A small smile spread across Cel's face - the first genuine one in longer than he could remember.169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYCifKLq3SB
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The blessing. Finally.169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKdPyiox9pt
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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.169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdqJqyyGQnu
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The moon hung full and radiant above, its pale light washing over the cracked earth of his soul's landscape.169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqXBlfyvyWM
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"Please follow me, Chosen One." Selina’s voice carried gentle warmth as she gestured toward the mist with graceful fingers.169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv9zjLepwEe
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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.169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq6Fi6EJvAd
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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.169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPMf8iNvgn2
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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.169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhZ3axqGcRU
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Cel's mind drifted toward what awaited him.169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnaNGbhnbeG
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A blessing.169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD0e9OybAW6
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Soon the goddess's power would be woven into his very being.169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyyCJn5pRdz
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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.169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡygX7d99nMN
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But he'd never truly considered what they were. What it meant to be bound to a deity.169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHgTrh0h335
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Three factors shaped every blessing - the foundation that determined what a Chosen One could become.169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlqH2kd0ail
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First: the nature of the god.169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC1AtQFAdQb
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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.169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLVunukQlbH
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He'd spent his entire life studying them, memorizing their achievements, listening to endless sermons about their legendary deeds.169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ94PaxJGyCk
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But the Moon Goddess?169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL9tuKdqNqM
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She was different.169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ43bAmbEzAr
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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.169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYwhBTX3K7T
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The reason was simple.169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSlBcuQ3q2V
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They had been weak.169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡceT9B0q069
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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.169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEJr6rtidFU
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They'd lived and died as footnotes.169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlKLA6m5Hnh
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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.169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2WrCazAkRt
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Selina's figure moved steadily ahead. The mist parted for her as though bowing in deference.169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgRkW4KCMor
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Cel watched her for a moment before his thoughts moved to the second factor: 169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQlCRB1olma
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The rank of the priest.169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡymOtZxiK4o
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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.169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGYz5oCCM0b
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But that number meant everything.169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6tX5KO59pb
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The rank indicated proximity to their deity. How close they stood to the divine.169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwRj4jQ6Qr2
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And which priest was sent to a Chosen One revealed how much the god valued them.169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpAeXnsZ9kg
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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.169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡINcufUPOey
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Conversely, someone of lower standing suggested... less. Not rejection, but neither was it embrace.169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBMDbFYGyGF
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And this hierarchy directly influenced the quality of blessings bestowed.169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv9mMBFnTvR
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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.169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡon4UFKre6D
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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.169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzIhEWYUW7f
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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.169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3CtSHeENdp
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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.169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEVcpV111am
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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.169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfDivnfoYRJ
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His fingers curled at his sides.169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0QciCzXw9r
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And the third factor:169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZn6tQ1WaiV
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The compatibility between the deity and their Chosen One.169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ4EIn4lV47
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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.169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFZaJ7OMyQI
169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7OG8kovkJa
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.169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡox8TMY6rka
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Cel wasn't sure what he believed. Maybe all those theories were wrong. Maybe they were all right.169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkKPdVDGHmE
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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.169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3hjdbBZF3s
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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.169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmh0ETZFEMf
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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.169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsbGWVFKqqD
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Everyone wanted answers. Few existed. And in that desperation, lies flourished.169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPX34lKbAeI
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His stomach churned with familiar revulsion.169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6ws8lgPT7f
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False doctrines. Fabricated revelations. Entire faiths built on deliberate misinformation. Humanity had drowned itself in deception.169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0a7BCGJKL6
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And every level of society fed the rot.169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEhwhK7cboj
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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.169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgMn9A9HIkF
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But the common people?169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg1Zt5oL6XX
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They weren't innocent victims.169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcQDfmqboKB
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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. 169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM6bfgJ6DYr
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Faith twisted by greed became poison that seeped through the entire kingdom.169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhJqQmYRoHl
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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.169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlSworyouiJ
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Almost laughable. People begged gods for salvation while ensuring their own downfall.169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVsuwcNI2fV
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And through it all, the gods remained silent.169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkWhovtFnA2
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Did they care? Or were they simply indifferent?169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgRtjm4Klvl
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That question haunted him more than any other.169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡusaWLY8dJu
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What if the gods saw exactly what he did? 169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNhBql64coo
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Every lie, every corruption, every twisted doctrine - and remained silent because humanity had earned its ignorance. Not punishment. Just... consequences. 169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa4jkQ6I5iP
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And Cel, no matter how much he wished otherwise, was part of that same corrupted race.169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb669jzVZKa
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Would he be any different?169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2kUrQPtEys
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A bitter smirk pulled at his lips. He wanted to believe so.169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNhPb57QvIr
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But he knew better.169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa1P8FJrGLB
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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.169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbuetR4tNTG
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He had to.169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5fNTaF5Gz7
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Ahead, Selina stopped.169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1vhulr5cEC
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Cel nearly collided with her before catching himself.169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgK3XaYqtY5
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She turned to face him, white robes trailing through the mist like they were woven from it.169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCSsxZ7V6Xn
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"We are nearly there, Chosen One."169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5aUqvoGGMf
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Selina gestured forward into the mist, but Cel remained still.169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV3cn13ibU9
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She paused, waiting.169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGFliS5y9fa
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"I have questions," he said. "About the trial."169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI9gd1cRJ2r
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After a moment, she lowered her hand and faced him fully. "Of course. Please, ask."169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdzpMpWctex
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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."169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyRZGtUejk7
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Silence stretched between them.169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxxkGSQPp28
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"Who was it?"169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJZ9kLNiJRh
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"I am sorry, Chosen One. This does not lie within my authority."169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ739H4q3iTA
169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2YTWR99C0c
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?"169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoAZfImEbid
169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKrgAmBBZey
"That, too, does not lie within my authority," Selina said, her tone carrying something that might have been regret.169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd6KTWb9LUP
169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN1yWTnhS4j
Cel hummed softly - half-amused, half-resigned. "Can you tell me anything about what I just went through?"169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvfrBtlqVFB
169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLaXFeTMj6l
"Only what you experienced yourself. The trial's purpose belongs to the goddess alone."169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCkEk1C9Ekh
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He let out a quiet breath. 169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvJqPLVR0Wm
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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.169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡycyl1Alp9E
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"Alright," he said finally. "I'm ready."169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhepNWtcpff
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Selina turned, gesturing forward once more. "Then let us continue."169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPVo0emlGyQ
169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYWeqqRuvBk
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.169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbWP6MeTiv6
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Then the mist parted.169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUKZBaBZrcr
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Cel stopped.169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJmYyObaoty
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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.169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9t8d6Hcn3h
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At first sight, he knew that this was a sacred place.169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsGyoej8D5e
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Selina stepped forward.169Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDefYAz5CkJ
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"We have arrived, Chosen One."1234 copyright protection165ＰＥＮＡＮＡDmoVfidskE 尼

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