Well, I disagree. And I don't think Eileen, even in human form, has below physical stats. She was only scratched with Erza's double sword full strike attack, enhanced by Wendy's boost. And Erza had resolution to end this. Eileen didn't defend herself and didn't even move.
Ok, and what happened afterwards?
Erza was solo fighting human Eileen AFTER Wendy went down.
They pretty much had a back and forth battle for like 2/3rd of a chapter, and Eileen was pissed. So no excuse of she was playing around or something
August however was overwhelming Gildarts in physical combat. And Gildarts is above Erza in all stats, but a decent margin.
If Erza's combat stats is 10, Eileen is 12, Gildarts 15, August 16
Not sure August is also physically tougher than Erza. Erza is a monster in durability, perhaps with the highest level in this part in all the Guild.
Definitely yes.
Unless you think Erza is shrugging off Gildarts' strongest attack to her face, with just a bloody lip.
Still, Erza was her daugter and Eileen could unconsciously hold back her might (just like Laxus's Fairy Law when his heart for his friend was a direct counterpart to his determination to end Fairy Tail's members), while she shouldn't on August.
Nah, she pulled a meteor with the intent to wipe Erza's existance
Law was different, Law listens to Laxus' heart.
Laxus never "held back" in the entire fight, and fully intended to kill Natsu. Even if deep down something was telling him to stop the madness.
Attacking physically and using high AOE spells don't care about subconscious.
Still Hax people can't do their thing on a stronger Magic than thereself. I can agree that Eileen and August are close by portrayal (Brandish's statement to counterpart Makarov's statement that August is the strongest Spriggan, putting Eillen on same pedestal as both strongest), but her Dragon Form gave her huge boost in all stats : physical and Magic. You can say Eileen didn't have same boost as Selene but clearly, I am not sure. Her attribute, Wisdom, is a direct portrayal to boost her Enchant level by huge mergin, from "High Enchanter" to "Master Enchanter", extending her Magic above Earth, Sea or else, In that so, I think "Boost" is most likely her attribute in Dragon Form, and for me it is more evident than even Selene's in process.
With this enhancement, I am not sure August can copy her spells anymore, just like Brandish's hax couldn't affect Neinheart under Eileen's Spell. In that so, August has no weapons against her. For me, August is no match for her Dragon Form, in all stats, just like Suzaku is to Selene's Dragon Form.
Copying isn't hax, that's just what his magic allows him to do.
It's basically "learning fast"
Nullification however is hax.
Brandish's statement just reflects on overall ranking.
Let's consider portrayal then, since we're going there
- Zeref knows of Eileen's dragon form, and most likely August as well. August was still the leader of the Spriggans, well who gave the title? Obviously Zeref? If Zeref thought Eileen was stronger, she would've been the leader, not August
- Manga refers to Eileen as the strongest female Spriggan, always. August has been referred to as the strongest Spriggam as well. This happened even AFTER Eileen's dragon form was revealed and "died" as well
- August was the last standing Spriggan, and we know who's left for the last typically.
Speaking about human Eileen, they are close one and yes, I can see August taking average due to Copy Magic. But do you think Eileen isn't smart enough to understand August's weakenesses, just like Gildarts did ? This Enchanteress is one of the most knowledgable wizard in the Manga, with 400yo of experience. August can copy Magic from casters using spells from their own bodys (Natsu, Laxus...), but when a Caster use a tool to cast spell, August's Magic is disable. Gildarts's bio arm as exemple. Eileen is smart enough to cast spell with her Bo to counter August's defense. This is why I can see them evenly match here because August is still an erudit in all spells just like her with around same MP level.
Eileen enchants stuff using her own magic, no reason August can't copy it.
And, even if that is true for the sake of argument, that August can't nullify it, it still means that Eileen still can't use her abilities on him directly, which is still a nerf.
Eileen will be facing another Eileen + most her offensive magic useless + other magics August has copied.
Human Eileen gets stomped.
Also, if we wanna go the route of no CIS, and hypotheticals. (like "Eileen will enchant tools with her magic" ).
If we are using what "they are capable of", rather than going purely by their feats on screen. Let's do that then, cause August is the most broken mage you can even create lmao.
Nobody who isn't actually Acno tier is even touching him.
These are the magic he has copied ON SCREEN:
- refraction magic from Midnight. There goes his weakness to "tools", right out of the window. Eileen can enchant tools or whatnot, refraction no sells them all (in the off chance August doesn't nullify by his base magic) .
- heavenly body magic, from Jellal. This includes meteor, which is a massive boost to speed/CQC
- racer's speed magic, another massive boost to speed CQC
- sound magic from Cobra, mind reading is a massive boost to CQC, plus you never get caught off guard
- fire DS magic, from Natsu
- crash magic, from Gildarts
You think Eileen is even landing a single blow on August if he uses meteor + racer's speed magic + mind read?
August also surely has seen Spriggans use their magic, which means he has abilities of pretty much every Spriggan except Bradman (curse), Wahl (machine) and maybe Larcade (curse?)
This + countless magics he has copied over his lifetime.
August with no CIS/PIS curbstomps everyone he comes across that isn't an Acno tier.
Human Eileen vs August isn't even a debate honestly.
August is literally human Eileen + a lot more.
Dragon Eileen has the physical offense to put August down.
If they fight in character, August wins 8-9/10 times, and Eileen 1-2/10 times. The fight between them ends within a minute or so.
But if there is no CIS, August wins this fight in a stomp 10/10 times.
