The studio lights had already gone out, replaced by the soft lighting of Global News' backstage.
The echo of hurried footsteps mixed with the muffled sound of technical conversations between camera crews, journalists, and producers.
Victoria walked with light steps, almost floating. The glow of the holographic screen still seemed to shine on her skin.
She sighed, relaxing after the flurry of questions.
Tomorrow would be another day of interviews, another stage of the Diamante Tycoon media marathon.
But for now… peace.
It was then that, in the side hallway backstage, a woman passed her. About thirty, with long, perfectly wavy blonde hair, eyes the artificial blue of processed sapphires, designer high heels, and a business dress too tight to be just business. A calculated presence.
As she passed, with the casual tone of someone who deliberately knocked over a glass to attract attention, she blurted out with venomous sweetness, "It's curious... how a disowned daughter expects to compete against a real dynasty."
Victoria stopped.
The sound of the comment cut through his thoughts like a blade of ice through hot coffee.
She turned her face calmly, raising an eyebrow with lethal elegance.
"Sorry… was that meant for me?" he asked in a sweet tone, but with a hint of sarcasm that was enjoyable.
The woman turned briefly, flashing a sharp, calculated smile. Her gaze was studied, the kind of gaze of someone who has won many times and is not accustomed to losing.
"Just an observation, dear. Nothing personal." And with that, he turned and continued on his way toward the next interview room.
Victoria remained motionless for a few seconds. Her face showed no anger. Just... calculation.
When he walked again, his heels echoed with a different kind of firmness.
Along the way to her dressing room, several Global News staffers greeted her with smiles and warm words:
"Miss Lancaster, the interview was divine!"
"You destroyed it live! The comments are exploding!"
"You are the new darling of the media empire."
She smiled politely, but her mind was already working on another frequency.
As soon as she entered the dressing room, she locked the door, kicked off her heels, and flopped down briefly on the blue velvet sofa. With a quick gesture on her holographic watch, she opened a call with someone from Diamante Tycoon's corporate intelligence.
"I need you to find out everything about a blonde woman who walked backstage at Global News fifteen minutes ago. Blue eyes. Approximate height: 5'9". Four-inch heels. Probably European nobility."
"In two minutes, Miss Lancaster."
And two minutes later, a notification appeared on Victoria's tablet.
> Name: Elise von Rathenau.
Age: 32 years old.
Position: Global Marketing Director of the multinational cosmetics company Beleza Verdadeira.
Title: Direct heir of the Rathenau ducal family, one of the Three Founding Houses of the European Nobility.
Current Product: "Vérité Absolue™" Face Mask available for pre-order. 300 million units sold globally.
Rumor: Project secretly developed over the past four years in response to the company's declining sales. Possible initiative to regain dominance in the aesthetics market.
Victoria blinked slowly.
"So that's it…" he murmured. "They're trying to fight head-on."
She quickly typed a message in the group:
@Victória: "Girls, we have a potential threat. True Beauty is launching a face mask that competes with LUX. I just bumped into their director — Elise von Rathenau. The woman is literally a duchess of passive-aggressive marketing."
The answer was not long in coming:
@CheiroDeTerraPósChuva: "Wait… Elise von Rathenau from True Beauty?"
@Victória: "Exactly."
@CheiroDeTerraPósChuva: "Guys... all my feminine products were theirs until like... last month. I was a loyal customer."
@Victória: "That's right. Maybe she recognized my aura of superiority."
@Nikoly: "I bet she's freaking out with the LUX hype."
@Lumine: "But 300 million pre-orders… they're going strong."
@Victória: "This just makes war more fun."
@CheiroDeTerraPósChuva: "Just wait... if they try to sabotage us, they'll find out why House Lancaster fears our group."
Victoria smiled. She stood up, put her heels back on, and looked at her reflection in the mirror. "Want to compete, European nobility? Let's see how far your royalty will go against the fury of four empresses."
-Japan -
The silence of the Japanese night was broken only by the soft synthetic sounds of Nikoly's technological mansion.
The windows in the main room were open, letting in the cool early morning breeze, but Nikoly's attention was glued to the holographic projection before her.
On the floating screen, Victoria's interview was still playing, her hair shining under the studio lights, her confident, natural smile conquering social media with increasing force.
"Tsk. She was born to shine..." Nikoly commented with a half-smile, eating a cookie filled with raspberry cream. "And she still steals my spotlight..."
It was then that, like a modern oracle, the translucent and refined figure of ÆVA, Diamante Tycoon's Supreme Artificial Intelligence, appeared beside the sofa.
"Nikoly-sama, I have detected a multi-pronged attack on Diamante Tycoon's central system. Threat level: Red. Origin hidden. The ZERØPHAGE security system is operating in full defensive mode."
Nikoly's eyes widened slightly. No panic. Just a smile. "Finally, some fun."
In one swift leap, she was in front of the main panel, her hands landing with almost artistic precision on the ergonomic keyboard.
The screen projected dozens of windows, lines of code, network maps, intrusion attempts, ZERØPHAGE protocols operating in real time — it was digital warfare in its purest form.
"Look at that... so organized, yet... so cute trying to hack me with that ancient encryption pattern," Nikoly murmured, a mischievous glint in her eye as her fingers danced across the keyboard with the elegance of a killer pianist.
ZERØPHAGE responded to intrusion attempts with near-instant countermeasures, creating data barriers, fragmenting corrupted packets, and reflecting attacks with intelligent firewalls.
However, something caught my attention. "Hm. This style of hacking... doesn't seem like traditional digital underworld groups. Not Russian, not Korean... This is new."
ÆVA asked. "Do you want me to activate the offensive protocol and execute a full counterattack on the attacking servers?"
Nikoly whistled lightly as he opened a bottle of pink craft beer. "Not yet. If we launch the counterattack now, they'll cover their tracks and disappear. Let them think they have a chance. Let's play some more."
With a touch of sinister humor, she proceeded to block each new attack with custom countermeasures, even implementing fake responses to trick attackers into thinking they were succeeding.
"I wonder if the brains behind this have a sense of humor... if they do, they'll get this bait."
Then, out of nowhere, the next wave of attacks came with devastating force, much more aggressive.
It was as if the enemy had activated its cyber attack elite.
The ZERØPHAGE system began to strain its resources to the limit, and Nikoly, still smiling, raised an eyebrow. "Ahhh… now yes. Let's see what they're made of."
She turned to ÆVA, her holographic digital ally with eyes of an infinite universe. "You're on, ÆVA. Let's see who these bastards are. Break in. But go for it. Get everything: IPs, reverse routing, physical servers... I want the great-grandmother's name if possible."
ÆVA's eyes began to glow. "Command accepted. Invading the source system."
For a moment, silence.
Just the sound of beer bubbling in the glass.
59 seconds later…
ÆVA said, "Breach successful. Enemy security system bypassed. Analyzing extracted data in real time. Encrypted repositories detected. Firewall level: advanced military grade. Q-Sapphire encryption."
Nikoly whistled again. "Wow... Q-Sapphire encryption? This isn't an amateur's toy."
She leaned back slightly in her ergonomic chair, crossing her legs, as she watched the hacked files appear in projected binary blocks.
"Now I'm convinced. We're dealing with someone big."
ÆVA then initiated the next step. "Data processing at 67%. Main server name identified: 'AURORA-V'. Geopolitical origin: Camouflaged. Routing triangulated. Possibility of corporate involvement: High."
"Aurora-V..." Nikoly murmured. "Either they're very good... or this is something from a rival company with a huge investment."
She typed something in a private tab, activating an independent tracking system. "Let's find out who had the nerve to poke a hornet's nest wearing a luxury face mask."
Nikoly took another sip of his pink beer and smiled mischievously. "Congratulations on trying."
Nikoly slowly swiveled in her ergonomic chair, crossed one leg over the other, and picked up her stylish iPhone. With the blue light from the monitors still flashing behind her, revealing the intense digital landscape of a system at war, she tilted her head, smoothed her hair, and clicked.
Selfie number.
In the image, his serious and impeccable face on one side; in the background, windows and more windows with security graphics, real-time attacks, and the Diamante Tycoon logo defending itself like a high-tech medieval castle.
She typed it quickly and sent it to the girls' group.
@Nikoly: "Guys, look at this. Some virgins are trying to hack into our system."
(Image attached: Nikoly & failed invasion.jpg)
Luna was the first to respond.
@CheiroDeTerraPósChuva: "Oh my God, you look amazing with that digital war light."
Victoria amended.
@Victoria: "Man, these guys are going to find out that messing with us is like playing chess against a drunk AI. It's not good."
Lumine just sent a holographic sticker of an exploding glitter bomb shaped like lipstick.
That's when ÆVA reappeared, floating holographically nearby. "Nikoly-sama, full analysis of the intruder devices completed. Result: only junk files. Most of them contain pornographic content and photo galleries of nude women. No relevant data or links to corporations identified so far."
Nikoly snorted and rolled his eyes. "So besides being idiots, they're perverts. Excellent. Exactly the level of maturity I expect from someone trying to take down a billion-dollar company."
Standing up with her rosé beer in hand, she walked towards the black interface on the wall, a sensory panel that opened to reveal a new terminal: BLACK COSMOS, the forbidden and unindexed part of the worldwide cyber network.
There, where massive illegal transactions, espionage contracts, data auctions, and cyberwarfare were negotiated—Nikoly was a legend.
Enter your personal code.
Joined the Hacker Subforum Global Chat.
@Nikky: "Has anyone heard of an open bounty or contract to hack into Diamante Tycoon's systems?"
A few seconds passed.
Then, messages appeared.
@ZeroCoolX: "Not at all. It's too quiet. If there was a reward, people would already be killing each other over this."
@CodeLich: "I've only heard rumors of a jealous rival corp. But no proof, just darknet gossip."
@MissNoir: "Maybe it's an attack without payment. Just anger in the heart."
Nikoly frowned thoughtfully. "Hmm... so they're playing in the shade. But the shade is my playground."
She exited the Dark Cosmos, closing the terminal with a flick of her finger.
It was then that a new message appeared in the group: Victória.
@ Victoria: "Guys, maybe Beleza Verdadeira is pulling some strings. Their product is also a facial mask and they're launching something at the same time as LUX."
Nikoly arched an eyebrow. "Too much of a coincidence. And I hate coincidences."
She snapped her fingers and ÆVA appeared. "Let's pay a polite... and very quiet visit."
With sword-sharp hands dancing on the keyboard, Nikoly accessed the global network. His target: True Beauty's Central IT System.
Firewall level 9? Outdated.
Triple authentication layers? Circumvented with cryptographic mirrors.
Digital biometric tracking protocols? It used its own AI to disguise its data packets as legitimate security updates.
But then—An expert on the other side began to counter his invasion. The movements were quick, refined.
The True Beauty system was active, and someone noticed the intrusion.
Nikoly smirked. "Finally, someone with some skill in this saturated market."
But it was not time to win.
It was time to plant seeds.
She typed a few commands and inserted a small piece of code hidden deep within the system: a silent, continuous monitoring program disguised as a cache-clearing function—something no one would notice on corporate servers.
"And now, my dears... let's see what you're hiding."
As he logged off, he calmly got up from his chair, took a last sip of his pink beer, and sent one last message to the group.
@Nikoly: "True Beauty has a good system... but now they have a digital flea behind their ear. And that flea is me."