Wang Qiu'er's wrist flicked, and she violently pulled back the Golden Dragon Spear.
Tang Wutong's body softly slumped forward, and crimson blood rapidly spread out beneath her, like a tragically beautiful flower in full bloom.
The light in her eyes completely dimmed, ultimately freezing with an expression of confusion, sorrow, and regret.
The instant Tang Wutong's life force completely vanished, a strange sight occurred.
A dazzling halo, containing peculiar soul fluctuations, slowly drifted out from between Tang Wutong's brows. This was the exact piece of soul fragment that had originally belonged to her, yet was also of the same origin as Wang Qiu'er.
Wang Qiu'er inhaled deeply, holding the Golden Dragon Spear horizontally in front of her. The spear's tip seemed to generate an invisible force of attraction.
The wisp of soul fragment, like a fledgling bird returning to its nest, slowly and finally completely integrated into Wang Qiu'er's brow.
At the same time, the soulless corpse of Tang Wutong also dissolved into points of light, completely merging into Wang Qiu'er's body.
Buzz—!
An indescribable feeling of completeness instantly swept through Wang Qiu'er's entire being.
Her soul, which had been like a circle missing its most crucial part, was now finally and completely mended, becoming flawlessly whole, without any obstruction or emptiness.
A powerful energy wave erupted centered on her, and a golden light shot into the sky, more brilliant and solid than ever before.
The Golden Dragon Spear in her hand emitted a high-pitched dragon roar, as if celebrating this ultimate completeness.
The light gradually subsided, and Wang Qiu'er stood still, feeling the constantly surging, brand-new power within her and her now flawless soul.
Her appearance didn't seem to change much, but her aura underwent an earth-shattering transformation.
The now-complete her gained Tang Wutong's full memories, but to her, those memories were like watching a movie, lacking any genuine connection.
Yet, this transformation granted her a refined temperament, making her aura more noble and sacred.
She was no longer merely the materialized form of the Emperor's Eye Golden Beast, the Three-Eyed Golden Lion, nor was she just the other half dependent on Tang Wutong's existence.
From this moment forward, she was a truly complete, independent individual.
She was—Wang Qiu'er.
"Congratulations, Qiu'er."
A gentle, smiling voice sounded from behind her, breaking the serenity of Wang Qiu'er's moment of self-discovery.
"From now on, no one, no being, can easily control your destiny."
Wang Qiu'er knew the speaker was Lu Jingming without needing to turn around.
She slowly turned, her newly-born eyes, flowing with golden, divine brilliance, looking at him.
She did not show joy at his words; instead, she tilted her head slightly, a faint yet meaningful curve appearing at the corner of her lips, and softly countered:
"No one can control my destiny? Then... what about you, Lu Jingming?"
This sudden, pointed counter-question, which struck right at the core, caused the habitual, 'everything is under control' smile on Lu Jingming's face to momentarily freeze.
He clearly hadn't anticipated that the first question Wang Qiu'er would ask after achieving complete soul, power, and independence would be so incisively directed at him.
"Pfft—"
A distinct, lightly mischievous giggle came from behind Lu Jingming.
Lemuen was seen raising her hand, her slender fingers elegantly covering the corner of her lips. Her pink-purple eyes, which always held a hint of mischief and curiosity, curved into crescent moons. It was evident that seeing Lu Jingming in this rare state of being caught off guard was highly amusing to her.
As a Servant who held an observer's perspective and occasionally enjoyed playfully teasing Lu Jingming, she naturally wouldn't miss this excellent opportunity to watch the show.
Even more surprisingly, even the Time Administrator, Istaroth, who usually seemed uninterested and apathetic to everything around her, slightly lifted her languid, half-closed eyelids, and an extremely rare, subtle, and playful curve touched her lips.
She typically resembled a static, ancient clock tower, silently watching the flow of time, rarely reacting to external fluctuations.
Now, she, too, showed an almost amused expression because Wang Qiu'er's single question had momentarily stumped Lu Jingming. This unprecedented sight was perhaps even more astonishing than Wang Qiu'er's counter-question itself.
Having been a source of amusement for Lemuen and Istaroth, Lu Jingming could only smile helplessly. He spread his hands openly and admitted, "Alright, alright... except for me."
His tone was frank, and he did not try to hide this point.
"I need to add a premise to what I just said—except for me."
He did not deny that, even though Wang Qiu'er's soul was now complete, her potential limitless, and she had become a complete, independent entity, her destiny still rested in his hands.
The so-called freedom from control by anyone naturally had to exclude him, the one who had created and planned her future path.
After all, he had already arranged her next destiny.
The Sea God's divine seat, fully nurtured and suspended within the Holy Grail, was intended by Lu Jingming to be inherited by Wang Qiu'er.
Though Wang Qiu'er herself might never admit it, on the level of soul and bloodline, she had completely replaced Tang Wutong, possessing an unbreakable and profound connection with Tang San and Xiao Wu.
In a sense, calling her Tang Wutong in another sense was not inaccurate, only the personality and name were distinctly different.
Lu Jingming's decision to hand the Sea God's divine seat to Wang Qiu'er was, on the one hand, naturally out of consideration for her cultivation.
The bloodline and destiny of the God King's daughter, overlaid with the bloodline and destiny of the Emperor's Eye Golden Beast, meant Wang Qiu'er possessed terrifying potential, more than enough to bear the weight of a divine seat.
On the other hand, Lu Jingming also frankly admitted that a degree of his personal dark amusement was involved—as a hidden chaos-seeker, he was quite looking forward to seeing the Sea God's divine seat inherited by Wang Qiu'er, and the various interesting developments this might trigger.
With the successive departures of Karna and Hoolay, this grand and unpredictable Holy Grail War was essentially drawing to a close.
The original purpose of the Holy Grail War was to assist the Douluo Plane in its advancement and, incidentally, condense a divine seat. Both goals had now been achieved.
The Douluo Star's evolution had accumulated sufficient energy and only awaited the passage of time to complete its metamorphosis, and the divine seat was also in hand; everything was settled.
As for the remaining Servants, such as Artoria, Skirk, and Jing Yuan, Lu Jingming had no intention of wiping them out.
These powerful beings from different worlds, remaining as variables in this world undergoing dramatic change, might spark even more brilliant clashes, bringing entirely different changes and possibilities to the future Douluo Continent.
And this was precisely what Lu Jingming was happy to see and anticipate.
"Hmm? What is this..."
Just then, Wang Qiu'er suddenly let out a soft exclamation and raised her right hand in confusion.
On the smooth back of her hand, a blood-colored Command Spell, identical to the one on her left hand and containing the power of the contract, was slowly emerging and condensing.
Lu Jingming's eyes narrowed slightly, and his gaze instantly swept toward Vita, who was intensely battling Durandal in the distance. He immediately understood.
Normally, since the Master, Tang Wutong, had died, the time her Servant, Vita, could remain in the world would enter a countdown.
The Holy Grail would automatically begin absorbing the negative energy from the unattached Servant, causing her to gradually fade and retreat.
However, he did not sense any signs of the Holy Grail drawing energy from Vita.
This meant that Vita's Master link had not truly been severed—she still had a contract holder.
The answer was now self-evident.
Although Tang Wutong's physical body had perished, Wang Qiu'er had, on the level of soul and bloodline, become Tang Wutong in another sense.
The two had merged into one, only with a complete shift in the dominant consciousness.
In the Holy Grail's rule-based judgment of soul and contract links, Wang Qiu'er and Tang Wutong were considered the same person.
Therefore, Vita's contract naturally transferred to this new Tang Wutong.
Wang Qiu'er had unexpectedly found a loophole in the Holy Grail's rules, miraculously holding contracts for two Servants simultaneously.
Of course, the Master's restraint over a Servant varied from person to person.
One only had to look at Ma Xiaotao and her Servant, Sparkle, to know that Ma Xiaotao had no control over Sparkle whatsoever.
And as for Miss Vita... given her unpredictable and pleasure-seeking nature, would she truly listen to Wang Qiu'er? That certainly warranted a big question mark.
On the other side of the battlefield.
"Hmm? Little Wutong... died?"
Vita's offensive paused slightly, and a faint flicker of pity crossed her All-Seeing Heavenly Wisdom eyes.
"That's really... a shame. Little Vi is a little sad."
Although she had long expected Tang Wutong's journey to be perilous, the girl had called her 'Sister' for so long, and a thin but genuine thread of affection had somewhat developed.
Even if it was only a very small amount.
However, before this sadness could last even a moment, she keenly sensed that the abruptly severed Master-Servant contract was, in the next instant, incredibly renewed.
This discovery caused her elegantly composed expression to momentarily freeze, completely out of her expectation.
She had already prepared contingencies, confident in her ability to use her own means to circumvent the Holy Grail's forced recall and maintain her existence after her Master's death.
Yet, before she could implement any measures, the contract actually... came back to life on its own?
Her gaze instantly pierced through space, looking in Wang Qiu'er's direction. Her Heavenly Wisdom eyes subtly flickered, and the entire sequence of events became clear to her.
"Heh... I see."
Vita's lips curved back into her usual elegant smile, one that seemed to know all secrets. "The completion of the soul, what an interesting development."
Having understood the current situation, she immediately made the choice that best served her interests.
"Oh dear—!"
She suddenly let out an exaggerated yet still elegant gasp, raising her hands high in an unthreatening gesture of surrender, while simultaneously issuing a command to the Star Traveler behind her.
"Ceasefire, ceasefire! Little Vi surrenders~ Grand Commander Durandal, please show mercy, alright?"
"Swoosh—!"
The tip of the spear, enveloped in the power of decomposition and creation, stopped barely an inch from Vita's brow.
Durandal's heroic brows were tightly furrowed. Truthfully, she desperately wanted to end this dangerous and tricky woman with one strike.
But her serious, almost rigid personality would absolutely not allow her to strike down an opponent who had clearly stated her surrender.
If she was to kill, it had to be in a fair and square duel, not when the opponent had ceased resisting.
Seeing Durandal stop as predicted, Vita's smile grew even brighter.
She had calculated that Durandal's honest and serious nature would never allow her to take advantage of the situation.
Of course, she herself was not entirely defenseless. If Durandal had truly disregarded her surrender and attempted to kill her, she had her own ace in the hole for survival.
"Stop, Durandal."
Lu Jingming, accompanied by Wang Qiu'er, appeared opportunely behind Durandal.
Since Vita's contract had transferred to Wang Qiu'er, she was no longer an enemy that had to be eliminated.
"What happened?"
Durandal withdrew the Abyss Flower, but the vigilance in her eyes did not diminish.
Although the enemy was down to only one person, Vita's cunning and unpredictability made her cautious.
"It's a long story, but this Miss Vita can genuinely no longer be considered an enemy."
Lu Jingming smiled as he looked at Vita, his tone gentle and friendly, "Am I right, Miss Vita?"
However, this gentle smile instinctively raised a hint of caution in Vita.
She felt that behind Lu Jingming's seemingly harmless smile lurked a profound, intriguing meaning.
Especially his gaze, which kept intentionally or unintentionally sweeping over the highly imposing, dark-green mech—the Star Traveler—by her side. This made her eyelid twitch, and she muttered to herself.
'Up close, this Star Traveler gets more tantalizing the more I look at it...'
Lu Jingming inwardly sighed with admiration. A man is a boy until death, and which boy could resist the charm of a top-tier mech?
Unless it was a mech girl... Hmm, he already had Firefly for a mech girl. Now, this perfect mech also seemed to have been delivered to him?
"This young man is absolutely correct~"
Vita immediately seized the opening Lu Jingming offered; she was always very pragmatic.
"The contract between Master and Servant cannot be faked. We are now, in every sense of the word, companions, right?"
Her smile was dazzling, and her tone was lighthearted.
Facing just one Durandal was already stressful, let alone having the unfathomable Istaroth and Lemuen in the opposition. Resisting them head-on was absolutely not a wise move.
Miss Vita knows how to assess the situation best.
Naturally, she had no intention of giving up her good sister, Sparkle.
An alignment shift is one thing, but seeking out fun is her highest priority action principle.
Even with a new Master, her attitude toward Wang Qiu'er would likely be the same as it was toward Tang Wutong.
Outwardly compliant, but inwardly viewing her as a negligible entity who merely provided the stage and opportunities. The real enjoyment would always be in the process itself.
She turned her gaze to Wang Qiu'er, her All-Seeing Heavenly Wisdom eyes filled with a mix of mischief and scrutiny. She deliberately drew out her tone and asked:
"So then... my dear Master~ should I continue to call you Little Wutong, or...?"
"My name is Wang Qiu'er."
Wang Qiu'er's expression darkened, and she answered decisively and without hesitation.
She would absolutely not admit to being Tang Wutong, even though the causality between them was now inextricably intertwined.