The studio light had already gone out, replaced by the soft lighting of the backstage area of Global News
The echo of hurried footsteps mixed with the muffled sound of technical conversations between cameras 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 whirlwind 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 corridor of the backstage a woman passed by her Around thirty years old long perfectly wavy blonde hair eyes of an artificial blue like processed sapphires high-end heels and a corporate dress too tight to be just corporate A calculated presence
As she passed with the casual tone of someone who deliberately drops a glass to get attention she released with venomous sweetness "It's curious… how a renegade daughter expects to compete against a real dynasty"
Victoria stopped
The sound of the comment cut through her thoughts like an ice blade in hot coffee
She calmly turned her face raising an eyebrow with lethal elegance
"Sorry… was that for me?" she asked in a sweet tone but with a charge of sarcasm that was palpable
The woman briefly turned showing a sharp calculated smile Her gaze was studied the kind of gaze of someone who has won many times and is not used to losing
"Just an observation darling Nothing personal" And with that she turned and continued on her way to the next interview room
Victoria remained motionless for a few seconds Her face showed no anger Just... calculation
When she resumed walking her heels echoed with another kind of firmness
Along the way to her dressing room several Global News employees greeted her with smiles and warm words
"Miss Lancaster the interview was divine"
"You crushed it live The comments are exploding"
"You're the new darling of the media empire"
She smiled politely but her mind was already operating on another frequency
As soon as she entered the dressing room she locked the door took off her heels and threw herself briefly onto the blue velvet couch With a quick gesture on the holographic watch she opened a call with someone from the Diamante Tycoon corporate intelligence
"I need you to find out everything about a blonde woman who entered the backstage of Global News fifteen minutes ago Blue eyes Approximate height 175cm 10cm heels Probably from 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
Position Global Marketing Director of the multinational cosmetics company True Beauty
Title Direct heiress of the ducal family Rathenau one of the Three Founding Houses of European Nobility
Current Product Facial mask "Vérité Absolue" in pre-sale 300 million units sold globally
Rumors Project secretly developed over the last 4 years as a response to the company's sales decline Possible initiative to regain dominance of the aesthetic market
Victoria blinked slowly
"So that's it…" she murmured "They're trying to go head-to-head"
She quickly typed a message in the group
@Victoria "Girls we have a potential threat True Beauty is going to launch a facial mask competing with LUX I just bumped into their director — Elise von Rathenau The woman is literally a duchess of passive-aggressive marketing"
The reply didn't take long
@SmellOfEarthAfterRain "Wait… Elise von Rathenau from True Beauty?"
@Victoria "Exactly"
@SmellOfEarthAfterRain "Guys… all my feminine products were from them until like... last month I was a loyal customer"
@Victoria "Yeah Maybe she recognized my aura of superiority"
@Nikoly "I bet she's freaking out with the LUX hype"
@Lumine "But 300 million pre-sales… they're strong"
@Victoria "That only makes the war more fun"
@SmellOfEarthAfterRain "Just wait… if they try to sabotage us they'll find out why the Lancaster house fears our group"
Victoria smiled She got up put on her heels again and looked at her reflection in the mirror "Want to compete European nobility? Let's see how far your royalty goes against the fury of four empresses"
—Japan—
The silence of the Japanese night was broken only by the soft synthetic sounds of Nikoly's tech mansion
The main room's windows were open letting the cool early morning breeze in but Nikoly's attention was fixed on the holographic projection before her
On the floating screen Victoria's interview was still playing her hair shining under the studio lights her confident and natural smile conquering social networks with growing strength
"Tsk She really was born to shine…" commented Nikoly with a half smile eating a cookie filled with raspberry cream "And still steals my spotlight…"
It was then that like a modern oracle the translucent and refined figure of ÆVA the Supreme Artificial Intelligence of Diamante Tycoon appeared beside the couch
"Nikoly-sama I have detected a multi-front attack on the central system of Diamante Tycoon Threat level Red Hidden origin The ZERØPHAGE security system is operating in full defensive mode"
Nikoly slightly widened her eyes No panic Just a smile "Finally some fun"
In an agile leap she was already 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 invade me with this old encryption pattern" murmured Nikoly with a mischievous gleam in her eyes as her fingers danced across the keyboard like an assassin pianist
ZERØPHAGE responded to intrusion attempts with near-instant countermeasures creating data barriers fragmenting corrupted packets and reflecting attacks with smart firewalls
However something caught attention "Hm This invasion style… doesn't look like the traditional digital underworld groups Neither Russians nor Koreans… This is new"
ÆVA asked "Do you want me to activate the offensive protocol and execute the full counterattack on the invading servers?"
Nikoly whistled lightly while opening a pink craft beer bottle "Not yet If we launch the counterattack now they'll wipe the traces and disappear Let them think they have a chance Let's play a little more"
With a touch of sinister humor she began blocking each new attack with customized countermeasures even implementing fake responses to deceive the invaders and make them think they were succeeding
"I wonder if the brain behind this has a sense of humor… if so they'll understand this bait"
Then suddenly 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 force its resources to the limit and Nikoly still with a smile on her face raised an eyebrow "Ahhh… now yes Let's see what you're made of"
She turned to ÆVA her holographic digital ally with eyes of infinite universe "It's greenlight ÆVA Let's see who these sons of a bitch are Invade But go deep I want everything IPs reverse routing physical servers… the grandmother's name if possible"
ÆVA's eyes began to shine "Command accepted Executing invasion into origin system"
For a moment silence
Only the sound of beer bubbling in the glass
59 seconds later…
ÆVA said "Successful invasion Enemy security system breached Analyzing extracted data in real time Encrypted repositories detected Firewall level advanced military class Encryption Q-Sapphire"
Nikoly whistled again "Wow… Q-Sapphire encryption? That's no amateur toy"
She leaned back slightly in the ergonomic chair crossing her legs while watching the hacked files appear in projected binary blocks
"Now I'm convinced We're dealing with a big player"
ÆVA then initiated the next step "Data processing at 67% Name of main server identified 'AURORA-V' Geopolitical origin camouflaged Triangulated routing Corporate involvement likelihood High"
"Aurora-V…" murmured Nikoly "Either they're really good… or this is the work of a rival company with mega-investment"
She typed something in a private tab activating an independent tracking system "Let's find out who had the nerve to poke a wasp nest with a luxury face mask"
Nikoly took another sip of her pink beer and smiled with malice "Congratulations for trying"
Nikoly slowly spun in the ergonomic chair crossed one leg over the other and picked up her stylized iPhone Still with the blue light of the monitors blinking behind her revealing the intense digital war scenario of a system under attack she tilted her face adjusted strands of hair and click
Selfie taken
In the image her serious and flawless face on one side in the background windows and more windows with security graphs real-time attacks and the Diamante Tycoon logo defending itself like a medieval high-tech castle
She quickly typed and sent it in the girls' group
@Nikoly "Girls look at this Some virgins are trying to hack our system" (Image attached: Nikoly & failed invasion.jpg)
Luna was the first to respond
@SmellOfEarthAfterRain "Oh my God you look amazing with that digital war light"
Victoria followed up
@Victoria "Dude these guys are gonna find out that messing with us is like playing chess against a drunk AI Doesn't end well"
Lumine just sent a holographic sticker of a glitter bomb exploding in the shape of a lipstick
Then ÆVA reappeared floating holographically beside "Nikoly-sama complete analysis of invading devices concluded Result only useless files Most contain pornographic content and photo galleries of naked women No relevant data or links with corporations identified so far"
Nikoly snorted and rolled her eyes "So in addition to idiots they're perverts Excellent Exactly the maturity level I expect from someone trying to take down a billion-dollar company"
Getting up with her rosé beer in hand she walked towards the black interface on the wall a sensory panel that opened revealing a new terminal COSMOS BLACK the forbidden and unindexed part of the global cyber network
There where major illegal transactions espionage contracts data auctions and cyberwars were negotiated — Nikoly was a legend
She typed her personal code
Entered the Global Chat of the Hacker Subforum
@Nikky "Anyone heard of a reward or open contract to hack into Diamante Tycoon systems?"
A few seconds passed
Then messages appeared
@ZeroCoolX "Nothing It's too quiet If there was a bounty people would already be killing each other for it"
@CodeLich "Only heard rumors of a jealous rival corp But no proof just darknet gossip"
@MissNoir "Maybe it's an attack with no payment Just hate in the heart"
Nikoly frowned thoughtful "Hmm… so they're playing in the shadows But shadow is my playground"
She exited the Black Cosmos closing the terminal with a finger swipe
Then a new message appeared in the group Victoria
@Victoria "Girls maybe True Beauty is moving their strings Their product is also a face mask and they're launching something at the same time as LUX"
Nikoly raised an eyebrow "Too much coincidence And I hate coincidence"
She snapped her fingers and ÆVA appeared "Let's make a polite… and very silent visit"
With hands sharp as swords dancing on the keyboard Nikoly accessed the global network Her target Central IT System of True Beauty
Firewall level 9? Overcome
Triple authentication layers? Bypassed with cryptographic mirrors
Digital biometric tracking protocols? She used her own AI to camouflage her data packets as legitimate security updates
But then — A specialist on the other side began to counter her invasion The movements were fast refined
True Beauty's system was active and someone noticed the intrusion
Nikoly smiled sideways "Finally someone with some skill in this saturated market"
But it wasn't time to win
It was time to plant seeds
She typed some commands and inserted a small hidden code in the system layers a silent continuous monitoring program disguised as a cache cleaning function — something no one would notice in corporate servers
"And now darlings… let's see what you're hiding"
Upon disconnecting she calmly rose from the chair took one last sip of her 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"