Alpha was holding a wooden puppet and using a set of screwdrivers and small blades to cut open its belly.

Her hands reached into its body and touched the gears inside as she did her best to rearrange them.

As more and more pieces moved, the puppet’s body began to change. Its aura grew stronger, while its appearance was slowly becoming increasingly lifelike.

This was what Alpha had been busy with since her return from the Demon World.

Liora’s advancement to an Archdevil and the creation of her own bloodline had greatly inspired her.

If Liora could do so, then there was nothing stopping her from creating her own race.

Even if the two were not directly connected and she had no control over her "subjects" like Liora, Alpha was willing to do so as a way to pass some time.

Her hands continued moving the gears.

Clangs and clicks echoed every time a piece fell into place.

However, just when Alpha was about to put the last gear in, her body shook.

The gears within the puppet lost their momentum. Loud fractures resounded and, with a bang, the puppet exploded.

Alpha paid no attention to this and didn’t even take the initiative to suppress the aftermath.

A trace of horror flashed in her eyes, and she raised her head to look outside.

Her eyes penetrated the walls and landed on the other side of the mansion, on the building where Liora currently was.

The vision above it left her stunned.

A giant crimson furnace was floating in the sky, roaring violently as if it had imprisoned a monster.

Flames, magma, and other natural disasters accompanied it, flying out of its mouth and threatening to engulf the entire mansion and Hollow City beyond it.

Although she was far away and she had the power of a True Spirit Greater Devil, Alpha felt her own body grow weak.

The moment her eyes landed on the flowing magma, alarm bells rang in her mind, and a shiver ran down her spine.

Her intuition told her that she would be directly obliterated if she were to touch even a trace of it.

Everything in her body screamed for her to escape! She had to leave the mansion and the city before it was too late!

Unfortunately, Alpha was unable to act on that instinct.

Her body remained locked in place as if suppressed, and only her consciousness could barely move.

A look of despair flashed across her amber eyes. She could already imagine the scene of her being scorched alive and burned to a crisp.

However, just when she saw the magma expand and believed that her fate was sealed, the rioting furnace roared once more.

The flames and magma around it seemed to have turned back in time. They flowed back into the furnace’s mouth and settled inside.

Then, the furnace got smaller bit by bit, until it finally disappeared.

The earlier vision vanished. No signs of the furnace having ever existed could be seen, and even the mansion had suffered no damage throughout the process.

Coupled with the suppression of the mansion’s formation, no one had noticed or would ever know of the furnace’s appearance.

If Alpha did not know any better, she might have believed that the previous scene was a figment of her imagination.

Yet, as she felt the cold sweat running down her forehead, she could be certain:

The previous vision had really appeared! She had indeed almost died just now!

Thinking of this, Alpha casually tossed the broken gears to the side and collapsed to the ground.

--

Two eyes suddenly opened, and their brilliance pierced through the room’s darkness.

The owner of the eyes stretched their hand. A small object suddenly appeared and descended upon it.

If Alpha were here, she would recognize this object.

It was the furnace that had previously threatened to engulf the mansion and Hollow City, the one that had nearly killed her, in her opinion.

But now, this terrifying item had shrunk to the size of a fingernail and rested gently upon the outstretched hand.

As for the person who held the furnace? The answer was obvious.

They were none other than Liora.

Or rather, the person who had caused these changes and almost driven Alpha to despair had always been her.

"The power of this thing is acceptable."

"If any Archdevil were to face its flames head-on, they would be instantly incinerated."

"Furthermore, the flames possess the property to corrode Indestructible Matter."

"Even when compared to similar attacks, this one is far more threatening to high-level Devils.", Liora muttered as she let the furnace return to her body.

The moment it disappeared, she couldn’t help but check on her current state.

Only a few days had passed, and her physical strength had hardly changed.

Yet, her combat power had taken another leap forward.

That was, of course, because of her newly created abilities.

Among them, the furnace she had just deployed, called Devil Empress’s Furnace, was the most destructive and powerful.

But in her opinion, it could be argued that it was the least valuable of the three.

At that thought, Liora’s consciousness seeped into her bloodline and investigated those new abilities.

At the same time, she couldn’t help but summon the System Panel and take a look at the descriptions given by the Evolution System.

...

[Devil Empress’s Furnace: The condensation of the user’s insights, abilities, and concepts. The furnace’s flames have the property of corroding Indestructible Matter, seemingly targeting high-level members of the Devil Race.]

[Effects:]

[1. Cataclysm Release: The user can cause the Devil Empress’s Furnace to erupt, bringing forth a sea of flames and flowing magma. The flames are indestructible and unending. If given enough time, they can engulf high-level worlds and cover part of the Origin Sea.]

[2. Imprisonment: There is a real world in the furnace’s interior, which can act as a prison and can be used to suppress other beings. The strength of the imprisoned beings will be greatly suppressed upon being placed in it.]

[3. Absolute Extraction: The user can strip the imprisoned beings of their abilities, energy, and even their concepts. Once Absolute Extraction is successful, the effects are permanent. Based on the difference between the user and the prisoner, the user will be able to obtain a part of the extracted items.]

[Integrated Concepts: Natural Disasters, World, Devouring.]

... 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

Attack, suppression, extraction.

The Devil Empress’s Furnace contained every bit of utility that Liora needed at the moment.

It could not only improve her combat power in the short-term and enhance her attacking means, but Extraction would be useful even if she were to reach the peak of the Archdevil stage.

In fact, Liora already had a suitable target in mind when creating this ability.

Once she had checked her state and discovered no issues, she was ready to put the Devil Empress’s Furnace into use.

But before that, she had to take a look at the other abilities.

With that in mind, her eyes moved.