By the second-floor railing.
Lynn adjusted his tie, like an actor about to take the stage, and leaped down.
"Whoosh—"
The wind whistled.
The dance floor below had already turned into a Shura Field.
The clown host was grinning maliciously, commanding a swarm of Cursed Spirits, attempting to tear those well-dressed tycoons to shreds.
And those samurai in kimonos—the members of the Zenin Family—were standing back-to-back in a circular formation, their blades flashing like snow as they struggled to fend off the siege of Cursed Spirits.
"Damn it! There are too many of them!"
The man with the buzz cut at the head sliced off the wing of a Fly Head, cold sweat seeping from his forehead.
Although these Cursed Spirits weren't high level, their numbers were endless. Moreover, under the enhancement of the "Curtain," the host was still continuously releasing stronger curses.
"Lord Zenin Shinrō! That special grade cursed object is about to be taken!" his subordinate shouted anxiously.
On the display stage, a Cursed Spirit was grabbing the glass case containing the [Soul-Returning Face], preparing to offer it to the clown man.
"Bastard!"
The buzz-cut man roared, just about to force a breakthrough.
Just then.
"Boom!!"
A black shadow fell in front of the display stage like a meteorite.
The massive impact force directly crushed the Cursed Spirit trying to steal the item into a pulp.
Dust rose, and the low-level Cursed Spirits trying to surround him were also blown away by the shockwave.
"It's really noisy."
The dust cleared.
Lynn leaned on his black cane with one hand, while the other elegantly caught the falling glass case, even taking out a handkerchief to wipe the dust off it.
Standing among the pile of Cursed Spirits, he looked as if he were in his own back garden.
"Since this item was purchased by that gentleman, it is the guest's private property."
Lynn looked up at the clown host floating in mid-air not far away and smiled:
"As the organizer, stealing from within is a major taboo in business."
"What?!"
Seeing Lynn, a flicker of wariness flashed in the clown man's eyes.
He hadn't seen clearly how this man had come down from the second floor just now.
"Get lost if you don't want to die! This is my domain!"
The clown man screamed, waving his wand.
"Kill him!!"
Roar—!
Dozens of Grade 2 Cursed Spirits roared, pouncing at Lynn from all directions. Their sharp claws and disgusting tentacles instantly blocked all of Lynn's paths of retreat.
Seeing this from not far away, Zenin Shinrō felt a surge of pleasure in his heart.
"Die. You arrogant upstart. This is what you get for meddling."
However.
Facing this certain-death siege, Lynn didn't even frown.
He didn't even draw his cane sword.
Lynn just slightly raised both hands, fingers interlaced, making an ancient and mysterious hand shadow gesture.
That gesture caused Zenin Shinrō's pupils to contract suddenly in the distance.
"That hand seal is..."
Before he could react.
Lynn's voice, calm and clear, pierced through the clamor of the battlefield.
"Time to work."
"[Nue]."
Zzzzt—!!!
The ear-piercing sound of electricity exploded instantly.
The originally dim underground space was suddenly illuminated by dazzling orange-red electric light.
"Skree—!!!"
Accompanied by a sharp cry, a giant, human-faced masked bird, wrapped in violent thunder and lightning, soared up from the shadow beneath Lynn's feet!
With a flap of its wings, countless bolts of lightning, like whips of thunder, instantly swept through the surrounding circle of Cursed Spirits.
"Boom! Boom! Boom!"
Those once-ferocious Cursed Spirits, in front of the Special Grade-level lightning, were like mosquitoes hitting a high-voltage line, instantly charred, exploded, and turned to ash.
"What?!"
The clown man almost fell from the air in shock.
But even more shocked were the group of Zenin Family members in kimonos.
"That is..."
The sword in Zenin Shinrō's hand almost fell to the ground.
His eyes widened, staring fixedly at the thunderbird circling above Lynn's head, his eyeballs bloodshot.
"Nue?!"
"Why... why does this outsider possess a shikigami of the Zenin Family?!"
This wasn't just shock; it was the fear of a collapsing belief.
The [Ten Shadows Technique] was the Zenin Family's proudest masterpiece, a technique that could only be inherited by geniuses with the purest bloodline.
But now, it appeared in the hands of a merchant dressed in a suit and smelling of money!
Moreover... Zenin Shinrō looked at the size of that Nue and the intensity of the lightning.
"Why can he use the Ten Shadows Technique? Does he have Zenin Family blood?"
"Impossible, our Zenin Family's bloodline has always been strictly controlled. It's impossible for there to be a bloodline circulating outside!"
Lynn, of course, didn't know what these people were thinking.
He just felt that this newly acquired bird was very useful.
"Since it's for cleaning up trash, let's be more thorough."
Lynn changed his hand seal again.
This time, his hands were overlapped, shaped like a snake's head.
"[Great Serpent]."
Rumble—!!!
The ground instantly cracked.
A massive, white serpent god, with its bloody maw wide open, lunged out from the shadows.
It like an out-of-control high-speed train, it ignored the terrain and crashed into the dazed swarm of Cursed Spirits.
Everywhere it passed, it was like crushing dry weeds and smashing rotten wood.
Whether it was Cursed Spirits or obstacles, everything was crushed.
"Im... Impossible!!"
Seeing his army of Cursed Spirits instantly scattered by the two shikigami, the clown man finally felt fear.
"Who exactly are you?!"
"Who am I?"
Lynn stood atop the head of the Great Serpent. As the giant snake raised its head, he looked down at the clown man from above and adjusted his glasses.
"I'm just an enthusiastic citizen... maintaining market order."
"Junpei!"
"Here!"
At the second-floor railing, Junpei, who had been waiting for an opportunity, suddenly leaned out.
"Yotsuki: Poison Needle Rain!"
Countless purple poison needles shot down from above, blocking the clown man's retreat.
"Dammit!!"
The clown man scrambled to defend himself.
In the moment he was distracted.
Lynn's figure disappeared.
The next second.
He appeared in front of the clown man.
This time, he didn't use a shikigami.
The [golden law] in Lynn's hand was still sheathed as he slammed it hard against the clown man's face.
"Bang!!!"
Like hitting a baseball.
The clown man's face instantly deformed, and he was sent flying like a cannonball, smashing heavily into the wall, so deep he couldn't be pulled out.
The battle was over.
It took less than a minute.
The originally hopeless situation was effortlessly swept away by Lynn alone.
"Phew..."
Lynn landed and straightened his slightly messy suit.
Behind him, [Nue] and [Great Serpent] turned into black fluid and obediently returned to his shadow.
The entire venue was deathly silent.
The surviving tycoons were trembling.
And the group from the Zenin Family was now staring at Lynn with extremely complex eyes, as if they were looking at some kind of monster.
"Hey."
Lynn turned around and looked at the buzz-cut man.
He held up the glass case containing the [Soul-Returning Face], a bright smile appearing on his face.
"Sir, your auction item, I've brought it back for you."
Lynn walked over and handed the glass case to the now-stiff buzz-cut man.
"Thank you for your generous bidding just now. Now, it's returned to its original owner."
Zenin Shinrō stared fixedly at Lynn, then at the lingering Cursed Energy residue at his feet that hadn't fully dissipated.
That was the scent of the [Ten Shadows Technique].
There was absolutely no mistaking it.
His hands were trembling.
This was a humiliation.
To be saved by an outsider of unknown identity who somehow knew the family's secret technique, and then have the item returned as if it were charity... "You..."
Zenin Shinrō gritted his teeth, his voice squeezed out from between them.
"Where exactly... did you steal this technique from?"
"Steal?"
Lynn was taken aback for a moment, then chuckled.
"This guest is quite a joker. I got this by 'restocking' with my own skills."
"Restocking?!"
These words were practically trampling on the Zenin Family's dignity.
"You bastard!!"
Zenin Shinrō finally couldn't take it anymore.
Anger overcame reason.
He suddenly drew the long sword at his waist, the blade pointing directly at Lynn's throat.
"That is the Zenin Family's supreme treasure! You lowly thief! I'll kill you and reclaim the technique!!"
The surrounding air instantly dropped to the freezing point.
The smile on Lynn's face slowly vanished.
He looked at the tip of the blade pointed at his throat, then at the other's entitled and arrogant expression.
Although he didn't know why the other was going crazy, it didn't stop him from being displeased.
Of course, he hadn't planned on letting them go from the start either.
"My dear guest."
Lynn's voice turned cold, his cane lightly tapping the ground.
"I saved your life and helped you get your item back."
"Not only do you not pay the rescue fee, but you even point a sword at me?"
Lynn pushed up his glasses, a dangerous cold light flashing across the lenses.
"Are you really sure you want to do this?"
Before he finished speaking.
The shadow beneath Lynn's feet began to boil again.
This time, it was no longer a test.
"Then don't blame me for collecting a mental distress fee."