"Who knows, dealing with it might solve my problems."

Thinking of this, a wicked smile slowly appeared on Lorien's face as he then raised his hand and extended his palm towards the Eternity Devil before slowly closing his fingers and twisting his fist.

From an outsider's perspective, it seemed as though he were squishing something invisible within his grasp.

The moment he did so, a mysterious and supreme power woven from the laws of the world suddenly descended upon the orb-like seal containing the devil.

Then, with a swift and powerful impact, this power shattered and erased everything within the seal, leaving only the core of the Eternity Devil intact.

Right now, what remained of this devil was nothing but the horizontal 8 made of flesh with a face at each end that symbolized infinity.

"AGH!!!!"

Screaming in agony, the devil, who had just been at the peak of its power, was swiftly brought down to its lowest point.

All it could do right now was wait helplessly for Lorien to decide its fate, moreover, to its despair, it also perceived with certainty that whatever the being in front of it intended, it harbored no good intent towards it.

Additionally, what made things worse was its inability to talk as the power surrounding it prevented it from uttering any word.

"I'm not interested in hearing you blabber on about absolutely nothing of use, so please remain silent." Said Lorien as he rubbed his chin and observed the thing in front of him.

'So this is the devil's core, it could also be called the devil's heart.'

'This should be a commonality among all devils.'

Extending his hand once more, Lorien reached for the flesh core within the seal, holding it firmly in his grasp.

*Puff*

'Ughh, it feels like a mixture of raw meat and slime, It's quite disgusting to the touch.'

Squeezing it a couple more times, Lorien couldn't help but frown slightly as a look full of disgust slowly appeared on his face.

'Should I just throw it away?'

Feeling the urge to let go of the devil's heart, Lorien hesitated for a moment before steeling himself and beginning his observation.

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'It's weird, it is both physical and not at the same time.'

In Lorien's perspective, the devil's core in front of him appeared to be a conceptual rule-like construct that also had a physical entity.

However, what was more interesting perhaps was the link he felt between this devil's core and the world's core.

'Interesting...Truly interesting...'

'The devil's heart feeling like a copiable puzzle of the world's core rules.'

'Moreover, the link between them is a two-way one, meaning, one can affect the world's core rules using some specific methods and taking the devil's heart as the foundation.'

Thinking of this, a plan slowly began drawing itself in Lorien's mind as he thought of alternative ways to gain the world's authority.

'From another perspective, each of the devils represents a certain fragment of the world's authority.'

'In other words, if I can take this authority from them and gather enough of it, I can maybe forcefully take over this world without having to make long boring plans as usual.'

It's just that as he thought of this, Lorien couldn't help but feel a headache as he found himself at a loss for how to implement such an idea.

'However, how am I supposed to do this.'

'Unsurping authority is easier said than done, moreover, the world itself will most likely not like this...'

Glancing at the ant-like entity in his hands, Lorien couldn't help but feel irritated.

'This is annoying...'

'I can easily slap this devil to death, however, it'll do me no good.'

'Not only will I not gain any authority by doing so, but this devil will still resurrect in hell completely intact.'

Rubbing his temples, Lorien couldn't help but feel the headache growing at the complexity of the situation.

However, just then, he suddenly remembered something causing him to smack his own forehead, feeling utterly dumbfounded by what he had just recalled.

'How did I forget about that!'

'The devils are essentially creatures composed of certain aspects of the world alongside fear.'

'And fear as a negative emotion and more broadly negative energy is exactly where my solution resides!'

Feeling slightly embarrassed, Lorien immediately recalled the [Dream Path]'s characteristics.

'One of the [Dream Path]'s core functionalities is the ability to kill and swallow creatures born and formed by negative energy.'

'In the previous world, following the Dream Path's launch, Dream Walkers have used this ability to quickly grow stronger by swallowing any nightmare creature or cursed spirit that crossed their paths.'

'Even one's own negative emotions couldn't escape such devouring as it is essentially a requirement to reach the [Outer Dream] realm.'

'How did I as the founder of the path forget about this...'

'However, thankfully, no one knows about it.'

'It's just that what remains a question now is the ability of the [Dream Path] to affect these Devils who are essentially conceptual [Rule Level] creatures.'

'Not to mention that these devils might be fundamentally different from the cursed spirits and nightmare creatures in the previous world, so this ability might not actually function at all.'

Feeling a mixture of excitement and curiosity, Lorien's eyes gleamed brightly as he gazed at the Eternity Devil clutched in his hand.

'I didn't expect my [Dream Path] to face its first challenge so soon, however, this is truly exciting!'

Thinking of this, Lorien didn't hesitate any longer as he waved his hand causing the the seal-like spheres surrounding the devil and the devil hunters to disappear.

*Swish*

*Puff*

*Puff*

*Puff*

Losing their support, the devil hunters instantly fell to the ground, some of them even landing face first, giving the dirt a deep kiss.

"Ah!"

"Ugh!"

"Give us a warning at least!"

It's just that all got as a response was Lorien smiling brightly before declaring out loud for all to hear.

[Domain Expansion: Eternal Dream World]