Circus Lucida 🎭

Chapter 27: Tragedy

The flames surrounded the Circus with its merciless heat. Xiao stepped back with his eyes full of despair.

"How... how are we going to get out of here...?", He mumbled and turned around to look at everyone else.

Dottore smiled.
"Indeed. There is no getting away from this. Tonight's event is the grandest of all- The death of everyone!"

"You!- you wont be able to escape either at this rate!", Beidou yelled to Dottore.

"Who said I wanted to escape? As long as she comes back- I am fine with my death"

"She?...", Mona asked. But she didn't actually want to know the answer anymore. She was at the verge of crying.

But was there really no getting out?

Was waiting for their death all thet they could really do?

Suddenly out of nowhere, a weird noise filled the room.

It was the sound of- Rain!

"Everyone! We must run away right now!!", Ningguang shouted and everyone started running out from the Circus.

Scara however didn't.

"Scaramouche! Come with me!", Kazuha shouted as he held Scara's hand.

"Kazuha... I am a living time bomb. Dont bother about me. You go... and I should stay here. Thats what should happen.", Scara replied.

Kazuha tightly held Scara's hand. "Shut up! I dont want to listen to your excuses you are coming with me"

Scara was scared. He took one last glance at Dottore. He was standing still. Scara was scared of losing Kazuha. His fear kept him frozen at one place.

"Scara! We need to go!"

Kazuha pulled Scara and ran. Everyone headed towards the exit. And that was when-

Venti stopped.

Dottore stood frozen.

"Dont stand still Venti! We need to run!", Beidou yelled.

"But Father..."

"Huh!?", Beidou was in shock. "Forget about him Venti!"

Venti wanted to do that. But it was hard.

"You were the one spying him all this time. I never thought you still cared about that man Venti.", Diluc said in disbelief.

"I do hate him. But I want to know... I want the answer!", Venti said and ran towards Dottore. He stood in front of him with a tearful look in his eyes.

"Tell me Father! Why! Why did you... do all this?"

Dottore looked at Venti. "You really are a weird one... aren't you Venti. Sure. I'll answer your curiosity. "If one makes a total of 45 sacrifices, one can revive the dead'. Ever heard of this?"

"Huh... is that..."

Everyone stopped running out of the tent. They also wanted to hear Dottore's answer.

"The first circus under me was Hats and Fools. The ring Master of Hats and Fools...Colombina... was my love. But she died. Died as she fell down from a great height during a practice performance. And so... I decided to being her back to life. For this one intention alone I've been killing countless people. I form circuses with the sole intent of gathering more and more sacrifices. And I selected orphan kids to be a part of my troup so that no one questioned their sudden disappearances. Just 2 more deaths... and I'll have 45 sacrifices made. And then she... my Colombina will come to life! She... she will be alive!"

Everyone heard it.

But no one felt any empathy.

"You went down the wrong path from the very beginning...", Xiao said and clenched his fists. "Killing innocent lives for your own selfish reasons... even if miss Colombina were to come to life right now... she would never forgive you for tour sins..."

Dottore shouted-"What can you know about my boundless love for Colombina!"

"No father... its you who doesn't know anything about love", Xiao said with a sad tone in his voice.

The entire tent was starting to collapse. The fire was extinguished by the rainout the tent had already been damaged.

"We really gotta run this time!", Mona shouted.

Everyone was alreday close to the exit except for Venti and Dottore.

Venti turned around to run when Dottore held his hand and gave an evil smile. "You took away my chance of bringing my love back to life- those eyes of yours wont be able to see the light ever again!", he yelled and took out a knife from his pocket. The knife glided over Venti's eyes.

Venti screamed with pain as his eyes bleed out.

Dottore simply laughed like a maniac. He laughed- until he couldn't anymore. He couldn't anymore because Kazuha stabbed him with an iron rod. His eyes full of hatred.

Dottore fell on the ground.

Kazuha somehow made Venti stand up and the two ran out of tent together.

The tent fell down the moment Kazuha and Venti stepped out. Dottore- the entire tent had falled on him.

Like his burial had already been done by the gods.

But lots of casualties couldn't be avoided.

Nilou as she protected Diona and Sayu had gotten gravely injured.

Heizou's arm was bleeding.

Diluc's leg had gotten a severe injury due to the falling tent.

And Venti...
His eyes were bleeding.

Everyone rushed to the hospital.

Only Beidou went to the court of Fontain for informing the judiciary about the tragedy.

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