Zeref doesn't just use it, it is the root of his Black Magic.
Invel did single out Gray, he specifically noted the darkness seeping into Gray's heart. You ever heard that about PoF? The love seeping into peoples hearts? That love in someones heart was on the verge of release lol? I don't think so, because it's not PoF. Then there is also Invel mentioning it as a price of DeS magic.
I care why it has to be awakened, because it's yet another aspect distinguishing it from PoF.
Alright, not dragon force, darkness is comparable to second origin, unleashing hidden power and all that.
Oh and while i'm here, mind telling me the exact translation of what Invel says about darkness? It existing in everyone doesn't mean they can use it.
He doesn't need to. The narrative clearly wanted us to think that was within ENDs capabilities, or are you seriously trying to tell me that END wasn't portrayed as an enormous boost to Natsu? I remember half the forum thought after Zerefs defeat we'd see it again to beat Acno, were you not in that camp? I could be remembering wrong.
Or alternatively, it was foreshadowing how END would be awakened, because Zeref knows brutaliy killing a loved one and dropping it at Natsu's feet would trigger END. Oh and the END Lucy awakened definitely would have beaten Zeref imo. I'd say it's Natsu's strongest individual form, the only way he could top it would be by stacking DF with FDK.
So Ajeels choke is a oneshot ability? Not buying it, damage accumulation was how he injured Erza, dehydration is no more dangerous than getting burned to death. I should also clarify in saying that when I said you don't have to deal more damage than EIleen to beat Erza I mean you don't have to do it in a single attack. END doesn't need a bone busting attack, accumulated damage will do the job fine. You don't need EIleen level attack potency to beat Erza. Blocking an attack from END doesn't translate to enduring an entire battle with him lol. Gray took a punch to the face, don't mean he's confirmed the victor.
Dragon EIleen is superior to Erza because she's stronger, more durable, and has more magic power. Or are you saying Erza=August since she bypasses his immunity and only had issue with EIleen cause durable scales?
Which is him using it. No, Invel doesn't single Gray out as the only person that uses darkness. He specifically says that everyone has it. He does take note that Gray has darkness seeping into his heart...but that doesn't mean he's the only person that can use it. POF has to be released too, to an extent. Or at least, that's basically what happened in the Phantom Lord arc when Erza told Natsu to release his powers (which was just POF). It's honestly not that different.
I am seriously trying to tell you that END wasn't portrayed to be an enormous boost to Natsu's power. Because it wasn't, and Natsu has better feats without END's power using Dragon Force and his flames of savage emotions. And yeah, I wasn't in the camp that thought END would return against Acnologia. Happened to be right too. It was destroyed like 3 times over with Natsu destroying the seed, Gray destroying it's power in Lucy, and Zeref's death destroying the book. I believe the END storyline was done and over with, and that the entire thing is over-hyped. Still do. Both dragon force and flames of savage emotions have proven to be vastly superior to END's power. FDK on it's own also has feats to rival any of END's attacks.
So wait, if you think Gray = END and END could have beaten Zeref, are you saying that Gray > Zeref?
Ajeel's choke is what dealt the vast majority of damage to Erza in their fight. Because she was fine and fighting up until that point. END has never actually managed to burn anyone to death (not even Dimaria, whom he probably would have wanted to kill). So without giving END feats that he doesn't have, what exactly can he do to put Erza down?
I get what you say about accumulated damage, but that's assuming that END's accumulated damage outweighs Irene's. And I don't think that's true in the slightest. Irene's one claw swipe does more damage than an entire onslaught of punches from END/Gray. By the time they catch up to the damage Irene can deal with one claw swipe, she'll drop a meteor and be waaaaaaaaaay ahead of them in terms of DPS. Besides, this is assuming that END would be the one racking up damage on Erza, and not the other way around. In an actual fight, where Erza isn't concerned about Natsu's safety, she would just block his punches with her sword. She wouldn't even get hit unless Natsu can smash her sword and get past her defenses.
Erza would be able to inflict massive damage to August, yes. He would probably get back up to finish her off once she's exhausted, like Irene did. Strictly speaking Irene defeated Erza by outlasting her after her dragon form was defeated. But make no mistake, Erza defeated Irene's dragon form. She soldiered through after the claw swipe, broke the meteor, and cut her dragon form down.
I'm sorry
@Axiomus but I disagree with you on some of the points you mentioned.
1) Natsu used guild's power during the final attack against FH Zeref. There have been in fact more references to Natsu drawing power from his guild mark than there are about Natsu using his own PoF to muster an attack stronger than his Dragon Force. First of all , the guild mark on Natsu's hand starts glowing suggesting he's being powered by some external source :
Which has also been a sign in other cases when Erza and FT members were powered up by some external magic source , such as when Wendy enchanted them with DS attributes and Erza used Natsu's and Gray's enchantments against Laxus :
Plus Natsu references it as power of the guild just immediately after his guild mark starts glowing , and even Zeref references it as the guild's flame in the next chapter. It's possible that Natsu used his emotions to power his attack as well , but power of the guild was
also used. You can in fact say that Natsu used power from the guild mark to fuel his Flames of Emotions to a very high level.
2) It's been implied that Zeref was expecting END at full power to kill him. That's why he was even so obsessed with Natsu , he was his masterpiece you can say , there's no reason for him to be after Natsu so much otherwise. What was he even going to get by getting Natsu fight him with all his might otherwise ? He was expecting Natsu to become strong enough to kill him right from Tenrou island. Even during his fight he says that he wants END specifically and not Natsu to defeat him , it would probably be part of the reason why he held back in his fight against Natsu , probably because he was expecting Natsu to turn to the full version of END. As for why Zeref didn't awaken END right away , it's possible that a weak Natsu could've suffered horrible backlash due to tremendous power inside the demon seed suddenly activating inside his body , that kind of phenomenon already happened to the Dragon Slayers where they went crazy and started experience motion sickness. The END that we saw after Lucy passed out wasn't completely transformed into the demon version. If it was then Natsu wouldn't have been able to become human again. He was partially demonized , just like Natsu's Dragon Force offers him partial dragonization. It's fully possible that the full version could've been able to kill Zeref.
3) How does Erza blocking
one attack from Partial END and Gray translate to her being able to
stomp them ? Blocking an attack from the enemy is standard in fights , were you expecting Erza to get oneshotted ? I've seen a lot of people calling BS on Erza blocking Natsu's and Gray's attacks but in my honest opinion this is just a result of grossly overestimating Natsu and Gray. They both were trading punches continuously in their fight and were able to fight even after taking many punches from each other , you can't expect Erza to receive significant damage from just
one punch. Her hands were burnt by taking the brunt of the attack and imo this is an impressive feat. Plus her being covered in armor or her being naked doesn't make much of a difference. Her most important fights i.e. against Irene and Laxus were fought by her in Red Pants , and she could tank Laxus' attacks just fine , when her armor got shattered in one blow. And she's the only one in the guild who uses all this fancy armors anyway , her other guildmates can tank attacks with their bodies just fine , so imo the armors are nothing more than decorations.
Erza while drunk on PoF might cut through END Natsu for sure , but suggesting Normal Erza can slaughter him is erroneous.
1) Okay, but what exactly is the guild's power? Because Natsu isn't siphoning magic from everyone else. If you're saying that he's doing something similar to Fairy Sphere by converting their bonds into power, then fine....But that's still just a form of POF. It's just POF that involves the friendship that Natsu has with the guild.
2) I'll say it again: Zeref never once said that END's power could kill him. I'm not talking about interpretations or personal feelings. I'm talking about statements. I've gone out of my way to look for statements of him saying that END's power has the potential to kill him, and there simply isn't any. The plan that Zeref had in mind for Natsu to kill him was for him to get trained by Igneel and become strong enough to kill him. He probably wanted Natsu to become as strong as Igneel. This never actually wounded up happening. The only time where Zeref was actually confident in his chances of dying was when Natsu had Igneel's power. After that, Zeref basically stopped believing that it was possible for him to be killed. Zeref never wanted to fight END. He said that he wanted to fight Natsu, and not END, in Tartaros. Then he said he wanted to fight Natsu before he tried to kill Makarov. Then he said he wanted to fight Natsu again before he tried to kill Gray. You guys keep trying to tell me that the fact that Zeref wants to kill Gray/Makarov proves that Zeref wants to fight Natsu with END's power....except Zeref never says anything of the sort. The name coming out of his mouth is Natsu. It was really when the curse of contradiction started messing with his mind in the final battle that he started confusing Natsu with END....and that doesn't amount to much because he wasn't actually fighting END.
Now you could say that END was only partially demonized. But does that really matter? First of all, Natsu was pretty much as upset as he could get under the circumstances with Lucy's fake death. The only way Natsu could get more upset was if the entire guild died or something. Secondly, the seeds were actually killing him. If it wasn't for his rage boost keeping him going despite of that, Natsu would have simply been in a coma. Whose to say that the seeds don't just finish merging and make Natsu drop dead halfway through his fight with Zeref?
3) Erza didn't just block one attack from END. She blocked one attack from END,
and then went on to tank several attacks from Irene's enchantments. Then she took an attack from Irene's dragon form that shattered all of her bones. Then she used her one good arm to propel herself towards the meteor and smashed it. Then she cut down Irene's dragon form. Blocking END's attack was the least impressive thing Erza did that day. It's everything Erza did after blocking END's attack that was impressive.
Here's a few more things to consider. First of all, not everyone of END's attacks is going to be as strong as the one he hit Erza with. He spent a good amount of time charging up that attack. Secondly....Erza
doesn't have to block with her arms. Blocking with her arms is something that Erza only did because she was trying to stop them from hurting each other. If she wanted to hurt them, she could have just used her swords to cut them both. In a real fight, she would just block with her sword. Or better yet, match one of Natsu's punches with one of her slashes.... and win the exchange because she has proven to have superior attack power. I'm just pointing out that even if Erza uses the
least efficient way to deal with END's attack, which is to try to block the attack barehanded, she can still take the attack and still have plenty of fight left in her.
And yeah, I am talking about Erza with POF. It's only fair. Gray was at the peak of his POF and END's power is also POF driven.
