A small smile spread across Cel's face - the first genuine one in longer than he could remember.135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyne8sYP1Hg
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The blessing. Finally.135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr1iOLRytsu
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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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHy6KR3snDL
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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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSwe96iBk5h
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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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiszUVLZTbv
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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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9KytA294Zr
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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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdViAtDkh2S
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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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0Z8z4jFSYC
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Cel's mind drifted toward what awaited him.135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyg5TwY1EaH
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A blessing.135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRRPnaDYlcU
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Soon the goddess's power would be woven into his very being.135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMR96FsTKy2
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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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaPtahXbJNa
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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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV3tCF8gxXx
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Three factors shaped every blessing - the foundation that determined what a Chosen One could become.135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ01S5BZ90he
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First: the nature of the god.135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3CyYGIlFzi
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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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpGPkFFlATp
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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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFA4N4WYFnH
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But the Moon Goddess?135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoPiYpkWXuV
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She was different.135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCMrJ2Ri201
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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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRjbuuhc5RY
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The reason was simple.135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdwqZE0pt7L
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They had been weak.135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6p3S1zpYOQ
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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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡopcUCz20aE
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They'd lived and died as footnotes.135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLPLijD8TB9
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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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1SFu6Ku9w8
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Selina's figure moved steadily ahead. The mist parted for her as though bowing in deference.135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQhTgFFu4BJ
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Cel watched her for a moment before his thoughts moved to the second factor: 135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ02xXZlAo9A
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The rank of the priest.135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ4gCjsIZ7s
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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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8N5jzXWADf
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But that number meant everything.135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO4yQLCqz3w
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The rank indicated proximity to their deity. How close they stood to the divine.135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP6kg0DhZsO
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And which priest was sent to a Chosen One revealed how much the god valued them.135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs8xGoswZWt
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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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcExxjUCqpn
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Conversely, someone of lower standing suggested... less. Not rejection, but neither was it embrace.135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD4WY2nteYP
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And this hierarchy directly influenced the quality of blessings bestowed.135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtJQKya0eBI
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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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLq5j3OsbRS
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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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiKYZw5mPjg
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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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4Hxo71i8T0
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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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz7pRGbqdHj
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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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡArBmCcN8vT
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His fingers curled at his sides.135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFRJwFku6LP
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And the third factor:135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmORW25B6vQ
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The compatibility between the deity and their Chosen One.135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRwdyj4dnNT
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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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP9PpJQOYF1
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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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN5p65uy1bV
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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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6iAliJa9fW
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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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbJa1I5pwxp
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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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG3cA8Jy0pf
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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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBgYIibBlrN
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Everyone wanted answers. Few existed. And in that desperation, lies flourished.135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeKsfbWwTnH
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His stomach churned with familiar revulsion.135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY9aMp7wOJJ
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False doctrines. Fabricated revelations. Entire faiths built on deliberate misinformation. Humanity had drowned itself in deception.135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡU5ci4BgVmZ
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And every level of society fed the rot.135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB1DRx3urHV
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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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUwJvtgvprJ
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But the common people?135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEVbZucZ3wF
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They weren't innocent victims.135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFBs828ujbN
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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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS4Rz4tfFOc
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Faith twisted by greed became poison that seeped through the entire kingdom.135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjPAQJe5pNm
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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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1raotAa5Gx
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Almost laughable. People begged gods for salvation while ensuring their own downfall.135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoTOKAhKebl
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And through it all, the gods remained silent.135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEf77FnJMlc
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Did they care? Or were they simply indifferent?135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5lvsE1CbI5
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That question haunted him more than any other.135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoEGsPNFzrx
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What if the gods saw exactly what he did? 135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZLkUSS3RYD
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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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeKweW5LWF8
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And Cel, no matter how much he wished otherwise, was part of that same corrupted race.135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQdCJstb7Qp
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Would he be any different?135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyYrA4HYEjU
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A bitter smirk pulled at his lips. He wanted to believe so.135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1RSDdKp9Lo
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But he knew better.135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUBg1qtljHJ
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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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjxO3LvXH4d
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He had to.135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMLPqW70nUq
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Ahead, Selina stopped.135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEX6uCCl3e1
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Cel nearly collided with her before catching himself.135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyKwleT8Ygb
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She turned to face him, white robes trailing through the mist like they were woven from it.135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwnfHyfGiDP
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"We are nearly there, Chosen One."135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlQ4fsnZQyt
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Selina gestured forward into the mist, but Cel remained still.135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBwaLe7Zq3J
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She paused, waiting.135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlfY4yLCRiq
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"I have questions," he said. "About the trial."135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPzLAM7Ibt5
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After a moment, she lowered her hand and faced him fully. "Of course. Please, ask."135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrhkQKI0LsX
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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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm4HrsyRBIY
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Silence stretched between them.135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡte6683JkHN
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"Who was it?"135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfb6eNyjaVg
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"I am sorry, Chosen One. This does not lie within my authority."135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQVqUIxs8wn
135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ37Sn7mSxkq
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0hSKpck19N
135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPUaai07NIZ
"That, too, does not lie within my authority," Selina said, her tone carrying something that might have been regret.135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcSB7sLGOWf
135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIO1SVihzD7
Cel hummed softly - half-amused, half-resigned. "Can you tell me anything about what I just went through?"135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJMs8EJ3Wng
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"Only what you experienced yourself. The trial's purpose belongs to the goddess alone."135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeEoDbbeaR8
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He let out a quiet breath. 135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyHthkVfeZH
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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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyCwRFDeWja
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"Alright," he said finally. "I'm ready."135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8YF5iVz3fP
135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRiuVlKbizL
Selina turned, gesturing forward once more. "Then let us continue."135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡojvJKsXPBK
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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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3PRKgFOSxl
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Then the mist parted.135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡORCGcGORzP
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Cel stopped.135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqsxPdWjsoY
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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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjF4CkstR2w
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At first sight, he knew that this was a sacred place.135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQrD7dAA7Rs
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Selina stepped forward.135Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuscSi15ind
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"We have arrived, Chosen One."1234 copyright protection131ＰＥＮＡＮＡmY268ZtF0M 尼

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