User blog comment:Panemorfos/Strongest Fairy Tail characters up to chapter 470/@comment-5268982-20160130211852/@comment-5268982-20160131102651

One word: feats. Since her introduction we know Ultear is an incredibly powerful Mage. She had so off-the-charts amounts of power as a child that she almost died. Later at a young age she successfully manipulated Jellal with her Magic for what, 10 years?

She was also the leader of the 7 kin of Purgatory, meaning that outside of Bluenote, she was the strongest.

But let's ignore feats and see how an actual fight would go. Ultear can neutralise any and all elements. That means Wendy's spells, Aquarius and Scorpio would not hurt her (maybe even Aries, because I guess she can change the "time" of wool). Then there are the close combat Spirits, like Leo, Aries, Capricorn, Taurus, Cancer and Virgo. Ultear proved to be superior to Gray's hand-to-hand during their fight, so I don't see those Spirits being much of a threat (besides, her orbs would directly attack Lucy, their summoner, so there's that). As for Uranometria, Lucy's hidden ace, nothing guarantees that Ultear will just stand still and let Lucy finish the incantation.

Now let's say x792 Lucy faces GMG Ultear. Let's say she summons any 3 Spirits AND uses a Star Dress. We know Ultear can reproduce the items she uses in a fight at will AND has telekinesis. She can just produce infinite orbs and swords and have them hitting all of them at once. How does Lucy defend herself? Horologium? That still leaves the other Spirits vulnerable. Aries? Lucy will have been pushed to the defense, and Aries can't keep protecting her forever. In the end no matter what Lucy loses.

Also let's add the fact that we never even saw Ultear's full capabilities. Those were her skills before even the 7 year timeskip, and we never saw her fight after those 7 years. No matter what, I can't see her lose to anyone below current Erza level.