19 Chapter 19 - Bast-chan & Tara

"Bast-chan, you're up next, get ready," Styxx said the moment he teleported back.

Bastet nervously stretched her body before quietly following Styxx in the forest. They walked for a little bit before reaching a clearing in the shape of a square. Bastet noted that this clearing was not here this morning and wondered when her big brother had the time to do it.

"I will test your proficiency in martial arts and how well you have honed your senses," Styxx said as he tossed something at her.

She caught it and inspected it, it was the piece of cloth that she uses when training her hearing, basically a blindfold.

"Your sight is naturally better than both your sisters, so we will do this without," he said as he also put on a blindfold.

"I will limit my physical power to yours and won't use my quirk,"

Internally she sighed a breath of relief, she had already figured this was going to be a spar, but not for a second did she think she stood a chance of beating her big brother, much less even touch him.

"One clean hit and you win," he said,

Bastet nodded and put on her blindfold.

"Ready… set…" Suddenly rock pillars of different sizes and heights shot out from the ground, disorientating Bastet who had already locked on to Styxx's breathing.

"Start," his voice came from right beside her and she swung a right hook almost out of instinct.

BAM!

"Hnnng!" Bastet stopped herself from screaming in pain as her fist made contact with a stone pillar.

She flexed her hand before letting a self-deprecating smile. Of course, it was not going to be as easy as she thought.

About six pillars behind Bastet, Styxx stood there his back on the pillar. His analysis had begun the moment he uttered the words 'Start'.

'Bastet Athanatos AKA "Bast-chan".

Quirk: Panther, Mutant type.

Bastet's Quirk gives her an enhanced physique, unnatural dexterity, flexibility, and enhanced senses. Although she cannot beat Fenrir when it comes to her sense of smell or Tara when it comes to hearing, she stands head and shoulders above them in the other senses. Able to see in the dark as if it were day, even when it nears pitch black. Able to taste smells and differentiate between them is without a doubt extraordinary.

She is a natural-born assassin, the kind of talent you should not nurture if you knew what was good for you. Like Fenrir, she has talent in music, or more specifically she likes to dance. This carried over when it came time to learn martial arts, she picked up martial arts like Capoeira like she was born for it. Seeing this, I taught her blade dancing, sword dancing, taught her the real Capoeira, not the one they use today for show but the original one meant to kill. I taught her everything she needed to be the perfect assassin, from knife-wielding to gun and poisons.

In academics, she surprised me with a talent for sciences and technology, so I have made her into my assistant while I am in the lab but of course, only when I know she won't die from that day's experiments.'

Styxx stopped his analysis as he felt small vibrations nearing his position. He figured she was already familiar with his smell as they live together so it was only a matter of time before she found him.

He dodged as something quickly flew towards him at high speed and embedded itself on the pillar where his head used to be. He smiled as he had forgotten a small detail about Bastet, her unbelievably sharp nails. She had carved out spikes from the pillars themselves and used them as throwing weapons.

'Current weaknesses: Trauma and her sisters.

Due to her heightened senses, torture was especially painful for Bastet and traumatized her. Her trauma caused the nervous, timid almost twitchy personality she usually shows and stops her from having fun and being happy. She developed an extreme fear towards new things especially if she believes it might bring her pain. My presence along with Tara's helps relieve most of her fears but left to herself, she becomes a shivering mess, unable to even function properly. She would probably be the most work if she wants to have a normal life.

And just like Fenrir, her sisters are a weak spot. I predict if anything happens to them, she would either go into a murderous rage or go into a catatonic state.'

Styxx had continued to dodge while he ran his analysis through his head, each spike she threw was aimed for his vitals, just like she was taught, a detail he was happy to observe.

From his left, three spikes flew towards him, and he jumped to the side. Just as he was mid-jump, he heard a whisper from behind him saying "Gotcha!".

He smiled; Bastet had waited for the moment he jumped to make her final attack; it was perfect. Since he cannot use any Quirk, there is nothing he could do… or at least that was she thought. Styxx twisted his body almost snapping his spine and forced himself to face her.

He grabbed the hand with the spike in it that was aimed at his spine and used her momentum to slam her into the ground. He snatched the spike from her hand and as he was just going to put it against her neck, he felt something underneath his.

He looked down to see a thin, two-foot-long spike being held to his chin by her black tail. He smiled and looked towards the cute assassin beneath him.

"I never taught you that," he said as he dropped the spike in his hand and got off her,

Bastet smiled happily,

"I know, that's why it worked,"

"You passed," he said with a smile, and battle mode Bastet turned into her normal shy and nervous self again.

"Go take a bath, you're covered in dirt," Styxx said before disappearing.

….

Styxx appeared right in front of Tara who had her game face on, devoid of emotion but her eyes burning with an incredible will to fight. Styxx just let a small smile before saying,

"Good, follow me,"

He dashed into the forest and Tara followed him deep into the forest. This time Styxx did not lead her to a clearing or anything of the sort. He just stopped and turned to look at her.

"No need to hold back. Show me what you got!"

Tara closed her eyes and took a deep breath. When she opened them back up, her sclera slowly turned pitch black, while her light pink pupils turned into a glowing crimson color. Sparks of electricity began to dance around her before turning into a permanent red color.

Styxx's stoic face broke and smiled.

…..

After fixing the forest, Styxx returned to see the girls playing around with the animal sisters and brother. They were all waiting for him to return to both receive their rewards and to get food as they were starving from such strenuous physical activities they were just put through.

Seeing the girls were still dirty, he shook his head at them as he felt sometimes their stomach ruled over their decision-making.

"Go get cleaned up while I make lunch, be sure to wear non-training clothes, we're going to the city after we eat," he said,

Tara and Fenrir looked excited, while Bastet started to look really nervous. Seeing her nervousness, he walked up to her, gave her some head pats which helped calmed her a little bit before shoo-ing the girls away towards their underground bath.

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Once again, I'm sorry for the slow updates but I've been a little busy. I lost my job so currently looking for a new one....