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As they waited for the show to start, Rinami took Hazard and the others to a corner in the backstage, with a clear vision of the ring so they could enjoy the show in an up-close view.

"Whoa... this is awesome! It's like being behind the stage of a rock concert!" Panja exclaimed, enthralled by this exceptional opportunity to watch the circus this close.

"Yeah! I've never dreamed of being in this kind of spot! It's so exciting!" Sasuga shared the white lion's enthusiasm.

"I'm so glad you like it! You can see everything from this spot and not have to worry about anyone else getting in the way or anything," Rinami elatedly said.

"Good find, Rina," Hazard praised the fox, making her beam brightly.

One of the circus workers then arrived with some food snacks and drinks. "Here's your order, Ms. Rinami," a young female bat said as she brought them different kinds of popcorn, sandwiches, soft drinks and even cotton candy.

"Ah, good timing! Thanks, Sam! Take a cotton candy cone with you," Rinami graciously said to the bat girl.

"Thank you, Ms. Rinami!" She gladly accepted and went on her way with one pink-colored cotton candy cone.

"Come on everyone, dig in!" the fox said as she presented the snacks to them.

"Sweet! You've thought of everything, haven't you?" Hazard remarked, helping himself with a hotdog.

"I figured it wouldn't be complete without some good food to snack on. Have some, Panja!" Rinami smiled up at the white lion and brought out a bag of popcorn for him, as Panja looked back at her warily.

"Are you trying to win me over with sweetness and yummy snacks?" Panja asked with a raised eyebrow.

Rinami lowered her long pointy ears. "Is it working?"

"Pretty well so far! Thanks!" Panja replied agreeably and took the bag of popcorn with a soda to boot, pleasing Rinami greatly, her bushy long tail wagging merrily.

"Here Sasuga, what do you prefer?" Rinami then turned to the kirin and offered her a choice of the snacks.

"Umm, well, I'd feel better if I can get to wash my hands first. Is there any bathrooms around here?" Sasuga enquired.

"Oh, yes, I'll take you there."

"No, it's okay! You don't have to trouble yourself. Just tell me where to go."

"Well, alright. It's at the end of that corridor, the ladies' room is right to your left," Rinami instructed her and Sasuga nodded.

"Got it. Be right back."

"Don't take long, or else we'll finish all the food," Hazard smirked.

"Hey! You better save me some, Panja!" Sasuga retorted.

"I make no promises!" Panja replied as he grabbed one hotdog, and Sasuga narrowed her eyes at the boys and hurried off to the bathrooms.

"That's weird..." Rinami then softly muttered.

"Hrm? What is?" Hazard asked her.

"The show is about to start and Antonio is nowhere nearby. He's never this late for the opening ceremony, I wonder where could he be," Rinami answered him in concern.

"Yeah? Well, I'm sure he'll turn up any minute now, so don't worry," Hazard said, comforting the vixen, as she looked back at him and smiled with a nod.

On her way to the washrooms, Sasuga walked through a corridor and then happened to pass by a room that had 'Ringmaster Office' marked on its door. She didn't give it much attention at first, until she noticed that the door was slightly open and she found that kind of peculiar. She wasn't normally the snoopy type, but a slight inkling inside of her persuaded her to take a quick peek inside. She stepped in closer to the door and looked through the small gap, and to her unexpected surprise, heard a low groan coming from the other side. Her inkling feeling increased and she decided to open the door.

"Oh my God!" Sasuga gasped out in shock, seeing Antonio lying on the floor, drowning in a pool of his own blood. "Mr. Osvaldo! What the hell happened?!" she rushed over to him when she noticed that he was still breathing, albeit very barely, with sever cutting wounds covering different parts of his body and bleeding intensely.

"Ough... h... he... lp..." the injured seal moaned with much difficulty, coughing out more blood from his muzzle.

"D-Don't breath. I'll get some help!" Sasuga said, but he was in a very bad shape and could die any second now. If he had any chance of surviving, she had to help him now. "I... I have to do this. I can do this..." the kirin muttered and crouched down next to him, heeding no mind to the puddle of blood. "God, so much blood... Please, don't die, Mr. Osvaldo..." She had never seen this much spilled blood in her life; she was actually stunned she was able to stomach it and hold her poise, but Antonio was bleeding out with each second and she didn't have time for wavering. His wounds were so deep and he lost so much blood, she wondered if she would be able to heal him. His breaths were weakening and she couldn't afford to lose more time, so there was only one way to find out.

Meanwhile, at the backstage of the circus, Antonio's absence was starting make the circus group anxious, as the show was supposed to be starting and there was no sign of him yet. The crowd was beginning to wonder what was with the hold up, as well.

"Okay, something definitely not right. I'm going to look for him," Rinami said when her patience ran up, getting worried about the ringmaster.

"Wait. Look, isn't that...?" Panja then pointed at the center of the circus ring, where someone in a white suit and a fedora was standing there.

"The hell?" Hazard said with a surprised look, recognizing that neatly-dressed crow showing up unexpectedly.

"That's the bastard that cut us off in the alley! What the fuck is he doing over there?! Don't tell me he's one of your circus group!" Panja exclaimed, addressing Rinami.

"No, he's not! I don't know that man! Who is he, Hazard?" Rinami answered affirmably.

"Someone that's surely up to no good," Hazard replied and watched as Jale started to speak through the headset mic.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I apologize for the slight delay. I'll be your host for tonight's show, and I promise you it'll be a killer one. All that I ask from you, dear viewers, is to give me your ears and listen to me well," Jale started to speak as his voice reached out the entire audience, with that big leer crossing his beak.

"Like hell you will!" Hazard glowered. "Rinami, where's the audio room?!"

"Wh-What? Why? What's going on, Hazard?"

"No time to explain! Show me, now!"

"O-Okay, this way!" Rinami complied and led them to the audio studio, as they barged inside and found a single poodle dog managing the sound system.

"Hey, you! Turn off the sound!" Hazard yelled at the sound manager, but he didn't respond. The wolf walked over to him and noticed that same blank look on his eyes that was similar to the cops he faced when he confronted Jale, which meant that he was already in a trance by Jale's Voice of Abaddon's power. Hazard tried to move him away from the audio machine, but he refused to budge. Jale's must've ordered him not to move a muscle while working on the system and he was willing to oblige literally. "Sorry pal, but you need to take a little break," Hazard uttered as he saw no choice but to put the sound manager out of commission with quick punch, knocking him out instantly.

"Hazard! What're you doing?!" Rinami gasped, still not getting what was going on around her.

"Long story short: That man is a Bearer of Abaddon's curse and not the good kind. He can manipulate people with his voice and make them do whatever he says, and I don't think he wants to tell a sweet bedtime story to the crowd," Hazard explained briefly, placing the knocked-out canine to lie on the ground, before he went for the audio system controls in a attempt to shut it down, but he was confused by the dozens of buttons and switches. "How the heck do you turn off this damned thing!?" the wolf growled in frustration as he feebly kept tinkering with it.

"Just pull the fucking plug!" Panja shouted.

"There is no fucking plug!" Hazard yelled back, getting agitated.

"Stand back, Hazard!" the wolf heard the fox yell out and he quickly got of the way before she dove in with a chair in her hands, smashing it into the audio console and wrecking its circuits, powering it off and putting an end to the problem.

"Err... nice going, Rina," Hazard muttered astonishingly. He wondered why he hadn't thought of doing that in the first place, figuring that he was usually the spontaneously reckless one.

"Hmm? Hello? Is this thing broken?" Jale wondered in puzzlement when the headset mic stopped working. He looked over at the audio room and saw Hazard and the others through the glass. "Well, well, looks like the Slasher is here, after all. There goes plan A. I guess it's time for plan B. The show must go on, as they say. Playtime, Onyx," the raven sighed and snapped his fingers and from his shadow came out Onyx, much to the stunned audience's amazement.

"Onyx here!" the chameleon announced, greeting the crowd.

"I'll leave this to you, Onyx. I'm out of here. I don't want to cross that Slasher again," Jale said and left the scene as suddenly as he came.

"Bye bye! Now, everyone... you like shadow puppets shows?" Onyx snickered while rubbing his palms together deviously, his own shadow getting large and extending along the ground into different shapes and directions.

"Shit, this is bad. We have to get down there," Hazard said.

"Let's go then!" Panja concurred, but then they were interrupted by a couple of the circus performers coming into the room.

"What the hell are you guys doing here?" an acrobatic female dolphin asked in a surprise when they found the audio room in such a mess.

"What's going, Rinami?! Everything is going apeshit! Where is Mr. Osvaldo?!" a rhino blade juggler demanding questioned.

"Well... the truth is..." Rinami panicked and didn't know how to explain.

"Hey, is that a real sword?" Hazard cut in and asked the rhino all of the sudden, referring to one of the thin swords he was holstering on the side of his belt.

"Huh? Uh, yeah, I guess it is," the rhino replied in confusion.

"Good, it'll do," the wolf said and took one of them off of the rhino. "I'm gonna borrow this for a bit. Rina, you do what you can to evacuate the crowd with the help of your circus friends."

"But Haza-!"

"No time to argue! You're the only one who can do this, so I'm counting on you! Come on, Panja!"

"Right behind you, Haz!" Panja said and they both hurried over to the circus ring.

"Who... Who are these people, Rinami?" the dolphin blinked oddly as she asked the fox.

"That's... That's Hazard!" Rinami proudly proclaimed. "Come on, guys, we got to get everyone out of here! It's an emergency!" the fox told her circus colleagues, getting straight to work.

Sasuga took a deep breath to calm her nerves and collected herself, then placed her left hand on Antonio's torso. She closed her eyes and concentrated her thoughts and her desire to save Antonio into her left hand, and it let out that familiar glowing blue spark. "Hang in there, Mr. Osvaldo... Don't move. I'll help you..." Sasuga softly spoke and pressed her palm on Antonio's gashed chest, sending a wave of healing energy through his body. The seal's body flinched slightly with a grunt as the sparkling blue electrical power coursing through it and she feared she was actually harming him, but to her astonished eyes, his wounds and cuts were gradually closing. Seeing that relieved her further and she increased her power up a notch until she was able to heal him almost completely.

"Ouhhgh...Wh...Where... am I?" Antonio weakly grunted, opening his eyes, apparently regaining his conscious.

"Oh, thank god! You're alive! I did it!" the kirin cried joyfully.

"You... You're Rinami's friend... You... saved me..." the seal mumbled with a few coughs, still not fully recovered.

"Yes, it's me, Sasuga. I'm so glad you're okay, Mr. Osvaldo," Sasuga smiled in relived, holding Antonio's hand gently.

"I... I don't remember what... wait... yes, I was... attacked... by two... two... eugh... the show... I must..." Antonio tried to speak and tell what happened, but he was still in a critical condition, having lost a lot of blood.

"Don't speak! Save your strength, Mr. Osvaldo, I'll get some help," Sasuga said, trying to sooth him.

"Mr. Osvaldo?! Holy shit, what happened here?!" a gorilla muscleman gasped in shock when he entered the office.

"Oh, finally! Hurry, we have to get him to a hospital! He lost too much blood!" Sasuga urged the gorilla.

"What the fuck is going on tonight!? It's insane! Monsters are attacking the circus!" the muscleman exclaimed in disbelief.

"What?!" Sasuga gasped. She thought the worst had passed when she was able to save Antonio's life in the last minute, but it seemed the hardships was yet to begin for this night.

To be continued...