Question: How could Ultimecia take power from all soceresses without absorbing it?
A fairly intelligent thing to ask.
If Ultimecia absorbs all time, she gains the powers of every sorceress back to the time the Great Hyne gave the power.
Of course, is Rinoa not the only sorceress still alive by the time of FF8? Both Edea and Adel give her their powers and since a sorceress can not die without bestowing their powers on someone, this would mean Rinoa possesses all the power Hyne originally gave.
Of course, if there are other sorceresses alive, that destroys that theory. But it still would mean that Rinoa would have to be absorbed. Yet Ultimecia never showed the slightest interest when they actually met.
Crystal also maintains Time Compression hit them during the final battle. I do not believe this because from what I remember, during the battle with the sorceresses through time, the background had a very specific way of changing. When fighting Ultimecia, you just look back and everything is different. Why I believe she’s transporting them all places.
And since she would still have to compress the future, it’s all a mystery.
I’ll concede she’s absorbing things. But it’s simply on a global scale as the scan and dialgoue prove.