Loke got tied up like Virgo, so Elfman wasn't really trying. If he were trying, he'd just do what Madmole did and sent him back to the spirit realm. The lion brilliance thing doesn't really do any damage. At most it's a bit blinding. I'm still not convinced that punch was better than the Lucy kick, even accounting for Natsu's kick. If Lucy casted Aqua Metria on Jacob, she would have flooded the entire guild and hit Jacob anyways. I mean, it was what Lucy used when she thought Natsu's life was on the line. She sent Loke back to the spirit realm because he wanted Jacob to make her underwear invisible. Didn't even bother to have him stick around for the fight.Stayed in the fight for a long time though, and unlike Mira Elfman was trying. Lucy's Lucy Kick was combined with Natsu's. On his own Loke de-stealthed Jacob, staggered him with light and smacked him in the mouth leaving a nice bruise. Aqua Metria has size, but not much more really. Even if Aquarius Dress is as good as before, Lucy was hitting with Urano Metria back then, that's not the same, in fact I'd say it's vastly different.
So a demon stronger than the 9 was too weak for Sting and Rogue to go all out? If you say so.
I'm not saying modes shouldn't be considered(I kinda am), I'm saying just because a certain ability isn't used, doesn't mean the character isn't doing their best. There's a long list of fights that would change if certain abilities were used, generally I assume if Mashima decides not to use them then they don't make a difference, unless there is some reason revealed later.
Evenly matched? That's interesting, do you think Wendy has equal offense to Nebal then? Or do you just consider his regular punches the superior attacks?Kyria's attack didn't damage Lucy, it cut her clothes, not really the same thing as knocking someone out of Dragon Force, and likI said Lucy has more spirits to add to her damage output. Not that I have a problem with Kyria overpowering Lucy, she's the more powerful character, why wouldn't she be able to overpower Lucy?
Well, Sting and Rogue defeated Jiemma without Dragon Force, did they not? You don't believe Dragon Force would have increased their attack power?
Sure, we can assume that Wendy was doing her best against Dimaria. She was simply caught off guard by the roar when she wasn't in dragon force. If you believe that Kyria would have still oneshotted her, that's fine. That just means Wendy and Lucy are too weak to accurately rank off the Dragon Eaters. But right now, it sounds like you're saying DF doesn't even increase her stats.
I think Nebal can't overpower Wendy's roar with his own. He's much stronger in terms of physical strength though, which is what he used to beat her up. Let me just put it this way: If Wendy roared at Kyria in dragon force, do you think Kyria can slash through her roar and then knock Wendy out of her dragon force? If not, doesn't that scale Wendy's roar above Aquarius star dress?