Chapter 267 Brief Introduction

"Wait a minute~" Tatsuki trailed off as he looked at Satoshi with a suspicious gaze. While he didn't want to assume anything, he did catch his son in the act— bringing an unknown girl to the superhero lair without asking permission from any of his parents. As much as Tatsuki wanted to hear a valid explanation from his son, he couldn't help but assume something.

And Satoshi's guilt-filled expression wasn't helping with the entire situation.

Meanwhile, Ryoko respectfully bowed toward Tatsuki before she spoke. "I am Ryu Ryoko from the Valor Black Winged Tribe. My whole tribe had been eliminated by other tribes, and I escaped. Satoshi rescued me from the Beast Dimension."

"You're... a Black Winged Dragon?" Tatsuki asked, much to Satoshi's surprise.

Satoshi didn't expect his dad to know anything about the Black Winged Dragon. When he confirmed Ryoko's identity, he turned speechless. As for Ryoko, she simply nodded her head as she briefly stole a glance at Satoshi. She wondered if she answered correctly but seeing Satoshi's reaction made her conclude that she did something wrong.

Her eyes widened in surprise and she pursed her lips, not daring to say anything else.

"I see... and why did you hide her, Satoshi?" Tatsuki heaved a sigh. "I'd have understood if you told me about her as soon as you could."

"I was about to tell you, dad... as for mom, I missed the timing to tell her." Satoshi apologetically said.

"You should have told us so she could join us for dinner. We already have a lot of visitors, one more wouldn't hurt." Tatsuki pointed out. "In any case, here's White Lion's food. We'll wait for you upstairs. I think Lydia is challenging Emma to a match or something. We might miss it."

"Really?" Satoshi asked. The announcement was too sudden, and he could only conclude what happened that led to their match.

After feeding his familiars and introducing Ryu Ryoko to his dad— properly this time. Satoshi and Tatsuki headed upstairs to rejoin everyone. Ryoko tagged along as well, and it surprised all of them when they saw a girl about Satoshi's age coming out of her superhero lair.

"And you are?" Ayumu asked, stealing a glance towards her son and her husband, wordlessly conveying to them that she needed an explanation. Satoshi had an even harder time explaining it to his mom. Fortunately, Ryoko was there to fill in on the details and Ayumu immediately accepted her into the family (as absurd as that may sound). Of course, anyone else would emphatize with Ryoko's story. She did lose her parents and everyone she cared for and loved at the hands of the other two tribes.

"You can stay here for as long you want, okay?" Ayumu said while wiping a stray tear from her eyes. Ryoko did mention something about avenging her parents, which meant that she was going to leave sooner than later. Ayumu could tell just how deep Ryoko's grudge was toward the other two tribes so she didn't question her resolve. Who was she to stop someone's revenge?

Nevertheless, Ayumu wanted to convince Ryoko to stay with them. One more mouth to feed is not that big of a deal— or so that's what she said, the same thing that her husband said while Satoshi and Ryoko were still in the superhero lair.

"There's another one?" Shiroi inwardly exclaimed, wondering how many girls would surround Satoshi before she could even confess her feelings to him.

Pretty soon, Lydia and Emma finally headed outside for their fated match. Satoshi couldn't tell what led them to fight each other but he could tell that they were too into it. As soon as they headed outside, Emma positioned herself on one end of the yard while Lydia stood on the opposite. Meanwhile, Ayumu started serving ice cream for everyone, treating their match as nothing more than a spectacle to enjoy.

"I'm not going to hold back." Lydia Schwarz declared as she assumed a fighting stance.

Emma also assumed a fighting stance, and the two of them stared at each other while waiting for someone to give them their signal. Tatsuki, Satoshi's dad, decided to step up to the plate and act as a referee for the match. "All right, everyone's in position..." He casually said while eating a spoonful of ice cream.

"Ready, go!"

The atmosphere around the yard completely changed as chilly air revolved around Lydia. Emma put her arms up as she planted her feet, surprised that Lydia was actually powerful. When she heard that her powers are ice-type and water-type combined, she thought that Lydia's superpowers were actually weak and that she'd be able to deal with her without breaking a sweat. But now, Emma could tell that Lydia was a formidable opponent. She could very well be stronger than her when it comes to comparing their raw superpower.

Without missing a beat, Emma immediately created a portal in front of her so winds wouldn't directly reach her. Soon after, she stepped inside the portal and then appeared right behind Lydia so she could knock her unconscious.

Emma didn't hesitate. The moment Lydia was within arm's reach, she brought her arms back in an attempt to punch her from behind. She knew that knocking her unconscious in a split second was the surefire way of winning this match.

And that's when it happened.

For a brief moment, Lydia wore a smile on her face before she turned into a liquid state. With a plop, her body liquified, and she fell to the ground before sliding to the opposite side of the yard. After gaining a considerable distance from Emma, Lydia then reverted to her human form and continued her relentless attack of cold air.

"Wow, her control's amazing," Shiroi commented after seeing Lydia's clean transition from using her water-type superpower to shifting into her ice-type superpower. "She's got two superpowers and yet she could use both pretty well."

"Of course, she's the heir to the Aquaborne superhero name after all." Tatsuki pointed out, smiling as he continued to watch Emma and Lydia's bold display of their superpowers.