A Story of Evil

Chapter 209: The Taming of the Shrews

Lumina was able to clean out all the mess which Julia plotted. This being done before it even turned into an actual mess. She did so without making any of her movements known, not even to the members of Shadow themselves.

Adding to the security measures, she made the team eat inside the library. Sol asked the reason for this but, Lumina simply said that she won't accept no for an answer. And with the team's knowledge of Lumina's attitude, they knew that Sol had no chance of changing her mind.

There was a good reason for this of course. With the enemies not making a move, Lumina thought that they were waiting for Shadow to come out of the building. She knew that Julia was behind it. She could see the scheming wench from on top of a building using one of her bats. 

That's why she didn't give this person the satisfaction that she wanted. Shard stayed inside the library until the afternoon.

With Sol being awake at this time, their productivity increased even more. Lumina was still keeping close watch of them of course, while also keeping tabs on the three idiots who were doing just as she expected. Julia was waiting for the team to come out and, this anticipation alone for an event that won't happen was enough to make Lumina smirk.

"You really think you can outsmart me huh. You're not even close." She thought to herself; knowing that the battle was already won.

With Lumina's intervention, Shadow was able to finish the primary list of those which they would test in the Academy. The amount of information which every member had to take in was enough to make them feel numb in the head. As if their brain committed mental suicide. But they were nevertheless satisfied with the results. Leaving the library in peace as their job for the day was finally finished.

Meanwhile, Julia watched this from the place she was in. Excited from the thought of executing her plan because, as mentioned, nobody knew of the things which Lumina did.

"Okay this is it! Our men should be coming out right about now!" Julia said, as both Luz and Olivia proceeded to the window. Just as excited Julia was in watching the assault that was about to happen.

"This is the end of the road for you, devil." Luz said, referring to Lumina whom they could clearly see from the window.

"Yeah. Let's see how you like it when the queen's image gets tainted by you."

Their excitement was justified because, they literally waited the whole day for something to begin. However, their smile slowly waned as, a few seconds passed without anything happening. Not a single summon came out. Not a single assault was made.

At first they thought that there was simply a short delay. But this moment of waiting soon turned into a whole minute...and then another minute...and with the minutes adding up, Luz and Olivia were starting to feel that something was off.

"Okay...any minute now..." Julia said, hoping that the assault would happen soon. But there was nothing. 

"Julia...I think that something happened to the men we paid." Luz said, being the voice of reason for Julia who couldn't accept this reality. 

"Quiet! This plan won't fail!" Julia said as she still hoped for something to happen.

However, nothing ever did. And as the carriage arrived, Julia finally understood that she had lost. That for some reason, her mercenaries weren't going to attack. Yet she never said this out loud. She refused to believe the reality that was happening in front of her.

Lumina and the Shadow members were able to ride their carriage safely. They bid their farewell to the librarians. And just like that, the target was gone from Julia's sight, finally making her admit defeat which was so blatantly slapped on her face.

Julia's brows furrowed as she summoned the hand of her summon. Smashing the window as she screamed:

"WHERE ARE OUR MEN!"

The butler immediately scurried down the building in order to get updates. Meanwhile, Luz and Olivia tried calming Julia down. Offering her another cup of tea which Julia simply shattered through her summon.

As always, Julia's rage was out of control. There was nothing Luz and Olivia could do but to stand back and wait for her to cool down. That was one of the few choices they had at the moment. The other one being, the butler arriving back on time. And the latter one was exactly what happened at that moment.

The butler's breathing was paced and heavy. Something brought about by him having to run all the way to the locations of all the mercenaries. He looked closely into these areas and, found not a single one of their hired men. This is exactly what he reported to Julia who finally snapped.

"They're what?" She repeated.

Luz and Olivia began backing away at that moment. Not wanting to get involved with the current state of Julia. Even the butler didn't want to but he had no choice. There was nobody else for Julia to aim her rage on.

"N-None of them are on their designated spots m-milady." He said, looking at the ground as he said this. Afraid to see what kind of expression Julia had on her face at that moment.

"What do you mean they're not on their designated spots! Didn't we pay them to do this even if it takes them the whole day?"

"Y-Yes milady. B-But like I said...they're not there."

"THEN WHERE THE FUCK ARE THEY!" Two gigantic hands appeared at that moment. Slamming the walls and making the whole structure shake. To the point that it was seemingly getting torn down. This was when both Luz and Olivia finally stepped in. Taking out their summons which held the integrity of the building.

Julia's insanity was reaching its peak. And because it was, her accomplices finally snapped. With Luz screaming at her and saying:

"JULIA!"

This was enough to make the number one summoner of the Academy stop from her raging. She turned her attention to Luz. Her aura and her intent were entirely clear. She wanted to beat the girl up at that moment but, neither Luz nor Olivia was backing away.

"Did you just fucking scream at me Luz?"

"Yes I did you psychopath. If this building falls down, a lot of us are gonna get hurt. And whose image do you think we'd be tainting huh? Who do you think will pay for all the damage?"

"Get a grip Julia. We can't get away with every single mistake we do." Olivia added, ganging up on their leader who didn't feel dominant all of a sudden.

There were only a few instances when Luz and Olivia stepped up primarily because it was not of their best interest to incur the wrath of their leader. But when the damage that they would receive by not interfering outweighs that of when they do, then they chose the latter of course.

That was exactly the kind of situation they were in. With all the damage which Julia was doing, their parents would get mad at them. And no, this isn't the normal type of anger because, they get physically punished due to their stupidity. An even worse level of this punishment is, the cutting of their allowance. With the most extreme being that, they would get disowned by their families. Although none of their siblings have ever been disowned, they were not gonna take their chances and be the first ones to actually receive this.

In that moment, Julia finally understood this. Her reasoning was just enough to process what Luz and Olivia were trying to convey. Because of this, Julia finally restrained her summon. With Olivia using hers in order to restore the building back to its normal state something which used up most of her mana.

"Wilhelm." Julia called on the butler who was still shaken by the events.

"Y-Yes milady?"

"Find those five and get them to the chambers of the mansion. I'll make sure to interrogate them myself."

"Understood milady." The butler said, taking his leave as the three were left to themselves once again. They each took a chair and went back to the table near the window. Discussing what it is that they need to do next.

"That was definitely Lumina who interfered." Luz said.

"I know. But we don't have any evidence of that and, if she took out our men, that means she also have an idea of our plans." Olivia added.

"No. That's impossible because we only came up with it yesterday. That devil may be strong but she's not omniscient." Julia said, with both Luz and Olivia surprised at how quickly her rage has died down.

"So what do we do?" Luz asked.

"We'll wait at the Academy. She can't hold our targets from us forever. We'll get another chance ladies, trust me."

"How are you so sure?"

"Because now, we'll get our parents involved."

"Julia are you insane!"

"I am. But if our parents truly want us to rise up in the ranks of society, then they will understand that this much is necessary in order to secure our goal." Julia was determined, to the point that Luz and Olivia knew that they couldn't change her mind anymore.

"Okay fine! I'll tell my parents about the plan."

"Luz!" 

"She's right Olivia. Our parents would want this as much as us. So I suggest you steel yourself and start practicing how to beg."

"Good." Julia said, standing up from her chair and looking over the broken glass window.

"If the devil wants to play, then let's invite her to our playground."