"I've had help from a few old friends," replied Dumbledore calmly. Edward then looked at the wand in the headmaster's hand as he guessed that he might have used Grindelwald's method of using the [Death Authority] to break one of the Limiters. As for the other one, he might have used Fawkes or something else.

Edward would not be surprised if Grindelwald revealed the way he used to break the Limiter to Dumbledore. Even if the latter has chosen his side, he won't entirely become loyal until he defeated Dumbledore.

"I hoped you would see things my way," said Edward.

"I thought about it, but in the end, I could not agree with your ideas--despite all the positive change that you will bring to the magical world. One person should not have so much power."

"So, it comes down to the old saying that absolute power corrupts absolutely. I'm not going to say that I'm incorruptible, but that alone is not enough to stop me. As long as I surround myself with people that can keep me in check, that's good enough for me."

"But would those people be able to stop you?" asked Dumbledore back.

"Aren't you the one who always told me to have more faith in people?"

"Things are not that simple," replied Dumbledore. "One day you will have the power to decide the fate of everybody on this planet. If something goes wrong with you, do you expect faith to be able to stop you?"

"That same logic can be applied to any talented and powerful wizard throughout history--including you--and yet the world is still fine. Like I've told you many times, not everyone will turn into Voldemort."

"You of all people should understand that your potential is not something either me or Voldemort could fathom. So, the threat you can possibly pose to the world is nothing comparable."

"Is that so?" replied Edward calmly. "How about we see what the world would look like without me?"

He placed his wand on his temple to retrieve a memory, waved it in the air and a scene showed up: it was the Harry Potter movie.

As such for the next 12 hours and such, the entire magical world looked at what the world would look like without Edward.

They watched the adventures of the Gryffindor Trio in confronting the obstacles in the first movie, their Harry Potter adventures in the chamber of secrets, Sirius's escape from Azkaban, and the eventual reveal of Peter Pettigrew as a traitor.

They saw the Triwizard Tournament of next year, the death of Cedric Diggory, the resurrection of Voldemort, the gathering of the Death Eaters, the fall of the Ministry of Magic, Dumbledore's death, the oppressing regime of Voldemort, the Trio's Quest to destroy the Horcrux, and the final battle of Hogwarts where many students die.

Many people had different reactions to different parts. Hermione was embarrassed at the fact that she actually ended up with Ron. The Weasley family was shocked at the fact one of their sons was almost turned into a werewolf, while another died.

Fred was quite surprised by his death, while George could not fathom a world without his brother. Both Lupin and Sirius raised an eyebrow after seeing their death.

Amelia hugged little Susan after seeing her death and sighed, meanwhile Susan's parents hugged them together. Another person hugging his children was Amos Diggory; he could not imagine his proud son dying just like that. He wished he could kill Peter Pettigrew if he was not already executed.

Lupin and Tonks--who were all watching these duels in a private room with all the members of the Order of Phoenix--looked at one another and blushed slightly. Something might be brewing between these two.

The Malfoys gritted their teeth after seeing the psychological torture their son suffered at the hands of Voldemort.

Neville Longbottom's grandmother looked at how her grandson slowly turned into a real Gryffindor, and she was very proud of him. For the first time in a while, she gave him some praise. As for his parents, they were happy that they did not have to spend the rest of their lives in St Mungo's hospital.

Lily Potter looked at Snape next to her, and she secretly sighed; she finally understood the extent of Snape's love for her, and the things he was willing to do because of that love.

For a brief moment, she was confused about what to do? However, after gazing at Harry, she internally sighed and steeled her resolve.

As for Harry Potter, he thought his future self was cool with all the adventures he got to experience with his two best friends. However, thinking that he could never see his mother again, and lose many people close to him, he did not want to live in that world.

...

"Tell me, what do you think of this future?" asked Edward. "After Voldemort's fall, the Ministry was rebuilt and many of the old laws made by blood supremacists were eradicated by Kingsley Shacklebolt. However, the situation of the wizard did not change much; we were still hiding in a corner of the world.

"Meanwhile, muggle society developed rapidly." Edward waved his wand again, showing an image of his past life of the year 2019.

"With the invention of the internet and smartphone, muggles can communicate with anyone across the globe with a push of a button. On top of that, once the social media age arrived, everyone was constantly sharing everything with millions of strangers online.

"Now, in this world, how do you think wizards survive? With cameras everywhere, as long as someone used the slightest bit of magic, it will be captured and shared with billions of people across the globe.

"As long as one parent records their children awakening their magical abilities, this knowledge will also be known to the world. Many magical animals would find it very difficult to hide, and most likely be hunted down for sports or to be dissected.

"Tell me, how long do you think wizards would be able to hide? I can tell you that muggles will develop all these technologies by 2010, so there are about 20 years left.

"Do you still think that what I'm doing is wrong?"

Dumbledore sighed and asked. "Since when have you had such a prophecy?"

"You can say since I was 6 years old. Is that relevant?"

"No, but I can finally understand some things about you," replied Dumbledore. "Nevertheless, this will not change anything. You are heading to a path where you will become an immortal ruler of an empire that spreads across the universe, across dimensions and worlds. No matter how I look at it, this story does not end well for the magical world.

"You may bring a brief period of peace and prosperity, but eventually, your pursuit of knowledge will end in disaster for everyone."

"So, you want to stop a bright future because of the slight possibility of failure?" replied Edward.

"Slight? Could you say with the utmost truth that you will never conduct experiments that could possibly destroy our entire civilization?"

"I cannot promise that. In my pursuit of the truth, I'm willing to risk my life, so should all wizards who follow me."

"You do not get to decide that," retorted Dumbledore.

"And you get to decide whether the magical world gets to experience years of prosperity on the basis that one day I might become corrupt?" said Edward, who then sighed. "It's obvious that we are two stubborn men who refuse to yield for their beliefs. In that case, let's end this war of words and let our wand decide the fate of the magical world."

So, the two raised their wands to begin this battle.