User blog comment:IamJakuhoRaikoben/Chapter 489: Universe One, Review./@comment-7418318-20160613161549/@comment-7418318-20160613173444

Chapter 483, Page 22: "It would be more accurate to say that he (August) is the strongest individual."

How else can this be interpreted than August being the strongest Spriggan, even stronger than Irene?

And yes, the other mage who's magic affected the entire planet (or rather the only one, since Irene "only" affected Fiore) was indeed Ultear. As impressive as it is to turn back the time for the entire planet, it ultimately meant very little for the story, apart from saving half a dozen lives and one minute of pre-science. It just made sure the victory would be one without cost, but they'd have won either way, Last Ages or not in my opinion, which renders Ultear's sacrifice not entirely meaningless, but close to it.

Granted this spell doesn't seem to be a sacrifice on Irene's part, so that particular problem won't happen, but the parallel still makes me a bit uneasy and thus unwilling to really evaluate it until we see it's final result.