"Eh?" Childe was stunned. He stared wide-eyed at the empty space where his attack had landed and then came to a sudden halt.

He slowly turned, bewildered, to look at Lu Jingming, who had already retracted his lance and stood calmly. His eyes were full of doubt and confusion.

"What was that?" Miyabi and Durandal turned back almost in unison, looking toward Istaroth.

Though they themselves had been stilled, as powerful warriors their instincts told them the source of that aberration.

At this moment, everyone present felt a vague, inexplicable confusion.

They were certain they'd just seen Lu Jingming and Childe about to collide—and the next second, Childe's attack had veered inexplicably aside while Lu Jingming had swiftly withdrawn.

The abruptness of it was so strange it left a tightness in the chest, like a gap in memory.

They all felt, dimly, that a piece of their memory was missing, but were not sure whether that was only an illusion.

Gu Yue's expression turned very odd.

Among the nine Dragon Kings of the dragon race, there had once been a Time Dragon King who wielded the power of time.

Yet that Time Dragon King was the weakest of the nine.

Together with the Space Dragon King, it had, at a critical moment, been manipulated by the laws of the cosmos into betraying the Dragon God—sending the dragon race down a tragic path.

In the Douluo God Realm, too, there existed a mysterious first-rank god—the God of Time.

But in Gu Yue's understanding, neither the God of Time nor the Time Dragon King truly mastered time.

It was as if that force were a taboo: those who tried to wield it could not, by it, step into higher realms.

Istaroth's ability to govern time far exceeded the Time Dragon King in Gu Yue's memories.

At the very least, the Time Dragon King could absolutely not stop time as Istaroth had, freezing even other God-King-level powerhouses.

Just now, when time was halted, Gu Yue's own thoughts—together with her distant main body—had completely stopped.

She and her main body were separated by an immense distance, yet both were stalled at once. That alone proved that Istaroth's time authority stood far above the Time Dragon King's.

And this Istaroth, with power so staggeringly strong, had appeared only as a Servant, incomplete.

Gu Yue had no doubt that at her peak, Istaroth could have freely traversed time, linking past and future, present everywhere at once.

These were feats that the God of Time and the Time Dragon King of this world simply could not accomplish.

Had they been capable of such, they would have already become Supreme God-Kings atop the cosmos; one would not have fallen, and the other remained a mere first-rank god.

Gu Yue had known her summoned Servant Istaroth was no ordinary piece—a downright mechanics monster—but she had not expected strength this jaw-dropping.

Her main body had already recovered most of its power and was far from weak, yet even so, when Istaroth stilled time, both she and her main body's thoughts were halted, utterly frozen.

It gave Gu Yue a new—and shocking—measure of Istaroth's might.

"Forget it. I don't know what just happened, but that fight was exhilarating! Brother, let's throw down again sometime! I can tell—you're like me, you love that rush when the blood runs hot in battle."

To Childe, there's no faster way to know someone than a good, hearty fight.

In that clash, he had clearly felt that Lu Jingming, too, reveled in the heat of combat; otherwise he wouldn't have used that move that proclaimed death.

Obviously, Lu Jingming had gotten carried away too, revealing his ace without reservation.

"You should get past those two first. I'm staying out of it."

Lu Jingming lifted his shoulders lightly, pointing at Miyabi and Durandal not far away.

He, too, loved the thrill of a good fight—but he was no battle maniac like Childe. Now and then was fine; every day was too much.

After all, wasn't a leisurely walk with Castorice in the quiet lovely?

Or wandering the streets with Firefly and soaking in the bustle—wasn't that delightful?

Or lying on Robin's lap, listening to her voice like heaven's own song—wasn't that comfort itself?

He wasn't stupid; he wasn't going to run around picking fights like Childe.

Of course, if the opponents were powerful and beautiful girls like Miyabi and Durandal, once in a while was no problem. But every day? No thanks.

"Miss Miyabi, Miss Durandal—are you getting used to things here?"

Leaving Childe to one side, Lu Jingming turned to the two women who were walking up to him, asking with a warm smile.

"Whether we are or not hardly matters. As Servants, helping our Master win the Holy Grail War—that is our mission."

Durandal's expression was solemn. She had always had a powerful sense of duty; anything she took on felt incomplete if it didn't end well.

"It's all very new to me. You could call this a kind of training I've never had before."

Miyabi opened her mouth and it was training. In her view, everything in life—walking, sitting, standing—could be trainig, and the Holy Grail War was no exception. She had no aversion to it.

"Good."

Even though the Miyabi and Durandal before him were only memory-bodies, Lu Jingming had had a favorable filter for them in his past life. He couldn't help caring a bit more.

He himself wasn't even sure whether he'd truly summon their real bodies someday.

"Let's train—an all-out fight." Miyabi was frank; she didn't beat around the bush and issued a challenge outright.

"If it's you, Miss Miyabi, I'd love to. But as you can see, I just finished a pretty intense bout. I'm a bit tapped out. Next time?"

Lu Jingming spread his hands helplessly. Having just gone all-out with Childe, he really wasn't in the mood to jump right into another fight.

"All right. But it's a promise—next time we have to train together!"

At that, her black fox ears drooped at once, disappointment written all over her face.

Seeing it, Lu Jingming was seized by an urge to reach out and pet those adorable ears—but he held himself back.

Goodwill hadn't reached that level yet; doing that now would be far too forward.

"As a fellow user of the Black Abyss and White Flower, if I could train with you, I'm sure I would grow stronger."

Durandal followed suit with a request to train. Naturally, Lu Jingming didn't refuse.

After all, with two outstanding beauties inviting you at once, who could say no?

"I know you won't die—but could you quit making people worry so much?"

After setting up plans with the two, Lu Jingming walked over to Gu Yue.

Istaroth was sitting nearby, bored, counting ants on the ground. Gu Yue stared straight at Lu Jingming, eyes full of reproach.

"Yeah, Xiao Ming, that was really dangerous just now! It's all my brother's fault for egging you on to fight his Servant."

Meng Hongchen came trotting up, face still pale with fright.

She turned and shot a vicious glare at Xiao Hongchen in the distance, who was chatting with Childe.

Xiao Hongchen, in mid-conversation, suddenly felt his sister's knife-like gaze and turned around, baffled. He had no idea what he'd done wrong this time.

"Mm, I know." Lu Jingming answered obediently.

He knew Gu Yue and Meng Hongchen truly cared. He wouldn't betray that.

Of course, Gu Yue also knew that with the Black Abyss and White Flower, it wasn't easy to kill Lu Jingming.

Even if his body took a catastrophic blow—so long as his soul remained—he would be hard to truly kill.

Even decapitated, with his current ability he could pick up his head and put it back on the spot.

You could say his bodily resilience now surpassed the Xianzhou's long-lived species, with cellular-level regeneration. On a physical level, he was hard to finish.

He didn't quite match the near-immortality of an Emanator of Abundance, but compared to Blade of the Stellaron Hunters, he was in no way inferior.

After all, he had developed the Black Abyss to the point of bestowing death upon all things; it followed that the White Flower would not lag far behind.

He didn't often use that power, but as a life-saving trump card, he would never neglect it.

So long as he didn't court death, his life was rarely in real danger.

His battle with Childe had put on full display what it meant to be the academy's number-one genius. Many who had only heard of him and never witnessed his power were convinced.

At the same time, he gained a swarm of eager fanboys and fangirls thanks to the spectacular fight.

Those young students, eyes full of worship and admiration, were drawn to his charisma and became his faithful followers.

After lingering at the training grounds for a while, Lu Jingming and Meng Hongchen took their leave of Gu Yue and the others, hand in hand.

Before going, Lu Jingming couldn't help glancing at Istaroth again.

The Ruler of Time—Gu Yue was certainly blessed to have such a powerful Servant.

If things had gone according to Lu Jingming's original plans for the Holy Grail War, with Istaroth's power Gu Yue would have practically had the victory locked up from the start.

But now, the Holy Grail War had grown complicated. Powerful Servants were appearing one after another; strong as Istaroth was, she was not the absolute apex among them.

Watching Meng Hongchen leave so intimately with Lu Jingming, Xiao Hongchen's eyelids twitched uncontrollably. A vague unease surged up; he felt a bad thing looming, and the premonition left him faintly irritable.

"Xiao Ming, in a few months I'll have to go home. I really can't bear to leave you."

Meng Hongchen nestled her head lightly against Lu Jingming's warm chest, her voice thick with reluctance.

She tilted her head back a little, her eyes full of fondness with a hint of sorrow.

She and Xiao Hongchen had come to St. Freya as exchange students; their term was coming due, and it was time to return to the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineering Academy.

The thought of parting from Lu Jingming made her heart wrench. It hurt, and her voice unconsciously sank with the weight of it.

"Then don't go back. I've already prepared the betrothal gifts. As for Hall Master Jing, I don't think he'd have any objections."

Lu Jingming spoke softly. To him, it wasn't an insoluble problem.

Not to mention that Haiyuan City already had soul-guide smartphones in wide use—by his ability, if he wished, he could blanket the whole Douluo Continent with an information network.

Even if Meng Hongchen returned to the Sun Moon Empire, they could still talk every day as if side by side.

Besides, proposing formally to Jing Hongchen and marrying Meng Hongchen at once was a perfectly good option.

He had ample confidence in his own strength and power, and believed Jing Hongchen wouldn't refuse.

"Better not."

Hearing that Lu Jingming wanted to propose, Meng Hongchen's heart flooded with sweetness and joy; a flower-blossom smile lit her delicate face.

But after a moment, she gently shook her head, the light in her eyes dimming.

She knew of Lu Jingming's ties to the Star Luo royal family; Princess Jiujiu often came to see him.

Meanwhile, the Hongchen clan, as an old noble house of the Sun Moon Empire, was deeply rooted there, its fate intertwined with the empire's.

If she married Lu Jingming now, and the Sun Moon and Star Luo Empires went to war, both Grandfather Jing Hongchen and Lu Jingming would be caught in an impossible bind, under immense pressure.

"Xiao Ming, I'm sorry. I don't want to make Grandpa's life difficult." Meng Hongchen bit her lip, eyes shimmering with tears.

She knew Lu Jingming was strong, and Haiyuan City was strong; he didn't care about the squabbles of empires, and neither Sun Moon nor Star Luo could truly threaten him.

But her grandfather was different. He had devoted his life to the Sun Moon Empire; the family's honor rose and fell with it.

"Heh, I think you're underestimating your grandfather. But all right—have it your way."

Lu Jingming smiled, toying with Meng Hongchen's waterfall of white hair, lifting a lock to his nose to breathe in the faint fragrance as if it were the sweetest scent in the world.

In truth, he knew quite a bit about the Master of Mingde Hall.

Jing Hongchen was loyal to the Sun Moon Empire, but not blindly so.

If the situation became irreparable, with his wisdom and decisiveness, the Hongchen clan could choose again and change sides.

So in Lu Jingming's eyes, Meng Hongchen's worry was a little overdone.

But Meng Hongchen did not know that side of her grandfather. In her mind, he had labored heart and soul for the empire; he would never betray it.

"Xiao Ming, you're so good to me."

Meng Hongchen was deeply moved, warmth flowing through her.

She rose on tiptoe, hands naturally circling Lu Jingming's neck. Eyes brimming with affection, she slowly offered her rosy lips.

Time, in that moment, seemed to gently come to a halt.