass Natsu's heat resistance and potentially destroy a country.
2) Deus Sema is just a rock falling really fast. The dangerous part is the blast wave it produces when it lands, Gildarts should be able to crash it in mid-air.
3) Broken-bones Erza managed to break Deus Sema. I'm sure Gildarts will manage.