The pressure exerted by the Destruction Heart Core made Saine assess Locke's takeover of Destruction Time-Space more cautiously for the first time.
They had already conducted extensive risk analyses.
Those analyses had not been mere theoretical exercises.
Before they first entered Destruction Time-Space beyond the Bronze Gate, Saine had already listed hundreds of possibilities.
Locke might be targeted by the Destruction Supreme.
The Bronze Gate might shatter during a clash between Lords of Dimension.
The number of Level-12 node creatures in Destruction Time-Space might far exceed their expectations.
Saine had even considered extreme scenarios, such as the presence of partially rule-transformed beings like the Lord of Evil Swamp within Destruction Time-Space.
Yet the emergence of the Destruction Heart Core still pushed all those contingency plans down a level in priority.
Because it was not an enemy.
It was a source.
Locke commanded the great path of emotion-type rules.
He possessed Paradise Lost Time-Space.
He was not a being like the Destruction Supreme, who had undergone complete rule-based transformation.
In theory, Locke was indeed better suited than the Destruction Supreme to become the new ruler of Destruction Time-Space.
But the emergence of the Destruction Heart Core changed everything.
It was too extreme.
And too dangerous.
It was neither an ordinary sea of source power nor a destruction rule node that could be directly refined and absorbed.
It resembled a heart of destruction perpetually on the verge of running wild.
Even Locke could not recklessly absorb it into his body.
Saine could foresee that if Locke tried to forcibly devour or fuse with the Destruction Heart Core, the destructive desire held in check by his emotion-type rules might well break free of its cage.
At that point, Locke might gain a truly staggering amount of power.
But that power might also overwhelm