In a restaurant, one of the most exclusive in New York, a mirrored building with a view of the entire city skyline. So refined that the menu had no prices — if you had to ask, you couldn't afford it.
Luna parked the Bugatti at the private entrance and, with a simple gesture to the maître d', requested. "Private room for two. Today I want to laugh out loud and don't want anyone listening."
The room that welcomed them looked like it came out of a luxurious digital dream: glass walls with a view of the horizon, ambient lighting in soft golden tones, and a semicircular sofa made of French silk.
Lisa, still with the team jacket on her shoulders, threw herself on the sofa with a sigh. The adrenaline of the championship still pulsed in her veins, but now she allowed herself to relax.
Luna waved at the restaurant's holographic assistant and placed the order as if reading a poem. "I want a selection of the best female beers: floral, sweet, aromatic. And also some fuller-bodied ones, with a whiskey soul. Bring the most expensive, the ones millionaires reserve and forget they have in the cellar."
Lisa raised her finger. "And a packet of peanuts. Roasted. Unsalted."
Luna stared at Lisa for a moment as if she had just heard the most exotic order of the century and then burst out laughing. "You ask for peanuts as if you had just won a world championship and didn't know what to do with life."
"Because that's exactly what happened." Lisa replied with a smirk.
The waiter brought the drinks and snacks. The first round was light, with a flavor of lychee and jasmine petals. The second, an alcoholic bomb with the flavor of oak aged in a celestial barrel.
Luna, with shining eyes and a looser voice, said. "I've been thinking about a project... serious, big. An empire."
Lisa wiped her lips with a linen napkin and raised an eyebrow. "Now you're speaking my language. Go ahead."
Luna leaned forward, elbows on the table and eyes sparkling. "I want to create a LoL team in the Phoenix Empire. Nothing casual. Franchised. Global visibility. And I want you as my ADC."
Time froze for a second.
Lisa blinked. "You want me to move to Phoenix?"
"I want you to lead something new. You shined on a team that was falling apart. Now imagine with a real structure, infinite money, and a team built by you."
Lisa looked at the glass for a few seconds, reflecting. "And you're not drunk offering me this, right?"
"If I were drunk, I would have offered you to be CEO of Tycoon."
Lisa laughed. Then, slowly, nodded. "Deal."
"Seriously?" Luna asked, a little surprised.
"You have something no one in this market has. Confidence. And honestly, I'm tired of being the pendant of a team full of guys who don't know if they'll be together next season. I want something real. Put me on this rocket."
Luna snapped her fingers and opened the holographic interface in sky-blue pulse. One touch, and a corporate card with a golden hologram appeared from a hidden compartment of her bag.
She pushed it across the table. "You'll need this to build the team."
Lisa took the card. The logo in the corner made her spine tingle:
Tycoon Diamond – Co-founder: Luna Malroth.
"…You're from Tycoon?" Lisa's eyes widened. "You're one of the co-founders?!"
Luna blinked. "Now the Bugatti makes sense, right?"
Lisa looked at the card, then at Luna, then at the glass... and then at the card again.
"Dude... I kissed you on the cheek when you gave me millions on Twitch and now you're offering me the leadership of a global team. I think I need another beer."
"Or two." Luna smiled, raising her glass.
The two toasted, and the night went on with crazy plans, player names thrown on the table, leadership roles, sponsorship ideas, and drunken jokes about the holographic beauty of Janna and Sett.
—the next day—
The sound of a subtle notification echoed through the luxurious suite like a hellish bell for someone with a headache.
"Aaaaargh…" Luna moaned from inside the comforter, her voice muffled by the pillow, sounding like a recently departed ghost.
In the corner of the suite, sitting in a Victorian armchair, was the holography of an elderly lady with a tight bun, holding a teacup and frowning like a judging grandmother who doesn't approve of her granddaughter's life. The old hologram was part of the "integrated moral conscience" program, which Luna activated by mistake a few days ago and never had the courage to delete.
"A lady shouldn't drink until she forgets her own name, young one."
"A lady also shouldn't be judged by a holographic program that doesn't even know what pink tequila is." Luna retorted, her voice still groggy, still buried in the mattress.
The old woman sighed. "Shame."
Before the hologram continued its litany, Ivy materialized beside her, as always, elegant and calm, holding a floating digital clipboard.
"Good morning, Lady Luna. It is exactly 12:03 PM. Your meeting with the nutritionists was canceled — because you threatened one of them yesterday for saying that bread doesn't go with Nutella."
Luna lifted her head with effort, hair messy and eyes half-closed. "It turns out he was wrong."
Ivy just smiled with the patience of someone who has seen worse.
After an absurdly hot and long bath, one of those involving hydromassage, essential oils, lavender salts, and a playlist called "Bitchy but Rich," Luna came out wrapped in a towel and opened the closet. She hesitated between three dresses, a casual Dior outfit, and sportswear.
She sighed, took the gym clothes. "Ivy, remind me to never drink again. Never. Again."
"Of course, Lady Luna. This will be the 17th time I log this in the hangover history."
"Ivy…" Luna whispered, impatient.
"I'll stay quiet."
Dressed in black leggings with discreet sparkles and a white top from Tycoon's own sports line (new products from the company), Luna walked through the marble corridors to the mansion's gym.
The door opened with a soft buzz, revealing Lisa already training, sweaty and full of energy, doing squats with weights as if it were a light workout.
Luna, still a luxury zombie, grumbled. "Hangover good morning... for me. Because obviously, you're fine, right?"
Lisa, in a lilac top and workout shorts, turned with a smirk. "I'm great. Yesterday's alcohol was too sweet to give a hangover. And, well... I've trained hungover so many times my body built immunity."
Luna huffed, grabbing a hair tie. "The universe is cruel. I look like I got beaten by a rugby team and you're there, full of energy, doing squats like you're dancing."
Lisa laughed, sitting on the bench to grab a water bottle. "Life training, my dear. I had to learn to drink and socialize with idiot investors at idiot parties to get sponsorship for my old team. Drinking was almost... part of the job description."
Luna, now on the treadmill, turned her face towards her with a raised eyebrow. "You're telling me someone made you drink with old men at parties to get money for the team?"
"They didn't make me, but... you know how it is. If I wanted to keep the team alive, I had to convince some more... resistant investors. And sometimes, that included holding a glass and smiling for three hours straight."
"Who. Was. The idiot." Luna said slowly. "Tell me who it was. I want to delete him from the industry. Hack his name from humanity's records. Cancel his existence on the blockchain."
Lisa burst out laughing. "Calm down, agent of chaos. It's over. They didn't make me do anything intimate. I have charm. And I also learned that pretending to like red wine helps."
"Hmpf. Still... I want names."
They trained for almost two hours. Luna, as always, seemed zen at the end, as if she had just come out of a spa session with celestial myrrh incense. Lisa, on the other hand, was sunk on the mat, sweating in all languages.
"You don't get tired, do you?" Lisa asked, panting.
"Gym for me is like meditation."
"And for me, it's medieval torture."
They laughed and went straight to quick showers.
Minutes later, dressed in comfortable clothes. Luna with an oversized sweatshirt and Lisa with a wrinkled dress shirt she stole from Luna's wardrobe, the two met in the mansion's gourmet kitchen for breakfast... at two in the afternoon.
Fresh bread, organic fruits, poached eggs, artisanal jams, vanilla foam coffee, and lychee juice.
Lisa took the glass and sighed. "If every hangover ended with this, I would drink more."
Luna, mouth full, just murmured. "Never again alcohol. Never again."
"Until the next Tycoon launch party..."
Luna raised a finger in the air, already threatening Ivy. "Ivy, if I say yes to drinking again, I want you to activate the security protocols and lock me in an anti-party capsule."
Ivy appeared, holographically impeccable, smiling. "Protocol activated, Lady Luna. And congratulations on the productive morning. Lisa also deserves applause. The system recorded 2,174 calories burned."
Lisa raised her arms as if she had won a championship again. "Champion even at the gym."
"That's why you're going to be the face of the team." Luna said. "Now we just need the team's name."
They looked at each other.
"After breakfast?" Lisa suggested.
"After breakfast."
After a gourmet breakfast that looked more like a five-star banquet, Luna and Lisa walked slowly through the mansion to the living room, both barefoot, with loose sweatshirts and zero hurry in their souls.
The living room had a holographic panel embedded in the ceiling that could simulate any sky on the planet — at that moment, the sky of Kyoto on a calm late afternoon.
Luna threw herself on the sofa as if she were the heir of universal tiredness, sighing with a feline purr of satisfaction.
Lisa fell on the sofa next to her and raised one leg on the backrest as if she had lived there for years.
"Okay, we need a name for the team." Luna said, tossing her hair to the side with laziness and royalty. "And it needs to be legendary. I don't accept less than divine."
Lisa was spinning a piece of bread in her hand, thoughtful. "Nothing with 'e-girls' or 'ladies' or anything that puts us in the stereotyped 'cute female team' category."
"I agree. If we're going to stomp on Koreans, I want to stomp wearing Louboutin heels studded with 'GG easy' embroidered on the sole."
They started throwing ideas in the air:
Eternyx.
Arcana.
Tycoon Valkyries.
Glitch Sirens.
Nova Aeternum.
Queenslayer.
Divine Pixel.
Lux Mortem.
And then Lisa said, "What if it's... 'Seraphim.exe'?"
Luna stopped. Raised an eyebrow. Repeated quietly as if savoring rare wine:
"Seraphim.exe..." she smiled, eyes half-closed. "Gothic, celestial, with a touch of digital horror... I approve."
"Sounds like a sacred virus that will delete opponents gracefully." Lisa laughed, applauding herself.
Name chosen, the two bumped fists in a symbolic coffee toast with Nutella traces.
Then Lisa, still lying on her side, commented. "I know some girls from other continents... genius players, really. Like, people who play like hell! But they never joined any team. Reason? They have two X chromosomes and no patience for harassment."
Luna straightened on the sofa, eyes narrowing with interest. "Wait... you're telling me those girls are insane challenger level and never got called because they're women?"
"Yeah. I barely got my spot myself. I only joined because a coach got addicted watching my streams hidden from the rest of the team."
"Hmm... that's almost poetic and sick at the same time." Luna murmured. "You playing in the corner of the internet while the elite incels ignored the silent legends."
Lisa gave an ironic smirk. "So... can I call those girls? Or do you want... men on the team too?"
Luna huffed. Long. Like an offended empress. "Men? By my side? On my team?"
She paused dramatically, then crossed her legs with elegant arrogance. "No. No way. You can call the girls. I don't want men playing on my team. That might make my husband jealous."
Lisa blinked slowly. "You have a husband?"
Luna coughed. Dry. Theatrical. "Technically, he doesn't know that yet. But yes, I'm his wife. Just missing the small detail of him finding out he loves me, kneeling at my feet, and asking me to marry him with a ring the size of a planet."
Lisa laughed so hard she almost fell off the sofa. "You're crazy, Luna! But the divine kind, I admit. And... who's the lucky future husband?"
Luna smiled with a sparkle in her eyes, as if thinking of all the unwritten fanfics in the universe.
"Matthew Solarius, Second Prince of Phoenix. Cold. Rational. Lonely. But I know. Deep down... he wants me. And he just doesn't know it because he's slow."
Lisa wiped a tear from laughing so much. "You should write a secret prince romance with that plot."
"I live that romance." Luna replied, as if life were her own real-time Wattpad.
Lisa got up with her phone already in hand. "Okay, I'll message the girls. One is from Verdanis. Another from Ignis. There's one from Tiamat and a Brazilian. All badass. None with official team experience."
Luna got up too, fixing her hair. "Perfect. Let's build the most destructive female empire in eSports history."
She paused, smiling. "Oh, and Ivy?"
The AI appeared, holographically flawless. "Yes, Lady Luna?"
"Create the initial budget of 1 billion for the Seraphim.exe team. Contracts, coaches, physical structure, perks and... a holographic dragon in the training arena. Because I want impact."
"Budget configured. And the dragon is already being rendered."
"Good girl."
Luna and Lisa exchanged knowing looks.