Adam sighed before looking at Aphrodite and saying, "Would you mind not making suggestive comments that can be easily misunderstood?"
"Especially considering you were tied to a chair and forced to watch the entire time," Stacey added in an annoyed tone.
"My bad," Aphrodite said with a chuckle while Tephe sighed in relief before shooting her another quick glare.
"So, do you have any theories on why I suddenly disappeared?" Emma asked.
"An individual called Antony Morose will come for a meeting with you after the stream ends. He's our current primary suspect after what other members of the Morose family did to Adam," Rowena replied.
"Antony Morose? Ugh," Emma groaned before asking with a sigh, "Can't that man take a hint?"
"So you agree that he's our main suspect?" Rowena asked.
"No," Emma replied while shaking her head before glancing at Adam, explaining, "He's a suitor of mine that won't take the hint that I'm not interested. However, compared to Francis Morose, whom he replaced, he's a lot less aggressive.
I guess the head of the Morose family wanted someone who wouldn't cause the family trouble after what happened in the past."
"Hmm, I guess our theory was wrong," Rowena replied.
"Well, the information we had to go on from the start was severely limited, so it's not entirely surprising," Adam stated.
"So what do we do now?" Tephe asked curiously.
"It's probably best to let things play out as normal," Aphrodite began to explain, "Emma here has her meeting with Antony Morose and finishes her day's work before heading home.
We follow her in the shuttle and make a move if anything happens."
"Shuttle?" Emma asked in surprise.
"Seeing as the police report said that all Miss Hopkins' vehicles were accounted for and undamaged, it's unlikely it happened before she got home," Adam replied.
"So we're thinking it happens when she's home alone? Possibly when she's asleep?" Lorelie asked.
"Unless she has someone waiting for her at home," Aphrodite added with a smirk.
"I don't, I live alone," Emma quickly added as her eyes briefly shifted to Adam before looking away.
"So we do a stakeout?" Tephe asked excitedly.
"Where did you learn that term?" Adam asked curiously.
"It was from one of the movies we watched while you were undergoing your upgrade procedure," Tephe replied.
"I see, but yes, we will indeed be doing a stakeout of Miss Hopkins' home and will move once something happens," Adam replied before turning to Emma again and asking.
"Assuming that's ok with you, Miss Hopkins?"
"Of course, I appreciate that you're willing to look out for me," Emma replied with a smile.
"Then I suppose we should depart before that Antony Morose arrives," Adam said as he made to stand up.
Emma's eyes flashed with disappointment before she suddenly asked, "You said you arrived in a shuttle? Where exactly did you land, might I ask?"
"The helipad on the roof," Adam replied.
Aphrodite, like Rowena, had noticed the way Emma's eyes kept moving towards Adam and her Succuba senses had been detecting the subtle hormones Emma's body had been releasing since our arrival, indicating that she was attracted to one of them.
Initially, Aphrodite had assumed it was her that Emma was attracted to since such hormone release was common when she was present in the room; however, after noticing how she kept shooting Adam subtle glances, she had come to a different opinion.
Smirking slightly, Aphrodite suddenly turned to Rowena and asked, "Rowena, don't you think it will be much more entertaining to hang around until this Antony Morose arrives?"
Rowena raised an eyebrow in surprise as she looked at Aphrodite. Still, upon seeing the smirk on the pink-haired succuba's lips and the amusement in her eyes, Rowena understood her intention and smirked in response before saying.
"I do indeed. I would be rather interested to meet a member of Earth's five families. Also, it will be most amusing to see how they react once they know Adam is back."
"Honestly," Lorelie said with a sigh before adding, "all you two care about is causing trouble."
"Not at all," Aphrodite replied before adding, "but when you reach our age, it's hard to find new things that pique our interest, so we take the opportunity to create such situations ourselves when given the chance."
"So you plan to cause trouble between Adam and the five families purely for your own entertainment?" Stacey asked with a frown.
"We're hardly causing trouble between them, my granddaughter, after all, friction already exists between them," Rowena replied before adding, "Besides, don't you think Adam needs to have a word with them since they are purposefully fanning those nasty rumours about him?"
"You know I do," Stacey replied before asking, "but is it wise to alert them to his presence so soon? Our main priority is finding out why Emma here suddenly vanished."
"It's not like they're a threat to him. Adam's tech is more advanced than any we have seen in the known universe, let alone this primitive world," Tephe stated confidently.
"My tech might be advanced, but it's not absolute, Tephe," Adam replied before adding, "One good surprise attack and I'm dead."
"Hmph," Tephe snorted, causing little jets of white-hot flame to escape her nostrils before she said, "If that did happen, then I would destroy this world."
[Superherofangirl (Earth): Did Tephe just threaten to destroy Earth should Adam die here?]
[RealOtaku (Earth): Please don't destroy us, Tephe.]
[Celebrityhunter69 (Earth): Noooo, we've lost her. Our innocent Tephe would never have said something like this.]
The group all looked at Tephe in surprise as they never expected her to say something like that.
Finally, Aphrodite asked with a smirk, "Can you even carry out that threat?"
"Want to find out?" Tephe snorted again, causing more jets of flame to escape her nostrils.
"I would appreciate it if you didn't destroy my home world," Emma remarked before adding, "I would also appreciate it if you didn't burn down my office."
"What?" Tephe asked in confusion.
"Your nostrils are producing little jets of flame, Tephe dear," Lorelie indicated.
"Really?" Tephe asked in surprise as she rubbed her nose slightly.
"How can you not notice something like that?" Stacey asked in surprise.
"Because it's never happened before," Tephe replied.
[Phoenixempress (Fenix Nest): It seems the idea of Adam dying truly angered my goddaughter there.]
[OracleRomy (Elysium): So it seems. She must truly care about that lucky boy.]
[AlamoMatador4thewin (Earth): What do you mean?]
"Huh?" Stacey replied as all of them, except Rowena, Aphrodite and Tephe, wore confused expressions.
"Allow me to explain… " Rowena began, only for Tephe to interrupt her as she said.
"Let me explain, Rowena, we're talking about my race after all."
Aphrodite winked at Tephe while Rowena smiled and said, "Of course, dear."
"As you all know, we dragons' greatest and most devastating attack is our breath attacks," Tephe began.
"We learn from a young age to control our individual strength lest we hurt ourselves or others. This includes our breath attack.
However, strong emotions can sometimes cause us to lose our self-control momentarily, which is most commonly seen among the young."
"That is what we just witnessed with Tephe. It seems the idea of Adam's death caused her to momentarily lose self-control, which allowed flames to flicker from her nostrils." Rowena added before chuckling as Tephe glared at her
"Is a dragon's breath a flame-based attack like the one Revi used in the past?" Adam asked curiously.
"Not exactly," Tephe replied before saying, "Those may have looked like small jets of flame escaping my nostrils, but a more accurate description would be the physical manifestation of the power we harness to open subspace tears.
We use our breath attack not only as an attack, but also to open subspace tears. The power to create tears in space is the reason why our breath attack is so destructive and feared," Tephe said proudly.
"Another interesting thing to note is that their breath attacks not only appear differently depending on the coloured dragon using it, but also carry different effects," Rowena stated.
"What do you mean?" Emma asked curiously.
"Well, my breath attack as the white dragon looks the most similar to the breath attack of the red dragons. Their breath attack appears like a giant flame, similar to a Phoenix attack, although mine is, of course, white in colour.
In comparison, when a blue dragon uses their breath attack, on the other hand, it looks as if they are releasing a blizzard from their maw, and a yellow dragon's breath attack looks like countless bolts of yellow lightning."
"What did Rowena mean by different effects, though?" Emma asked.
"Hmmm," Tephe thought for a moment before saying, "A red dragon's breath attack has the secondary effect of leaving flames behind."
"Don't…" Adam began before realising something and asking in surprise, "Do you mean to say a blue dragon's breath attack has the secondary effect of leaving ice behind?"