A small smile spread across Cel's face - the first genuine one in longer than he could remember.135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYmKOf4DRYV
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The blessing. Finally.135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ24BboTdXtx
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After everything he'd endured, every nightmare survived, every wound that should have killed him - he was about to receive what he'd earned. What he'd bled for.135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcLn587RQk6
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The moon hung full and radiant above, its pale light washing over the cracked earth of his soul's landscape.135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9mlgrZUgPe
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"Please follow me, Chosen One." Selina’s voice carried gentle warmth as she gestured toward the mist with graceful fingers.135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxkaFaMlYRq
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Cel's breath steadied, though his heart quickened with something that might have been anticipation. He nodded once, that small smile still tugging at his lips.135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuYRw0q6Qa6
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She turned, white robes trailing across broken ground as she moved toward the mist with unhurried elegance. Cel followed, his bare feet padding softly against fractured stone.135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHiXFdfJEFD
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They walked in silence through the transformed landscape. Small flowers with bluish-white petals bloomed from the deepest cracks, reaching toward moonlight. Jagged stones jutted up at irregular intervals - ruins carved into the depths of who he'd become.135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPvg7kid3Gi
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Cel's mind drifted toward what awaited him.135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkyiIBxQ3qG
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A blessing.135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0Oj5zbJovQ
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Soon the goddess's power would be woven into his very being.135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmgBpxsHbWS
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This power had always been a part of his world - expected, almost mundane among nobles. Divine gifts granted to those called by the gods, transforming the Chosen into something more than human.135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡunMJIGknJU
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But he'd never truly considered what they were. What it meant to be bound to a deity.135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWUVMc0wuC2
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Three factors shaped every blessing - the foundation that determined what a Chosen One could become.135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfmCEqCJpDQ
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First: the nature of the god.135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEQSugQWZIj
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The Mountain God granted strength and endurance. The Storm Goddess gave lightning and wind.The Sun God's blessed were always strong, proud, radiant. Warriors who commanded fire and light.135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8OqBKJPDFR
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He'd spent his entire life studying them, memorizing their achievements, listening to endless sermons about their legendary deeds.135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuppgQ9aYil
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But the Moon Goddess?135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdkSomLOsdS
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She was different.135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwJQLektOgg
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Unlike other gods, each with an entire Clan devoted to them, the Moon Goddess had none. No bloodlines carried her favor. No buildings bore her name. She'd had few Chosen throughout history, and even fewer records of what they'd accomplished.135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjcqSoOXkJO
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The reason was simple.135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJxfZ3zVjIK
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They had been weak.135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhK1SRw8jxj
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Where other Chosen reshaped the world - commanding tides, healing mortal wounds, razing plains with fire - those who served the Moon Goddess had left no mark. Their abilities - whatever they'd been - hadn't shaken the world. Hadn't carved legacies worth remembering.135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKzShdwPBMj
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They'd lived and died as footnotes.135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZRy4z76OEx
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The irony might have made him laugh if it didn't make him so angry. Cast out by the people who raised him. Saved instead by the only deity he knew nothing about.135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfQPtlQj6Z6
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Selina's figure moved steadily ahead. The mist parted for her as though bowing in deference.135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSixTqFb1JW
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Cel watched her for a moment before his thoughts moved to the second factor: 135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdH2IkeVqUl
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The rank of the priest.135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUUueRwQfkJ
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Unlike the rigid hierarchies found in most hierarchies, priestly ranks held no special titles, no formal order. A servant of the gods could be rank 1 or rank 100 - the number itself was all that mattered.135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4iqGMHkTOC
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But that number meant everything.135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfdHM3uf6Ux
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The rank indicated proximity to their deity. How close they stood to the divine.135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx9kA4fCqWu
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And which priest was sent to a Chosen One revealed how much the god valued them.135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPbqiGBAOo3
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The gods dispatched their most trusted servants only to those they deemed worthy. A newly Called receiving a high-ranked guide? That was a declaration of divine favor - a promise of investment and expectation.135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOM6NP6Ch4s
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Conversely, someone of lower standing suggested... less. Not rejection, but neither was it embrace.135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuQ7Gtl1PzH
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And this hierarchy directly influenced the quality of blessings bestowed.135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNI5bk2HOax
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At lower ranks, the paragons and artifacts granted were functional but limited - straightforward abilities within the deity's domain. Useful, certainly. Yet unremarkable.135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiIojJKHN4o
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Higher ranks yielded far more. Through a rank 40 priestess, a god might grant paragons that reshaped battlefields. Through a rank 10, they could forge legends whose names echoed through history.135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ134t41QMDG
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At the pinnacle, the gods held nothing back. Paragons of devastating power. Artifacts of impossible grace. Blessings worthy of those they deemed truly exceptional.135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFSjk1qmZ4E
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Cel studied Selina's back as they walked. What rank did she hold? Her presence carried weight - certainty that suggested she wasn't newly appointed. But beyond that, he couldn't guess.135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZZrhuNGXY7
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Priests only revealed such information after the first blessing - a rule dictated by the gods themselves for reasons mortals couldn't grasp.135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz6GQ6nhTQf
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His fingers curled at his sides.135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHLraBnUUun
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And the third factor:135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvhOv0oDOoW
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The compatibility between the deity and their Chosen One.135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz16une5imJ
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This was the part no one understood. Even the royal family, with their vast library and generations of recorded history, had no answer to why certain people were chosen.135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSkrq3tWQJ7
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Some claimed personality - that gods selected those who reflected their own nature. Others insisted on fate, predetermined and inescapable. And then there were those who believed it was arbitrary. That mortals were nothing but playthings for forces beyond comprehension.135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv7DlP8PNhC
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Cel wasn't sure what he believed. Maybe all those theories were wrong. Maybe they were all right.135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNoWN1jPI20
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In the end, gods remained an enigma. Everything humanity claimed to know was guesswork dressed as certainty. Fragments stitched together over centuries.135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLNhw5AoOhn
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Only the priests could claim true connection to the divine. And even they spoke in riddles, revealing only what lay within their god-given authority.135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn6YXLSxITW
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This secrecy made divine knowledge one of the world's most valuable commodities. Kings, warlords, scholars would pay fortunes for even the faintest whisper of celestial truth.135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqpj7xyTrAN
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Everyone wanted answers. Few existed. And in that desperation, lies flourished.135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXFPFKVdmF8
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His stomach churned with familiar revulsion.135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQoTwENpgEL
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False doctrines. Fabricated revelations. Entire faiths built on deliberate misinformation. Humanity had drowned itself in deception.135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzUGPAP3xJw
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And every level of society fed the rot.135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIzcn5A0WCH
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The nobles controlled access to knowledge, yes - they dictated who was worthy and silenced threatening voices. Their monopoly turned belief into power, worship into currency, gods themselves into weapons.135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd3cMW72fZl
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But the common people?135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpeAhWoqciz
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They weren't innocent victims.135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwBAeoTuQ2c
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False prophets rose from peasant villages, claiming divine visions for coins. Sects multiplied like weeds, each convinced they alone understood divine will - demanding obedience in exchange for salvation. Merchants sold 'artifacts’ to the desperate - splinters of 'sacred' wood, water from 'blessed' springs, all fabricated for profit. 135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3Anf1Jm5bm
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Faith twisted by greed became poison that seeped through the entire kingdom.135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWBV5u6fX4d
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That was why understanding had stagnated. Why humanity, despite centuries of devotion, still grasped blindly at truth's edges. Because no one wanted truth - they wanted comfort, wealth, power, whatever lie served their needs.135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPL1pNXGrWK
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Almost laughable. People begged gods for salvation while ensuring their own downfall.135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpcPxCgPDbS
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And through it all, the gods remained silent.135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF52tedgvl2
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Did they care? Or were they simply indifferent?135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3l1VKWExzT
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That question haunted him more than any other.135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHj09sVit6h
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What if the gods saw exactly what he did? 135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzvQdZvqWGk
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Every lie, every corruption, every twisted doctrine - and remained silent because humanity had earned its ignorance. Not punishment. Just... consequences. 135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYzeGEBIUb6
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And Cel, no matter how much he wished otherwise, was part of that same corrupted race.135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkBd525dUei
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Would he be any different?135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxvsCyqt9Zt
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A bitter smirk pulled at his lips. He wanted to believe so.135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVdbdV6KR0x
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But he knew better.135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdzT4CWDUsy
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Lies weren't just tools of the powerful. Sometimes they were the only way to survive. If he returned to civilization, he'd wield deception as readily as those he despised.135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhaDcZw3VtN
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He had to.135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjmPsNQxfY7
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Ahead, Selina stopped.135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm04bC0yMnp
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Cel nearly collided with her before catching himself.135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxgG06sZ06A
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She turned to face him, white robes trailing through the mist like they were woven from it.135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhmt16j3BNa
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"We are nearly there, Chosen One."135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfpasHz0zx6
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Selina gestured forward into the mist, but Cel remained still.135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdbVT1IgI7g
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She paused, waiting.135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡROfWWBaz83
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"I have questions," he said. "About the trial."135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSzQ2jb3DdK
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After a moment, she lowered her hand and faced him fully. "Of course. Please, ask."135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrubdQp2Olj
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Cel studied her masked face. "When I was dying in that cavern, I heard a voice. Female. Sharp and commanding - telling me to get up." He paused. "At first, I thought it was you. But the tone was different. Harsher."135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTtkTJMtQrS
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Silence stretched between them.135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWzsqZqRFiQ
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"Who was it?"135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYIkHbxdXUE
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"I am sorry, Chosen One. This does not lie within my authority."135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡy0yjljWA0B
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He was silent for a moment, then moved on. "The moon appeared right as I was dying. No trigger I could see - unless dying itself was the trigger. Was the trial simply to survive long enough? Or was there something else I was supposed to do?"135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmBwJ64txtw
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"That, too, does not lie within my authority," Selina said, her tone carrying something that might have been regret.135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡotzu7YQMIC
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Cel hummed softly - half-amused, half-resigned. "Can you tell me anything about what I just went through?"135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZ9YaMMUmkV
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"Only what you experienced yourself. The trial's purpose belongs to the goddess alone."135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡouBhZtnXns
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He let out a quiet breath. 135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwASXSxjp0T
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He expected as much, and he didn't really care. The trial was over. He'd survived. Whatever secrets it held, whatever meanings he'd missed - none of that mattered anymore.135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsAbZsAmKw4
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"Alright," he said finally. "I'm ready."135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0pGM7hsuw9
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Selina turned, gesturing forward once more. "Then let us continue."135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgDpY2IOgWK
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They walked in silence, moonlight breaking through the mist in shifting rays. The air grew colder. Thinner. Each step felt lighter, as if the ground beneath his feet was becoming less real, less solid.135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjjR3K3M5nu
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Then the mist parted.135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS7C2hPT3Hj
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Cel stopped.135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡisNP13Cj7D
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The ground was carpeted in bluish-white flowers that swayed gently through the mist, their petals drawing in moonlight and releasing it in steady pulses. At the center, a focused beam of moonlight descended - so strong and concentrated it almost seemed tangible.135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuZayVAC5k8
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At first sight, he knew that this was a sacred place.135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvjOt3Ij21m
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Selina stepped forward.135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ53jtX1yCDp
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"We have arrived, Chosen One."1234 copyright protection131ＰＥＮＡＮＡpaYd9EsZ25 尼

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