Ok let me clarify. Running out of air is the same no matter how strong you get. Second what if she locks the keys in water lock.
Again,I think you are stuck with Lucy at Phantom Lord Arc. Lucy was trapped in that water sphere because:
1. She was caught off guard.
2. Her fighting experience was at very minimal. In fact,the only battle she had at that time was against Sherry way back in Galuna arc. One would expect Lucy to fail at attacking or even defending herself at that time because she WAS very weak.
Are you suggesting that ones the keys where "locked" in a water,Lucy can't summon the spirits? I don't think suffocating the keys would make them unavailable for use. As I said,Juvia doesn't have Territory Magic or any space magic that would SEPARATE Lucy from her keys. She may be able to use water lock on them but I don't think that would prevent Lucy from summoning the Spirits. IF Lucy's feats on Elentir is permanent even in Earthland, the "long distance relationship with the keys" arguments will finally die.lol
And also,did you forget Horolugium,Virgo and Loki can open their gates on their own??especially when Lucy is in pinch??
Seriously though,Water Lock's feat is really OUTDATED. If that was a very effective move,Juvia would have used it during :
-GMG-to Chelia or Lyon or the mini dragons
-Tartaros-to Keyes
-Avatar-to Briar or the cult members
-Alvarez-to the weakness robots or Invel(obviously impossible)
The spell's recent feat was in the Key of the Starry Heavens arc against Gattman the Cleaner. Whether he is human or not,he still has a nose,so he should've been suffocated at that point. Gajeel did the damage,Juvia only locked him.
I probably shouldn't have said that Lucy didn't have that much of a beating. What I meant was that she doesn't have a lot of magic that increases her defensive power.
And what makes you believe Juvia has an attacking power equal or greater to Hades,Franmalth,Jackal,Brandish or Mimi? All of them spells/curses were TANKED by Lucy even with no defensive spells. Are you saying Juvia is greater than any of them during their respective arcs???In fact,Juvia only won against Keyes because he is a skeleton. Had that not been the case,Juvia would DIE. Lucy outperformed Juvia during Tartaros arc. I think that was when Lucy finally surpassed Juvia by fair margin.
Lucy CAN'T just spam Urano Mentria so that is out of the picture. She needs gemini and/or immense emotional power. Wings of Love isn't a one use ability. She used it again in the Dragon Cry movie. Juvia was able to spam giant whirlpools in the middle of the battlefield so I would call that a power up.
How is UM out of the picture?lol. Lucy can use her strategy against Mimi to Juvia. Juvia and Aquarius were even in the GMG arc. Aquarius can even handle Juvia on her own. Add to that,Lucy can still summon 2 spirits other than Aquarius,or 3 spirits exclusive of Aquarius, so that would make atleast 2 spirits vs 1. Lucy can then summon Gemini and prepare the enchantment. No one other than Flare were able to survive or DODGE UM. Wait,Flare wasn't even hit by the spell because of that BS outside help. Had that hit her,GAME OVER. I don't think the spell requires immense emotional power. Lucy was able to use that because she had larger MP at her disposal or with a partner.
-Hibiki gave her knowledge plus his MP when Lucy used it first.
-She had Gemini against Flare
-She was given Aquarius MP against Jackal
-Was able to use it with Yukino(filler arc)
-With Gemini again against Mimi.
Juvia didn't show us using Wings of Love twice in a battle. Show me a panel of her with the feat of using it TWICE. Also,making her use it again and again would make the spell weak no?because it can't oneshot an opponent.lol. For the record,GMG arc and the movie were completely different scenarios/arcs. How does that support your argument?lol.
Call that whirlpool a powerup,or even that wave in Avatar arc,Aquarius has shown creating tsunami in the very 1st episode and in Galuna. Add to that,her water wave against Tartaros and Mimi. And how could you forget Lucy's Aqua Metria flooding the whole area where she fought Brandish and against Natsu in the cave when she was Yokai'd ang against Youko's yokai?
You may say that Juvia wasn't given enough screentime but that was also the case with Gildarts,Laxus,Mira and Gajeel. In fact,Juvia was given more screentime than all 4 of them due to her connection with Gray. Even with that,those I mentioned were still considered high tiers in the guild. Why?because their fights were against STRONG OPPONENTS or HIGH TIERS VILLAINS of each arc, and they won fairly. Juvia was clearly given WEAKER OPPONENTS or none at all. Clearly,she lacks FEATS on her own.
And LASTLY,Gemini or Lucy in Gemini form can copy Juvia and make her fight herself. Unless you believe Juvia > Lucy in MP which is impossible at this point. Juvia didn't show MP deficiency because she was seldomly present on 1-on-1 or even group fights unlike Lucy.