The next morning, the sky still displayed soft shades of orange and lilac when a luxurious black car with chrome finish stopped smoothly in front of a modest yet charming house on the outskirts of Seattle.
From the vehicle came down four people: three beautiful, elegant, and well-dressed women, with confidence stamped on their walk, and a tall man with dark hair, who held a tablet discreetly and remained in the role of driver and security.
One of the women, a blonde with gray eyes and a professional smile, knocked softly on the house's door.
Seconds later, the door opened and revealed the young woman from the previous night's livestream where Luna gave donations for singing a K-pop song, Elena.
Elena still wore a loose sweatshirt and seemed surprised, frowning cautiously.
"Miss Elena?" asked the woman in a formal tone, displaying a holographic badge with the Diamante Tycoon logo glowing. "We are representatives of Diamante Tycoon. We came with a professional proposal, if you have a moment."
"Diamante... Tycoon?" Elena repeated, looking confused at the group. "The billionaire company of the LUX mask?"
"Exactly," replied the other woman, brunette with short hair, extending a tablet to display a contract in viewing mode. "Last night, someone from the board watched your livestream. They were impressed with your voice. And your naturalness in front of the cameras. We want to invite you to be the face and voice of the next international campaign of the LUX facial mask."
Elena blinked, processing the sentence with difficulty. Her expression was between surprise and suspicion. "Is this a prank? I'm not even famous. I'm not even a singer. I just... sing in my free time."
The third woman, with copper skin and braided hair, laughed sympathetically. "Exactly. That's why. Your authenticity charmed our supervisor. We're not looking for Hollywood stars, but someone who represents real, natural beauty. The song you sang yesterday? It was perfect. We want you for our global commercial. Thirty seconds of recording, plus a few photos for the official poster."
"Thirty seconds?" Elena murmured. "That sounds a bit too much for someone... anonymous."
The driver approached with a new tablet and handed it to her.
On the screen, the number jumped out: Payment: 500,000,000 dollars. Gross amount, with possibility of additional royalties.
Elena's expression froze. "This... this is right? Sorry, but I'm a consultant in a global company. I make one hundred and twenty thousand a month and that already puts me at the top. You're saying you'll pay me half a billion for thirty seconds?"
"You can take the proposal to your lawyer," replied the blonde, with a serene smile. "Tycoon is an international company registered in commercial empires and audited by justice courts. Everything that is here is legal, transparent, and your contract includes security guarantees, image consultancy, voice rights, and data protection."
"Why me?" Elena asked, still stunned.
The woman with braided hair leaned in a little more. "Because you are... real. And in this world so full of filters, plastic and pre-production, someone real became a rare luxury."
Elena looked at the number again.
Then at the three women, who remained impeccable and calm.
Then at the man, who just nodded with a professional gesture.
She swallowed hard, still not knowing whether she was living or dreaming. "I... I can think for a day?"
"Of course," replied the blonde. "But we inform you that the ad will be recorded two weeks from now. We are willing to wait for your answer until tomorrow night. Here is our contact."
She handed a virtual card with an activated smart chip.
Elena took it with trembling hands.
The women said goodbye politely and returned to the car with the same elegance with which they arrived.
Closing the door slowly, Elena leaned against the wood, still holding the tablet and the card.
"500 million..." she murmured. "This can't be real..."
She walked to the couch and sat, like someone who needs new oxygen.
On the other side of the USA, Luna smiled, watching discreetly through the team's tablet camera.
"Let's see if she accepts the modern Cinderella invitation," she murmured, resting her chin on her hand with an amused sparkle in her eyes.
—Japan—
In the heart of Tokyo, under the soft lighting of floating screens and the silent presence of servers, Nikoly was in paradise.
Sitting in her personalized ergonomic gamer chair equipped with posture sensors, lumbar massagers, and, of course, a holder for her pink sparkling beer can, she typed at a speed that would make any typist cry.
The lines of code slid across the screen like mechanical poetry.
The project? A mobile game titled "Mystic: The Crown," an arena MOBA with characters inspired by Japanese mythology — oni, kitsunes, samurais, forgotten gods and even historical figures reshaped as epic champions.
Nikoly wanted to bring a bit of ancestral Japan's soul.
And the curious detail? The game wouldn't be holographic. Yet.
"Shit, holographic would be genius, but not even my genius pulled it off yet…" she murmured, biting the edge of her nail.
Although holographic technology had become common in the past five years, creating an entire game within that reality was like trying to program inside a tornado — with boxing gloves.
The physics of the environments, the synchronization of avatars, the projection of directional sound in 3D... everything was still a chaos without a tutorial.
But that didn't stop her from trying.
Nikoly was immersed in code when ÆVA appeared in a discreet hologram in the corner of the room.
"Nikoly-sama," said ÆVA with her velvety and serene voice, "Tycoon's security system is under attack again. Intruders detected in three main server nodes."
Nikoly didn't even look. She raised an eyebrow and kept typing.
"Again? Ah, the Beauty Truth people are really bored, huh?" she grumbled, with an ironic little smile on her lips.
"Standard containment procedures?" asked ÆVA.
"Ignore it. Seriously. This has become morning routine. Do they think they'll manage to hack something with these ridiculous attacks? Spare my logs."
Nikoly paused and cracked her fingers. "If they try something serious, activate the Protocol but for now… let them think they're doing something useful. They must be using interns in their IT department."
"Understood. Counter-attack protocols suspended. Only passive blocking maintained."
Nikoly stretched, eyes returning to the game code. "Now… where was I? Oh, yes. The passive of the 'Mist Yamabushi' is giving 40% more damage in the wrong place. Damn collision script…"
While her brilliant mind focused on the digital universe of her game, out there the world spun — but for Nikoly, all that mattered at the moment was adjusting the particles of the ultimate ability of a character based on Raijin, god of thunder.
Among the chaos of the real world and the increasingly pathetic digital attacks, she preferred her pixelated universe, where everything made sense and whoever made a mistake… exploded in a flash of lightning and code.
The project interface open on floating holographic monitors, each showing different parts of the game: characters, mechanics, HUD, skill animations, and real-time balancing tests.
Nikoly was testing a new champion… "Scarlet Amaterasu," a long-range mage with solar purification powers.
Her look? Incredible.
Her passive? Burned the enemy's soul with increasing slow.
But it still lacked… something.
She frowned. "Ugh… it looks good, but it has no soul. Lacks addicted gamer seasoning."
Then she stopped.
Closed her eyes.
A name blinked in her mind like an inevitable pop-up: Luna.
The damn MOBA addict who played "League of Legends."
"If anyone knows what makes a MOBA addictive… it's her."
With a snap of her fingers, Nikoly pulled one of the floating monitors and opened the private chat.
She typed:
@ Nikoly: "Hey, lunatic. I'm developing a mobile MOBA. Project name is Mystic: The Crown. Has Japanese mythology characters, stylish abilities, and maybe a yin-yang shaped map.
What do you think a mobile MOBA needs to be truly good?
No fluff, tell it straight. And don't come at me with pay-to-win skins or I'll ban you from the build, ok."
On the other side of the screen, she already saw Luna's typing dots popping up.
The answer came fast.
@SmellOfEarthAfterRain: "Needs fast lanes. Short matches. But with smart map mechanics.
Make minions more relevant, give bonus gold on support kills, and add an Honor Duel system in the center of the map every 3 minutes.
And… make a champion based on me. Golden hair, high heels, and who explodes everything with psychic power.
Name? Lunaris of Annihilation.
Kisses."
Nikoly laughed. "That girl..."
She copied the message and pasted it into a notes tab called "realistic inspiration, playable madness," already nearly full of crazy ideas.
But the Honor Duel idea in the middle of the map? Brilliant.
Symbolic competition for status and bonus gold in 1v1? Pure genius.
With fingers flying, she implemented an initial draft of the mechanic.
The system made a sacred circle glow in the center of the map every three minutes. One player from each team could enroll, and the duel would be broadcast with special camera for the others.
"It's gonna be a hit among streamers, imagine the bets…"
And more: she added a placeholder for the character Lunaris of Annihilation, with the draft of an ultimate ability named "Lunar Psychic Ruin," which exploded the area with destructive mental fragments.
Nikoly cracked her neck, took a sip of her pink beer and murmured with a sly little smile. "A monster is being born."
Little by little, as she typed furiously, adding new lines of code inspired by Luna's suggestions, the characteristic sound of system initialization echoed through the lab.
A soft glow filled the room, and the holographic silhouette of ÆVA appeared next to the central console, with her serene voice.
"Nikoly-sama, the surveillance and infiltration system on Beauty Truth's servers intercepted an unencrypted message in a low-level internal channel."
Nikoly raised an eyebrow while taking another sip of her pink beer.
"These amateurs... leaking attack plans in a secondary channel?"
She slightly turned her chair and pointed a finger. "Throw it on the screen, ÆVA."
With a gesture from the AI, a new holographic monitor opened, displaying the transcript of the captured message:
[Internal Channel – Cyber Sector | Beauty Truth]
"Direct order from the Superiors: intensify the attacks. Full priority in destabilizing Tycoon's system.
Primary target: paralyze the main server.
Secondary target: interrupt the pre-sale of the LUX mask at any cost.
Authorized use of all available resources.
…
Operation Obsidian in progress."
Nikoly scoffed, propping her feet up on the console. "Ahhh, so they decided to make the clown show official…"
She spun the beer bottle in her hand, thoughtful. "Operation Obsidian? That sounds like a bad soap opera title or a 90s anime attack."
ÆVA blinked softly. "Shall we track the individual operators of this cell and send ghost digital rewards to the profiles of hunters on the Black Cosmos?"
Nikoly snapped her fingers, as if excited for a show. "Not yet. Let's play a bit more."
She stood up from the chair, stretching her arms while watching the Tycoon system's firewall codes blinking on the monitors.
"I want to see if those clowns can at least pierce the first layer before I unleash the cyber demon I left sleeping on the server."
Then she looked at ÆVA, with a smirk. "But just in case, distribute the backup servers in separate clusters worldwide. If they try to take down the main site, they'll only wake up a bunch of clones hungry for logs."
ÆVA nodded. "Understood. Secondary systems are already synchronized and ready for ghost retaliation."
Nikoly spun the chair back to the screen, finishing a new defense code. "If they want bit war, let's give them a symphonic concert of digital humiliation. But… with style."
She pulled her phone and typed to the group:
@ Nikoly: "we intercepted a plan from Beauty Truth to try sabotaging LUX.
You can continue marketing and pre-sale without worry.
I'm here.
And I'm pissed."
Seconds later, Luna replied with rocket emojis and a simple:
@SmellOfEarthAfterRain: "Wreck them, Empress"
And then, Nikoly smiled.
One of those smiles that always announced the birth of a new technological revenge.
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