Isterio said:
Inbetween denying his decision and trying to help him, she already had come to terms with her emotional irrationality and was pitying herself for being a weak fighter. This immediately changes once he starts breathing the particles. Her selfpity changes immediately into worry and just the momment when he´s done absorbing them, she literary utters the line "There´s no returning from this".
I just don´t see how this line could be connected in any sense towards her worry about him fighting an enemie that utilizes curses, when she herself fought a guy using curses and he also fought him before. It makes no directive sense to put it in there. Also the proper sentence to express this worry would be get outa here, or don´t fight him, not "there´s no going back".Maybe you're right, either way, I still don't think the powerup was an asspull. If Mashima wrote MB particles have metal in them then it was specifically designed as a mechanic for Gajeel to utilize. It may seem BS to some people but I personally think that was Magic Barrier particles intended purpose. We'd never heard of them until Tartaros where everyone in the guild was effected besides Gajeel. Now he is using them to gain Dragon Force, something he didn't do last time since he didn't need it to defeat his enemy (Iron Shadow Slayer Mode).