[step:Recover an elementary extension of $M$ from the elementary diagram]
Let $N$ be the reduct of $N^\ast$ to the original language $L$. For each $m \in M$, define
\begin{align*}
j: M &\to N \\
m &\mapsto \bar{m}^{N^\ast},
\end{align*}
where $\bar{m}^{N^\ast}$ denotes the interpretation of the constant symbol $\bar{m}$ in $N^\ast$.
We show that $j$ is an elementary embedding. Let $\psi(y_1,\dots,y_k)$ be an $L$-formula, and let $m_1,\dots,m_k \in M$. If
\begin{align*}
M \models \psi(m_1,\dots,m_k),
\end{align*}
then the $L(M)$-sentence $\psi(\bar{m}_1,\dots,\bar{m}_k)$ belongs to $\operatorname{ED}(M)$, so
\begin{align*}
N^\ast \models \psi(\bar{m}_1,\dots,\bar{m}_k).
\end{align*}
Equivalently,
\begin{align*}
N \models \psi(j(m_1),\dots,j(m_k)).
\end{align*}
The same argument applied to $\neg \psi$ gives the converse implication. Hence, for every $L$-formula $\psi(y_1,\dots,y_k)$ and every $m_1,\dots,m_k \in M$,
\begin{align*}
M \models \psi(m_1,\dots,m_k)
\quad \Longleftrightarrow \quad
N \models \psi(j(m_1),\dots,j(m_k)).
\end{align*}
Thus $j: M \to N$ is elementary.
Since elementary embeddings identify their domain with an elementary substructure of the codomain, replacing $N$ by the isomorphic copy over $j[M]$ lets us regard $M$ as an elementary substructure of $N$. In this notation, $N \succeq M$.
[/step]