Plot armor - King's core

Settling in

A lone man walked into the now empty street at night after having too much to drink. It was way past midnight and only the moon looked upon him as he tripped and fell. The man laughed after holding his face that had scraped the ground but had managed not to spill even a single drop of his drink.

He took one more sip and as he felt the warmth it provided him, he looked up at the sky and finally saw that it was a new moon that night. He got up but as soon as he did, he dropped his drink, something impossible for a drunk like him.

He wanted to screen but he could not. His eyes tried to look over his left shoulder, but could only see a woman's head there as his vision started to get the better of him.

It was not him succumbing to his drink, but the woman had sunken her teeth into him and was sucking out his blood.

"Ahhh..."

The woman said out loud as she had just quenched her thirst.

"I like the blood of a drunk. It somehow makes me drunk too. Maybe I should take this information to my master. I might get rewarded."

She said with joy in her heart.

"Ahhhh... Larina, Larina, Larina. Still trying to wiggle your way to his bed again? You know he might just kill you for even wanting to talk to him. He only has eyes for that woman. We are just toys to him."

Another woman said. She was shorter than Larina, and had black hair that was cut short. You would mistake her for a boxer.

Larina was tall and looked like a model from the 80s. She had long black hair and wore a black pencil dress that made sure to tell the world "look at my hips."

"How can someone as exquisite as him be interested in bones... I mean bones, old groggy bones, Boria? That Litch must have put a spell on him."

Larina said as the man she was holding came to and mourned.

"Excuse me for just a sec..."

She said as she sank her teeth into him again.

"That Litch is his master, making us her servants too. Do not say such things. Did you forget that he could see through our eyes at any time he wanted?"

Boria said as Larina finally let go of the man and he flopped onto the ground, dead.

"Came, there is a knight who is so good at his job that we need to pay a visit too. Do not forget to cover your tracks."

Boria said as she started walking. Larina stretched the palm of her hand using her sharp claws, making blood come out, and poured it on top of the man's head and upper body. The blood was like acid, quickly eating away at anything it touched and leaving the man’s upper body in a pool of blob.

Larina took two steps and without warning fell face first onto the ground, making Boria turn around and laugh her lungs out.

"I thought you were going to be the master's mistress? Do not tell me you are drunk from just a sip of blood?"

She said, still laughing as Larina got up.

"The bustard was drunker than I thought, it’s like I just drank a whole bottle of whisky"

She said, holding her head and trying to compose herself. Boria laughed all through the night. 

In the morning, the man’s body was found and knights were called.

"Is this part of what has been plaguing us lately?"

One of them asked.

"It has to be. Mosilari said that they will start covering their tracks."

The other said.

"Beasts cannot be this smart. At the same time, it can't be humans."

Another said.

"You are forgetting Dark Witches."

When the other Knight said those words they all looked at each other like they hoped that it was not.

At the same time that they were looking at each other, another Knight ran up to them, barring bad news. He gathered himself after making it there as he had run a long way in heavy armor.

"Mos... Mosi... Mosilari was just found brutally murdered in his home."

The man said and as soon as he said that, sadness, shock, and surprise attacked the knights faces.

"His wife and two children were found murdered too."

What he was saying made him want to vomit as the scene came to his mind again.

"What could have done such a thing?"

One asked, not knowing what to say.

In a mansion, well, you could call it a mini-palace by how huge it was and the land it was set on, five figures sat in a bar made especially for them and built underground just so it could somewhat represent the one they had grown to love while deep in the Trial Forest at the valley they had lived in for a long time.

To call it an American-styled bar was a stretch as they had made adjustments to it and if you were well-traveled, you would call it a proper pub. Gone was the classy feel of the old bar and now it was rustic and yet still classy, suiting everyone with such a change.

The runes on the walls were still visible. They were needed as fights would still break out from time to time, but there was a particular girl that they had grown afraid of as she grew groggy as each day passed.

"Vio!"

She said acting drunk while drinking a large glass of beer that she was holding.

It was none other than Tenebris, but it was not the same Tenebris from when they lived in the Trial Forest.

Violentiam squalled when he had his name called. He knew that she only wanted to vent her frustrations again. He too had changed.

Sanguis who had also changed wanted to laugh at Violentiam who seemed to be the only one who could handle Tenebris and calm her down in those days.

Fusobactor who too was no longer a formless gas-like being looked over to see what was going on again.

Cumfureres, the only one who still looked like she was while they were in the valley as she still looked at Sarah, smiled and drank a sip of her champagne. She was still wearing the silver slip dress that men wished could just fall off her body as it hung on her shoulder like it would slip off at any time.

She remembered the years they spent in the valley before the boy.... the boy that turned their stay there upside down and made them be where they were right now.

She looked at Fusobactor who sat alone at a table drinking gin and tonic. Gone was his green-yellowish gas form and he now looked like a grown man in his fifties who was still handsome and who a highly successful woman would go for.

He was wearing a green-yellowish suit complete with the same colored hat. He had a well-groomed beard and his eyes were grey, making him striking and mysterious at the same time.

Cumfurers had to give it to the old man as only he could wear such a bright-colored suit and make it work.

At the other side of the bar was Sanguis. If the word slick and chilled was a person, it would be him. He was already used to wearing a tuxedo, one that did not dare stop exuding confidence.

The only part about him that had changed was his face and eyes. Gone was his tentacle-like face and was now replaced by the face of a man in his thirties. You would mistake him for the perfect battler. He had grey hair and gone where the red eyes that perpetually had red smoke leaving them and replaced by blue eyes.

He once walked the streets at night taking a stroll in the surroundings that they were in and a wealthy man had stopped his carriage and did not care who he was. He went in front of him and begged him to marry his daughter saying that someone who exuded greatness and power like him did not deserve to be a battler.

He accepted the compliment but days later, missing person drawings of the man who had stopped him could be found around the area.

Cumfureres looked at Voileniam and smiled again. He did not have the head of a lion and the back of a horse like a centaur anymore but was now a mountain of a man.

He had muscles for days and had the demeanor of a big brother. Any little sister would fight to the death to have him as their big brother as he screamed "protective, but do what you want to do and I will have your back" kind of air around him. 

Even though he was hairy, he still looked good. He was like a gladiator that you did not want to mess with. His eyes looked violent but normal from afar.

Then there was Tenebris, the one who was like a little sister to them all but that they had grown wary of. She was no more the black abyss of darkness in human form that she was, but now looked nothing like she did.

If darkness could be shined upon the gods of beauty, it could be her. For some reason, she looked twenty-one and stunning. Her skin was darker than the rest, like those who live in Senjira but she had dark lines going around her neck, arms, waist, and legs. The dark lines seemed to eat the light itself.

She had lavish black hair that seemed to flout on its own, it too eating the light. Her eyes for some reason looked pink until you looked at them for too long, then they turned all black in the blink of an eye.

She was wearing a dress that looked exquisite on her and there was only one color for it, and that was black.

"Vio, why hasn't he used the flower yet? Does he not want me by his side? Why is this happening to me? Did I do something wrong?"

She asked as she took another sip of her beer. Everyone knew who she was talking about but a passing thought intruded Sanguis's mind when he heard those words.

'You mean the boy you put a love curse on and that was supposed to grow stronger as he got stronger? The still young who you asked to marry like a desperate woman with no options left? That one? If I was him, I would run to the ends of Uros. Too bad, it seems that even if he wanted to, he would not get away from you even if he went to another world.'

Sanguis thought while laughing inwardly at the cruel fate of the boy who was the catalyst to finally make them leave their hideout and was the disciple of someone he hated.

"He is still young and he is somehow related to the Dragons. Stop worrying, he must be being hunted down or something because of it and is bound to need your help, so just wait. We have been waiting for hundreds of years just doing nothing. A few years of you waiting for him should not be hard."

Violentiam said and the words were like music to her ears. She gulped down the remainder of her beer and banged the glass on the table.

"Sang... Can I have a refile... pretty please?"

It was amazing how her mood could change. She was like a rampaging teen who was in her twenties but was really way older.

'He is not a child.'

She thought as Sanguis poured her another drink. He and the others still did not know why she was still hung up on the boy.

Voilentiam stood up from his bar stool, wanting to go set with Fusobactor and get the wisdom of the old man while he was drinking, but only for him to get a surprise as he did.

Tenebris had seen him standing up and like the ever-so playful dark soul she was, she slapped the hell out of his buttocks, making him yell out like a horse would, making her and Cumfureres laugh while Sanguis and Fusobactor shook their heads.

"Even in this disguise you still want to be a horse more than a lion Vio... hahaha, you never change."

Tenebris said as she laughed. It was truly amazing how her mood could change in seconds.

In another room, a familiar scene that happened frequently in the valley where they had been was taking place. A now handsome man was kneeling to a skeleton that was busy brewing a potion.

It was Zararloch kneeling in front of a Litch, Arloch who was still always in her lab. She had built her lab underground too so as not to be distabed. 

"I see that the spell is working fine for now."

Alorch said as she poured something green into a beaker.

"Yes, it seems that the five of them have gotten used to them."

Zararloch replied.

"They will only work on a third tier or lower level of power, so they must be careful. A fourth tier will know something is wrong but will not see through the disguises if they do not pursue the issue after sensing it. How is your army growing?"

She asked.

"I have 28 in my commend for now who had handled the change in their bodies. But, while I am still finding out what I am now capable of, I feel like they have too much freedom. I would like it if they were like puppets or like my shadows."

Zararloch said. He did not like the fact that those he turned were loyal to him but only him and would basically act like they would when they were humans.

"Awe, Zararloch, unlike my undead, your army might be more useful and maybe more powerful because of that. If all my undead could think for themselves, I would allow it. Now be the leader I know you can be. Remember, I need the boy killed sooner rather than later. He cannot use the gift she gave him."

She said.

"A gift?"

Zararloch asked, confused.

"No matter, I was just talking to myself. Now go. Now that you have killed the knight that could find out what we are up to. Make sure that they do not step out of line again. We have spent more than a year here already and do not need to move since we just got settled in. You need to organize an alternative food source for them than them sucking dry any human they see. If only there were slaves, but alas, they are your army, deal with them as you please. So long as they do not affect our plans."

Arloch said

"Yes, my liege."

Zararloch replied and disappeared. He wanted to stay by her side a little longer but could not disobey her.

He went up the mansion to a dark room that had 28 coffins laid out. He sat on a chair that looked like it was made of bone skulls and then turned around. There, the was a table and on it a sewing machine.

While he waited for the night so they would wake up, he started sewing armor for his new army slightly inferior to the armor he gave to his first ever disciple, Sheyken.