painting the town RED.

[Florian Maverick]

A man in dark garb, a dark aura covering him visibly, appears directly in the town square. Smiling, he shows his now-pointed teeth as he looks around. "Ahh, home sweet home... and soon to be my kingdom." He says, summoning a pair of shadows beside him.

[Kotta Shi]

"I'm not sure why you even want a crummy town like this, Boss. Place looks like shit." the man next to him, a person in ice attire, says. "Like - take a look at those stairs!" He says with a rising tone, before firing a blizzard spell, covering them in ice. "Frozen over! Can't even afford a little salt on the walkways!"

[Florian Maverick]

Florian smiled at that. "Quite the dump. But a good starting point. Once these morons realize the power I hold, the ones I don't turn into heartless will be decent warriors for my conquest. Emperor Florian will be renowned." He said with a grin, before snapping his fingers, as a group of Soldiers appeared. "Go into every home with children. Kidnap them - and DON'T eat them, do you understand?" Florian said with a wicked grin on their face. "This will be easy..."

[Florian Maverick]

At this, several people exited their homes, a pair brandishing weapons. "Florian! What the hell is the meaning of this?" One of them asked, a stocky man with a large axe in his hand. "You're bringing heartless into the first district?" He asked.
Florian looked at him with a bored expression. "I remember you. You mentioned just last month how sure you were I wouldn't amount to anything." Florian said, before a lightning bolt suddenly appeared from above the man, shocking him and causing him to collapse on the ground. "Your emperor stands to disagree with that statement."

[Kotta Shi]

As Florian speaks, Kotta notices a crossbow bolt striking for Florian head-first. Drawing a scimitar made of ice, I cut it out of the air, before looking at the source.
Steele, the accessory shop's employee, stands shocked, crossbow in hand, before suddenly being struck with a ball of ice.
"Alright boss, I take it back. This is actually getting a little fun." Kotta says with a smirk.

[Florian Maverick]

As someone appears attempting to thrust a spear towards Florian, dashing towards him, Florian boredly grabs the shaft and stops the attack, before summoning a shadow behind the person that swiftly cuts into him from behind. The man dies quickly, before reforming as a soldier heartless, looking almost eagerly towards Florian in search of orders.

"Anyone else want to be a hero?" He asked with a mocking tone. "Even before I left, I was the only one formally trained in combat except one-legged wonder over there." Kotta says, pointing towards Steele, collapsed next to the door of the shop. "And now I've absorbed enough dark power to control the heartless freely. What chance do you really think you have now?" Florian asked, before summoning a chair covered in dark thorns and covered sky-black to sit in.

"Let me make this clear. You have no chance of living through the night, unless you join me. Everyone here has one day to pick a side: Join my minions willingly, become a warrior of darkness. You'll get a bit of power, strength, maintain individual though... Or you can stand heroically, die inevitably, and become a heartless. How about it? It's not as though the heartless were ever going to be defeated by you pathetic remnants anyways, I'm just speeding up the inevitable." Florian said with a grin.

[Teldranis]

Teldranis entered the district, seeing the heartless created by the man in the center, and his accomplice. Regarding steele, and the other townspeople, he stepped forward.
"Pull back for right now." Teldranis said in private telepathy to the townspeople. "He has no qualms about using hostages, and I believe it is safer if I confront him alone."

[Chiasa]

Chiasa finally caught up, breathing heavily as she stopped. "I..said...wait up..." She looked up to see Florian and tilted her head questioningly. "Florian...you look strange...Steele?!" Her expression changed, shocked at seeing Steele on the ground. "Why'd you hurt Steele?!" Chiasa ran towards the unconscious man.

[Florian Maverick]

Florian stood back in surprise, before seemingly shrugging off his shock. "Woah-hoh-hoh! What is this, some sort of lizard in armor. What a freak. You planning on stopping me, or-" Florian stopped mid-sentence, looking behind Teldranis. "Oh, and there's little Chiasa. I told you I'd be running things one day, didn't I?" Florian asked. "Steele happened to disagree, so some Ice disagreed with his face. I'd ask if you want to join my side, but... You were always pretty annoying. No worries, though... I'll make sure you turn into a prettily covered heartless!" Florian said as dark power manifested in one of his hands.

[Teldranis]

Teldranis, seeing the dark energy, immediately unleashed a psionic bolt before charging forward in a flash. "Try it and your fall will be swift..." Teldranis warned, pulling back his arm for a strike of his blade as he held his other psi-blade in front of him as a guard.

[Chiasa]

Chiasa yelped in surprise at Tell's attack, before immediately looking back at Florian with concern. "Why are you doing this? You lived here, Florian. This was your home. Just stop this. Stop hurting these people! I never thought you could do something so awful!"

[Florian Maverick]

Florian's eyes opened in fear for a moment, the intensity of the emotion apparent to everyone, as the bolt hit him, but he managed to recover enough from the strike to stop the next strike of Teldranis's using reflect. "Not... as spineless as you look, huh?" Florian said with an unsteady grin. "But stupid!" He yelled, countering Teldranis's attack with a spear he created from thin air, made of and overflowing with darkness that seemed to act like molten magma, which he thrust directly into Teldranis's torso, sending him flying into the nearest building.
"Awful? I'm offering the people here to be conquerors, to really control their own fate. If people join me and fight for me, they don't have to fear the heartless that were about to overtake this district anyway. Don't you see? I'm the only one offering a real way out of this situation. You should be thanking me!" Florian yelled the last few words. "But it seems my sympathy's lost on you."

[Teldranis]

Teldranis struggled onto his feet after being struck by the spear. He realized now that his opponent had quite a bit of power, and that he needed to watch out for such attacks... This man had a surprising amount of power. But his rage only grew as the man kept speaking. "I'd heard tales of how unspeakably cruel, greedy, and lacking in honor a terran could truly be,a being more reprehensible than the worst monster." Teldranis said with a glare. "I hadn't believed them until today, when I saw such with my own eyes."

[Kotta Shi]

"Oi, you're annoying the boss, little brat. Shut up before I turn you into a popsicle!" Kotta said, putting his hand up with a warming glow of light blue energy. "The boss said he wanted to take kids hostage, so I can't kill ya, but I can sure make it feel like you're dead."

[Chiasa]

Chiasa gasped as Tell went flying, staring back at Florian with a stubborn, angry glare. "You can't just throw people into buildings! 'Specially not my friends!" As Tell stood back up, she placed herself between where Florian was and where Tell was, in her own effort to try to protect him. "You aren't helping by scaring everybody and hurting the people you claim to want to protect! You just want to seem important...you aren't the only one people don't take seriously, y'know, but you don't see me throwing people around like ragdolls! It ain't right! You coulda made an effort, fought alongside the townspeople and guards...but this isn't the way. This...this is unacceptable!" She trembled slightly as Kotta pointed his hand at her, but stayed standing where she was. "You don't scare me as much as you think you do, mister. Don't point that thing at me!"

[Florian Maverick]

"Seem important? I AM important!" Florian yelled back. "I'm the only one smart enough to look ahead and see the heartless are the future, not the problem. Anyone who isn't smart enough to join up with them - and me - is just a part of an old, broken system." Florian said.
"Kotta, don't kill her... I'm going to keep her alive by my side until she sees things my way..." Florian said with an evil grin.

[Teldranis]

"Don't... Touch her." Teldranis said, getting out of the wall. "With your filthy hands, Terran.". Teldranis told him with deadly intent, pulling his energy towards him as he prepared to attack again.

[Kotta Shi]

"God you're noisy. Why don't I just freeze your legs!" Kotta said, firing a blizzard shot just for her legs, the rest of the blasts shotgunning towards the left and right sides of her body.

[Chiasa]

"Stop...stop! This doesn't solve anything! Destroying this town, scaring these people, just...just stop! If you think I'll ever see anything your way, you're not as smart as you think you are, Florian. You're a glorified bully. Leave these people alone. Leave them in peace! There's nothing for you here anymore if all you're gonna do is throw my friends through walls and pick on old men." Chiasa yelped as Kotta fired ice at her, jumping into the air to avoid the blast at her legs. Her feet got caught, as well as the left and right of her hips. She landed, rigid, falling backwards. She pushed herself up with her arms and rose to her knees, staring at Kotta. "And your ice totally sucks." She stuck her tongue out defiantly, but quickly retracted it to avoid any freezing mishaps.

[Florian Maverick]

Florian laughed. "Honestly, you're not far off. There isn't much here for me. But for old times sake - and the sake of a few competent warriors - I figured I'd offer a hand to you. But really, who's going to stop me? Tall, dark, and disgusting over there?" He asked. "Or you. The stubborn girl that has no idea how the world works." He said with a glare. "No, nothing will stop me now that I'm practically all-powerful. It's because I was smart enough to go to the darkness. Because I had the strength to take a different path instead of wasting my life here." Florian said, grinning.
Suddenly, several soldiers came through. "Ahh, the baggage has arrived." Florian said with a grin, as many of them could be noted as holding human children.
"Did I mention? People who aren't willing to join me will get to see their kids turned right into heartless. I'm not really willing to wait for them to grow up strong enough to be proper dark warriors for me... Unless, say, I get their parents to work for me in the meantime." Florian said, before flicking his fingers, as the soldiers went through the gate to the third district. "You get one day before they're all turned into little heartless for my army. Your choice, not mine." Florian said with a grin. "so what'll it be?"

[Chiasa]

"They're just kids, Florian! Kids you and I both watched grow up! What happened to you?!" She clenched her fists. "I might not travel the world or anything, but I know enough! This.. this is cruel!" She yelled at him angrily, her voice shrill. "Leave...leave these kids with their mums and dads, let them be. I'll go with you myself." Chiasa glared at Florian. "I'll go without a fight, if you leave the kids. I won't even make fun of Mr Freeze." She narrowed her eyes at Kotta momentarily. "Whatever it takes to get you to leave. Just don't touch the kids..."

[Florian Maverick]

Florian grins at her. "Well well, maybe you do have vision, after all. That's smart of you." Florian said, floating rather than walking towards her. "I remember you rejected me when you were younger too. How everyone's perspective changes now they can see my true power." Florian said, before freeing her from the ice. "Let's go quickly then. Kotta, freeze the door behind us. I'd rather not have me and dear Chiasa followed." Florian said with a bit of a dreamy tone to his voice. "Especially by that lizard."

[Teldranis]

Teldranis got up to his knees, energy forming around him. "Not... Yet. I'm not finished with you just yet." Teldranis said, his chest heaving heavily. His breath was still attempting to catch, but he managed to re-ignite his blades, ready to charge.

[Chiasa]

Chiasa smiled a half-hearted smile. "As I recall it, you never paid attention to me. You waved me off and called me stupid and annoying. So I guess it's all comin' full circle." She looked back at Tell with concern. "Teldranis...you're injured. Please don't get hurt anymore 'cause of me. I'm doing my part to protect everyone, just like you. They need ya in one piece. Not frozen by Snowflakes over here." She clapped her hands over her mouth and made a muffled "oops!" sound. "I said I wouldn't make fun of ya anymore, didn't I? Rats."

[Florian Maverick]

"Whatever." Florian said regardless. "Once you see the truth behind these walls, you'll understand the situation a lot better." He said with a hand-wave.
"Oh, you're finished, lizard-man. Your power is a candle in comparison to my own. You never had a chance in the first place. Just say "goodbye" to the charming lady and fall unconscious over there, then thank your lucky stars someone like her was available to save your miserable life."

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