Die, princess, the devil is mine!

That is……

Holy Emperor's Boots!

The final component of the Holy Emperor's Artifact Set is in Victory's hands.

Without these boots, Lynn's set bonus cannot be activated, making it impossible for him to gain an overwhelming advantage.

As Victor said, this certainly put his chances of turning the tide in check.

"Victory, aren't you afraid that I'll disregard everything to kill you, then collect the Holy Emperor's Artifact Set and annihilate the entire Demon Realm?"

Looking at the Holy Emperor's Boots held up by Victor, Lynn could feel the excitement of his entire set of equipment, their desire to piece together a complete set.

Even Lynn himself was excited. He had a premonition that once he collected the complete set of Holy Emperor artifacts, his strength might take off explosively.

This is something he couldn't sense with the Demon Emperor Set before, indicating that there is a gap between the top-tier divine and demonic artifact sets of these two realms, and the gap may be ridiculously large.

"If the Holy Emperor of Miracles has this confidence, then he may as well give it a try. However, the result may disappoint you. I am not as easy to kill as the Demon Dragon Emperor."

As she spoke, Victory put away the Holy Emperor's Boots. It was clear that although she spoke with great certainty, she might not have been so confident in her heart.

"How about this, let's not fight to the death. You want the God-Abandoned Continent, right? Here's what we'll do: you give me the Holy Emperor's Boots, and I'll give you the God-Abandoned Continent. One piece of equipment for an entire continent, let you make a killing."

Without the complete set of Holy Emperor artifacts, Lynn couldn't say for sure that he could easily take down Victory, so he had to make a concession and propose a one-for-one trade with Victory.

Of course, his words were purely a brainwashing tactic to fool idiots; they could only fool those who weren't very bright, and were essentially just making empty promises.

Unfortunately, while the dragon race is not known for its intelligence, it has never been famous for its intellectual disability either.

Victory wasn't about to fall for such a stupid trick. Upon hearing Lynn's terms, she immediately snorted.

"Hmph! If you were to obtain this divine artifact, wouldn't we be at your mercy? The artifact would be yours, and the divine forsaken would be yours too. Not only would we demons not gain anything, but we might even have a few of us captured and killed by you in your prime..."

The Holy Emperor's Boots are a divine artifact of the Light element. Not only is Victory useless to them, but she also has to be careful not to get burned by them. Holding such a cumbersome and useless item is just taking up storage space. If she could exchange it for an entire continent, that would be a huge profit.

However, the Holy Emperor of Miracles is only missing this one piece. If his set is 6/8 complete, or if she is 2/8 complete, she would definitely exchange for it without hesitation.

However, the reality was just as she had said: this artifact was the only way for the Holy Emperor of Miracles to break through. Even if he offered to exchange the Abandoned Continent for it, or even if he ceded the Protected Continent to them, she could not believe his lies.

"I can write a guarantee: as long as you give me the Holy Emperor's Boots, I, Lynn, will never set foot on the Forsaken Continent again in my lifetime!"

Although there was little real hope, Lynn still hoped that Victory was an easy-to-fool old dragon.

"Heh, the human race's credibility is hardly better than the demon race's. If you were an elf, I might believe you."

Victory was clearly not so easily fooled. The demon race itself was full of lies and had vicious hearts, so why would they believe in such ethereal things as "reputation" or "character"?

unless……

He swore an oath to the pantheon that if he broke his promise, he would be punished by the gods...

No! This guy's holy light power is so pure that it's like the human form of the God of Light. Even if he swears an oath to the gods, they'll probably just laugh it off. Who would punish him?
Relying on demons is even more futile. Didn't a demon just cross over to make a move? And it still couldn't hurt him in the slightest.
"Then how do you think we can reach an agreement? Let's make this clear first, I don't accept the initial terms. I conquered the God-Protected Continent myself, and most of the war criminals who invaded it died at my hands. The benefits you offer are not enough to exchange for ownership of the entire God-Forsaken Continent."

Seeing that Victory hadn't done anything foolish, Lynn was still a little disappointed, even though he had expected it.

Isn't it said that male protagonists in novels are born with a troublesome personality and an aura of stupidity? Why doesn't it work for me?
It can't be because I'm not the main character, right? Then who could it be?

"When negotiating terms, I urge the Holy Emperor of Miracles to understand that the situation is under the control of my Demon Clan. If you have any faults, blame yourself for not having capable subordinates. You're all a bunch of hindrances. If you still had the powerful forces you had when you killed the Demon Dragon Emperor, I might have abandoned the divine artifact and retreated back to the Demon Realm today."

"But unfortunately, although those few useless people were incompetent, they at least wiped out all your elite subordinates, leaving you with only one powerful but powerless commander. In this situation, you can only accept your defeat."

"So I'll say it again: returning the God-protected Continent is giving you plenty of face, and it's an acknowledgment and respect for your strength. As for the God-abandoned Continent... what other bargaining chips do you have to exchange with us?"

Having said all that, Victory was clearly adamant about not backing down. In fact, if it weren't for her fear of Lynn, who possessed the Seven Divine Artifacts, she really wouldn't have been willing to return the God-Protected Continent. As for the God-Abandoned Continent, she had never considered the possibility of returning it.

"So you mean... a fight is absolutely necessary?"

Lynn raised the Holy Emperor's Sword, pointing it at Victory. The white light emanating from the blade was almost enough to pierce the flesh of a Demon King-level expert, but for the powerful Victory and the seven Demon Kings, it was just the effect of a flash of light.

"It's not that there's absolutely no room for negotiation. Our new Demon Emperor dislikes destruction and war, and only focuses on managing the Demon Realm and its affiliated worlds. If His Majesty the Holy Emperor insists on taking back the Forsaken Continent, we can exchange it for five billion of our people. We can ensure that these people are not harmed and will only be used as laborers."

Just when the negotiations reached another deadlock, the arrogant demon queen Ilya stepped forward again and offered Lynn another option.

This asking price seemed reasonable to Victory. After all, this Demon Emperor was a guardian of the Demon God's faction, and his pursuits were entirely different from those of the seven Demon Kings—the former Dragon Emperor who only sought slaughter and destruction. The demons of the Destruction Demon God's faction grew stronger through slaughter and destruction, while the demons of the Guardian Demon God's faction grew stronger through reproduction, inheritance, and the management of the world.

It's hard to say which of these two development paths is stronger or weaker. The Destruction Demon God faction has the advantage of rapid development, which can quickly cultivate strong individuals, while the Guardian Demon God faction has the advantage of a steady and continuous flow, ensuring that strong individuals are never out of generation. These are the advantages of each faction.

As for the drawbacks...

The Destruction Demon God faction is too focused on quick results. While it may be able to achieve temporary success, once it encounters a tough opponent, its development will stagnate instantly, or even regress.

Take the Abyss Demons, for example. They have been trying to conquer the Divine World for countless years, but they have never been able to break through this tough nut. Over time, the Abyss Demons, who were originally the leaders of the five major races, have gradually weakened due to the losses in the war. In the end, the Demon Dragon Emperor could not sit still and personally led a major campaign, almost causing the Abyss Demons to be removed from the list of the five major races.

While the development of the Guardian Demon God faction is very stable, with few powerful figures dying and most passing away peacefully in their old age, ensuring that they never lack powerful individuals and always have a guaranteed and considerable number of strong individuals, this steady and gradual approach, while ensuring they always have a foundation, also limits their development speed.

It won't easily decline, but it's also almost impossible for it to explode and take off. It can only muddle along until the enemy collapses, then it can turn the tables and ride on...

The specific circumstances of each era are different, so both the Destruction and Protection factions have their periods of dominance. Right now, the Destruction Demon God faction is performing terribly, while the Protection Demon God faction is reigning supreme.

The ancient dragon race did not have a clear common belief, meaning they would side with whoever was powerful. The advantage of doing so was obvious: they could easily reap the benefits of the times. As for the disadvantages, it was simply that as opportunists, they were easily purged if they followed the wrong demon or if the demon they followed collapsed.

However, this has nothing to do with Victory, because the demon dragon of the Destroyer God faction that should have been eliminated is already dead. Now that she has come out of the mountains, she closely follows the newly established Guardian God faction, so how could she possibly be eliminated?

So when the arrogant demon lord Ilya proposed exchanging people for the continent, Victory did not express any objection, because she didn't need to do any complicated calculations; just looking at the surface, it was clear that this deal was worthwhile.

The Abandoned Continent is, in the end, an empty shell. All the intelligent life within it has long been wiped out by slaughter and blood sacrifice. All that remains are the underground resources that are difficult to mine and plunder, and some wild plants and animals that are flesh and blood but have no soul.

If it is to be used for development and construction, then the Demon Realm must first invest magical power and resources into it, starting almost from scratch. It may take quite a while to develop it into a qualified subordinate continent.

The arrogant demon king's demand for a population exchange is quite good. Population can be converted into productivity as soon as it is obtained. With the current territory of the demon race, five billion people can be put to use on the spot to make up for the severe shortage of demon hands caused by the war of faith.

Lynn could roughly understand that Ilya was playing a trick of shifting the population she demanded to her own people. Once she got the people she wanted, they would all be subjects of Illidan, the Demon Emperor. In reality, she would not suffer any loss. On the contrary, she would gain a God-Forsaken Continent for free. No matter how you looked at it, it was a huge profit.

However, after a moment's thought, Lynn shook his head and rejected Ilya's suggestion.

He knew that Ilya was planning to arrange for these people to live in a world suitable for humans, not the filthy demon realm, and with his connection to them, they wouldn't mistreat these people.

However, the people of all races in the world of miracles harbor deep hatred for the demons, a hatred as deep as the sea. It is not enough for him to say that these are good demons and that the bad demons have been killed to make people feel at ease.

If he really agrees to hand over his five billion people to the demons, even if he manages to get the God-Forsaken Continent back and achieve the historic feat of recovering both the God-Protected and God-Forsaken Continents and restoring the complete map of the Divine World, he will still be remembered by history in a less than glorious way.

Even if those five billion people lived well after being handed over to the demons, how could the people of the Miracle World know that? They would only remember that the Miracle Holy Emperor was incompetent and that he sacrificed five billion people to achieve the so-called complete world and the so-called peaceful era.

"I will not give you even one person. If there is still a possibility of negotiation, please change your terms."

Lynn looked back at the Divine Blessed Continent Allied Forces covering the mountains and plains, as well as his wife, children, and pets, and then said in a deep voice.

Victor seemed surprised that Lynn would refuse such a good exchange. Humans were so prolific, producing slave demons even faster than their demon blood pool. A mere five billion people would only be a slight blow to the Miracle World, which was about to restore its former territory, and not an absolutely unacceptable situation.

These are all his achievements! What is he thinking? Does he, the mighty Holy Emperor of Miracles, care about the opinions of ordinary people?

You have to understand that he is a near-god. Even if the current generation of humans doesn't understand his actions, won't it be fine in two or three generations?
People at that time enjoyed the peace and stability brought by the Holy Emperor of Miracles, and enjoyed a life of abundance supported by the three continents. Who could not remember his kindness?

And after only a few generations, they haven't even reached one-tenth of the lifespan of those who are close to the gods. What is a momentary incomprehension compared to the reverence of generations?
Therefore, including the seven demon kings who were secretly of one mind with Lynn, the eight demons present couldn't understand why Lynn would refuse this deal.

Does he not trust us? ×7.

The seven demon kings frowned almost simultaneously. They were not those treacherous and cunning demons; they were the most virtuous demons under the protection of the demon god, and their words were so powerful that even four hundred horses could not catch up with them.

She's already agreed to be your wife, so of course she'll think of you in everything she does. Even when she's being suppressed by Victory, she's still doing her best to benefit you!
If Lynn knew what the Demon King's wives were thinking, he would probably sigh inwardly that races are different, and their ways of thinking and considerations are completely different.

The demon race doesn't care about reputation, but the human race has to care about face!

Of course, you can switch to shameless mode anytime when pursuing your wife...

"Besides population and territory, what else in your Miracle World is useful to my demon race? Miracle Holy Emperor, your repeated rejections are hardly sincere."

Victor looked at Lynn, who was stubborn and unyielding, with a gloomy face. He hadn't made a move yet, but he was already getting tired.

In this situation, it would be more efficient to deal with the destruction of the demon god faction, but unfortunately, the new era has begun with the guardian demon god faction in power, so she can only suppress her temper for the time being.

(End of this chapter)