Chapter 83 – The Mirror of the Soul.

The darkness that swallowed Diana in the volcanic caldera did not bring the chill of the void.

When the Commander slowly opened her eyes, there was no scent of sulfur, no suffocating heat of lava, and no sound of Rhea's desperate breathing calling her name.

She was standing on an endless surface of dark liquid gold that stretched as far as the eye could see, perfectly smooth like a mirror of black glass. Above her head, a cloudless sky displayed constellations of arcane runes and symbols of broken scales spinning in slow, silent orbits.

Diana looked down at her hands.

The Dragon Crystal Chestplate, the black leather coat, the gloves, and the combat boots had vanished. Diana was completely undressed in the center of that golden ocean, her youthful body bathed in the soft light emanating from the floor itself. Her pale skin bore no marks of soot or battle scars, and her long black hair fell loose over her bare back and shoulders.

She looked down at her chest.

Through the translucent skin of her spiritual reflection, she could see the monumental flow of her 1,060 mana points and 163 Intelligence points racing through her pathways like rivers of compressed golden light.

The soft sound of barefoot steps breaking the surface of the liquid gold drew Diana's attention.

***

Walking toward her across the golden mirror, a second figure approached.

It was a young-looking girl, the same age as Diana, with skin as pale as pure porcelain and long hair of molten dark gold floating gently around her body as if in zero gravity. Her eyes were deep golden orbs that seemed to hold the memory of a thousand fallen empires.

Just like Diana, the girl wore no armor, cloth, or cloaks. She was completely without clothing, revealing the pure, unfiltered form of her spiritual consciousness.

Diana did not back away. She stared at the girl with sharp, dark eyes.

“So this is your real form when you aren't hiding behind floating text boxes... trash can?” Diana asked, her voice echoing clearly through the void.

The golden-haired girl stopped two steps away from Diana. A small, ancient, and genuinely affectionate smile appeared on her lips:

“I am the embodiment of the interface that has accompanied the former Sovereign of Greed since the creation of the Seven Circles, Diana.” The System's voice sounded in the open space, clear, feminine, and devoid of any mechanical echo. “In this deep plane of your mind, there are no titles, gear, or inventories to cover who we truly are. Here, only the raw truth of your soul exists.”

Diana looked toward the golden horizon. “Why did my body black out in the middle of the caldera right after the Dragon's death?”

***

The embodiment of the System walked around Diana, watching the mana pathways pulsing with violent force beneath the human girl's skin.

“You have only been in Hell for two months, Diana,” the System said in a calm tone, its voice gaining a solemn weight. “Your soul came from Earth. You inhabited an ordinary human biological body, designed to process four points of Strength, eat simple carbohydrates, and live for seventy years without ever conducting a single atom of pure mana.”

The golden girl stopped in front of Diana, gently touching the center of her chest with the tip of an index finger:

“In just sixty days, you accumulated one hundred and sixty-three Intelligence points, shattered the barrier of one thousand mana points, absorbed Malakor's Soul Fragment, and activated the presence of a Candidate for the Supreme Throne of Greed.”

The System looked into Diana's dark eyes:

“Your spirit grew too fast. The amount of mana you manipulate now is a colossal storm trying to pass through a thin glass pipe. Earth's biological human vessel has reached its absolute structural limit. If you wake up in that ordinary human body, the heat of your own Level 40 mana will cook your organs from the inside out in less than ten minutes.”

Diana looked down at her bare hands, feeling the subtle burn still vibrating beneath her skin.

“Then what needs to be done?” Diana asked, with no hesitation in her voice.

“An Infernal Racial Metamorphosis,” the System answered firmly. “You need to discard Earth's fragile biological shell and rebuild your flesh as a race native to Hell. A body born from the abyss, capable of enduring the pressure of the Seven Circles and channeling the authority of the Sin of Greed without breaking.”

***

— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

The Choice of Ancestral Bloodline

— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

The embodiment of the System snapped her delicate fingers.

Three monumental mirrors of black gold rose from the depths of the golden liquid around Diana, reflecting three racial evolution paths compatible with her soul:

1. [Noble Archdemon of Greed (Primordial Bloodline of Mammon)]:

- Characteristics: Slender and commanding humanoid body, elegant horns of obsidian and gold growing from the forehead, vertical golden pupils, retractable black silk wings, and slender claws of magical silver. Grants absolute affinity with mana control, command over subordinates, and complete thermal immunity.

2. [Abyssal Black Gold Draconian]:

- Characteristics: Thin plates of dragon scales across the back and shoulders, an armored reptilian tail, and spiraling horns. Grants a massive increase in Physical Defense and raw physical Strength.

3. [Imperial Void Spirit]:

- Characteristics: Translucent ethereal body made of pure magical energy, devoid of heavy physical mass. Grants temporary intangibility and long-distance teleportation.

***

Diana walked up to the first mirror, observing the figure reflected in the black gold: a young woman with long black hair, two slender and curved horns of obsidian with golden grooves rising elegantly between the strands near her temples, dark eyes with golden rings pulsing in the center of her irises, and a majestic presence that radiated the natural authority of a sovereign.

Diana touched the surface of the mirror with an open hand.

She thought about her former life on Earth.

She remembered human weakness. She remembered the poverty, the chill of the gray apartment, the exhaustion of her worn-out parents, and that stupid piece of metal plummeting from a crane to end her existence in the blink of an eye on filthy asphalt.

Humanity had given her nothing but fragility, pain, and abandonment.

She did not miss being a fragile human in the slightest.

“I did not come to Hell to be a human victim again,” Diana said, her voice echoing like calm thunder through the void. “I came to claim everything I desire to take.”

She turned her face toward the embodiment of the System:

“I choose the Bloodline of the Noble Archdemon of Greed.”

***

The golden girl smiled. A wide, proud, and endlessly satisfied smile.

“The choice of the former Lord... accepted by an even greedier mind.”

The System took a step forward, drawing close to Diana and placing both soft hands on the Commander's bare shoulders.

“Embrace the change, Diana. Let the mortal shell burn in the lava.”

The ocean of liquid gold beneath Diana's feet began to boil.

Columns of black-gold fire and arcane flames rose from the spiritual abyss, engulfing Diana's bare body and the embodiment of the System in a colossal whirlwind of light and primordial heat.

Diana's human flesh began to dissolve into shimmering particles, being rebuilt fiber by fiber, bone by bone, into a dense, magical, and flawless structure of demonic nobility.

The Level 40 racial metamorphosis had been sealed deep within her soul.

And the true Sovereign of Greed was ready to open her eyes in the real world.