Morning tension still lingered inside the Valentino estate near Lake Como.
What had happened to the financial system an hour ago should have been impossible.
Yet it happened.
And then it disappeared like it had never existed.
Inside the command room, the atmosphere was tight.
Luca sat in front of three monitors, replaying the system logs again and again.
"There has to be a trace," he muttered.
Ares stood behind him, silent and focused.
"Anything?"
"Nothing useful yet."
Elara leaned against the edge of the desk, watching the code scroll across the screens.
"You're looking for the wrong thing," she said.
Both men looked at her.
Luca frowned slightly.
"What do you mean?"
She stepped closer to the monitor.
"You're trying to find where the attack came from."
"That's the point," Luca said.
"No," she replied calmly.
"The point is why it stopped."
Ares' eyes narrowed slightly.
"Explain."
Elara pointed to the timestamp on the log.
"The system was frozen for exactly three minutes."
Luca checked the time.
"…She's right."
"Three minutes," Elara continued.
"Not two. Not four."
"Exactly three."
Ares folded his arms.
"That's intentional."
"Yes."
She looked at the screen again.
"This wasn't sabotage."
"It was a demonstration."
Luca leaned back in his chair slowly.
"So he's showing us what he can do."
Ares' voice dropped.
"And that we can't stop him."
Silence filled the room.
Then suddenly—
One of the monitors flickered.
Luca straightened.
"Wait."
Ares stepped forward instantly.
"What did you find?"
A tiny data fragment appeared on the screen.
Almost invisible.
A small encrypted packet buried deep inside the system log.
Luca zoomed in.
"Someone left something behind."
Elara frowned.
"Accidentally?"
Ares shook his head.
"No."
His expression hardened.
"Deliberately."
Luca began decrypting the file.
Lines of code unraveled slowly.
Then a single image appeared on the screen.
A simple black chessboard.
One white piece.
One black piece.
The black piece moved forward.
Check.
Then beneath the image, a message appeared:
YOUR MOVE, ARES.
Luca stared at the screen.
"…Is this guy serious?"
Ares' eyes darkened.
"He's not just attacking."
"He's playing."
Elara studied the chessboard carefully.
"Someone who plays games like this believes they're smarter than everyone else."
"And usually they are," Luca said.
"But not always."
Ares looked at the message again.
The man behind this wanted attention.
He wanted a reaction.
He wanted Ares to play.
A faint smile appeared on Ares' lips.
"Good."
Luca looked at him.
"You're smiling?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
Ares' voice turned calm and cold.
"Because now I know something about him."
"What?"
"He's arrogant."
Elara crossed her arms.
"And arrogance makes mistakes."
Ares turned toward Luca.
"Trace the encryption."
"I'm trying."
"Find out where the chessboard image originated."
Luca typed quickly.
Seconds passed.
Then his eyes widened.
"…You're not going to like this."
Ares' expression remained steady.
"Tell me."
Luca slowly turned the monitor toward them.
"The image file was uploaded from a private server."
"Location?"
Luca hesitated.
"…Milan."
The air in the room turned colder instantly.
Milan.
The city where everything had started.
Where the first war had nearly destroyed them.
Elara looked at Ares.
"That can't be coincidence."
"No," Ares said quietly.
"It isn't."
He stared at the screen again.
The chessboard.
The challenge.
The arrogance.
Someone had just invited him into a war.
And Ares Valentino never refused a challenge.
Far away, in a quiet office overlooking the skyline of Milan, the mysterious man watched another screen.
The Valentino estate.
He tapped a chess piece on the desk slowly.
"Let's see how well the devil plays," he murmured.