By the railing on the second floor.
Hayashi En straightened his tie, like an actor about to take the stage, and leaped down.
"Whoosh—"
The wind whistled past.
The dance floor below had already turned into a scene of carnage.
The clown hosting the auction was grinning wickedly, commanding a swarm of cursed spirits in an attempt to tear the well-dressed socialites to pieces.
Meanwhile, the samurai in kimonos—the members of the Zenin clan—were standing back-to-back in a circular formation. Their blades flashed like snow as they struggled to fend off the siege.
"Dammit! There are too many of them!"
The buzz-cut man leading them sliced off a Fly Head's wing, cold sweat dripping from his forehead.
Though these curses were low-level, their numbers were endless. Furthermore, bolstered by the Veil, the host continued to release even stronger curses.
"Lord Nobuaki! The special grade cursed object is being taken!" one of the subordinates shouted anxiously.
On the display stage, a cursed spirit grabbed the glass case containing the Soul-Returning Mask, preparing to present it to the clown.
"Bastard!"
The buzz-cut man roared, about to force a breakthrough.
Just then.
"BOOM!!"
A dark shadow plummeted like a meteorite in front of the stage.
The massive impact crushed the thieving cursed spirit into a pulp.
Dust billowed, and the low-level curses attempting to swarm were blown away by the shockwave.
"It's quite noisy, isn't it?"
The dust settled.
Hayashi En leaned on his black cane with one hand while elegantly catching the falling glass case with the other, even taking out a handkerchief to wipe away the dust.
Standing amidst the heap of curses, he looked as if he were strolling through his own backyard.
"Since this item was purchased by that gentleman, it is the guest's private property."
Hayashi En looked up at the clown host floating in mid-air and smiled.
"As the host, stealing from your own vault is a major business taboo."
"What?!"
Seeing Hayashi En, a hint of wariness flashed in the clown's eyes.
He hadn't even seen how the man got down from the second floor earlier.
"Get lost if you don't want to die! This is my domain!"
The clown shrieked, waving his wand.
"Kill him!!"
Roar—!
Dozens of Grade 2 cursed spirits roared, pouncing at Hayashi En from all directions. Their sharp claws and disgusting tentacles instantly blocked every path of retreat.
Watching this from a distance, Zenin Nobuaki felt a strange surge of satisfaction.
'Die, you arrogant nouveau riche. This is what you get for sticking your nose where it doesn't belong.'
However.
Facing this lethal siege, Hayashi En didn't even twitch an eyebrow.
He didn't even draw his cane sword.
Hayashi En simply raised his hands slightly, interlocking his fingers into an ancient and mysterious shadow-puppet gesture.
That gesture made Zenin Nobuaki's pupils contract sharply.
"That hand sign is..."
Before he could react.
Hayashi En's voice pierced through the chaos of the battlefield, calm and clear.
"Time to get to work."
"[Nue]."
BZZZZT—!!!
The piercing sound of electricity suddenly erupted.
The dim underground space was suddenly illuminated by brilliant orange-red flashes of lightning.
"SCREECH—!!!"
With a sharp cry, a massive monstrous bird wearing a human mask, its body wreathed in violent lightning, soared up from the shadow at Hayashi En's feet!
With a flap of its wings, countless bolts of lightning lashed out like whips, instantly sweeping through the surrounding circle of curses.
"BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!"
The once-ferocious curses were like mosquitoes hitting a high-voltage line against the Special Grade-level lightning; they were instantly charred, exploded, and reduced to ash.
"What?!"
The clown nearly fell out of the sky in shock.
But those even more shocked were the group from the Zenin clan.
"That's..."
The blade in Zenin Nobuaki's hand almost fell to the ground.
His eyes went wide, staring fixedly at the lightning bird circling above Hayashi En's head, his eyeballs bloodshot.
"Nue?!"
"Why... why does this outsider possess a shikigami of the Zenin clan?!"
This wasn't just shock; it was the terror of a crumbling belief system.
The [Ten Shadows Technique] was the pride and joy of the Zenin clan, a masterpiece inherited only by geniuses of the purest bloodline.
Yet now, it appeared in the hands of a suit-wearing merchant who reeked of money!
And...
Zenin Nobuaki looked at the size of the Nue and the intensity of the lightning.
'Why can he use the Ten Shadows Technique? Does he have Zenin blood?'
'Impossible. Our Zenin bloodline has always been strictly controlled; it's impossible for it to have leaked out!'
Hayashi En, of course, had no idea what they were thinking.
He simply felt that his newly acquired bird was quite useful.
"If I'm cleaning up trash, I might as well be thorough."
Hayashi En changed his hand sign again.
This time, his hands overlapped, forming the shape of a serpent's head.
"[Great Serpent]."
RUMBLE—!!!
The ground cracked instantly.
A massive, white serpentine deity lunged out from the shadows, its maw gaping wide.
Like a runaway bullet train, it completely ignored the terrain and slammed into the dazed swarm of curses.
Everything in its path was obliterated.
Whether they were curses or obstacles, everything was crushed.
"No... impossible!!"
Watching his army of curses torn asunder by two shikigami, the clown finally felt fear.
"Who on earth are you?!"
"Who am I?"
Hayashi En stood atop the Great Serpent's head. As the giant snake reared its head, he looked down at the clown and adjusted his glasses.
"I am merely a... concerned citizen maintaining market order."
"Junpei!"
"Right here!"
At the second-floor railing, Junpei, who had been waiting for an opportunity, leaned out suddenly.
"Moon Dregs: Poison Needle Rain!"
Countless purple poison stingers rained down from above, cutting off the clown's escape.
"Dammit!!"
The clown scrambled to defend himself.
The moment he was distracted...
Hayashi En's figure vanished.
In the next second...
He appeared right in front of the clown.
This time, he didn't use a shikigami.
Hayashi En's [Golden Order], still in its scabbard, slammed violently into the clown's face.
"BANG!!!"
Like a home run swing.
The clown's face distorted instantly, and he was sent flying like a cannonball, crashing so deep into the wall that he was practically embedded.
The battle was over.
It had taken less than a minute.
Hayashi En had effortlessly leveled what seemed like a hopeless situation all by himself.
"Phew..."
Hayashi En landed and straightened his slightly disheveled suit.
Behind him, [Nue] and the [Great Serpent] dissolved into black liquid and obediently returned to his shadow.
A deathly silence fell over the entire venue.
The surviving socialites were trembling.
The Zenin clan members were now staring at Hayashi En with extremely complex expressions, as if looking at a monster.
"Hey."
Hayashi En turned and looked at the buzz-cut man.
He held up the glass case containing the [Soul-Returning Mask], a bright smile on his face.
"Sir, I've retrieved your auction item for you."
Hayashi En walked over and presented the glass case to the stiffened buzz-cut man.
"Thank you for your generous bidding earlier. Now, it's returned to its rightful owner."
Zenin Nobuaki glared at Hayashi En, then at the lingering cursed energy residue at his feet.
It was the scent of the [Ten Shadows Technique].
There was no mistaking it.
His hands were trembling.
This was a humiliation.
To be saved by an unidentified outsider who somehow knew the clan's secret technique, only to have the item returned as if it were charity...
"You..."
Zenin Nobuaki gritted his teeth, his voice squeezed out from between them.
"Just where... did you steal this technique from?"
"Steal?"
Hayashi En paused for a moment, then laughed in spite of himself.
"You're quite the jokester. I acquired this through my own efforts via 'restocking'."
"Restocking?!"
Those two words were a direct trampling of the Zenin clan's dignity.
"You bastard!!"
Zenin Nobuaki finally reached his limit.
Rage triumphed over reason.
He suddenly unsheathed his long blade, pointing the tip directly at Hayashi En's throat.
"That is a treasure of the Zenin clan! You lowly thief! I'll kill you and reclaim the technique!!"
The surrounding air instantly dropped to freezing point.
The smile on Hayashi En's face slowly faded.
He looked at the blade pointed at his throat, then at the man's arrogant, entitled expression.
He didn't know why the man was going crazy, but that didn't stop him from being annoyed.
Of course, he never planned on letting the man go in the first place.
"My dear guest."
Hayashi En's voice went cold, his cane tapping lightly on the ground.
"I saved your life and retrieved your property."
"Not only do you refuse to pay the rescue fee, but you point a blade at me?"
Hayashi En adjusted his glasses, a dangerous glint flashing across the lenses.
"Are you truly certain you want to do this?"
Before his voice even died down...
The shadow at Hayashi En's feet began to boil once more.
This time, it wasn't a test.
"Then don't blame me for collecting a fee for emotional distress."
[Reviews - Power St0nes - Comments are highly appreciated to keep me going.....(+50 chapters) patre0n.c0m/talecrafter]