A small smile spread across Cel's face - the first genuine one in longer than he could remember.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg2mIv1Lzkx
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The blessing. Finally.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvoWAvKVTOX
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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.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFCyGl9mmkF
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The moon hung full and radiant above, its pale light washing over the cracked earth of his soul's landscape.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbtjCaTcq8e
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"Please follow me, Chosen One." Selina’s voice carried gentle warmth as she gestured toward the mist with graceful fingers.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1JkZyboOiS
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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.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡevQQoIkUiU
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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.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVKgUS7P5iB
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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.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVckMjNgrmJ
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Cel's mind drifted toward what awaited him.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGqn0SE0xy6
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A blessing.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPbnYnACimc
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Soon the goddess's power would be woven into his very being.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6Py4SPSV0T
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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.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAn3bAKj1OV
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But he'd never truly considered what they were. What it meant to be bound to a deity.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhZNJD34Xi3
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Three factors shaped every blessing - the foundation that determined what a Chosen One could become.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq4cib8GHja
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First: the nature of the god.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEnynQAIbQg
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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.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQVznEMPj79
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He'd spent his entire life studying them, memorizing their achievements, listening to endless sermons about their legendary deeds.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVPVdZrGxjv
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But the Moon Goddess?134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD73SJZAouG
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She was different.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsy8r7CG0F4
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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.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF2D5GOWCAy
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The reason was simple.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsC9CFEkH0L
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They had been weak.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqIrz2ZZ0HP
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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.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCXC77R77p5
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They'd lived and died as footnotes.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSL6A7qcUog
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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.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoDmoHo8sT7
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Selina's figure moved steadily ahead. The mist parted for her as though bowing in deference.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUrChVRhgV6
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Cel watched her for a moment before his thoughts moved to the second factor: 134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1LqFGSxpA1
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The rank of the priest.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4MBbPEVYYW
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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.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuVPO10CFAn
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But that number meant everything.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQi0YvGPelo
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The rank indicated proximity to their deity. How close they stood to the divine.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb7t0hB3YJr
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And which priest was sent to a Chosen One revealed how much the god valued them.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ79lINywNia
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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.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1qlGoRC1H9
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Conversely, someone of lower standing suggested... less. Not rejection, but neither was it embrace.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkdE7HhPrXS
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And this hierarchy directly influenced the quality of blessings bestowed.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZhCQipq5za
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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.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ4KI67y5Ct
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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.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXC9T3jWgVA
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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.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE7Ak6mVFns
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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.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbVpHicFL1n
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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.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeD88D8I32T
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His fingers curled at his sides.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqCzy28beMJ
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And the third factor:134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTOnibO3zNY
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The compatibility between the deity and their Chosen One.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfKxtIXxb2c
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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.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyGFivOE6qe
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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.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡABGkbb0SdD
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Cel wasn't sure what he believed. Maybe all those theories were wrong. Maybe they were all right.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLnG9OBkvU3
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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.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGseeiHBHCN
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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.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfkSo0CmgPw
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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.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf09DVYDdns
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Everyone wanted answers. Few existed. And in that desperation, lies flourished.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUezfijpUeQ
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His stomach churned with familiar revulsion.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD1JX8lp2I8
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False doctrines. Fabricated revelations. Entire faiths built on deliberate misinformation. Humanity had drowned itself in deception.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKcDLr2ZOgO
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And every level of society fed the rot.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLeqq10cLvw
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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.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV8Elqrba55
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But the common people?134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡandrbnSMHi
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They weren't innocent victims.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhTmBiNAWE0
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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. 134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbkpUXOwlGY
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Faith twisted by greed became poison that seeped through the entire kingdom.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvWC8Bj0Miv
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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.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzYUpAHMqsu
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Almost laughable. People begged gods for salvation while ensuring their own downfall.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxNVJB5Xq8z
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And through it all, the gods remained silent.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3LxJCc8JWl
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Did they care? Or were they simply indifferent?134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsjmtWCSD1x
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That question haunted him more than any other.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9qwoPgH5Gx
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What if the gods saw exactly what he did? 134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAVpW4Z98Dj
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Every lie, every corruption, every twisted doctrine - and remained silent because humanity had earned its ignorance. Not punishment. Just... consequences. 134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlaBLQv1DRp
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And Cel, no matter how much he wished otherwise, was part of that same corrupted race.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPc2g4koRHw
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Would he be any different?134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3z6dPrFZWo
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A bitter smirk pulled at his lips. He wanted to believe so.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlfZkpGtxLY
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But he knew better.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSMllJBSCXU
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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.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7kbOeXfnPy
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He had to.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0ZQjlkhvxS
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Ahead, Selina stopped.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbPgAVdSYKk
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Cel nearly collided with her before catching himself.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvFwCrYSVMF
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She turned to face him, white robes trailing through the mist like they were woven from it.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzG5AMWjuS4
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"We are nearly there, Chosen One."134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjah1r0uSob
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Selina gestured forward into the mist, but Cel remained still.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKHRg2llpUr
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She paused, waiting.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPfzRNVQRgy
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"I have questions," he said. "About the trial."134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8sEjIabzDp
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After a moment, she lowered her hand and faced him fully. "Of course. Please, ask."134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlTwINm0Ajy
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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."134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoo5WmfFCZE
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Silence stretched between them.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTz5IOOo5OT
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"Who was it?"134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4zMAXuJjbY
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"I am sorry, Chosen One. This does not lie within my authority."134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8sy3Mtje6C
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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?"134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV5PWYahs9u
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"That, too, does not lie within my authority," Selina said, her tone carrying something that might have been regret.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRIVYNSvuWm
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Cel hummed softly - half-amused, half-resigned. "Can you tell me anything about what I just went through?"134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzY5ggS3LLD
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"Only what you experienced yourself. The trial's purpose belongs to the goddess alone."134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrqEQeQd70E
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He let out a quiet breath. 134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3VP7PYEPPF
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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.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWURFpisRc9
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"Alright," he said finally. "I'm ready."134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgg2EdxCREy
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Selina turned, gesturing forward once more. "Then let us continue."134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6AIgaML6GO
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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.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc6qPTMeDwh
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Then the mist parted.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKIXEPPjmCK
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Cel stopped.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRx3cMr6Cga
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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.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfapZwXJr4F
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At first sight, he knew that this was a sacred place.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbdXoGAMP1n
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Selina stepped forward.134Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp89MFrxE7z
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"We have arrived, Chosen One."1234 copyright protection130ＰＥＮＡＮＡNBPzjoA1ql 尼

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