Again I beg to differ. Base on what was displayed during the exchange, Zeref's attacks were effortlessly intercepted and dispelled by Natsu. We have seen how Laxus can maneuvre his attacks from various angles, ranging from summoning them from external sources such as the skies, or the ground, expelling it from his body, for melee and from a distance, with rapid succession and little to no gestures which implies requiring time to charge or gather energy.
Some of us seem to have preconceived notions regarding the power level amongst the characters. However Laxus is one of the strongest base on both feats and portrayal. In his introduction, he completely resisted Mystogan's sleeping magic, while everyone else succumbed to it. Only Makarov was capable of withstanding it to an extent, but still affected him enough to cause drowsiness. During his fight with Mystogan, Laxus was hit with a spell that took so long to set up that Mystogan needed to use illusions to keep him occupied and buy himself sufficient time to cast it. When Laxus figured this out, he dispelled the illusion and just fired off an equally powerful attack instantly.
Laxus toyed with Erza, who was already strong enough to be a Wizard Saint then, and completely overwhelmed both Natsu and Gajeel in a handicap fight, once he unleashed his dragon slayer magic. Laxus arrogance was what led to his defeat. He was casting ridiculously powerful and costly spells when he never actually needed to. It caused him to wear himself out, and made it even possible, for Natsu to beat him.
However, he's since grown out of this and got rid of his teenage angst. In his fight with Hades, it was clear Mashima has already portrayed his fighting style to improve and became a lot more grounded and sensible in his approach and mentality. Laxus' performance against Hades was certainly more impressive than Makarov's. He was the one who fought Hades, while Gildarts fought his second in command in Bluenote. Laxus was also the one who used his body as the medium for FT in the encounter with Acnologia. While Gildarts remained a bystander throughout.
Despite being suspended in frozen animation for seven years with the rest, Laxus defeated Jura in the GMG. The Jura who was the fifth WS, and favourite pastime is actually dedicating himself to training.
And the same Jura whose fight with Jellal was unconcluded with an ambiguous ending. Who knew with seven years of training, or obliterating dark guilds like Oracion Seis, how much of an improvement would Laxus have over his peers?
In addition, apart from the lightning dragon slayer lacrima in his body, Laxus never received any form of power up from anything. He did not have to unlock his Second Origin to make up for lost time and even the playing field. The same which cannot be said of these guys.
Laxus only gave, but didn't receive any power, aside from one handicap after another. Even other side characters such as Gajeel and Levy acquired shadow dragon slayer magic and second origin release respectively. Laxus obtained magic barrier particles which only cause him sickness and debilitating condition to fight. Doesn't matter though. Laxus is Laxus, so he still survives and win. He was taken out at the beginning because it would make zero sense for Laxus to not beat Mard Geer in Tartaros.
Laxus has came a long way, and matured into one of the strongest and dependable fighters. Not just on Ishgar's side, but the entire series. He has not taken any shortcuts while doing so, his growth rate is steady but constant, and the speed and potential he has blows someone like Jellal out of the water. I do feel Jellal reach the height of his potential far earlier than Laxus did. But from we have seen so far, we have enough reason to believe Laxus will end up the most powerful out of him, Gildarts, Jellal and Jura.
Food for thought, eh?
and couldnt oneshot ajeel with his base mode punch like laxus could have done if august didnt save him. go reread laxus vs wahl i think u miss important details of why laxus struggled if u want i can give the chapter number so u can start reading
. thank u from proving my point that laxus were nerfed in order for wahl to stand a chance. so if natsu had mbp in him and also fight some1 who is immune to his fire he wouldnt struggle to beat that opponent lol nice logic hahaha might as well say that fdkm natsu could have beaten august because he tanked his attack that was heat based and also negate to a certain extent who mest happy and lucy also tanked too 
