The world twisted violently as he plunged through the surface. The cold enveloped him entirely, not like water but something far more alien - a liquid stillness that seemed to devour sound, light, and time. For a fleeting moment, there was absolute silence, a void so profound it felt as though even his thoughts had been swallowed.250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3mztwl5Wn2
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Suddenly, it felt as if he broke through a wall, and then he was falling through empty air until he slammed into a hard, smooth surface. The impact drove the breath from his lungs, leaving him gasping for air.250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJkRgoRJq3E
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For several heartbeats, he lay still, his mind struggling to process what had happened. Then he pushed himself up on his elbows and looked around. 250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9YuIBZiVvW
250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEnQ1SJPQG7
Gone were the violet crystals that had nearly killed him. In their place stretched corridors of black glass, their surfaces so perfectly reflective they seemed to hold depths that extended forever. The walls pulsed with a sickly phosphorescent glow that seemed to breathe beneath the surface, casting everything in an otherworldly pallor.250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmzwjInT88S
250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKRRG9ZT6P7
Cel pushed himself to his knees, wincing at the cold that radiated up through his palms. His reflection stared back at him from every surface - but not just one reflection. Dozens of them filled the black mirrors, and none moved when he did.250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡggI2FJQwHA
250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrqYC1ReMFB
One reflection tilted its head. Another pressed its palm against the glass from the inside, fingers splayed. A third simply smiled with too many teeth.250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu2Uu0XbykC
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"What in..." The word died in his throat as every reflection turned toward him in perfect unison, their movements creating a ripple effect through the mirrored halls.250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ77oo41XVy
250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl6Iu4fKJ0a
He scrambled to his feet, backing away from the nearest wall. But there was nowhere to go - reflections surrounded him on all sides, each one wearing his face but moving independently. Some wept tears that left dark streaks down their cheeks. Others snarled with animal fury. One stood perfectly still, its eyes tracking his every movement like a predator sizing up prey.250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKYz80ZBhsR
250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtnwSECNmTn
The silence that had plagued him since the crystal maze was gone. Here, sound returned with vengeful intensity. Every breath he took echoed from a hundred mirrored throats. His heartbeat thundered back at him, amplified until it felt like war drums pounding in his skull.250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7VKC7WODEs
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He took a step forward, and the obsidian floor rippled beneath his feet like the lake's surface. The motion sent fresh waves of nausea through his stomach, but he forced himself to keep moving. Standing still felt like surrender.250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3HldYc1qdl
250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgiOOcCKUIt
As he walked deeper into the mirrored world, the reflections began to change. They no longer wore his current face - scarred, hardened by suffering. Instead, they showed him as he had been. The boy who had cowered before his father's fists. The son who had disappointed everyone who ever looked at him.250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1RWkwSS9lw
250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX0wcTwGtBT
In one mirror, Lord Aldric's face materialized behind his younger self. His father's mouth moved in familiar patterns of rage, though no sound escaped the glass. But Cel didn't need to hear the words - he knew them by heart.250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4ipt11viIS
250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYB36sSGFhi
The reflection of his younger self flinched with each silent blow, shoulders hunching in the defensive posture Cel had perfected through years of beatings. Blood welled from the boy's split lip, and his eyes - Cel's own eyes - burned with helpless rage that had nowhere to go. 250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDxHOCPfmb2
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"Stop," Cel whispered, but the scene continued to play out behind the glass. His father's hands closed around the boy's throat, shaking him like a broken doll.250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMcyfpxfkFw
250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡudKKz8dSqf
More mirrors awakened around him. His mother appeared in one, her face a mask of cold indifference as she turned her back on her bleeding son. ’He brought this on himself,’ her lips seemed to say.250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBIuGqONeV6
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Darian filled another mirror, standing in the doorway with his fists clenched and his feet rooted to the floor. The older brother who had never lifted a finger to help, who had watched every beating with the detached interest of someone observing the weather. His reflection mouthed words that cut deeper than any blade. ‘Not worth it.’250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlwh00zQfmm
250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsoDsPZKUHa
The mirrors multiplied as Cel stumbled forward. Faces from his past filled every reflective surface - clan members who had sneered at the failure of House Solmar, servants who had whispered about the family's shame, lords and ladies who had looked through him as if he didn't exist.250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQqL0OBd3rz
250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSYQ3DxfilX
But it was the cult members who made him stop breathing.250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk8yNWkJXwB
250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVfERTFViAq
They emerged from the deepest mirrors like nightmares given form. Purple robes that seemed to devour light, hoods that cast shadows too deep for natural darkness. Their faces remained hidden, but their presence filled the mirrored halls with the memory of pain so intense it had carved channels in his soul.250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5c4uvEoKcQ
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One stepped closer to the glass, and Cel saw the glint of the blade that had opened his veins countless times. Another held a vial of his own blood, dark and congealed. They had fed on his suffering for an entire year, growing strong on his weakness while his father counted the gold they'd paid for his torment.250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgr0MEXOozo
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The reflections of his younger self began to speak then, their voices overlapping in a chorus of self-hatred that made his knees buckle.250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIaQTrHqYe6
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”You'll never be enough.”250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9UO0ygIwO0
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”You should have died in that cell.”250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUE4TJaD0OV
250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrlqmTXoruA
”They saw you for what you are - weak and pathetic.”250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ73dCv5FVIP
250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8x14yeljfD
”Do you really think the gods care about your suffering?”250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZ0lI95Ai5G
250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3QLZMjVFtq
”You've always been a failure.”250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ95ORJlA6T7
250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyzV32x00Km
”No one is coming to save you. No one ever will.”250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAwXDpUVOMc
250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj5TsB1wDH2
”They were relieved to be rid of you.”250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXRKu1r5EPt
250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMDmSmuZfPz
Cel's ears remained useless, yet he heard everything. Each word finding the spaces between his ribs where doubt had always lived. Cel's breath came in ragged gasps, his chest rising and falling like a bellows worked by desperate hands. The silence that had plagued him since yesterday was a distant memory now - here, every cruel whisper thundered with the force of absolute truth.250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF7aGSWIp9W
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He pressed his palms against his skull, fingers digging into his scalp until he felt the sharp bite of his own nails.250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡonBNy37NOa
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”You know we're right.”250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0OkjonFRMq
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”You've always known.”250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDYKIceYQKl
250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLo8NiSkCmV
”Stop fighting what you are.”250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLmAVYEZ8RW
250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh1P5Zl3r0n
Tears burned behind his eyes, but Cel bit down on his tongue until he tasted blood. He wouldn't break. Not for them. Not after everything he had endured.250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXtZTqgLWqy
250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqPL2NFyvUP
But even as he stood defiant, the mirrors began to change. The black glass surfaces rippled like water disturbed by stones. Hairline cracks appeared, spreading outward in spider web patterns that caught the sickly light and threw it back in fractured rays.250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDVuz7MQodB
250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd74LT95V6b
The first reflection pressed its palm against the glass from inside, and where flesh met mirror, the barrier began to soften. Like wax held too close to flame, the obsidian surface warped and stretched.250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgM0m5AybV9
250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvSGaMthrtD
Lord Aldric's face emerged first, pushing through the yielding mirror as if surfacing from deep water. But this was not the man Cel remembered - this version gleamed with an inner light that made his skin appear translucent, veins of silver running beneath the surface like captured starlight. When his boots touched the obsidian floor, they rang out like hammer strikes on an anvil.250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwKhXo7wnYw
250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnbXLU6UK4q
"Look at you," he said, his voice carrying the weight of mountains. Each word fell like a physical blow, driving Cel back a step. "Still cowering. Still weak."250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuvFQSK8CW3
250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡesiqYg1xZc
The mirror behind him continued to ripple, and more figures began to emerge. Cel's mother stepped through with ethereal grace, her form wavering like heat shimmer. His sister clung to her skirts, eyes wide with the same terror Cel had seen on that terrible day. But there was something else in her gaze now - disappointment, so profound it made his stomach clench.250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwuuHtyMSVY
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"We tried to love you," his mother whispered, her voice barely audible yet somehow cutting through every other sound. "But you made it so hard."250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHpuXMtWbo2
250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxBcMh7p5gv
Darian came next, his crystalline form catching the phosphorescent light as he moved. He met Cel's eyes for only a moment before looking away, his fists clenched so tightly that light leaked between his fingers. 250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXuK4jvn8O7
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"I wanted to help you." His crystalline form shifted slightly. "But you never made it worth the risk."250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa5Y91c5L0D
250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJA1XvdWw68
The clan members followed in a cascade of silver and shadow, their sneers frozen on faces that gleamed like marble. They moved in perfect synchronization, pointing at Cel with fingers that extended like accusatory daggers250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUXqzdn2tGT
250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjX0lFkida4
"Disgrace."250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOtbryUKIaG
250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHaNhmtDhUV
"Failure."250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlU7SeZqmgd
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"Mistake."250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeobcu6yULN
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Their voices overlapped, creating a harmony of condemnation that made the air itself seem to thicken.250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPFCRv7OhlD
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Behind them, the cultists stepped through their mirrors with barely a whisper, purple robes settling around them like shadows. They took their places among the gathering without fanfare, silent reminders of past torment.250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCo5GUHsjoS
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But it was the mirrors cracking wider still that made Cel's breath catch in his throat.250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhGxfn5nOT7
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His own reflections began to emerge.250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnLsypY1jrn
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They came slowly and deliberately, like hunters who knew their prey had nowhere to run. The first was himself at seven years old - small, bruised, with eyes that had already learned to expect pain. Its mirror-born body moved with the jerky, uncertain gait of a child who had been struck too many times to trust his own balance.250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTdbIoVdqRU
250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk262Gs7OPz
Another followed: the prisoner, gaunt and hollow-eyed, his ribs clearly visible beneath gaunt skin. This version of himself moved with the careful, measured steps of someone who had learned that sudden movements brought punishment.250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSiRZHKnHIP
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A third reflection stepped through - older, harder, with Cel's current face but twisted by something that looked like madness. This version smiled with too many teeth, and when it spoke, its voice carried the rasp of someone who had screamed until his throat bled.250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYPxdiJRrwi
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"Nothing changed," the child-reflection whispered, its voice high and broken.250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnQW5sjqGCp
250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGWoAgQVSns
The prisoner-reflection tilted its head, studying Cel with the detached interest of a scholar examining an insect. "You think escape means freedom? We know better, don't we?"250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKJLfPl2ydr
250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYsVpV0GtWA
The mad-reflection threw back its head and laughed, the sound like glass grinding against stone. "Freedom? There is no freedom. There's only what they made us."250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqCd67dcn2o
250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUZCYtFbScM
More emerged - dozens of versions of himself, each one representing a different moment of breaking, a different surrender to despair. They formed circles around him, creating a forest of accusation and self-hatred.250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiSZpQJlKA4
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"You should have died in that cell," hissed a reflection with lips cracked and bleeding from dehydration. 250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1c7cNgfP3v
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"Death would have been kinder," agreed another, this one bearing scars the cultists had carved into his flesh.250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOWHNkbDkWL
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"But you were too weak even for that," sneered a third, its throat raw and damaged from screaming.250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZXW1BLfmiv
250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOlOKAOEES5
Cel's legs gave out. He crashed to his knees on the reflective floor, the impact sending ripples across the surface. His breath came in sharp, desperate gasps, each inhalation feeling like it might be his last. The weight of their collective judgment pressed down on him, heavier than chains, more suffocating than the cultists' dungeon walls.250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMHawT3Zdg5
250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLciprMJepd
"Weak."250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1HtiE4glQK
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"Pathetic."250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTkKILEH5Qh
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“Failure."250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtBhpaaN2mM
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"Worthless."250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLh9EGVFYvE
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"Coward."250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMVotrWz8Cy
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"Nothing."250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCke38O1m4W
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Tears burned at the corners of his eyes, and this time he couldn't stop them. They carved hot tracks down his cheeks, each drop hitting the ground with a sound like a funeral bell. His shoulders shook with the effort of holding himself upright as everything he'd survived, all the pain that had become his foundation, rose up to claim him.250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0lkYk9wHoz
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For a moment that stretched like eternity, he felt himself falling into that familiar darkness. The void where nothing mattered because nothing had ever mattered. Where the pain was so complete it became a kind of peace.250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9IGs4ez8Gk
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Suddenly, he heard laughter - a wild, broken sound that scraped against the obsidian walls like fingernails on glass. It bubbled up from somewhere deep and fractured, edged with hysteria.250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvluZVuCWrI
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It took him a moment to realize it was coming from his own throat.250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKgcFKI1jfo
250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2mL7lrEXUj
"Ha... haha... HAHAHA!" The sound grew louder, more unhinged with each breath. His shoulders shook violently, not with sobs but with mirth that felt like madness clawing its way out of his chest. Tears streamed down his cheeks, hot and burning, but still the laughter poured out of him.250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6XLLyEALCD
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The reflections paused, their sneers faltering as Cel's hysterical cackling filled the mirrored halls.250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJqlMmhvSeA
250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLAXAhg4quW
"You think... haha… you think this hurts?" He gasped between fits of laughter, his voice turning savage, primal - the sound of something fundamental snapping inside him.250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEGyNWCafW4
250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwD69lCL2qQ
"You want me broken?" he shrieked, the words torn from his throat between bursts of manic laughter. "If that's what this world wants from me - if that's what you ALL want from me - then fine! I'll break!"250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8FcpzyfXu4
250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5LJoOW5PaO
For the first time since he'd entered this trial, a smile crept across Cel's face. It was a wide, happy smile full of pure delight, even though tears still streamed down his cheeks.250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzHinxG65lT
250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbpnlru7LT6
The mad-reflection stepped closer, its twisted smile widening. "Oh, what's this? Finally cracking, are we? About time you—"250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN0WKo5t0Jy
250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJYUaXIWfY1
Cel launched himself forward with a burst of euphoric laughter that sounded almost joyful. His hands slammed into the reflection's chest, sending both of them crashing to the ground. The impact rang out like a bell, but Cel barely felt it.250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzgj8dUvDgJ
250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAS6PAkNmzr
His laughter bubbled out of him like a spring, bright and musical as his fists pounded into the reflection's face. Each blow sent spider-web cracks racing across its crystalline features, and each crack made him laugh harder, as if this destruction was the most wonderful thing he'd ever witnessed.250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLgP889rNkQ
250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ39Nv1cu1Gl
The reflection tried to speak, its mouth opening in protest, but Cel's fist crashed into it again. And again. And again.250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEZmAkKo7hf
250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4HcyOBXt7G
His knuckles split against the crystalline surface, his own blood mixing with the fragments. But the pain only made him laugh harder, as if each strike brought him genuine happiness.250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjMJfNdDWS7
250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUgAPYFlpFo
With a final, devastating blow, the reflection exploded beneath his fists. Fragments scattered across the floor like fallen stars, each piece reflecting his tear-streaked face - still wearing that beautiful, terrible smile.250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡperYkl0VLx
250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9xs7GVyaHJ
Cel knelt there in the debris, his laughter gradually fading into ragged breathing. The other reflections had gone silent, watching him with something that might have been fear.250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEWhJ9wo4jo
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He looked up at them with a wide and radiant smile of mad delight.250Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAhWFCoQi8l
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“Who’s next?”1234 copyright protection246ＰＥＮＡＮＡiGQSpFC7Vv 尼

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