Haha you're welcomeAgain, massive thanks to @Emperor Spriggan, I couldn't have figured this out without his help.
Helpless? Hardly, he was knocked down, sure, but Levy showed up like a second later, she saved Gajeel before he even had a chance to try and get up himself. No way was Gajeel done for from that attack alone, even against Bradmans strongest curse, Over Skelter, Gajeel was not only able to escape, but he could also swim back to Levy, then swim out again carrying her with him.
Only reason Gajeel had such a hard time was cause Bradman was a hard counter to Gajeel's magic, being intangible is the perfect counter to a wizard who's magic revolves around attacking with physical objects.
Yes, it should lol.
There is a massive difference between the author not paying attention to the exact distance a character would have to be to touch another and how powers even work in the verse. Again, Kaguras arm is missing, I'm not gonna speculate on what happened to it though because its obviously an artistic inconsistency. In this case the details are even more minor. I'm not gonna stop you from speculating of course, if you really want to speculate it go ahead, its your right.
It proves that hiro didn't pay attention when he drew that panel, which is pretty crucial given that your speculation hinges on the minor detail of where Larcade stands in comparison to where he should have stood if he had "logically" cut Kagura down.
I agree with you on that XXEliteXXAceXX. When this chapter came out, I, like many others, wondered just how Larcade cut Kagura in this particular scene. What I believe happened is that he did hit her with a "Blade of Light". Whether that light comes from Pleasure of it's a type Light Magic, it looked like one of them. How I interpreted the scene was, Larcade stopped Archenemy with his left hands two fingers whilst his right hand was horizontally out to the side his body. And then he just fired a "blade" from that stationary position straight forward, through her left side, at the hip area. That's what I think COULD have happened.Interesting discussion... Now that you guys bring it up, I am curious as to what actually happened when Kagura got cut by Rakheid.
Based on how I interpreted, I agree with both @Brandish and @Dr. Monty.
Basically, I don't think Rakheid has the ability to reflect attacks. If he did, Hiro Mashima would have made it clearer by either having Rakheid state it himself or by showing statements from characters nearby (including Kagura).
At the same time though, I don't see Rakheid having that much physical strength either. Being able to slash at somebody with pure physical strength and cutting them is a significant feat. Not to mention, there is the distance inconsistency that was already mentioned. That's just my opinion though. It's possible.
Anyways, because what Kagura had seemed more like a cut...
I think Rakheid used his "Blades of Light". In my eyes, this is the most probable explanation as to how Kagura got hit especially since we've already seen this spell before. Also, a few pages back, Rakheid uses this attack without any magic glowing from his hands which is exactly what was shown when he "slashed" at Kagura.
Based on how blades "cut", this is how I interpreted the scene. Of course, I could be wrong. A counter to my theory is that we don't actually see the attack. But if you look at the first page I posted, you can see that the whole background is white so we really can't tell if it is behind her already. Kind of like this one.
Again, I could be totally wrong about this.
Is Bradman from a Book? He seems to be an artificial creation like Doriate was from Succubus Eye...that or he's an inhabitant of the Underworld and Zeref directly recruited him from there
That....actually makes sense
Given Irene's reluctance to join the others at the fairy tail guild where Zeref was, and her being almost triggered by Heine casually mentioning she's originally from Ishgar, i'm not sure she was one of the invaders. Neinhart I can see as his way of proving himself useful to Irene because like @MLG Bradman says he seems to be more loyal to her than Zeref/Alvarez and also seems to know some of if not all the truth behind who Irene is and her connection to Erza/Ishgar.
Yep, he chucked a tantrum over Natsu (found the pendant). Some of the Spriggans don't like to be told no - Larcade got that word a lot
I'm not sure tbh, I kinda just assumed he was from a book given that Mard was and he looked completely human. That said, I would love for Bradman to have come from the Underworld.Is Bradman from a Book? He seems to be an artificial creation like Doriate was from Succubus Eye...that or he's an inhabitant of the Underworld and Zeref directly recruited him from there
Exactly, the only hole in that idea is that it was an unauthorized assault...That....actually makes sense
Like it was a front to insert someone who would continue watching over Ishgar until the next invasion?
Nice theory my Padawan Empi.
Weren't the GOI informed about some of the Spriggan 12? They also knew why Makarov had gone to Alvarez in the first place, so I always assumed that over the one year he was there, he was sending information back to Ishgar and to the GOI.
When Makarov was trying to explain members of the 12 to FT members, he didn't mention Jacob. This is why I bolded the word "but"
. Zeref said the Twelve weren't ready at the time but now they were.
even tho Hiro doesn't treat them right 
Oh oops! My bad lol, I didn't take notice of it the first time.When Makarov was trying to explain members of the 12 to FT members, he didn't mention Jacob. This is why I bolded the word "but"
