Re: In My Bloody Hit Novel-Chapter 753: The Clown Again.

All four of them moved at once, rushing up the stairs.

The moment they crossed into the upper chamber, the smell hit them.

Blood.

Thick, coppery, overwhelming.

The enormous room, once lavish, once alive, but now it was nothing more than a slaughterhouse.

Bodies littered the floor in grotesque stillness. Some lay slumped against velvet couches, heads cleanly severed.

Others were collapsed over tables, arms still wrapped around drinks that had long since spilled.

There were pairs frozen mid-embrace, lips inches apart, passion interrupted by death so sudden they never even understood what had happened.

Even the officials from the holy church were butchered.

The cuts were precise.

Too precise.

Every corpse bore the same mark: a single, impossibly clean slice, as if a massive blade had passed through flesh, bone, and soul in one effortless motion. Walls were painted with arcs of crimson. Curtains hung in tatters, soaked through. The excess, the indulgence of the place, only made the silence heavier.

Death was everywhere.

Gadan stepped forward, scales rippling beneath his skin as his body shifted into a semi-human form again—broader shoulders, faint ridges along his jaw, eyes still glowing with draconic gold.

This form alone spoke of terrifying talent; few of his race could compress themselves so perfectly without losing power.

He turned slowly toward Chiron and Silmarien.

"Did you do this?" he asked, voice low and dangerous.

Chiron scanned the carnage once more, then shook his head. "No," he said calmly. "I won't take credit for something this… excessive."

Silmarien rolled his eyes at Chiron's choice of words.

Before anyone could speak again, laughter echoed from outside.

Sharp. Broken. Mad.

Every instinct screamed danger.

"Down!" Chiron snapped.

All four of them bent and moved at the same time—and not a moment too soon.

A blade of compressed spiritual energy screamed through the air above their heads, shearing the ceiling apart like paper. The entire upper structure groaned, then collapsed. Stone, glass, and metal rained down as the tower imploded, the sound of destruction swallowing the night.

When the dust finally settled, the building was gone.

Standing atop a distant rooftop, framed against flickering flames and drifting debris, was a skinny figure clad in cracked, half-destroyed armor.

His body looked wrong—too thin, too twisted—yet he stood effortlessly balanced. Smears of makeup streaked his face, half of it frozen in a grotesque grin.

He laughed hysterically, clutching his stomach.

"Ah—sorry! Truly sorry!" he called out, voice echoing through the ruined district. "I had to kill everyone in the city just looking for you."

He tilted his head, eyes gleaming with manic delight.

"But look at that—I finally found you."

Chiron stared at him, expression darkening.

Silmarien leaned closer, voice low. "You know him?"

Chiron nodded once, blood-red light flickering faintly in his eyes.

"The Clown," he said. "One of the Fingers of Solitude."

The laughter rang out again, sharper this time.

And the night seemed to recoil.

Chiron's gaze narrowed.

The Clown's eyes weren't wandering. They weren't scanning the battlefield or lingering on Silmarien or even Gadan.

They were fixed on him.

Only him.

In that instant, Chiron understood.

The Seer knows I'm here.

At first, his brow furrowed. But then the implications unraveled, one after another, and a different expression crept onto his face.

She knew he had crossed beyond the Veil.

She knew he had entered this city.

And yet… she hadn't come herself?

No army of the Holy Church.

Not even informing the Zodiac families.

No overwhelming, heaven-sent suppression.

Just one Finger of Solitude.

After the devastation Chiron had inflicted on the Holy Church the last time—after the loss of so many gold ranks, the collapse of an entire continent, the humiliation of their authority—this response made no sense.

Unless…

Unless she couldn't come.

Unless she was wounded. Restricted. Or bound by something far greater than pride.

Chiron's lips curled upward.

So she was testing him. Or stalling. Or buying time.

Either way—

A sudden heat tore through the air.

Chiron's eyes snapped sideways as a blade of blue flame screamed toward him, sharp enough to split the night itself.

"Move," he said calmly.

He and Silmarien leapt back in perfect sync, the flame slicing through the space they had occupied a heartbeat earlier.

Silmarien landed lightly and glanced toward their attacker. "It seems our teammates believe we're the enemy."

Gadan stood with his arm extended, blue draconic fire coiling around his claws, eyes blazing with hostility.

Without hesitation, the dragon pivoted—and fired again.

This time, not at Chiron.

A colossal arc of flame surged forward, so wide it swallowed the street, its edge scraping buildings as it roared toward the Clown. The fire was dense, compressed, and ancient—dragonflame refined through centuries of war.

The Clown laughed.

He brought up his massive sword and met the attack head-on.

BOOM.

The impact shook the district. The flames exploded outward, flooding the ruins with searing light. The force alone drove the Clown skidding backward across the rooftop, boots carving grooves into stone.

When the fire finally dissipated, the Clown straightened.

His sword glowed red-hot, metal humming angrily, as though it had just been pulled from a divine furnace.

He rolled his neck once and chuckled.

"Wow," he said lazily. "Your flames feel lighter than I remember, Gadan."

He tilted his head, grin widening.

"What is it? Been lying on your ass all day instead of training?"

He those words looking at Arianna. After all, her fall into lust was not a secret.

The air went still.

Five monsters.

One battlefield.

Silmarien turned to Chiron, "This fight will not end well. The Dragon and his bride have to know we are not their enemy."

However, Chiron chuckled. "What do you mean we?" He stepped forward, "that's your task. I and the Painted face have a score to settle."

Chiron stepped forward golden energy surrounding him. He smiled.

The Clown's eyes did not leave him. "It doesn't look like you have grown either."

But then Chiron suddenly took another step, appearing right beside the Clown, "are you sure?"

Boom...