User blog comment:FairyRaven/Fairy Tail Chapter 401: Igneel vs. Acnologia, Review and Commentary/@comment-24467372-20140922162609/@comment-24467372-20140922173844

@Nick: Well,I'm not sure of course...But the way Mard's spells works is more like "unnamed attack" in the same way other characters make such attacks. We saw Laxus's attacks be much more devastating with two hands(LD Jaw basicly erupted the ground and destroyed it)..We saw Jellal requiring to make a two-hand gesture prior to using GC and Sema...We were told that Gray's magic was more stable(and strong since Lyon's Ice couldn't break his) because he used two hands...It is an assumption,yes. But it shouldn't be completely off. Mard having spells that require two hands to perform shouldn't be that impossible. At the very least,it restricted him a bit against the Twins since they were fighting hand-to-hand..

@FairyTailFan: >_> The fact that he can make you hate him means he's doing his job right. In the same way all great villains gets hated on....I understand that. His cocky attitude...that I like. It's subjective though,so I'd understand if you'd disagree.

@CNBA3: Huh? You have Laxus,who is gonna get healed...you have Jellal who is with Cobra(who knows about Tartaros and their plans)...you have Makarov with LH-plot still coming in... Take a pick.

Although I wouldn't count on Makarov getting a victory at this point in the story...Jellal and Laxus are real possibilities.

There's no way in hell Natsu should be considered the best choice to fight Mard... And we all know he'll be the one to bring down E.N.D at the end...There has never been an arc where Natsu takes down the number 2 villain and the number 1 villain..

Galuna-Gray got Lyon. Phantom-Makarov got Jose ToH-Erza got Ikaruga FF-Mirajane got Freed. OS-Erza got Midnight Edolas-Erza got Knightwalker Tenrou-Gildarts got Bluenote GMG-Laxus got Jura(not a villain,but is considered the opponent) Sun Village-Gray got Doriarte

It's obvious the number two will be taken down by somebody other than him.. But with the twins being left out for now and Natsu being reserved for E.N.D....I can say that Gray,Laxus and Jellal are the most likely candidates... Unless something plot related takes him out of the equation.