"Not for sale!"
"Oh... then be gentle when you open it. This combination lock was expensive. And don't damage my door, either. It's an antique left behind by my dad's dad's dad's dad. The inscriptions on it are precious. If you break it, you'll have to pay me."
"..."
Lynn ignored the vampire's rambling beside him.
In less than five seconds, blue light shone from the eye sockets of Lynn's Trinity Frame. The combination lock before him rapidly shifted and clicked as it was decoded, and rings of light spread in every direction along the patterns on the door.
Click-
The lock was cracked with ease.
"Impressive!"
The Sin Lord stared wide-eyed, giving Lynn her wholehearted approval.
"I'll need to get a more advanced lock next time!"
As the door opened, the barrier upon it gave off pulses of blood-red light. Even Lynn had never seen its patterns before, and their complexity rivaled the psionic barriers Sir Awen had set up in their Dark Night City.
Without a doubt.
The being who had constructed this barrier beneath the City of Sin was an extraordinarily powerful vampire with an immense wealth of knowledge!
Leaving the family in the hands of this little girl in the end was an absolute family misfortune.
"It's open!"
The Sin Lord nodded smugly.
The barrier receded, and the door opened little by little.
The enormous, rust-covered door rumbled, and a moldy stench wafted out from within.
Yet almost the instant the door opened, Lynn's mask seemed to sense something and abruptly unleashed a surge of power. Even Lynn felt a flicker of dizziness from it, but a moment later, his pupils dilated.
For he saw the threads of time, and he saw immense pollution spilling out amid its surging flow.
That aura was...
Almost simultaneously, an