Ruger's eyes widened.
He realized that he could not quite make out the words of the person on the stone chair. They even seemed to break up at times. Still, by piecing together the words of that fairly brief sentence, he understood it, and more thoughts arose before he could stop them.
Had the Holy Tribunal, a pillar organization, given him his Demon Hunter Badge? Of course it had, in a sense. But it had actually come from his teacher-or, more precisely, from his teacher's teacher.
It represented his identity as a member of the Demon Hunter Wizards, but also another identity he possessed.
And now, he, a Three-Ring Wizard, struggled so much that he could not even manifest a figure, while those people could seat their spiritual bodies gracefully on the stone chairs and speak with ease. Who the teacher they mentioned was-which teacher they meant-was already self-evident.
Unless something had gone wrong, something astonishingly unexpected, he was certain of his judgment.
"Hadn't he already lost control long ago?"
Another figure seated on a stone chair spoke, in a slightly hoarse voice tinged with unmistakable exhaustion.
Silence fell over the strange room again, lasting for quite some time.
"It was unexpected. He's lost control even further..." another steady voice said.
Suddenly, laughter rang out, from just one person.
"Hadn't he already unexpectedly lost control even further long ago?" The laughter came abruptly and faded just as quickly. The person stopped laughing and delivered that remark.
The room fell silent again.
"Although... it's been somewhat unexpected, and unexpected changes have kept occurring, one after another, isn't the overall course exactly what we once anticipated? All this time, haven't your efforts been directed toward the day our teacher loses control?"
As the words faded, the room grew quiet again, a dim