The denial here is absolutely ridiculous, but not surprising at all.
Quite a few people have a hard time imagining August and Eileen to be surpassed, for their supposed dominance in their arcs.
WHY? It's basic power creep
People forgot how dominant Mard Geer was, in his arc?
The guy was >= CSK in his base, no diff'd LFD Natsu and twin dragons in his base, and tanked all out assault of x791 DF Natsu with minimal damage. To put in perspective how crazy this feat is, x792 DF Natsu's all out assault obliterated the entire body of FH Zeref, who is above the likes of August and Eileen in his base
Yet he was surpassed. August and Eileen would destroy Mard Geer, even though the dominance he asserted in his arc, was far above even what Zeref (Alverez main villain) or the Spriggans asserted in their arcs
And, Eileen wasn't even that dominant. She couldn't put down x792 Erza in her base. In fact, if not for her dragon form, she isn't even that impressive in x792. Same with Zeref. He couldn't put down base Natsu, and it it weren't for FH/space-time magic, DF Natsu would've defeated him, not really impressive either
The top tiers of older arcs get blown away by the top tiers of newer arcs. It's classic shounen power creep 101. Don't understand why it's so hard to get it.
Mard Geer got powercrept by Zeref/August/Eileen. Similarly, Zeref/August/Eileen are getting powercrept by the black knights. Should be fairly straightforward logic, but apparently not !!
It's amazing how we have a character who one shotted much stronger versions of Natsu and Erza than who Zeref/Eileen faced; and then went onto extreme diff a human Acno tier (a feat even unimaginable in x792).
And instead of accepting the obvious implication of power creep, people make excuses and outright go against the author's claims/portrayal:
- Natsu and Erza were "tired". Yea, Natsu fought Lucy and a couple of Yokai, Erza fought Youko for a couple of minutes. Big deal.
While conveniently ignoring the fact that Natsu and Erza were in MUCH worse state before the fought Zeref and Eileen
- Selene is not Acno tier.
Well, in your headcanon she isn't. But in reality she is Acno tier, cause that's what Mashima wants
"But the good guys will soon beat him"
Ok. And?
I suppose Mard Geer >>>> Zeref since he shrugged off x791 DF Natsu while FH Zeref got disintegrated by x792 DF Natsu; since by their logic the good guys don't get stronger