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Under the Hill - Second Circle: Lust


Notus

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Ixidor opens his heavy eyes only to find himself in another environment, inside of a glass dome filled flowers like a botanic garden or something. He picks himself up lightheaded and seems pleased with the scenery. He notice a well sculpted fountain with a serpent crafted into it. He scoops down with his hand and takes a drink from it. Feeling refreshed, He heard a soft yet familiar laughter and it was everywhere. He screams calling out her name and assume it was her. "Mia!" it echoes through the garden.

Edited by typhlosionrulez
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Rose groaned as the Loving Dead began to rise and wail their gruesome screeches. "Sorry Ellaria," she shouted. "This is for your own good!" Reaching into her pocket, she tugged out the other earplug and quickly plunged it into her companion's ear, taking away her sense to hear the world around her.

Turning to Enya, she hollered, "Ok, time to get to the steps." But first, Rose had an idea she wanted to try out. Standing on her branch high above the nude nuisances, looking as authorative as possible, she called above the roar of the Loving Dead, "Aighan gave us safe passage to the top of the garden. Allow us to pass unscathed and we won't harm you."

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Ixidor

Suddenly the girl appeared behind him. "Oh, hi Ix! I'm so happy you've came here to play! See if you can catch me!" With that, the girl went running through the rows of flowers, laughing happily.

==================================

Rose

The loving dead almost ignored Rose - almost, because they imediately turned to the tree and started to try climbing it.

Edited by Notus
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"Gah!!! Enya, let's go." Grabbing the child's hand, Rose abandoned all pretense of safety, jumping from branch to branch as though... Well, their lives did depend on it. Rose tried to make sure that Ellaria was ok, but everything was blurring together quickly and all she knew was that the girl's tight grip reassured her.

Finally, in the deep red light of the moon, Rose gasped in relief. "We're at the stairs!" she cried, preparing to climb down and begin the climb. However, what she smelled stopped her in her tracks. Blood. Its stench was everywhere, and only worsening, making Rose sick to her stomach. Gagging, she coughed, "New plan. Climb." Helping her friends up the tree, she waited until they were on branches before she climbed to be with them.

Having grabbed her spear again, she kept an eye on the ground in case any of the Loving Dead wanted to start attempting to climb this tree, though she wasn't sure if they knew that the three girls were there. "Hopefully," Rose told Enya, "the higher up we are, the less of a chance we have of them noticing us."

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"Fine by me, Trigger finger was getting itchy anyway." Byron said a stupid grin on his face. He pulled out God's Hand and quickly fired some bullets into the loving dead, quickly dispatching of at least 3. He went for a headshot then 1 to the heart, typical execution style. Luckily for Byron he could reload pretty quickly, being the Modern Cowboy according to himself.

The Ratman could be heard further up the steps. He was now also slaying some of the Loving Dead. It did mean bad news as they would have not only the Loving Dead to worry about, but Quincy too.

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Ethic's attention was stolen away from the group behind him as he heard some strange laughter in the distance, he looked around, spotting a strange silhouette higher up on the stair case killing some Loving Dead... it had a strangely rodent like shape to it...

His attention was again stolen away as he noticed a few Loving Dead from the crowd beginning to close in on him, he brought the black sword, swinging it in a large arc and slicing up the fiends, who fell back into the crowd screaming in pain. he turned to see another one advancing and another. he cut down the first, but was put into a bad position from striking to defend against the other one, who came at him, teeth bared and mouth gaping as it went to bite down on his shoulder...

He had little choice, he drew up some of his life force and willed it to burst outward into the thing's mouth as it made contact with his skin, causing the Loving Dead to cover it's jaw with both hands, blood leaking out beneath the palms, and retreat back into the throng of it's brother and sister sinners. Ethic couldn't help but let out a chuckle as he retracted his life force again to be called later, ever aware of the limit he had again grown a little closer to. he felt alright for now...

OK enough to keep fighting these things for a while longer... though that probably wouldn't be the case if he kept using the Death Link's Effect.

He decided that it was best not to have the thing constantly on active standby or else he might be tempted to use it needlessly here. he broke off the link, feeling the awareness of the limit disappearing from his mind and feeling a slow, faltering trickle of energy flowing back into him.

Ethic brought up his sword in another arc as more of the Loving Dead advanced, thinking to himself as the blade easily tore into them.

Is it me, or are these things... kinda frail...? like their skin is tissue paper or something...

Lucian answered unexpectedly in his mind.

No... it's not you, they really are kinda frail...

Ethic heard a loud, thwack! sound nearby, and turned his head to see Lucian as the former magus slammed down a broken tree limb on the head of a nearby Loving Dead, the thing's skull caving in and blood beginning to trickle out of the head injury as it fell to the ground limb. Ethic's attention was taken away yet again as he fended off another advancing group, this time three strong, he pivoted on his feet as he brought the blade in an upward arc, slicing one up the chest, then spun around to an about-face in order to avoid another one that was lashing out with it's finger nails, bringing the sword down on both it's arms and cutting them off. he kicked the third one back into the crowd as it neared him, and it apparently got the message not to come at him again, because he didn't see it try to return. he looked over to Lucian.

"Glad to see you're not letting your loss of power make you useless." Ethic said cheerfully as Lucian took out another Loving Dead with a swing to the cranium as he walked over to meet him.

"Yeah..." the Magus said

"So am I." He brought up the broken branch in his hand and suddenly flung it towards Ethic, who flinched before realizing as the branch flew clear over his shoulder, that the blow was not meant for him. he turned around to see it whack the same loving dead he had kicked into the crowd seconds before right in the middle of the face before falling to the ground at the things feet. it looked like it had been preparing to go for the young man's jugular with it's teeth. Ethic brought up his blade and cut the thing clean across the neck, turning to look at Lucian again as the Fiend fell to the ground limb at his feet.

"Thanks for that." he said simply before tearing man without honor from his belt and tossing it in Lucian's direction much like he had to Ethic with the branch. Lucian flinched as Ethic had, then came to a similar realization that it wasn't meant for him. he turned quickly to find that the knife had embedded itself into the chest of a Loving Dead behind him that had been advancing while his back was turned. he brought up his foot and kicked the blade deeper into the thing's chest cavity, subsequently causing it to fall to the ground limb. he reached down and retrieved Ethic's knife, looking at the other young man.

"Thanks." he said

"No problem. Besides..." Ethic replied as he dropped low and cut out the legs from under another advancing loving dead. standing up as it fell to the stones scrambling with it's arms.

"Now we're even this time."

Edited by Stratos
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Kenny then spoke up.

"This'll be no problem at all!"

Then, he Portaled to the Staircase, getting past a large crowd of the Living Dead. He then turned and yelled out a rhetorical question to Ethic, Lucian, and Byron.

"Why go through them when you can go around?"

He then got and recovered from a Headache, and then ran partway up the Stairs. He then stopped, and opened three Portals, each of them leading to a place right next to him, as well as being close to Ethic, Lucian, and Byron. he then got and recovered from a second, larger Headache, but toughed it out and kept the Portals open.

"You guys run through these when you want, I'll go on ahead!"

He then headed up the Staircase, the Portals following him. That is, until he noticed Quincy.

Edited by K_H
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"Why go through them when you can go around?"

Ethic looked up to the stair to see as Kenny ported onto them and opened up portals for each of them to go through as well.

"Kenny," he muttered to himself as he tripped up an advancing Loving Dead and cut the spinal cord when it fell to it's stomach on the ground.

"I swear to God, man... sometimes you come up with the most obvious yet best solutions..."

He looked to Lucian, who was already stepping through the portal near him. Ethic took a few steps over and entered through the one created for him, leaving the Crowd of loving dead he had been fending off standing there with their quarry now gone. he stepped onto the stair well shortly behind Kenny, along with Lucian, looking down into the crowd trying to find Byron...

when he relaized something...

didn't that strange laughing and silhouette come from this part staircase...

He turned around and looked up to see Kenny a bit higher up on the stair case, stopped mid trek as he stared up at something, Ethic followed his friend's gaze and saw the same silhouette from before.

He let out a short sigh of frustration as he tightened his grip on the black sword

"Shit can't ever just be easy down here, can it?" he muttered to himself sarcastically.

"First a crowd of disgusting, horny zombies... and then Shotgun-McGee" he began scanning the stair case, trying to find some possible way around without being detected.

Edited by Stratos
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Rose stiffened at the sound of fighting. The others are here, she thought. And from the sounds of it, they aren't in the trees this time. The twenty year old was torn between the options she had. She could stay in the tree and possibly let her other friends die needlessly to the Loving Dead, or she could abandon her two self-adopted siblings and fight with them, possibly dying in the process. Shaking her head in frustration, she frowned. While she didn't want to see any of her newfound friends get hurt, she had to stay with the girls whose care she had decided to take on.

Glancing at them, Rose smiled softly. Ellaria was calm and unable to hear the sounds that had caused her to massively freak out during the last night. Enya, on the other hand, was staring idly toward the staircase while calmly hugging her bear. It seemed that this hellish place had no effect on the young girl's mood.

Rose took a minute to focus on the bear. Enya claims the bear talks to her, she thought curiously. The bear also received its own sentencing from Minos, which was quite... Odd, admittedly. At first, she had thought that Enya's strange way of knowing information that she shouldn't was maybe part of her power, and that she used the bear as a way to explain it to others. Now, however, she was starting to think otherwise. Could it be that the bear is alive, in some way, shape, or form? "Enya," she called hesitantly to the girl, "I know that Ace likes to speak only to you, but could it be possible that he'd speak to others as well?" Realizing that her request was quite silly, she added, "If he doesn't want to, that's fine. I was only curious."

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"Oi, I said to stop calling me that! You should use the Proper name of your Hunter!!!!! It be Quincy and you best remember it." The Mad Rat yelled hearing Ethnic with his rather acute hearing. "Anyways no sense in fighting you guys right now, I may be bloodthirsty but not stupid. If I try to kill yous I am going to have to start all this shit over again, so how about we call a temporary truce?" He said as he blasted one of the Loving Dead with his version of the Preacher. A Red Mist coated his face, and splattered on his clothes, though he didn't seem to care.

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"Anyways no sense in fighting you guys right now, I may be bloodthirsty but not stupid. If I try to kill yous I am going to have to start all this shit over again, so how about we call a temporary truce?"

Ethic looked up, surprised at the earlier remark... so apparently this thing's name was quincy...

the memory of what byron had said to them before they headed out a few hours ago popped into his mind, about how he'd take care of marcus but Ethic and Kenny would have to deal with a 'quincy' guy if they came across him.

Ethic pushed the thought away as he looked over his shoulders at the massive crowd below... and then back up to the stair case... there were a few loving dead even here.

He wighed his options easily...

He wasn't stupid either, fighting here and now would indeed be in poor favor of everyone involved.

"Alright," he said simply, speaking up for Kenny's behalf as well... he didn't need any protest right now and hoped his friend would keep quiet and follow his lead.

"Sounds like music to our ears. it's a truce then until the night is over." with that he walked up the stairs, whispering to kenny as he passed

"We don't have time to start any needless fighting right now... not with those hell-spawn all around."

with that he walked past the other young man and the Rat-man known as Quincy, Lucian following behind as Ethic increased his pace, making a break to try and reach the top, which was still pretty far away.

Edited by Stratos
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When Kenny spoke next, he was clearly rattled by the fact that he'd nearly gotten himself killed, and it was evident in the way that he stuttered.

"Ag-g-greed. W-w-we'd best uphold that T-t-truce."

He then noticed Ethic and Lucian pass by him.

"Hey, Ethic, Wait up!"

Kenny then sprinted up the Stairs after Ethic, and he closed two of the three Portals he was holding open, leaving only one open, where it hovered near Quincy...

Byron's.

Edited by K_H
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Kayle raised a brow watching her master mumbling and smiling while he's asleep. The Angel takes off her eyes of Ixidor and resume observing the dim garden, guarding the boy.

Meanwhile in Ixidor's dreams. "Oh, hi Ix! I'm so happy you've came here to play! See if you can catch me!"

"Mia! Wait!" he said .Ixidor stands there confused, watching Mia playful runs through the flowers. He then started running through the row of flowers chasing the girl hoping to get some answers. "Wait! Mia! what's going on? where are we?" he finally manages to catch up as he grabs Mia's arm from behind. He catches his breath and notice his amputated hand grew back. wait, why do i have two hands?

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Bryon walked through, and upon seeing the ratman was taken aback for a second. His intition told him to shoot, but he knew there was nothing he could do without Quincy reacting in time. They both knew each other's moves, as after all, they were apparently once one in the same. "Not sure what is going on here, but you guys aren't fighting him, so I assume we have come to a truce. You best not try any funny business rat."

"Of course not, you know me Bryon, I don't go back on a promise. You know Honor or whatever. Even I got a code of ethics, Or do I? Probably do." The Rat replied.

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Ixidor

Mia turned to him, smiling.

"Here is my place Ix. You are here because I wanted you to come." she stepped closer to the boy, and placed her free hand on his. "Do you like it?"

=============================================

Phantom

After some time, the bloody flood finally receded, and Phantom could resume climbing the stairs. Looking down, he saw the silhouetes of the other guys coming up far behind, and some loving dead starting to climb after them too. He kept walking, watching his step carefully now.

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"What? Oh, Ace doesn't like talking to others very much. To be honest, he doesn't like other people very much... And getting wet." Tentatively, Enya tapped on a branch, as if to check its sturdiness. "But, Miss Rose is nice, and these ugly monsters are in the way, so Ace tells me to help!" She said it like it was nothing, in her usual way, with a cute smile, and with that, what began as a small swirl of force spiraled in the bloody sea, gradually getting bigger and bigger, until the gross soft people were helplessly torn apart and swept away into a churning whirlpool.

Mere seconds later, the torrent had disappeared, to reveal a static draining hole in the ground, which flickered and was no more.

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Rose nodded, expecting the answer and not bitter at all. So he only talks to Enya, I figured that. I must be going insane to even consider this, she thought, lightly rubbing her head. Looking down, she saw that all of the blood had disappeared with one of Enya's rifts at the bottom. "That solves that," she sighed without any curiousity. "Let's go." Helping the girls down from the tree, she picked up Ellaria and grabbed Enya's hand. The girls then began to run, passing several dead Loving Dead on the way.

Upon nearing the staircase, she saw one of Kenny's portals close. "Dang it!" she muttered. Reaching up with a hand, she snagged the earplugs from Ellaria. "Ellaria, I need you to tell me if you hear anyone coming. Right now, it doesn't matter if they're friend or foe," she told the girl, panting as she ran. She then hefted her spear into a battering ram-like position and began to charge up the staircase with her companions.

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Annie burst from the foliage, rocketing through the air and landing on the stairs, leaves flurrying around her. She risked a glance behind her.

"Damn things are back again." She lowered her hood, before fixing her hair. Looking ahead of her at last, she saw Quincy. She instinctively tensed up and raised her hands, but as she watched him shoot the Loving Dead, she lowered her stance and stepped back. "Hey guys. Sorry to just uh.. jump in on you like that?" She gave a strained smile, before turning round to look around. Most were familiar faces. Some new ones. She saw Rose holding a spear, and quickly got an idea.

"Hey, Rose. Am I able to borrow that spear? Or maybe you could get me one? I got a bit of an idea." She was very good at fighting, but she wasnt going to risk hand to hand combat with those creatures.

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With a sigh of relief at seeing Annie, Rose tossed her spear over. "Just get it back to me!" she called back, turning her eyes back upward and continuing her stair dash.

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Ethic cut into a Loving Dead furiously as it tried to grab for him as he passed by on his run up the stair case, the blow sending the thing off balance and tumbling of the structure, falling to the stones of the gardens far below. he ran farther and farther up, trying to reach the top in as little time as possible.

He dodged more of the fiends as they tried to catch him on the way up, hearing behind him as Lucian followed behind and dispatched them with Man Without Honor and pushed them off the stair case to clear a way for Kenny and Byron behind them. he only stopped when he heard a tearing sound from up above, looking up the stair way to see as a familiar man stepped out from the tear in the air, his suit crisp as he strut out before Ethic with a confident smirk on his face.

don-draper-1.jpg

"Why, Hello, Ethic, strange seeing you here."

Ethic let out a sigh... he didn't have the time for idle chit-chat... he looked up past where Maxwell stood, blocking his way.

he could see the top of the stairs... he was half-way there

"Oh, don't worry about time, this will be quick and simple" said Maxwell, tucking his hands into the pockets of his business suit.

"Ethic looked behind him as Kenny and Lucian and Byron were coming up the stair following him. he turned back to Maxwell...

"Fine, get on with whatever it is that can't wait..."

Maxwell glanced off behind him towards the top of the stair as he spoke

"Alright then, Ethic, do you officially declare war of the Arcane Council?"

Ethic looked at Maxwell puzzled

where the hell did that question come from? Didn't I already do that when I killed Scott and Rodric...?

Ethic was about to respond with a cryptic answer, say he'd only do what he needed to protect himself from them... when he felt a surge of anger suddenly rise to the surface. he closed his mouth before he could speak, glaring at Maxwell...

You want to know if I'll declare war, you moron?

He answered Vehemently, the rage in his voice palpable compared to the relative calm he was in a few moments ago when the conversation started.

"Yeah, on all you inhuman bastards... Your reigns are up, time for someone else to come along and take power..."

He raised his sword aggresively towards Maxwell, griping the hilt with both hands.

"Someone who want go abusing it... someone who doesn't go and try to wipe people from existence for completely circumstantial shit. You started this, so don't be surprised. I told you all that what happened couldn't have possibly been my fault, but you didn't give a damn, you send a hit team for me..."

a cruel grin spread on his face as he recalled how he had overcome both his would be murderers

"Bet you all were surprised when I took out both of them like it was nothing... one was foolish while using his ability... and the other wasn't so strong when the shoe was on the other foot."

Maxwell stared into Ethic's eyes, smiling ominously

"Yes, very good... but yes or no, Ethic, Do you declare war?"

"Yes," Ethic said, annoyed now

"I freaking declare war on the Arcane Council and anyone who works for their interest. I'm going to destroy each and every last one of you... and i'm going to make it as humiliating as possible, and then when your statues appear in my dark space, I'll smash them to pieces and further desecrate your bodies by burning you all in a mass grave. then I'll crucify what's left, and I'll put all the Latin crosses upside-down so that your feet point up to the sky and your heads point down towards hell. Is that what you fucking wanted to hear, Maxwell...?"

Maxwell stifled a laugh... he was obviously quite happy about something right now... but Ethic didn't care, he just wanted to get up these damn stairs.

"alright then, Ethic, it's official... you have very much declared war now."

Maxwell stepped back into the rift without another word after that, still laughing for some reason.

============================

he sealed the rift and began walking back up the illuminated path towards the Arcane Sanctum, speaking to himself as he walked alone in the darkness.

"Oh, yes, Ethic... That went even better than I had hoped... that was no declaration of war! that went far beyond simple war... that was the plotting of complete genocide that you outlined. Seems you had no idea I was poking around n your emotions... but either way, that's how you feel in your soul..."

He stopped laughing as he neared the bright door to the sanctum, materializing a tape recorder and pushing the play button on it, playing back exactly what Ethic had said moments ago.

"The Council will be trying to come at you in waves now that you've proven yourself such a deadly threat by killing those two idiots and saying all this... which will move everything along much faster for me..."

with that he walked through the door way

=====================================

Ethic ground his teeth as Maxwell left... he found that right now he for some reason wished he'd taken a swing at him with his sword... then as quickly as the anger had come, it faded away, leaving him in the same state of mind before Maxwell had appeared.

He looked to lucian, who was now a few feet further behind Ethic than he had been during the conversation.

"What did I just do?" he asked

"I... don't really know... " Lucian said

"But Maxwell was happy about something you were saying... which probably isn't good... and Ethic," Lucian pointed the somewhere behind Ethic

"Behind you, to the left."

Ethic knew it was a Loving Dead the moment the smell of blood and the moaning hit him. he brought the sword around in a long horizontal arc, slicing it across the chest before kicking it and sending it tumbling off the stair case. he looked up at the goal...

and smiled as he saw that the Stair further up was completely clear. without a word more about the encounter with Maxwell, he again took off, dashing for the top with Lucian in tow, though now the magus kept a noticeable distance from him...

Edited by Stratos
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Ixidor eyes move from left to right observing each corner of the place before answering Mia's question, "uhmm.. yeah, I'm glad you're here too, this place is perfect" he pause "too perfect" he mumbles.

the young artist comes up with a sudden realization. "wait.... Is this is a dream?why are you here? am i close of getting out this circle?" he lets go of the warmth of Mia's hands.

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Ixidor

Mia´s face darkened a bit when Ixidor his hand out of hers. "I see. You just want to pass to the next circle and get out of here." she stepped back. "And yes, this is a dream. My dream. The place I come too to hide from reality." She turned and gently caressed a big red rose near her. " But I couldn´t dream with people. Until now these flowers were my only companions. Then you came and... I thought... maybe I wouldn´t be alone anymore."

Ellaria

Ellaria finally got to hear thing again. Although the loving dead were still making noise around, it was way lower than last night, and now she knew what to expect. The girl hear Rose´s question. "Oh, yeah sure Rose."

She focused, kneeling and putting one hand at the ground to feel the vibrations better. "I can hear something but I don´t know what exactly." the girl looked puzzled. It seems like rocks... moving?"

Phantom

Finally, the last step.

Phantom was about to arrive at the top of the stairway when he heard a cracking noise to his side. It was only thanks to his reflexes that he dodged when a stone viper - that was supposed to be a statue - jumped towards him. The rest of the stone beasts in the stairs were coming to life as well, he could see. He stepped back, drawn sword ready for the next attack.

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"Rocks..." Rose muttered. This place was becoming more and more of an agitation to her. "Thank you Ellaria," she said, slowing slightly. Now that they were well up the stairs, the young woman though that they would be able to slow down and take a slight breather. Setting Ellaria down gently, she grabbed her hand and checked on Enya. The girl looked calm and happy, as per her usual.

Rose tensed when she heard cracking up ahead in the staircase. It continued down to where the trio of girls were, and with a resounding crunch of stone, the statues that surrounded then began to move. "Gah!" she cried in shock as one of the stone creations managed to puncture her shoulder. Twisting, she freed herself and grabbed Enya and Ellaria. "Freeze!" she shouted at the stone monsters. To the girls, she added, "Run!" feeling more panicked than she ever had.

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Ellaria let out a scream when something big passed roaring near her head. She heard Rose scream and started running along with her, keeping her head low. " Rose! Are you okay?" she asked the older girl.

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