Chapter Twenty-Two: Awakening of the Flame

"Ah, ah!"
The clown chattered incessantly, making strange noises.
"What a violent child! You're really not cute at all! Let me show you a little trick!"
As he spoke, the clown, wearing white gloves, brought his hand to his bright red lips.
"Whoosh—"
A jet of flame erupted from his mouth.
Murong Xun, who had charged forward, was suddenly confronted by this display. He hurriedly raised his left hand to shield his face, using his glove to ward off the heat, retreating as he did so.
As he moved, the two girls also quickly dodged away.
After the flame had been expelled, the clown laughed mischievously.
"Get ready for the clown's spectacular performance!"
He placed a hand over his chest and bowed to the new audience.
Then, in an instant, his figure vanished from sight.
Murong Xun, who had been retreating, sensed something amiss. He stopped, crouched low without hesitation, and rolled along the ground.
Where he had just been standing, the clown suddenly appeared behind him, a dagger in hand, thrusting it toward Murong Xun's back. Even as he crouched, the clown relentlessly jabbed downward.
Murong Xun rolled away and quickly sprang to his feet, his short sword meeting the clown's dagger.
"Hee hee!"
The clown's once comical face now struck only terror, its expression disturbingly grotesque.
The dagger spun ceaselessly in his hand, flickering with intricate knife tricks.
Murong Xun shook his head, watching the clown's weapon. For a moment, his vision blurred.
When he looked again, he saw the clown had become two.
Two identical clowns, one to the left and one to the right, dressed exactly alike, making it impossible to tell them apart.
Murong Xun remained unmoved, immediately activating the power of the Ghoul, augmented by the fried rice he'd eaten earlier. Now, his strength exceeded two points—double that of a normal human.
The clown's figure vanished again.

"Ding!"
Murong Xun twisted aside, his short sword blocking the dagger of the clown who had suddenly appeared, leaping down from midair.
"Hmph!"
Having just deflected the clown's blade, Murong Xun grunted, spun, and swept his sword in a wide arc, but there was no one behind him—only a fresh scratch across his back to prove the wound was real.
By now, the first clown had attacked again.
Murong Xun frowned, forced to entangle with him.
He hadn't expected both clowns to be able to attack; at first, he'd thought one was merely an illusion.
But that blow made him realize he wasn't facing a circus clown, but something truly sinister, and that having the ability to split into two was not unusual for such a being.
During the fight, he noticed his strength far surpassed the clown's, so the clown avoided direct confrontation. Yet, his opponent was so nimble that Murong Xun couldn't lay a finger on him.
Given the situation, Murong Xun didn’t recklessly pursue the clown. Instead, he constantly shifted his position, edging toward a nearby building. Turning, he pressed his back to the wall so he faced the clown head-on.
His back burned with pain, blood seeping freely, but he had no time to tend to it.
Not far away, the two girls huddled together. Strangely, the clown paid them no mind, finding Murong Xun a far more interesting toy.
Murong Xun scanned his surroundings warily, on guard against the clown’s sudden attacks, but failed to notice a head protruding bizarrely from the wall behind him. Two hands followed, each holding a dagger, gesturing up and down as if deciding where to strike.
Xu Ying's mouth hung open, pointing at Murong Xun, but no sound came out.
Sensing danger, Murong Xun spun around sharply, but saw nothing.
Just then, a figure leapt down from above, slashing his back before vanishing again.
"Little girl, being too talkative isn’t very endearing!"
Now, both Xu Ying and Zhang Jiao were pale with terror. From the front, nothing seemed amiss, but behind them, a figure pressed closely, its slender claws gripping their throats, which explained why neither could cry out.
"Is this the end?"
Feeling the suffocating pressure, her brain starved of oxygen, Xu Ying thought she was about to die.
But she couldn’t accept it!
She was barely in her twenties, in the prime of her youth—how could her life end here?

"Ah—"
She let out a piercing scream.
"Boom—"
A surge of fiery red swept outward in all directions, even Murong Xun, not far away, felt the heatwave.
A shriek came from behind the girls, and the clown that had clung to them now lay helpless on the ground, his body ravaged by burns.
At that moment, Xu Ying and Zhang Jiao were bathed in a fiery glow.
"Fire Awakeners?"
Murong Xun raised an eyebrow.
He was no stranger to Awakeners, and knew that among them, those of Light and Fire were most effective against the sinister, though their numbers were few—even the Special Bureau lacked many.
What surprised him most was that the two girls’ auras matched perfectly; the fire’s brilliance coursed through both, making them seem like two halves of a whole—a situation beyond his understanding.
While no one noticed, a figure darted behind the girls, scooped up the fallen clown, and leapt to a spot not far away. With a bang, the burned clown vanished, replaced by the original clown. Now, his clothes were torn and he looked far more frail.
"Sweethearts, we’ll meet again!"
The clown cackled, the red at his lips vivid as blood, his mouth stretched nearly to his ears.
This time, the girls were too exhausted to react, and Murong Xun was in no condition to chase after him.
The clown’s figure flickered, and after a few moments, disappeared completely.
Murong Xun searched the spot where the ball had dropped earlier, but found nothing. He abandoned the idea, thinking it was merely a distraction—the clown having a ball for his act was perfectly normal.
With the clown gone, Murong Xun looked at the two girls, now collapsed on the ground after their first awakening, and sighed.
The mission mattered, so he couldn’t leave them here.
Helpless, he took each of them by the arm and helped them to their feet.