The Grand Finale

A familiar aura spread out, filling the air.

At once, Arthur froze.

A familiar aura flowed from the Progenitor Wizard before him, leaving him stunned in an instant.

"This is..."

He stared at the Progenitor Wizard's face, as if realizing something. His expression suddenly turned grim.

Before his eyes, the Progenitor Wizard's face shifted, eventually transforming into the likeness of someone else.

Arthur's teacher, Kuraldo.

He had been Arthur's teacher among the Elves. As the High Priest of the Silver Mist Elves, he had spent many years with Arthur, and they had always shared a good relationship.

And now, Kuraldo's face had appeared on the Progenitor Wizard.

"You..."

At once, he understood. His expression changed.

"That's right."

Seeing Arthur's expression, the Progenitor Wizard sighed softly. "Everything you encountered on your journey from childhood to where you are now was, in truth, us."

"Your father, your mother, your friends, your teachers, your enemies. Every last one of them was one of our incarnations."

He spoke quietly, and then his own appearance began changing rapidly.

The faces of several of Arthur's former teachers appeared on him, one after another.

Then Arthur turned around.

The appearances of Purple Woman and the others began changing, too.

One familiar face after another appeared before Arthur.

Among them were people he knew intimately, some he had met only once, and even many passersby he had encountered by chance. Now they all emerged from the faces of these former Supreme Experts.

Arthur gazed at the scene in silence.

The former Supreme Experts' machinations had run deeper than he had imagined.

Not only had they shaped his experiences, but even the people he had encountered had been their incarnations, profoundly influenced by them.

And that meant...

Arthur raised his head, a thought suddenly flashing through his mind.

"Exactly."