A/N:  Yay!!!

So, I hit it within 24 hours.  That's awesome!!! ☺☺☺♥♥♥  I'm also really happy that it turned out to be this chapter as a bonus.  I mean why not add a villain and a battle to the mix right?  I'll have links to the images used in the comments attached to that image.  The next goals for bonus chapters are 500 votes, 5k reads, and any #1 ranks.

Also, I keep forgetting to mention this, but if anyone is an artist and would like to attempt drawing anything that appears in this story please let me know!  I'd love to see it!

2823 words

Posted 9/18/21

The Halfbreed didn't know it, but I have been behind the scenes directing her next move for nearly 2000 days now. Without knowing it she has become my pawn on this chessboard game of life. I felt the laugh erupt from my mouth of its own accord as I mentally relay over the fact that she doesn't even know of my existence, let alone the hand I have been playing all along.

Five years ago I was minding my own business. Then like a punch to the gut I felt her presence pulverize its way into my life. I remember I had screamed out loud to the world around me after 'feeling' her. My bedmate's ears had even begun to ooze blood, and I realized in mere moments soon thereafter that I had shattered both of his/her eardrums leaving him/her deaf. So, I did the most humane thing I could think of; I put the poor soul out of his/her misery. Unholy Hera, I don't even remember if my victim was male of female at this point, and in the grand scheme of things it didn't even fucking matter. Although my assumption would be male since for the last five years that is what I have been strictly hunting. That choice was purely based on 'the halfling's' preference alone.

That body I left behind was the first victim of mine they found, and I realized immediately it didn't have to be the last. I could line them up for the Legion of Dionysus to find and leave evidence behind that led them to believe the victims were all hers. But first I had to see this creature that had unknowingly made me aware of her existence. So, I ventured to the campus where she went to school and took on the visage of her first unintentional victim's neighbor.

I watched her as she scurried along in her shifted form. I had hated to admit it to myself, but at the time, I was quite surprised that she was able to pick up that ability with absolutely no instruction. I didn't admit it to myself at the time, however the promise she showed in that one ability alone worried me.

I did her a service by reporting to the cops a description of her chosen shifted form leaving the apartment. At the time I wasn't sure why I had gone to such lengths to protect someone I already saw as an enemy. Later I realized it was probably because of how much I wanted to play with the youngling who had just come into her powers.

Over the years since I had left bodies in my wake. Bodies that Dionysus' pitiful Legion had confused for the few victims that she had left behind herself; of course with evidence planted by myself. I never fuckin' expected for them to basically adopt the youngling after they finally ended up discovering her. Had I not seen it for myself I wouldn't have believed it. They didn't fucking take in charity cases. So, why the fuck were they bothering with her?

I followed them both to Hephaestus' sham of a house and also to their own home in Gehenna afterward. That's where a lightbulb figuratively went off in my brain, and I came up with a new plan. I walked several miles away and shifted into my more demonic form before ripping a sizable rift connected to the Infernal Plains. Then after the sun had fallen tonight I blew out every single one of their candles surrounding their home that were meant to protect them from the abyssal fiends that sometimes wandered into their circle.

I climbed one of the dead trees a good distance away, found a cozy perch, and simply waited for the pandemonium to begin. Too bad I don't have any popcorn.

I was a shithead for doing that to Everleigh, and I most definitely was regretting it now. I sure as shit never ever want to see that fucking look on her face ever again, but I knew I was more than likely bound to do something else as equally, shitatistically stupid in the future.

My actions hours ago weren't the only thing that was bothering the crap out of me however. There was also the fact that Namjoon went upstairs to take care of her hunger, and he hasn't been back down yet since. When Jungkook set up the seal for the magic that created her bedroom design he made sure to include some heavy duty sound insulation. The reason was because when it came down to it, despite how much each of us might have been trying to deny it, she was most definitely our mate. So, my mind was conjuring all sorts of elicit scenarios that could be going on up in that room. Sure those scenarios were feeding my libido, but I would rather be taking part in the images my mind was creating rather than them being as ethereal as smoke.

So, instead I chose to think about how the others were taking the news about Everleigh being our mate. Honestly, I can't be sure if I have been the one who has been fighting the concept the most or not. Yoongi, Jimin, Seokjin, and Taehyung have all been pretty fucking quiet about the idea of it. Jungkook is the only one that has made his polar opposite reaction known. He is as at least equally excited about the possibility as he is when he ends up having the highest body count on one of those first person bang bang shoot 'em all up games he plays. Namjoon doesn't seem reluctant, but on the surface he is handling it in a very taciturn kind of manner that tells me squat about what he thinks regarding the situation..

Suddenly a shrill sound interrupts the silence around me. For a brief moment I cover up my ears with my hands before I fully realize why the alert is going off. Fuck! Something tripped our fucking barriers!

I take a moment to call my two swords from the pocket dimension I keep them in. Those of us that use weapons all practice this spell; that way we never have to physically carry them, yet they are always with us.

The blades of our weapons are all made of suasa, since we are all highly allergic to iron. Suasa can appear in a variety of colors: copper, orange, red, green, and white.

My spartan kopis are mostly white with a striated copper pattern throughout. Kopis are a common Greek weapon, although mine are tailored to my unique fighting style. The undersides of my twin swords are long curved blades, the topside composition of the blades starting at the points at the tip begin to slope in a downward curve to a straight edge that starts a little over a third of the way down the blades. The curve on the topside of the blade is as equally sharp as the underside of it. They are made to inflict wounds with both swiping motions as well as piercing ones.

I'm unsurprised within only moments that I am surrounded by my companions. The only one that has not arrived yet is Namjoon himself. Before his physical appearance he directs us telepathically.

"I'm opening the telepathic chat circle to Everleigh so she knows what is going on. Jimin, you and I will head out the backdoor so I can shift and fly you to the roof where you can shoot at the enemies from above." Due to Jimin's empathic abilities it isn't wise for him to be in melee range of attacks when dealing with humanoids; he could get overwhelmed and metaphorically run over by the emotions being slung at him. Because of this he honed his skills with a magical longbow that self-equips with arrows and never runs out of ammo. He didn't see it as beneficial to also equip himself with bladed melee weapons. "Jimin and I will scout from that position and relay back to you what we see so the rest of you are prepared. I need you all to wait inside until you get the report."

We each take a moment to nod our heads in agreement. Then the two of them are swooping out the backdoor and the rest of us are all left lying in wait.

Yoong partially shifts so that his hands become paws with razor sharp retractable claws that are at least as equally as sharp and piercing as the point on the blades of my swords. He can fully shift on the fly if his teeth are also needed in the fight, although due to the fact that the ichor and other liquid substances within the fiends was poisonous I highly doubted that was on his radar for this particular battle.

Seokjin calls upon his magical staff. The vines that grow up his staff are actually living and his magic can assist them to grow even larger and use them to grapple nearby enemies. Most of his offensive attacks are magic based, although he can use the staff as a blunt weapon as well should he need to. He also often creates magical darts that act as piercing ranged projectiles.

Taehyung pulls out his two kopis. Although his are technically more modeled after the Hispanic Falcata style swords and aren't made to pierce like mine. The handles and the curved blade are made to utilize the weapons in both striking and downward overhead type motions. The suasa metal in his looks more of a greenish blue, and I always assumed that had something to do with his elemental magic. He didn't tend to divert to any magic outside of pairing his swords with a water beam emission that essentially made the weapons water lances.

Jungkook continuously tightens and loosens his fierce grip on the handles of his two xiphos. They too are Greek in origin, but are made as more of a traditional style blade with sharp edges down the entirety of either side. The blades themselves are a silverish bluish white suasa with purple striations throughout. The purple striations are due to his own magic being infused within the blade. He can't easily use many illusions to fool the fiends, since they don't operate on a high level of intelligence, but he sometimes finds some interesting ways to use them by random experimentation.

"I'm counting about ten Maeks, two Drolz'oks, and about five Teraois." Namjoon finally relays.

The Teraois are going to be the biggest problem for us. They are mutant sized flying terrors. If their sharp fangs and claws don't hurt their prey then their razor sharp bladed feathers will. Their wings might as well be made of hundreds of daggers layered on top of each other. Namjoon, Jimin, and perhaps even Jin will be the only ones able to handle them, since getting within even five feet of them is more or less suicide.

The Drolz'oks are the second biggest problem. They look like oversized praying mantises, about the height of a giraffe with its neck fully extended. Unlike the insect they resemble, they have four legs instead of six, which is a good thing since each leg in question is razor sharp. For a brief time they can stand on their hindlegs as a bipedal creature, which is a very unusual sight to behold the first time you see it, and strike out with their forelegs. Their sharp legs aren't their only weapons however. They also let out sharp high pitched shrieks that have the ability to burst ear drums, and inside their mouths are three rows of razor sharp teeth. On the good side their vision is only limited to whatever is in front of them. If we can focus our attacks from behind we should be good.

The Maeks are the least of our worries. They are the most common abyssal fiend with their numbers teetering in stratospherical levels. They look like oversized caterpillars the size of cows. There are gaping cavities that naturally form down their sides, which puff out their most formidable weapon. Those cavities in question release a poisonous gas when they are threatened. Luckily their eyes are on either side of their heads, much like a horse, so as long as we aren't on their sides when we attack the poison clouds should never emit from their bodies.

"Hoseok, the first thing I need from you is some light." Namjoon directs me.

"One faerie light coming right up. Would you like that with the secret ingredient or the garden variety illumination orb?" I see a mental picture of him rolling his eyes and can't help but chuckle in response.

"We are awfully close to the house so probably not a wise idea to use one of your special orbs."

"Now, now. You aren't getting access to my special orbs. Those I keep in my pants and are reserved for the ladies." I mentally correct myself. Reserved for Everleigh. "But regarding my exploding orb magic I will be sure to not cast one of those, and only your standard light variety."

"Seokjin, as you come out I want you to try to immobilize the two Drolz'oks with vines if you can. They are currently facing away from the door so try to open it up as silently as possible." The second half didn't have to really be said as covert was the name of the game in situations like this, but none of us spoke out against him. Myself, I wondered if some of his extra commands were for Everleigh's benefit.

"Got it, Namjoon." Seokjin immediately agreed.

"The rest of you focus on the two Drolz'oks first. Get them down as fast as possible, but pay attention to the position of the Maeks as well. Should one turn toward you then cut it down right away. If they are any between you and the Drolz'oks then cut those down first. Taehyung, if you are near and notice any emitting their poisonous clouds then try to use your water emission to put them out."

In the next moment we were all moving. I opened the door just enough to cast and project the faerie light we needed so we could see the fiends surrounding us. It was a bit of a bummer I wouldn't be able to use an exploding orb, but we spent too many months building this house from the ground up. I didn't want to have to go through with that bullshit all over again.

Once he was on the porch Seokjin cast magic to grow two vines from his tall living staff. One wrapped around the closest Drolz'ok. The other wasn't quite long enough to reach but it upset the other Drolz'ok's balance since it was standing on its hindlegs and it tipped over upside down on its back.

Taehyung and I headed for the one on it's back while Jungkook, Yoongi, and Jin focused on the one that was grappled by the vine. Our swords slash through two of the Maeks on our way through. A third one attempted to turn to its side and as it was spitting out the poison clouds Taehyung slashed at the air with his sword while sending forth a lance of water from the tip of the blade in that direction. It was the first time he had tried utilizing the move in that capacity and luckily it worked.

While he was focusing on destroying that Maek I was closing in on the upside down Drolz'ok. I sliced its closest hindleg from its body to keep it from kicking out at me and slashing through my clothing and leaving bloody cuts behind. Then I stabbed the pointed end of my right sword into its neck. With effort I pried up until I decapitated the fiend.

I turned back to see how the others were doing with the grappled Drolz'ok. Taehyung slaughtered three more Maeks on his way over to help them. The other team had apparently taken care of two of the Maeks, so that left two more remaining. I watched as Jungkook sliced through the lower part of the Drolz'ok's thorax. Yoongi jumped on another Maek that was approaching Jungkook from behind. Taehyung took a flying leap and with the help of gravity on the downward fall sliced through the middle of the Drolz'ok's head.

I took out the last remaining Maek before looking toward the sky to see how Jimin and Namjoon were faring. There is only one Teraoi left remaining in the sky, which meant between the lunar spheres of magic that Namjoon was emitting from his beak paired with Jimin's arrows that the two of them were unsurprisingly getting the job done on their own. I watched in pride as they combined efforts to take care of the last one.

A/N: Obviously I don't own the images, and it case you didn't work it out the staffs for Jin are essentially a combination of the two.  I don't think it would have an orb on the top, but something like the top of the second image.  However, I used the first to represent the vines climbing down it.  As for Jimin's bow I think it would probably look something like that only transparent.  I tried to edit it to look that way, but I failed.

The Abyssal Fiends are all creatures I made up in my own head.  I might have used a generator to get inspiration on what to name them, but outside of that they are purely from my imagination.  

I don't expect anyone to remember these names.  I will probably have a small glossary before the chapter if they appear and it's not in Everleigh's POV.