User blog comment:Kittenpuppy/Laxus Dreyer/@comment-3285005-20131217031842/@comment-7418318-20131217084330

Bacchus' strength lies in his speed and raw strength. Even with a speed enhancing take-over Elfman couldn't hit him at all.

It was just that Elfman's Lizardman take-over was the perfect coutner against someone who's attacking with his bare hands. All that Bacchus needs to defeat Elfman without even breaking a sweat are armored gloves.

Putting that aside, I don't think S-Class is even a ranking. To me it seems more like a classification or a license if you will, since the S-Class mages so far didn't seem to have any real authority over the regulars. People certainly didn't seem willing to follow Laxus' orders and they only seem to do so with Erza out of respect (or more likely fear).

And if it's a purely ability-based assessment that only there to make sure noone's going to die in S-Class quests due to taking them before they're ready, I don't see why Laxus' S-Class classification would be taken back.