The sun was already high up in the sky. His surroundings were a bit different now, with rocks protuding out of the ground in a patchy way among the endless sand.

He didn't even have the energy to speak much... And neither did he want to... He had been circulating Essence through his body to provide him with energy for a while, but he still had his limits. His body wasn't fully accustomed to having a Soul Core or using Soul Essence efficiently.

The exhaustion was bound to take over eventually.

Ryuji had been marching towards a distant Cactus he caught a glimpse of far into the distance after climbing the second... Or maybe the third dune. Climbing them was starting to take a toll on him now.

However with nothing to mark as a reference point and nothing to realise as his goal... Ryuji needed something to drive him. And his drive right now was survival...

Right now, he was perhaps... Trying to scale the sixth dune of the day. His steps were nowhere to be seen behind him. The dunes seemed to look... Different somehow. He wasn't entirely sure. Maybe looking at them from another angle was messing with his senses.

Ryuji shook his head. The dune seemed a little higher than what he had estimated it's size to be... Several hundred metres higher.

Occassionally, the winds blew. The air was the worst to breath at that time. Breathing was like inhaling shards of glass. The shadows seemed... Much deeper.

It's okay... As long as he reaches the Cactus, he will be fine. After reaching the top of the dune, he glanced at the cactus in front of him. It seemed to grow a bit...

'Huh... Is dehydration already playing it's tricks on me?'

'Maybe i should lay here for a minute?'

Ryuji looked at the sun. 

But He knew better than to lie down; the desert had already begun to play tricks on him, and stopping now might be his last mistake.

The cactus ahead seemed closer now—or was it? Ryuji blinked, his vision swimming with distorted waves of heat. The shadows of the rocks around him grew unnaturally long, stretching like grasping claws across the dunes. He steadied himself, planting one foot firmly in the sand, then the other.

"Just... a little further," he murmured under his breath, though his voice was a rasp.

The wind picked up again, swirling around him with a low, mournful howl. It carried with it a faint whisper. Ryuji's ears are barely able to make it out.

Ryuji froze. His pulse quickened, the sound slicing through his exhaustion like a blade. He scanned the horizon, but there was no one. Just the endless sand, the ominous shadows, and the cactus that stood defiantly in the distance.

He clenched his fists, forcing himself forward. Each step felt heavier than the last, as though the sand sought to anchor him in place.

Ryuji eventually reached down from the dune, the cactus almost in front of him.

He rushes towards the Cactus in a hurry. But suddenly trips on a rock in his feet and tumbles down, rolling down the slope.

He hits a rock on his back, groaning in pain.

'Fuck...'

Ryuji slowly balanced himself and sat by the rock.

'I'm losing my composure way too early. It's not even been a day... I shouldn't be getting this desperate so soon... Desperation leads to the deaths of men afterall.'

Ryuji closed his eyes and looked down for a minute. The heat of the sun was as cruel as ever. Ryuji seemed to be losing his mind for some reason. He wasn't near Mortal Danger at all right now. It had only been a few hours. He felt hungry, sure, but he could make do without food for a few days... Though that would certainly not be very pleasant. He could make do without water too... At least for today...

Or maybe two...

The most torturous thing about a desert was the scarcity of water afterall. And without a definite source for it, thing were bound to get desperate.

Still, Ryuji felt like he was just being foolish somehow. As if his ability to think had been affected in some way. If he wanted to survive, he needed to be coolheaded and careful. A small mistake could end up costing him gravely.

After a while, Ryuji opened his eyes and got up. He started walking towards the Cactus again. After a few minutes, Ryuji was standing in the presence of those plants that seemed to be life-givers to him right now.

It was a cluster of about half a dozen Cacti. All of them were varying in height. A couple were 2-3 feet tall. A couple were a little Shorter than Ryuji himself. And one single out of them all was as tall as him.

But there was a single Cactus that stood out... Standing at least 10 feet in height, this Cactus was much greater and wider than all of those others.

Each one of them had thorns protruding out of them, looking almost as sharp as needles at their ends. They were locked in an intricate and complex pattern with each other in a way in which it was both completely logical and precise but also natural enough to seem rough and random.

Ryuji carefully observed the Cacti for a while. The thorns were really sharp, they'd probably look like normal thorns to the naked eye, but after awakening, Ryuji felt a steep improvement in his eyesight and hence, he could tell. The thorns had such a thin and small point at their ends that he was sure could sink into his flesh easily without the need of any force.

Ryuji summoned the Maroon Blade in his hand and sat down near it's base. He needed to carefully cut the cacti while making sure he doesn't poke himself with one of it's thorns.

He summoned the Black Flames on his Saber and began removing the thorns on it by melting them off while cutting them using his blade.

The heat of the sun seemed to cool off a little and his surroundings seemed to get dimmer. Were there clouds here?!

Ryuji looked up immediately and saw the huge underbelly of a cactus-like creature hanging on top of him. It's repulsive mouth opened wide with rows of sharp teeth ready to chew through his entire head.

Ryuji immediately rolled back and the Cactus crashed into the other cactus, pulverizing it using it's sheer weight.

'W-What the hell is that thing?!'

Ryuji notices the largest cactus in this cluster he found was missing from it's original spot. Instead, It started moving and numerous vines filled with sharp thorns had appeared around it's underbelly, Swaying ready to kill him.

Not to mention the repulsive mouth of this creature.

From the outside, the thing resembled a Cactus perfectly. But it was probably an Abyssal too. Just like the ones he saw in Hell. Since the opportunity to eat in this barren landscape was far and limited, these creatures had adapted to look like Cactus perfectly and then sit with them... Waiting for any prey to approach so that they can kill them in an instant without even making a sound.

Now that Ryuji thought about it, it was weird that no sound was produced at all when this creature pulled it's vines out of the ground. If it's vines were in the ground to begin with.

'It's alright... I can kill it... It's just a cactus...'

Ryuji summoned the [One's Resolve] and the Remnant started weaving itself out of the ethereal sparks of light. But before it could fully summon, The Creature was already dying to get a piece of Ryuji. It shot out multiple long vines towards Ryuji, Showing how it doesn't want to waste any time and just wants to kill him instantly.

Ryuji immediately lifted the Maroon Blade up and cut two of them approaching him with terrifying speed, but one of it managed to slide past his sword and wrapped itself around Ryuji's arm that was currently unprotected due to the Armour taking time to be summoned.

'Grrhhh...'

A sharp pain pierced Ryuji's arm, and immediately after that, a feeling of something being sucked out of him invaded his arm. This bastard... This bastard was drinking his blood!

Ryuji gritted his teeth and enveloped his Saber in the Black Flames and brought it down it with rage. The vine separated from the Creature's body and fell down, still slithering with pain.

The formation of [One's Resolve] that was interrupted due to the Vine of the cactus wrapping itself around Ryuji's arm was now finally complete, but the damage was already done. His left arm was bleeding, and the wounds were deep. This bastard's thorns weren't just for defense... It used them to suck the blood out of it's victims.

Before Ryuji could get a proper stance though, the Cactus screams loudly and lunges towards him again. Ryuji immediately side-steps it, but is a little too slow and ends up getting a deep laceration on his leg caused by the needle-like thorns on it's body.

It lashes out with it's vines just at the place where Ryuji lands. With a deep wound on his right leg, he is forced to parry it with his Saber, but ends up falling a few meters back.

Ryuji grits his teeth in frustration...

'This thing is really tough...'

He immediately gets up, and before Ryuji can even take a proper stance, the Cactus is on him again. Ryuji envelopes his Sword in the Black Flames and starts circulating Soul Essence through his body.

He feels a new kind of strength coursing through his veins. 3 vines of the Cactus approach him with terrifying speed. He jumps over the first one and immediately slashes one with his flame-infused saber.

Ryuji had never fought against such things, but that doesn't mean he's powerless against them. Yet, The Cactus keeps extending it's vines.

The vine he just cut changes it's direction suddenly and rushes back towards him. Ryuji tries to cut it again, But is only able to slightly delfect it to his right this time. It brushes past the [One's Resolve] and causes a small cut to appear on its leather fabric, but is able to save Ryuji from a deep laceration.

The Cactus rushes towards Ryuji in rage.

Now that the creature's vines were out, Ryuji could count them. There were a total of 12 vines in it's body, and 4 of them had been already cut by Ryuji.

The cut vines didn't die immediately, but they stayed together for a few seconds, Spewed blood for a while and then convulsed into dead ropes.

But Ryuji didn't have enough time to think about all that. Before the Cactus could ram into him, Ryuji had to jump a long distance and get away from it.

Due to the Cactus's wide body, the size of his jump had to be too large. And he was straining his muscles too much with the amount of essence he sent into them whenever he wanted such explosive jumps.

Moreover after every jump where he pushed his body to it's limits, he had to spend a couple seconds to regain his balance, which could cost him his life... Like right now.

The Cactus was changing its course back to him and for some reason, it had decided to send all it's vines at him again.

Then, at the exact last second, an instict took over him. Pale green light ignited beneath his skin, Which was subtle yet beautiful. His veins were getting more pronounced and his skin shone with a liquid-like flow of both white and green light.

Then, His speed and strength doubled. Ryuji dodged a few and his Saber infused with the Green-Black flame shone with a beautiful and ghostly kind of radiance.

He cut three more of the shorter vines that were emerging out of the Cactus's base and the exact spots of the cuts burned with the black flames.

The Creature screamed in pain and lunged towards him with a faster speed. The distance between them made it impossible for Ryuji to jump and dodge it. So he immediately engulfed himself in the Black Flames and shot upwards. His jump wasn't higher than a few feet though. All he could manage to do was protect his head from the predator's fearsome spikes. But they still lodged themselves into Ryuji's torso. The thorns piece his skin which makes him feel intense pain, even though they do not manage to get farther inside since they are burnt to a crisp as soon as they touch his burning muscles.

Ryuji finds himself feeling a little dizzy as so many thorns pierce his skin at the same time and immediately summoned large flames all around him.

The thorns on the Cactus's body start to melt faster and Ryuji makes use of the opportunity to thrust his sword deep into the Creature's head.

The creature screams and jerks it's head all around as Ryuji's flame start to engulf it's outer body and the feeling of the Sword piercing his head, which should've been pretty painful.

Green blood flow down the creature's body as it jerks all around, trying to throw Ryuji off. But Ryuji's grips the hilt of the sword tightly. Suddenly, the jerks get so intense that the sword slices through the head of the creature with ease.

After a few moments, the flames engulf the whole of the creature's body, and Ryuji jumps off it's head, watching the scene unfold before him.

The Creature tries to ram into Ryuji multiple times, but perhaps it was just not able to notice and predict his movements properly ever since he got ingulfed by that horrible fate. Whatever the medium the Abyssal had used so far to track his movements was useless now.

Maintaining the flames like this was empting his core now. The question was weather the flames would die down first or the Abyssal...

And after a couple minutes... The flames extinguish as Ryuji's essence reserves run dry, but the Abyssal is still up. It's thorns have all melted and it's outer covering or skin is all black and charred.

But it's aggression had subsided, and it was moving as if limping here and there.

Ryuji just simply walked closer to it and thursted his sword into it's charred body. The Cactus tensed up for a couple seconds, but then immediately went lifeless in the next.

The sound of the runes announced proudly:

[You have slain a Shrouded Screamer, The Scheming Cabalist.]

[Your Soul devours a part of their Soul.]

[You have acquired a Remnant.]

Despite being Utterly exhausted, the voice of the runes sends a warm happiness through Ryuji's body.

He didn't care what the remnant was, he was just happy to get something for his efforts.