That is, was it possible for her to succeed in her goals? She knows of the prophecy, that one day Seed would defeat her. Most of the actions she takes are to defeat Seed. But her plan makes no sense. In fact, she invites her demise…
Consider that part of her plan is to lure the SeeD to her so that she can destroy them. Of course, it works. As they stand before her throne, she remarks:
“…SeeD… SeeD……SeeD…… SeeD, SeeD, SeeD! Kurse all SeeDs. Swarming like lokusts akross generations. You disgust me. The world was on the brink of that ever-elusive ‘time kompression’. Insolent fools! Your vain krusade ends here, SeeDs. The price for your meddling is death beyond death. I shall send you to a dimension beyond your imagining. There, I will reign, and you will be my slaves for eternity. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Whom shall I exterminate first!? I’ll start with you three!”
But now she increased her chances of defeat. Of course, SeeD would have figured out she was in the future. They would have eventually come for her. And I’m sure she knew this. But she went ahead with her plan, causing her demise.
So then, what was her downfall? It was her goals. The stress of torment as a witch might have made her a little crazy. Perhaps she wanted revenge. At least, this is what her speech suggests:
…Lowlifes. …Shameless filthy wretches. How you celebrate my ascension with such joy. Hailing the very one whom you have condemned for generations. Have you no shame? What happened to the evil, ruthless sorceress from your fantasies? The cold-blooded tyrant that slaughtered countless men and destroyed many nations? Where is she now? She stands before your very eyes to become your new ruler. HAHAHAHAHA! A new era has just begun. This is a reality. No one can help you. Sit back and enjoy the show. Rest assured, you fools. Your time will come. This is only the beginning. Let us start a new reign of terror. I will let you live a fantasy beyond your imagination.
A new reign of terror. She planned to become a “living god” by compressing time and space. Yet compressing time and space into one singularity made it easier for SeeD to find her. Had she not compressed time, there would have been multiple Ultimecia’s. But then, from which time period? Even worst, from which timeline?
Part of Ultimecia’s plan probably relied on having the previous sorceress from previous time periods destroy SeeD. Yet, after time compresses, we only fight a super version of each of them. Each of their versions compresses into each of the eleven sorceresses.
The time cycle doesn’t make Ultimecia stronger. She doesn’t get a boost of power, as time resets, not culminates. But in a sense, Ultimecia was stronger because of time compression. All versions of her exist within herself, making her a type of “super sorceress”.
Still, it doesn’t account for the fact that now, instead of misdirection, SeeD knows exactly where to find her. Only one of her exists, and that is the one SeeD needs to defeat.