Meanwhile, in a certain grim room inside a decaying manor.

“Pff—hahaha… what a cute reaction, and what a cuter scream!”

A petite girl in a black tuxedo and a tiny black top hat burst out laughing at the sound from a scrying crystal. Yumigawa Sumeragi’s exaggerated shriek rippled through like a stone dropped into a still pond.

In the lamp’s dim halo by the wall, her face came into view—skin the color of amethyst dusk, beautiful eyes without a spark, a miasma of ill omen clinging to her like winter fog. She didn’t look human. She looked more like a doll. A dreadful, breathing doll.

No exaggeration: if someone wandered into this room and saw her, they’d probably faint on the spot. It wasn’t that her features were grotesque; it was the scene. Picture this—an abattoir of atmosphere, and in the middle a doll-like girl with no hint of life. Even beauty can kill when framed by night and coffin-cold air.

It wasn’t the face. It was the setting and what the heart supplied. Which should tell you who she is without another word. Yes—she was the warden of the Garden of Eternal Sleep: Sakurazuki.

“Too cute. That face, that voice, that bully-me aura that makes my fingers itch.”

She slid a fingertip between her lips and went dazed, heat in her expression like wine on a cold night. A moment later, she smiled—sultry to the point of sin, a blossom that didn’t match her childlike vessel.

“I’ve decided. I’m not letting such a darling slip away. Let’s play, Yu—mi—gawa—Su—me—ra—gi.”

Boom!

As her words fell, a lash of lightning tore down and lit the room like day—coffins piled everywhere, bones strewed like driftwood, ripped dolls slumped like beheaded crows, oil paintings warped into nightmares.

…

“Ha—ha—ha—so scary! Fifth Layer—wuwuwu!”

Fear hit first like a bucket of ice. I bolted the second my mind came back, ran anywhere my legs could pick, as long as it wasn’t toward that uncanny doll. I don’t know how long I sprinted. My breath snagged like cloth on thorns. I had to stop.

“Where… is this?”

I glanced around, pulse drumming like rain on old tiles—grass gone wild, a dozen or two withered trees, fireflies drifting like dying embers. Huh? An old well stood not far off. Vines and weeds wove a wreath around it. If I hadn’t looked hard, I’d have missed it. Do I check it out? But… a bad chill crawled over my skin. That well didn’t look like a normal well from any angle. Just looking at it felt like standing over a bottomless crevasse.

Rustle rustle. A knife-cold breeze sawed through weeds and dead flowers, making a sound like teeth on glass. It picked at my nerves without stopping.

Ugh. Standing still hurts worse. I’ll just take a look.

Gulp. I swallowed with effort, peeled back the screen of vines and grass, and trudged toward the well with feet like stone.

Tap-tap, tap-tap… Honestly, walking here felt awful. The ground was pitted. Now and then my sole slid on something hard and faintly slick… Bones? Stop. Don’t overthink. I slapped my cheeks. Don’t be scared, don’t be scared… it’s just an old well… it only looks creepy because everything here’s ancient and rotten… I chanted that in my head like a talisman.

After maybe half a minute, I reached the well. I leaned in, careful as a cat on wet eaves, and peered into the mouth.

Bottomless darkness surged up with a rot-stench, like a cellar full of dead leaves. I was terrified, but stubborn curiosity shoved me on—fine, I was even more afraid of what might be behind me. I gathered Sword Aura into a small light orb and floated it over the center of the well. Hm. Besides a little foul water, nothing—

Wait? Something lay on the bottom… Damn it, the water’s too murky. I can’t see. I pitched a bit farther, head dipping deeper into the rim.

Finally, I could just make out what was down there… Uh… ah—ah!!! The instant I saw it, I jerked back to flee. But then—

Two hands, with only scraps of rotten skin clinging to bone, lunged from the well and clamped hard around my throat. The stench hit like a swamp’s exhale.

“Kh—koff… mm… ngh…”

Bad. My head spun off like a kite, my thoughts thinned to thread, my breath turned to mist. Only my Sword Intent kept one thread of awareness from snapping. Even so, I wouldn’t last long…

I can’t give up. I refuse to die in a place like this!

Survival flared through me like fire. I snapped into focus, shifted to the Shattered Light Sword, gathered Sword Aura with everything I had, and unleashed the technique.

“Sword Qi Storm!”

A tornado of Sword Aura roared into being and shredded those vile hands to pulp. The well itself, somehow, didn’t crack at all. No idea what it was made of.

No time to care. I sprawled by the well, dragging in air like a drowning man. Close one. One or two seconds later and I’d have blacked out for good. Wuwuwu… I want out of the Fifth Layer so badly. This place isn’t fit for humans. Especially someone like me who was born hating horror. Xiao Nuo would love this. She was flipping through gore artbooks last week… No. No daydreaming. I need to leave the well. It’s too dangerous.

I started to rise. From inside the well came a sound—something climbing from the bottom. Cold sweat burst out like rain.

Ah… ha… ha. A rasping breath slid up beside me, along with the stench of decay thick as swamp gas. I almost threw up.

No way…

Like a rusty robot, I turned my head by degrees. Crawling up from the well was… a corpse. The flesh and guts were completely rotten. Even the bones were half-eaten by time. Thankfully, a curtain of long black hair hid its face. If I’d seen that, I might have fainted outright.

Even so, this was beyond what I could take. And it was less than half a meter from me.

So—

“Ahhh!!!”

My scream split the Garden of Eternal Sleep again. Then—

“Just disappear already!!!”

I yelled and swung on reflex. The rotting corpse about to drag itself free burst into a thousand pieces. I staggered back several steps, raised the Shattered Light Sword high, and poured Sword Aura like a flood.

“Destruction Invisible Sword!”

I aimed at the well and hewed down a colossal blade, so vast its shape blurred.

Boom!!!

The old well and every weed, vine, wildflower, and dead tree around it turned to ash in an instant.

…