DISCLAIR: This story is NOT MINE IN ANY WAY. That honor has gone to the beautiful bastard Ryugii. This has been pulled from his Spacebattle publishnt. Anyway on with the show...errr read.
Cooperative
I rolled my eyes at my new friend's antics and stepped up onto the railing, allowing myself to fall down into the ring. I landed lightly and strode forward with confidence, drawing closer to the three-ti champion. Pyrrha's eyes focused on the trio behind for a montor perhaps just Kyanos, I didn't bother checkingand then shifted to , watch draw nearer. I et her gaze and nodded in acknowledgent when I'd drawn near enough.
"Hello," I greeted, waving slightly. "Jaune Arc, at your service."
"Pyrrha Nikos," She replied, giving a small smile. Her heart didn't seem to be in it, however, and it faded quickly. She glanced over my head again before looking at , contemplatively. A tad belatedly, she added. "It's a pleasure to et you."
I nodded in thanks and waited for her to continue. I could see the question in her eyes, but waited for her to give it voice.
"So," She finally asked, voice wryly. "How'd you get dragged into this? If they're making you fight"
"Ah," I said, casting a look over my shoulder before explaining calmly. "It's nothing like that. I'm just looking to have a good ti. It's my first night in Mistral and they'reshowing around? Well, sothing like that."
"You're here for the tournant?" She asked, looking at a bit differently.
"Yeah, sort of," I said, shrugging a shoulder. "I'm not really the tournant type, but I was gonna be in town with my mom anyway and it seed like fun, you know? But then they told you were the champion the last three tis and that you were accepting challenges. Aren't you?"
"I am," She confird, before hesitating. "If you understand what it ans."
"That you're the champion for a reason?" I asked, shrugging. "I get it. Well, I only signed up for the tournant for the mories, you know? But if I could fight the champ instead, that'd be even better, is kind of what I was thinking."
She seed to consider that for a mont before accepting it.
"I won't hold back," She warned. "Are you sure?"
"That's cool," I shrugged again, looking around before putting a hand to Crocea Mors, where it hung at my side. "It's just for fun, right? So let's have fun."
At that, she gave an honest smile.
"Very well," She said. "I would be happy to be your opponent."
"Practice weapons or live?" I asked. Practice weapons were the norm forwell, practice, as they lacked the horrific lethality that tended to characterize the instrunts of Hunters and combat schoolsthat is to say, they minimized the chances of soone dying if sothing went wrong. However, it wasn't uncommon for Hunters to spar against one another with their actual weapons; it was sort of the norm, even. To apply Kyanos' words, I suppose it worked for those who were strong enough not to be knocked out instantly and, hopefully, smart enough to surrender before running out of Aura. Kyanos, lanie, Ulaan, and I could probably have spared that way, it was just that they'd co to et unard, so as not to seem threatening. I'd put aside Crocea Mors to make things a bit more even, but for a fight like this
She opened a hand towards , wordlessly giving the choice.
I smiled a bit at that and drew Crocea Mors, letting the sheath unfold into a shield as she silently brought her own weapons to her hands. A gleaming Dipylon shield and a xiphos, if I recalled correctly, both colored red and gold. She held her shield between us, lifted high enough for her to be able to move it into a blocking position swiftly, but not high enough to impede her field of vision. Her sword was heldnot at ease, per se, for it was obviously at the ready, but her stance
If I had to guess from how she was standing, I'd say she'd probably lead with her shield, whether by defending to make an opening that her sword would exploit or using it to knock back. In its own way, her stance was like a mirror of mine; I held my shield close, ready to defend if needed, but I lead with my swordregardless of what jokes that probably left open to. I could take a hit thanks to my layered defenses and healing ability, while Bai Hu's art had gotten used to being on the offensive. I was better suited for it, besides.
So when she didn't make the first move, my instinctual reaction was to attack. Going by her stance, it seed safe to assu she'd attempt to block instead of dodge, hoping to tie up my weapon for a mont and strike. But if I stacked enough skills behind a single attack, hit her hard enough to throw her off balance
Assuming I could hit her hard enough to throw her off balance. It would be foolish to assu nobody had ever thought of that before, but here she was, three-ti champ. If she'd built her fighting style at least partially around a shield, it seed likely she'd probably invested so ti and effort into actually using it. In fact, the simple fact that she wasn't going on the offensive implied a lot. It was possiblemaybe even likelythat she was going easy on despite her words, but I didn't think that'd make her fight stupidly. If she was doing this, there was a reason.
I took a step to the side, watching her react to the soundor, rather, her lack of reaction to the sound. I relaxed as I walked a slow quarter-circle around her, lowering my shield slightly and shifting my grip on my sword. It was a confident stride, an inviting one, opening to an attack.
But she didn't take it. She held her position for the slow seconds that I moved, ready to attack but not doing so. She wanted to attack first. A trap? A test? I wasn't sure, but basic logic said that if your enemy wanted you to do sothing, it probably wasn't to your benefit to oblige her. It would be better to draw things out, to let minutes pass and force her to make the first move; if needed, I was pretty sure I had the patience to outlast pretty much anyone. Or perhaps I should try a ranged attack and see how she responded.
Instead, I attacked her, exactly how she wanted. Part of it was curiosity; if it was a trap, then springing it would probably reveal sothing about how she fought. Another part thought that it would be good to determine early on how much she could withstand, to build further plans off of. But the biggest part? It wanted to test my strength against hers, to see how I compared. Rembered that this was just a sparring match, just a ga, and wanted to have fun.
Perhaps an instant after I started forward, she moved, rushing to et in the middle. I brought down Crocea Mors a bit earlier then I planned and the sword rang against her shield, a shockingly loud sound as my skills multiplied the force over and over again. I saw her arm sink slightly beneath the force of the blow, but I was moving before the blow even truly connected, senses crying out in warning. As she blocked the blow from above, Pyrrha herself had gone below, sliding under her shield to swing at my legs. I tried to step back, but the sword suddenly extended into a javelin that she used to sweep my feet out from under .
Fortunately, my brain was moving faster than my body. A last minute adjustnt with Levant turned a fall into a flip and I landed on my shield, rolled to one knee, and blocked a thrust of her javelin that sent skidding back. As it did, I moved with the force, sliding to my feet as I ca to a halt and imdiately pressing forward as Pyrrha spun with the blow. I caught it on my shield again and spun with it myself, turning to bring a blow up at her head. She caught it on her shield and shrink her weapon back down to a sword she tried to stab with, which I shielded against in turn.
For a mont, we strained against one another, a simple battle of strength. I thought her base physical strength was probably greater than my own, but was pretty sure my passive skills gave better increaseswhatever the case, I stalemated her long enough to brace myself with Levant and try to kick at her legs.
An instant later, my senses were screaming in warning again. I felt a sharp point and sudden weight on my thigh as she literally stepped onto , but saw the true source of danger as her sword shifted neatly into a new shapeand it was only by all but falling backwards that I avoided looking down the barrel of a rifle. She fired a shot that chipped away at the floor a few feet from my head, but I lifted my shield to cover my head and chest before she could adjust her aim. Three shots rang out in such quick succession that I was only able to distinguish them by the impacts on my shield, even as I lifted my blade to stab at her leg.
By then, she was already in a flip of her own, an arc that I caught only a glimpse of as my danger sense gave a mont's reprieve and I moved my shield. I pushed away from the ground with one arm, Levant all but pulling to my feet in a motion that ended with swinging down at Pyrrha as she landed in a crouch. She brought up her shield in another ringing block and swept her sword at my feet againbut this ti I was prepared. I jumped the mont my senses alerted , a short hop that used my blade as a pivot and the force behind her defense to flip neatly over her, turned midair to land facing her back, and swung down at her head.
Without even looking, she brought her shield up behind her head, but she was on one knee and defending from an awkward positionshe had to brace herself against the ground with her sword arm, poml of the blade against the floor.
She used that to steady it when the blade suddenly expanded back into a spear, length pushing it past her shield and towards the center of my chest. I caught it with my shield again, but with the floor on the other side she leveraged back, rising with the action to push harder. I planted my feet, shifting to the side to angle the blow away. She didn't even bother pulling the spear back, simply shrinking the blade back to its sword form as she bashed her shield against mine. I spun, caught her blade on my own, and managed to plant my feet quickly enough to push against her while she was still extended, shoving her back. As she pulled her sword closer, I closed in myself and swung hard down at my head.
But what she did next surprised .
As my sword ca down, she raised her shield in an instant and caught my strike as I expected her tobut she blocked it with both arms, releasing her sword at her side in doing so. With my Clairvoyance, I saw it allhow she let go of the weapon, how it spun almost idle circles through the air, how her now free hand ca up to grasp the inward curving edge of her shield and help force my attack aside, even how my reflection glead in the shield over the course of each passing mont. As steel brushed steel and I tried to pull back, I even saw the fingers of her free hand brush the flat of my blade. Light glimred against steel, shining from a thousand sources throughout the arena yet seeming suspended as I focused.
Then the mont passed and she spun, using her shield to push away from my blade, retrieving her discarded sword before it even touched the ground and striding away.
I didn't follow. That maneuver had beenbeautiful, certainly, and undeniably graceful, butwhat surprised was one simply thing, the mont when she'd let go of her sword to brace her shield with a hand. She'd let it spin through the air for a mont before drawing it back, butthere'd been no true need to let go of it, not really. She could have braced her defense with a sword in hand as easily as without, yet
It was strange. Sothing tiny and without any apparent aning, over in an instant, and yet it seed so out of place. Pointless, compared to everything else; a needlessly showy addition that stood out starkly compared to the whole. Maybe it was only because I noticed everything in such vibrant detail
Vibrant detail, I thought, noticing sothing. In the dozens of lights that glittered on the surface of my weapons, there were four out of place. Off-color, they stayed in the sa place no matter how the blade moved, markings on the steel.
Four points of light on the flat of Crocea Mors, where Pyrrha's fingers had touched them.
"What?" I whispered, but didn't have even a second to think about it because Pyrrha was suddenly on the attack. I raised my shield to counter a bash from hers, sliding back a pace as I readied my sword. She ca at shield first again, but I braced myself better this ti and though I slide again, I wasn't pushed away. Shield to shield, we both raised our blades, striking around them even as we pulled back our defenses.
Again, I saw every monthow she slid her shield across mine to raise a defense, the knuckles of her hand dragging across Crocea Mors' surface and leaving trails of light in their wake. How rippling patterns of light appeared in the air, spreading from her hands to the small space between us. Dim Aura marks flashed brightly at their touch.
She shouldn't have been able to bring her shield up quickly enough to block, but my sword seed to shift ever so slightly as it passed through those waves and she did anyway, stopping the attack even as her own sank into my upper arm. There was a flash of pain before she jerked it back, sword extending into a spear again as she swept my legs out from under , neither my sword nor shield moving precisely how I wanted them.
I landed flat on my back and I was thinking about it the whole way down. It was subtleso subtle I couldn't even feel itbut I'd seen it with my Clairvoyance. Given the possibilities of my different forms of sight and what had been affected
"Magnetism," I breathed quietly as she drew a step away, going back to a defensive stance. She stopped at my words, looking at in surprise. "Right?"
I rose to my feet and she didn't stop . I was breathing hard, I noticed absently. It wasn't important, not really, and it faded as I healed myself besides. As I recovered, though, I looked at her face. She didn't look upset or worried, relysurprised. Even so
"Did I see sothing I shouldn't have?" I asked quietly, leaning closer.
She seed to consider that.
"No, no; it's not really a secret, I suppose," She mused aloud after a mont. "It's simply that its best uses are subtle and I don't talk about it much. You're simply the first to notice."
"Yeah, sorry," I said. "I have really good eyes. It's not a problem, is it? For you, I an."
"I don't see why it would be," She said. "If you noticed here, you'd have noticed it later."
"I suppose so," I agreed. "Still, I only noticed outside the tournant because you were willing to fight , so I feel a little bad? Well, if you want, I'll drop out of the tournant and we'll call it even."
"Oh?" She asked, looking surprised again. It was easy enough to guess why.
I shrugged and smiled.
"It doesn't really matter," I said. "I'm more interested in fighting you anyway."
"That's not necessary," She shook her head after a mont, frowning. "We're both learning things from this battle; if you've noticed more, than that's simply because you're more observant. There's no need to apologize for such a thing. Shall we continue?"
I shrugged, accepting her words, and then nodded. Glancing down at Crocea Mors, I considered my options. If her power was based on magnetism, there were several solutions. For a long ti now, people had made jokes concerning how magnets work, but actually it's pretty simple. Generally speaking, it's a result of aligned magnetic dipoles, which ant there were several ways to demagnetize sothing that I could try. Whether they'd work or not would need testing, though, since Aura could work in strange ways. It was up in the air whether any of those thods would stop her, though I could try. With my Elentals and my powers, I could probably figure sothing out.
But for this
I sheathed Crocea Mors and placed him back at my side, sending him an apology as I did so.
"I'm sorry, but since you've already marked him," I shrugged with a smile.
"Are you giving up?" She asked, sounding disappointed. "Or do you intend to fight unard?"
"Neither," I said. "Do you mind if I try sothing new?"
"By all ans," She said.
I smiled at her gratefullyand then focused power in my hands.
I felt my Aura taking form in my thoughts even as it gathered before my eyes. The part that was visible, that glowed like a shaft of white light to the naked eye, was just a small part of itmost of the power I channeled into it spilt off in other ways, only visible to because of my Clairvoyance. It was sloppy and wastefulwhich really wasn't all that surprising from a first attempt, I supposebut I peered through the shed energy and wasted power, glimpsing the core held within. The various forms of Clairvoyance ca with different effects and benefits and this one, the basic ability to see Aura, gave bonuses to attempts to shape and work with the energy directly; presumably my abilities way of representing being able to actually see what I was doing instead of grasping for it blindly.
And I saw. I started with sothing familiar, forming my Magic Missile, and then shrank it carefully into a more compact shape. I'd gotten the idea from Pyrrha's own weapon, but the leap from concept to practice was a tricky one. While I'd lengthened the energy within Magic Missile, I needed sothing different here and went a different direction. It was hard to describe what it was like to shape energy, but I compressed and folded the power, even if it may not have been obvious from the result, forming both an exterior matrix for the power to fill and an interior lattice of support. On its own, I knew it wouldn't remain in such a state for very longI could literally see the energy seeping away, after allbut that's why I drew upon Crocea Mors help, matching the pattern of my sheathed blade with my own soul to reinforce the structures with the enduring stability of tal.
A skill has been created through a special action! Continuous manipulation of mana has created the skill to form magical weapons, 'Vorpal Sword.'
I exhaled, allowing the sowhat misshaped creation to fade and crafted a new one as I took a breath. The result, as expected, was a much smoother length of pure white energy, if not precisely how I'd envisioned an energy swordin the center of the wildly radiating energy around its length, it appeared more like a cylinder topped with a cone-like point then a flat plane, which didn't seem precisely optimal when it ca to a blade. Nonetheless, I trusted my power not to lead astray and promptly created a second one in my other hand. I'd never tried dual-wielding swords and there were many reasons why it wasn't a great choice in really life, but hell; I was a ga character. If nothing else, I'd probably get a dual-wielding skill at so point, so there was no reason not to. I had MP to burn, after all.
Through it all, Pyrrha watched closely, the barest hint of a furrow on her brow.
"I learn fast," I said, shrugging under her gaze before her words surprised .
"You said you had good eyes, too," She mused. "What exactly is it that you see?"
"Who knows?" I shrugged at last, giving her a flight smile. "Various things, I suppose."
She nodded once, seeming to accept that assothing, and lifted her weapon again.
"Shall we continue, then?" She asked.
I attacked her by way of reply, a slow, telegraphed move that she defended against with her sword even after moving her body out of the way, positioning it as a test we both wanted to see the results of. Her sword blocked the attack as if it were from any other blade, which was a bit pity. On the other hand, the blades themselves didn't shatter in the process or anything, which was nice. They seed to function like normal blades, despite their appearance, though I'd need to read the profile later.
With that confird, we began in earnest. I swept my right sword in an arc, leaving a glowing flash through the space it traveled as I did. She ca forward, shield pushing the blow aside even as she stabbed upwards with her sword, but I defended in turn by swiftly reversing my grip on the left blade by letting go of it and turning it around with a thought. Holding it backwards, it was close to the skin of my arm and I pushed her sword aside, evading the strike and the follow up when it turned back into a spear.
Even so, my senses cried out in warning and I was stepping back even as Pyrrha shifted her footing, drawing back her spear and thrusting it rapidly in a series of half a dozen strikes in a brief mont. I strode back a step, but it wasn't enough to fully counter the reach of her weapon so I took the hit and used its own force, assisted by Levant, to hurl myself out of the way of its fellows. Landing like a feather, I saw that she'd already shifted from spear to rifle and was aiming at down the sights.
This ti I returned in kind, extending the fingers of my left hand her way, releasing the nonexistent hilt of my new sword and leaving it to float by my forearm. We shot together and Pyrrha had to quickly leap to the side as the ground on which she'd been standing abruptly splintered under the force of my Cannonball. Her shots hit in the chest, but with my defenses and Crocea Mors still hardening my armor I dismissed it as unimportant and remained focused on her as she rolled over her shield and to one knee, bringing up her rifle to rest the stock against one shoulder. She began firing in a steady, practiced rhythm that sent flashes of pain through , but I raised a finger and returned fire with Magic Bullets. She imdiately brought her shield up to cover almost the entirety of her body, rifle rested on the inward curving portion of the shield. Her body jerked slightly with each impact on the shield, but she didn't back down and she didn't stop shooting.
I switched to Cannonball again, trading ineffective penetration for impact to send her skidding back, releasing the sword in my right hand as well. With my blades hovering in easy reach but both hands free, I struck her again and again, my arms working steadily as if I were throwing the blasts at herbut credit where credit was do, Pyrrha took each blow with a jerk of her shield and little else, pumping bullets into . I took the hits to my HP, letting them through my Aura now that I'd had ti to figure out how, and let them chip away at it while I struck back. But even once Pyrrha had her back to a wall, she took the blows and pushed through them with her iron defense.
Pausing in my attack in annoyance, I healed myself and accepted that I wasn't simply hamring through that guard. I needed sothing else. Sothing bigger? Magic Missile might do the trick, but it was risky to usepartially because charging it would take a while, during which she'd probably take notice and either try to stop or make it really hard to score a hit, but also because if it sohow did hit, I wasn't sure what would happen. I hadn't exactly designed it for use in friendly sparring matches or for upon opponents that I didn't want dead and it tended to punch through anything in its way. It wasn't so much a matter of its power, butNo, it too risky; I needed sothing different, new.
Or maybe
Suryasta, I thought. You and I haven't had many opportunities to fight together. Do you want to have so fun now?
The Fire Elental didn't reply with words, but his spiritual form flickered once, shifting from his place in the stands to right by my side in a fashion similar to looking at sothing with one eye and shifting to the other. In an instant, the flas I felt from him were calm, the image his presence against my mind invoked one of a beautiful, thriving forest full of potential.
Potential to burn. All it needed was a spark in the right place.
I smashed Pyrrha with another Cannonball, just to make it seem like I was sticking to the pattern, and then called one of my blades to my hand, swiping it at the stadium floor to send up a small wave of tiny, insignificant sparks.
They should have died imdiately.
They didn't.
I released the sword in almost the sa instant I'd drawn it, lifting a hand to gather power into an Elental Boltbut not one of tal, not a Cannonball. Instead, it was a Fireball that slamd into Pyrrha's shield, the impact minute but scattering flas around her, heating tal. I saw surprise glimr in her eyes and wasted no ti in taking advantage of it. The sa hand that I'd extended in her direction swept down in a half circle that left my palm face up and I thrust it upwards as Suryasta's eyes flashed, a column of fire rising in a sudden rush.
Pyrrha was already in the air, leaping away at the first sign of dangerand in doing so, left the literal frying pan for the taphorical fire.
Levant.
I flipped my hand over so the palm faced the ground as my Air Elental appeared out ofwell, thin air. Another Elental Bolt ford, an invisible gathering of force that rose above Pyrrha with little more than a shimr of the air and then knocked her roughly back down to earth. The mont she slamd into the ground, my other hand ca up, a sudden Cannonball throwing the off-balance warrior hard into the wall. I didn't let up or show rcy, but followed it imdiately with a pair of Fireballs that set the area around her on fire.
My fingers curled as if grasping the air or pulling sothing invisible together. Flas brightened as air gathered, feeding them until
Boom. The flas rose into an explosion in a flood of heat, light, and noise that I felt even ten ters away. For the person at the center of it, I could only imagine.
No sooner had that thought crossed my mind then a spearPyrrha's spearflew from the flas. I reacted even before I saw it, senses alerting to danger before I saw it, and in an instant my blades were in hand and rising to my defense.
It wasn't enough. As if to mock the attempt, the spear suddenly quickened in midflight, as if to remind that being unable to affect my weapons didn't stop her from manipulating her own. It slid smoothly past my defenses, hamring into my chest hard enough to throw from the center of the arena to the opposite wall and very nearly pound into it. What seed like re monts after, the shield followed, thrown from the still fading smoke like a discus to hamr my head up to my ears in the stone behind . I jerked once in pain and imdiately tried to stand upright, knowing what was coming
Pyrrha landed less than three ters in front of , catching her shield as it rebounded even as her other hand snatched up her spear with a minor use of her power ensuring both returns to her. She spun as she grasped the weapon, twirling it quickly to slam it hard into the side of my head, sending straight to the ground in pain.
But pain fades, especially for . I hit the ground; I got right back up, weapons still in hand. As she ca at again, blows hastened by her power, I t her full force. Aware that her blows could change in speed and direction, I didn't bother to block, shifting completely to offense just to get so room. She ducked beneath a swing while my other hand released my sword, open hand extending towards her chest. Her shield arm ca up so fast she must have dragged it with her control of the tal, slamming hard against my wrist as her spear ca across my face and then back across my chest. She braced herself against a sudden wind I called, giving only a fraction of a second to act, but when I sent a pair of Fireballs her way, she bounced her shield off my head as she leapt back, rifle coming up to shoot in the face as well.
I fell backwards, knocked off my feet, but as I did so I kicked out with a leg and Pyrrha's trajectory abruptly shifted as she was knocked higher. My left hand moved as if to break my fall, but it never touched the floor and neither did I, buoying air gathering beneath to raise back to my feet in an instant. The sa hand ca up to smash Pyrrha even higher with a Cannonball and then another as I tried to juggle her, keep her off the ground. I went for a third strike, but she just twisted in the airpulling herself by her armor, most likelyand threw her spear at hard.
I knew I couldn't dodge, so I continued the attack and hit her one more ti before I was thrown head over heels across the arena. I was stopped by a wall and rose imdiately, pain fading thanks to the Gar's Body; I healed myself as quickly as I could and refocused on my opponent as she landed a bit early then she should have. As she did, I struck her with another Cannonball but with her feet on the ground again, she just withstood it, and I had to Lunge away before she could retaliate. I left my swords hovering by my arms and leapt swiftly from point to point, pausing only long enough to attack once before moving again. In contrast, she stayed in position in the center, moving her shield to counter each ti, unless I sent a Fireball her way. She quickly adapted to my movents in my pattern around the arena and began to strike back, rifle firing in short, controlled bursts each ti I paused and before long, she was hitting more than she missed, bullets curving slightly in the air to strike .
New plan, I thought, abruptly stopping to lift both hands. I gathered my power again and gave it shape, first in my thoughts and then in reality. Suryasta appeared without needing to be called, smiling serenely. He lifted his hands in a mirror to my own, guiding what I was creation. I rembered the first ti I'd done sothing like this, on a whim beside a river, but this was different from Magic Missilehad to be different, because of its very nature. The control and structure I'd created with tal wouldn't work with Fire, so I took a different approach.
It started as a sphere about the sa size as any of my Fireballs and Pyrrha imdiately dodged, but nothing ca her way. Instead, it swelled, growing swiftly until it was as wide across as I was talland it kept growing, rising like the sun above my head. The lighting in the room changed in monts, shadows spiraling away from the massive new source of light as the temperature skyrocketed until even I began to sweat.
To my Clairvoyance, such a thing ant a rush of colors and shapes through swaths of the Electromagnetic Spectrum, but even through all that, I saw Pyrrha, face shocked and alard. She drew her rifle and shot steadily, guiding the bullets towards , but I ignored them now, dismissing the pain. Levant congealed in front of , pleasant smile on her invisible face even as she rose to my defense. Suddenly, the bullets started missing or hitting more defended areas, Crocea Mors working to shore up such defenses. A second passed, two, and then her rifle shifted into a spear again. She looked ready to throw it for a mont and Vulturnus joined my side, ready to aid my defense, but in the end she just glanced above and mouthed sothing before charging right at .
She probably thought I wouldn't risk using such a technique in close proximity.
I laughed at the very thought and brought it down on us both.
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