The circumstances behind the Mel slap change everything. They can’t just be ignored. If you ignore them, then by that logic Merlin is the strongest of the sins since she took down both Mel and Escanor.
But Merlin's situation is completely different to that of Elizabeth's that you can't really contrast them.
Elizabeth was able to injure a passive 142k demon with a basic ark.
Merlin was able to ''take down'' Escanor because he was already defeated by Meliodas, since he took 98% damage (iirc). And with Meliodas, he was significantly injured and she was only able to stun him because of that condition. Plus, it's not like Merlin's magic is weak, so I'm not surprised that she was able to stun him, since her arsenal is borderline OP and unfair.
Meliodas in the Elizabeth situation wasn't significantly injured and was directly looking at Elizabeth when she was sending the ark blast his way, he just wasn't 100% ready to defend himself against it, and probably wouldn't since it was Elizabeth after all, but it still doesn't change the fact that the ark DID injure him, and that could only be possible if Elizabeth's magic was strong enough to do so.
Saying the slap is one of her “defining moments” is an interpretation
Sure, it's an interpretation but it's most likely true.
Elizabeth went from promising to always be by his side no matter the situation or condition he is in, to turning around to defy him, and even attack him.
Plus, it's a common stereotype in anime that the female lead doesn't act on her own and is generally bound to the main male character in order to get any development or plot, yet Elizabeth's moment here is defined as independent, because she went against the main male lead when he demanded her to obey him, so in simple terms, Elizabeth defied both stereotypes that are generally placed on female characters and went against her own personality/wishes. Meliodas going evil and deciding he's breaking the curse regardless if she wants it or not is just as character defining as what she did.
If it's not a ''defining moment'' for her character to you, then what is it? Comedy?
Like I said it makes no sense that she can hit harder than 114K Escanor. Merlin already confirmed that Assault Mel would kill them all. Only Escanor was on a tier to damage assault Mel. Not Elizabeth.
You're once again making comparisons that aren't valid.
-Escanor was in a battle against a demon who didn't lower his guard or allow any attack to hit him, unlike with Elizabeth he was just passive and not in a position to even block the attack if he wanted to. Like you said, in battle, PL's rise, so comparing a battle to a non-battle situation doesn't make sense.
-Elizabeth was using magic, and Escanor was using brute strength to hurt Meliodas, and any magic attack was just outright denied on his end if I remember, so how each of them hurt Meliodas is completely different as they are using opposite tools to do it.
-Elizabeth's magic has a natural advantage against Meliodas. I'm not specifically suggesting that all of the ark was only effective because of the type advantage, but it certainly played a role into it with the addition of Elizabeth's raw power. Even if Escanor has a grace, it doesn't have the light element to it, so Elizabeth technically has an upper hand when it comes to hurting demons, because she has magic that is specifically made for the job, Escanor doesn't have that.
We all know that Elizabeth's feat is inferior to Escanor's, because she was only able to hurt a passive 142k demon (or even stronger, considering how 142k wasn't his true ''awakening'') and not hurt a 142k demon in a death match. Plus, if it was really a battle, Elizabeth wouldn't be able to do what she did to Meliodas because:
-Full Counter exists
-Meliodas could just dodge it
-He could even grab her arm and if sinister enough, break it.
-Use his darkness to resist the light, or reduce the amount of damage the attack does, and since it just left a bruise, I'm going to say it would end up doing nothing. But then again, a serious Elizabeth's light should be able to overpower his darkness, because of the proportion of their strength's into each area. Elizabeth's stronger in magic, but Meliodas is stronger in physical strength to her etc.
So yeah, Elizabeth would've never been able to hurt him the way she did in an actual battle because it was just a regular small feat. Hurting a passive opponent doesn't equate to doing the same in battle, but at the same time, her being able to hurt him passively is still a feat because not everybody is capable of doing that. Ludoshel used a seemingly stronger ark against Zeldris who was off-guard, just like Elizabeth with Meliodas yet apparently did weaker damage?
''Only Escanor was on a tier to damage assault Mel. Not Elizabeth''. Sure, she isn't at his tier but it's not like she isn't at a tier that is incapable of hurting Mel. Her strongest feat is making 2 Indura's desperate, and it's not like they are far off Meliodas, since you could argue they are 100k+. So her hurting Meliodas isn't really a surprise to me, it's obvious she'd never win a 1v1 with him, but would still be capable of damaging him.
I’m not talking about Derieri though. Deri isn’t 60K
But she's not far off Estarossa in terms of strength though, yet Elizabeth in her weakest state pretty easily harmed Derriere.
Ludoshel in his human form has stronger magic than Elizabeth in her human form
Of course, because he has the perfect vessel and only has difficulty in controlling his power, unlike Elizabeth who directly stated herself that her power isn't what it used to be. indirectly stating Goddess > human form
The last time they shot their magic into the sky Ludoshel’s went much further than Elizabeth’s.
Beams of light doesn't necessarily correlate to power levels or magic strength, because it hasn't been confirmed whether that is the case or not. But for argument's sake, let's say it does.
Whilst yes, Ludoshel's beam was longer than Elizabeth's, her beam of light was much thicker and ''wild'' than Ludoshel's, it looked much more powerful. If you really want to know my interpretation of it, it seemed Elizabeth's ark was stronger, but weaker in terms of magic reserves or endurance (e.g meaning the amount she can use because she's out of magic) in comparison to Ludoshel's, because it was shorter.
Maybe because her beam was larger, it makes up for the length of what Ludoshel has, who knows, but then again Ludoshel has all of his magic strength, whilst she's been indicated to not have, so I'm not surprised if in the end, her magic power is inferior to his when she's in his human form.
If you really want to compare Elizabeth vs Ludoshel, then just look at the Indura feat + Goddess wings, they are a much better tool to gauge strength, rather than a beam of light which could mean literally anything.
As far as human comparisons go in the manga, ludo’s is better.
Apparently not, because Elizabeth did superior damage to a superior demon with the same level ark.
She bruised Meliodas whilst Ludoshel merely gave Zeldris a bloody lip, basically nothing.
Plus Zeldris wasn’t completly off guard. He was still prepared for a fight to a degree and was ready to draw his sword.
Meliodas was prepared as well to an extent, since he was directly looking at Elizabeth, holding her arm, and even told her to hit him, so it's not like he never saw the attack coming.
Zeldris was prepared to an extent as well against Ludoshel, but he was caught off-guard, just like Meliodas, yet the ark did almost no damage to him, unlike Elizabeth's ark which did more.
It might just be me, but Elizabeth's ark seems much stronger than Ludoshel's because it has done feats which he hasn't done, like:
-Elizabeth's ark being more effective against Indura
-She's been capable of grand healing, grand purification, summoning biblical animals and even using ark offensively, Ludoshel hasn't done any of these besides offensive ark, so it seems her magic power is a lot more versatile than his.
-Elizabeth had the same situation as Ludoshel against Meliodas, yet she did more damage to a superior demon, and with the same type of ark (it was very basic).
-AA basically praise her ark and ask for it all the time.
-In her Goddess form, she has better feats. In her human form, she has better feats. So I don't see the Ludoshel > Elizabeth opinion anywhere.
Like I said, we need proof that she’s able to hurt him, not interpretations.
A statement by a character who didn't see 100% of the situation of the ability doesn't exactly constitute as proof either. Actions always speak louder than words, especially when said words are of bias and expectations. Sariel just made the statement because he expected Elizabeth's ark regardless of her intention or will to hurt him, he blatantly overestimated the ability she used.
Plus, like I've asked before and haven't been given a response, what constitutes the ark bubble she used as ''lethal''? Because the AA said it was supposed to do damage? If we take statements as 100% fact then I suppose Estarossa is truly hiding a second demon mark since Cusack said he's Zeldris equivalent or superior.
But obviously we saw how that went when you trust statements too much.
The AA expected him to take damage, but he didn’t. You don’t say “I’m surprised you’re not hurt” unless you expected someone to be hurt. Estarosss was just too durable for Elizabeth’s ark to damage him without exploding.
How?
It wasn't even a battle, Estarossa was just standing there passively and Elizabeth decided to use her ark on him. It's the exact same situation with Meliodas yet she was able to hurt him but not somebody who's 82k weaker? That doesn't make sense, unless you consider:
-She didn't have the will to hurt Estarossa. And it's clear by now that if you don't want to harm somebody, then you won't. Elizabeth used her ark on the entire country of Liones, and ended up healing everybody, even Meliodas (a demon) but not Hendrickson, because she wanted to hurt him (in order to make him stop hurting people).
-The ark she used was used to displace him, not hurt him, and it's demonstrated by how she uses the ark, rather than compressing or attempting to explode the ark immediately, she uses it to move him away and that's it.
-The entire situation revolved around her telling us she is going to protect Derriere, not kill or even harm Estarossa.
It makes no sense how Elizabeth can supposedly injure a 142k passive demon but not a 60k passive one? Unless of course, she never wanted to, as demonstrated by her resolve and usage of her non-lethal ark
AA's statement doesn't excuse anything that's already been established in the series. We already know statements mean nothing unless actions back them up, and in this case, actions contradict what they said.
