How can a retired savior be considered retired if he drops to 40,000?

Chapter 266: Actually, thinking about it carefully, it seems unnecessary to write down “Cobro was greatly shocked”.

Arjuna walked slowly down the corridors of the Stormbound.

During the time he left and went to perform a security mission in the subspace, the position of the Chaldean mothership did change, but this had no impact on his ability to accurately retrieve and restore the entity within the ship.

Perhaps the blood-stained appearance of the white clothes can better explain the fight Arjuna had not long ago, but it is completely unnecessary and unnecessary to bring subspace pollution such as "blood of the living" back to the ship. How is this possible? It was unlikely that the energy composed entirely of true ether was stuck in Arjuna's spiritual base and appeared on the shell he woven with ether, but just in case, he still went to the room where the emperor's statue was placed. Rest room to avoid any "chaos influence" really remaining on your body.

After all, the ones he had just fought were all Tzeentch demons. Although they are obviously weak in terms of strength, since they can have a place under Tzeentch, we cannot completely rule out the possibility that they do have some hidden skills at the bottom of the box.

However, when the door of the lounge slid open in front of Arjuna, he was a little surprised to find that other guests had already arrived in this room.

"Smoking is prohibited in the public areas of the ship. You should know where the smoking area is." Arjuna frowned and walked into the smoke-filled lounge. As a heroic spirit that doesn't actually need to breathe, neither the choking smoke nor the hallucinogens still contained in second-hand smoke had any visible impact on him.

He kept the tone that sounded obviously dissatisfied, but still did not lose his courtesy and continued: "Also, I didn't expect that you haven't left yet. I thought you didn't really want to be on this ship. Show your face in front of outsiders.”

"That's true, but it doesn't mean that I have to leave immediately after saying the necessary words to Ritsuka." Holding the Laho stick in his mouth - I don't know where it came from, anyway, it was in the supplies of the Storm Frontier. The Impossible Contemporary Cigarette - Tezcatlipoca puffed away and said dully, "Well, I do feel like I have to talk to this guy now."

He waved his hand towards the statue of the emperor opposite him, but the statue itself remained unresponsive and silent. Even if any heroic spirit entering the room can clearly feel the spiritual energy that is continuously active in it.

"It didn't go well?" Arjuna asked knowingly.

"It's not that bad." Tezcatlipoca's reply was somewhat unexpected. "Although he has been pretending to be dead for four or five days, at least he is not completely unresponsive to my appearance."

Arjuna probably couldn't see it now, but Tezcatlipoca could infer from the clues that the current emperor was most likely quarreling with him.

To the Emperor, no matter what disguise Tezcatlipoca made in front of the statue on the surface, no matter how much "human" he looked like through the means he used to avoid the rejection of reality, no matter how "human" he was at present. Whether it is imported from another world and not a "native species" in the subspace of this universe, whether it maintains a certain relationship of trust with Fujimaru Ritsuka - God is God. This undoubtedly meant that the Emperor's PTSD from the warp gods would also extend to Tezcatlipoca.

What's more, even if Fujimaru Ritsuka is to judge, the "Smoke Mirror" itself is not particularly trustworthy - God is God, even the Master of Chaldea would complain like this. They indeed provided her with a lot of help during the journey, but one should not forget that they often joined in after causing huge trouble to Chaldea. Some even got interested after joining Chaldea and decided to take up the position of "behind the scenes" again, causing trouble for everyone.

Although Fujimaru Ritsuka is obviously the more moderate one in his attitude towards "gods", at least in the part "Gods are troublesome", the emperor and Fujimaru Ritsuka essentially hold the same views. What makes the difference is just a small degree of disagreement.

"It's not like studying with a teacher or praying to gods. Generally speaking, people will be angry because of such a long period of cold treatment." Arjuna said the words "Emperor" and "Tezcatli" indifferently. Polkadot" put each other on an equal footing, regardless of whether they would be unhappy with each other. "I'm not suggesting that 'you should walk away at this time', I just want to say, Under normal circumstances, this is obviously called 'unsuccessful'."

"Of course I know. This is true under normal circumstances." Tezcatlipoca replied lazily, "But this one? Let's be more tolerant to him. Tens of thousands of people are fighting over the question of 'do you want to see me?' The brothers are quarreling with each other in his head - if his brain still exists in the physical sense. According to the majority vote of direct democracy, it is normal for no result to appear within four or five days."

Arjuna frowned suspiciously, but his eyes were still fixed on the statue: "Are you such a forgiving god?"

"Sometimes I can be." The Wind of Impermanence answered with a hint of sarcasm.

The lounge was quiet for a few seconds. The room was still filled with the energy that escaped from the emperor's statue inconspicuously. It was difficult for ordinary people to notice, but it was obvious enough to the two "heroic spirits" present.

"He has the ability to unify himself again." Arjuna suddenly said with great certainty, "He could have truly become a god on that throne, instead of being coerced and matured by billions of living people with their faith."

"He can, he just doesn't have that choice." Tezcatlipoca stubbed out the Lajo stick that had been burned to the end. "Obviously, he thinks that compared with letting himself be 'coerced by trillions of people,' It is even more unacceptable to let oneself become a god who holds billions of people hostage."

Arjuna said noncommittally: "Really?"

"The attitude is so cold." Tezcatlipoca complained jokingly, "But this is normal. Everything in this world has nothing to do with us anyway. It was only after Ritsuka heard the situation that she immediately decided to help. He is the greatest saint among great saints.”

"But it's undoubtedly the right thing to do—"

"——I don't deny that this is the 'right thing'." Tezcatlipoca pointed out, "But 'average people' will do it like her for a 'right thing' that has nothing to do with them. Is this the case? You also know the corresponding plan roughly. You don't realize what the final result may be, right? What she throws on the gambling table is not just simple things like life and soul. If in the future , if the rules of the realm recording tape are successfully established here as planned, what kind of monster do you think the name 'Fujimaru Ritsuka' will breed on it?"

"..." Arjuna was silent for a while before replying, "I am here just to prevent things from becoming like this."

"Really." This time it was Tezcatlipoca's turn to be noncommittal, "But do you think this matter can really be 'stopped'?"

Arjuna turned his head suddenly, as if to poke a hole in Tezcatlipoca's body: "What does this mean?"

"It's not interesting. I'm just saying that there are so many things that have the best of both worlds in the world. There are things that even gods can't do." Tezcatlipoca said in a foggy voice, "If you really want to 'prevent' things from getting out of hand. At this point, I suggest you pay more attention to Ritsuka himself than external factors.”

"There is nothing wrong with Master." Arjuna quickly objected, "She is no different from when she was in Chaldea."

But Tezcatlipoca just smiled and lit a new Lajo stick:

"For an 'ordinary person', after experiencing 'so many things', there is still 'no change' - isn't this the biggest 'wrong'?"

(End of this chapter)

Chapter 267 Star Language Relay Station

How difficult is it to create a chance encounter on a planet?

At least it's not that difficult for someone like Judge Wilchak. Hastings knows this very well.

Baal Prime is huge, but pitifully small compared to the entire Imperium. As long as there are some channels that can quickly obtain intelligence information, and can determine when and where the person you are about to "encounter" will appear, then the planet will naturally appear smaller.

This is already the third day after the landing ceremony. Chaldea finally started activities again after a short rest - at least, for Inquisitor Wilchak who was unable to reach inside the monastery of the Holy Blood Angel Chapter. Say, that's it.

Rarely did Inquisitor Wilchak's privileges become less useful in this situation. She is indeed a Lord Inquisitor, but Fujimaru Ritsuka's confidentiality level is higher than hers, and she does not have enough "favors" to use on the Blood Angel's home planet, which makes it impossible for her to do so in a short time. She learned who Ritsuka Fujimaru, the target of her investigation, had met in Arax Angel Fortress, what they had talked about, and what she planned to do. She wanted to talk to the other party face to face, but on the day after the ceremony, she found that it was difficult to find an opportunity under the strict defense of the Forbidden Army - whether it was a legal opportunity or an illegal opportunity. She could only change her mind and use the skills she had used in her relatively humble status to get along with the big shots before becoming the Inquisitor's Acolyte, and find ways to create some "accidental encounters."

Technically, she succeeded. She could easily use her authority to know which imperial facilities were required to be under martial law and partially cleared during what period of time. She indeed blocked a group of people coming under the banner of Chaldea in the lobby of the Star Language Relay Station on Baal Prime. But objectively speaking, she failed: among this group of people, unfortunately, Fujimaru Ritsuka himself was not included.

The team that appeared in the hall of the Astropathic Relay Station was composed of Inquisitor Hastings, a Blood Angels think tank, a five-person combat team of the Dark Angels, and an underage girl blocked in the center - no. Fujimaru Ritsuka herself was the little girl who stood behind the former in plain clothes as a backdrop during the dance. To be honest, very few people noticed her on that occasion. Even Judge Wilchak thought about it seriously for a while before using the memory expansion and modification in his mind to remember that he had indeed seen such a person. .

The scouts scouting for her had never seen Fujimaru Ritsuka's video recording, so it was normal for such misunderstandings to occur. If you want to trace the source of this huge omission, it can only be traced back to Wilchak herself: She subconsciously thought that the characteristics of "an underage girl enjoying high-level security measures" were special enough at least here and now, but it was never the case. I never expected that there would be two people on this planet who fit this description.

Although the security level of a think tank and a five-man combat team is obviously not as good as that of an entire team of forbidden troops, that is a conclusion that can only be reached based on comparison. For an underage girl who doesn't see anything special, such specifications are obviously too luxurious.

Obviously, the information was wrong, but she could only blame herself for trying to save trouble and couldn't blame anyone else. Because he "got the wrong person", Wilchak chose to blend in with the crowd who were driven to one side of the hall. He did not show up and greeted them majestically with the rose hanging on his chest. But she didn't go out of her way to hide herself, and she was very sure that Judge Hastings had noticed her in a sudden glance during the journey.

She did not think that this young man—in her mind, Inquisitor Hastings was indeed a young man—could not realize why she was here. But no matter what measures the other party will take because of this, since her trip was in vain, it is obvious that there is no need for her to stay here any longer.

Wilchak chose to leave the lobby of the Star Language Relay Station decently and return to his own territory above the airport before the other party made any arrangements to drive her away. But that didn't mean she gave up on the investigation: she did want to know what Chaldea was doing by sending such a team to the astrological relay station - she didn't think it was just to send some astrological messages. If this is the case, then the Blood Angels Chapter Monastery naturally has corresponding facilities within it, and the Astropaths and Chapter Think Tanks raised by the Astartes can certainly meet such needs.

Regardless of whether the other party was looking at her, Wilchak nodded in the direction of Hastings, then turned around with a smile and walked away from the hall.

She is indeed leaving, but as she said before, she will not give up and continue to explore:

Her scouts would remain in the building, hiding themselves in the shadows.

-

The half year of living together on the Stormbound was enough for Kaelia to develop some new understandings of Inquisitor Hastings. Specifically speaking, it can be summarized as follows: When Fujimaru Ritsuka is nearby, Mr. Inquisitor is the main source of danger and pressure for her; but when Fujimaru Ritsuka is not nearby, Mr. Inquisitor becomes a The place where she felt most safe.

Let’s not delve into the reasons for now, just focus on the current situation - the current situation is obviously the latter. Therefore, Kaelia, who is holding an obviously new scroll, dares to ask Hastings questions in this sense of security. : "You know the lady who just walked away, right?"

When this conversation started, they had already passed through the entire hall unimpeded by certain privileges and boarded the elevator leading to the highest astrological spire of the relay station. The decoration inside the elevator also maintained the empire's usual gorgeous and complex style, and the space was also very generous. At least this team, which included six Astartes and two mortals, did not feel the slightest bit crowded after entering the elevator.

"'Is that so?' Sir." Hastings habitually emphasized the honorifics before answering the other party's question. "I know her, but I'm not familiar with her. When did you notice her?"

This question was a bit like a quiz. For an inquisitor, observation of the environment is also one of the necessary qualities. Hastings had also taught Kellya this in person some time before, but he had not yet let her do the corresponding training for it. In Hastings's opinion, the learning progress of this girl who is not even twenty years old is obviously still at the stage of theoretical knowledge accumulation, otherwise she would not be able to do the work of an ordinary acolyte, and naturally she would not need these practical operational experiences for the time being. He asked this question just because he was a little surprised that she could realize that "a lady left" while passing by the hall, and "the lady seemed to have eye contact with Hastings", and wanted to find out a little bit about it, but the person's answer was somewhat beyond his expectations:

"At the ball," Kaelia said, "I saw you chatting with that lady. I also noticed that she was also an inquisitor."

Hastings frowned. For a moment, he wanted to ask, "How can you be sure that the woman of that day and the one of today are the same person when they are so far apart?", but then he gave up the idea. As a future telepath, Kaelia has an inexplicably accurate intuition for identifying other people's identities, something that has been confirmed in her training. Therefore, he swallowed the question and said instead: "You don't need to worry about her, just focus on the following ceremony."

This was supposed to be a somewhat blunt comfort, with the emphasis on reassuring people. But Kelia, obviously under the leadership of some "not good enough", deliberately interpreted this sentence differently: "So do you think that lady may indeed cause some problems next?"

Hastings sighed tiredly: "Sometimes I wish you would stop learning these word-picking techniques from Ritsuka Fujimaru."

"'Unconscious statements are often more honest than conscious statements.'" Kaelia immediately quoted a sentence from Hastings's assigned reading list (source: Lion's Mane Library) If you say, "I just read the book carefully as you asked."

"There is also this sophistry skill." Hastings gritted his teeth as he squeezed out this sentence. "Listen, your next task is to solve the Star Language under the witness of the scribe Johselius. During the chorus ceremony, the next task for me and the several 'guards' around me is to ensure that there will be no emergencies that will interfere with the ceremony. If we take a closer look at the content within the other party’s purview, I believe we will be able to successfully complete the entire process within a Terran standard week.”

This is a very strange workplace-style atmosphere in Ultramar. Although Kaelia is underage, fortunately she is also from Ultramar, so there is no obstacle in understanding this strange atmosphere. The little girl shut her mouth angrily and hugged the scroll in her arms tightly, realizing that it was difficult to explain to the other party the vague uneasiness she felt when she took a sudden glance at the lady.

The main reason why she had to try to circumvent the situation was that she herself didn't know where this feeling came from, so she couldn't speak directly. Rushing to elaborate on this will only make things confusing, and will ultimately be attributed by others as an overreaction.

This topic should have gone by like this, but Jorgeselius, who was watching the whole process, unconsciously made a nasal sound that was mixed with confusion, interest, vague surprise and disapproval. Hastings, who was already very unfriendly, quickly changed the direction of the artillery fire, and asked the other party with the unique aggressive attitude of the inquisitor: "Scribe Heselius, do you have any advice? ?”

Realizing that something was not right about the atmosphere, Kaelia silently hid behind Judge Hastings, further away from Jorgeselius.

"I don't mean to offend." Considering Chaldea's background, Joselius decided to practice a little art of speaking here after a brief hesitation, "It's just the master-disciple relationship between you two, uh, It’s rare here.”

That's a euphemism. If Heselius were to speak bluntly, he would say that Hastings's attitude towards his apprentice was too kind - in this context, "kind" is not a complimentary word. If Heselius himself is the kind of think tank master who is very strict with his students and subordinates, in his opinion, if the above conversation takes place in the traditional master-student relationship in the empire, a qualified mentor should be able to use only "Shut up" ends the entire conversation. If he failed to do so, it would mean that in ordinary times the mentor failed to properly establish his authority over his apprentice.

It has to be said that if Hesselius's guess is correct, Hastings will not admit it like this. He obviously understood the implication behind the phrase "rarely seen", and obviously wanted to struggle with this point: "The relationship between us is not a master-student relationship in the 'traditional sense'. In essence, she is Fujimaru Ritsuka’s apprentice, the next mistress of Chaldea, and——”

Hastings paused for a moment, then glanced back at Kaelia behind him, whose face was full of weakness and innocence, and sighed inconspicuously: "I suggest that everyone should keep the most basic attitude towards her. of respect.”

(End of this chapter)

Chapter 268 Are you Chaldean saints wholesale?

Contrary to Judge Wilchak's speculation, Chaldea's group came to this astrological relay station really just to send an astrological message that was even mediocre in content and just to report safety. But the former guess cannot be wrong, because the scale of the relay station in the Blood Angels Chapter Monastery, whether it is equipment or personnel, cannot meet the transmission conditions required for this simple astrological message.

Because the destination of this astrological message is Macragge.

More than a hundred years ago, Baal and Macragge, who were also in the extreme star field, although the distance was not close, it was not very difficult to communicate regularly in astrology. Unfortunately, after the Great Rift unfolded, the chaotic subspace environment made the possibility of psychic communication between the imperial worlds separated at both ends completely turned into a wishful thinking. It is impossible for natural phenomena to understand the order of power and position in human society. Even the original home planets of Baal and Macragge are treated equally in this matter.

After the Great Rift unfolded, the astrological communication between the Empire's Holy Land and the Empire's dark side soon proved impossible through a series of bloody lessons. Logistics and intelligence could only be transported from the Great Rift through human power. A narrow and unstable "safe route" shuttles between the two. This has been considered an irreversible iron law for nearly a hundred years, until half a year ago, Baal received an astrological communication from Macragge's Glory.

The person who received this communication at that time was also the astrological relay station on the main star of Baal. If Heselius was not present at that time, but he had read the relevant damage report: this astrological language had a physical representation the moment it arrived at the relay station - the largest astrological language spire among the relay stations. A hole was physically drilled through the warp defenses, and the building itself suffered damage to the load-bearing structure, causing many slumps and twists that had to be repaired without incident; psionic collectors throughout the tower All were overloaded and burned, and some irrelevant facilities that were sensitive to psychic energy were also damaged to varying degrees. There were more than 300 members of the Star Language Chorus who were on duty in the tower that day and were responsible for receiving Star Language that might arrive at any time. , most of these people were carried directly into the hospital wing due to varying degrees of psychic burns or insanity caused by subspace, and the remaining half did not have this need. In other words, except for a black mark or a bit of dust on the seat, there is nothing left of them.

Fortunately, the content of this astrological communication, which came from afar and made the impossible possible, is actually very brief, and the encryption is very basic. Looking back later, as long as two or three of the choir members who received this star language survive at that time, they can accurately decode and translate it into normal information under the premise of mutual comparison, and even use There are no decoders specially trained to decipher astrological language. In this regard, the chief astrologist of the relay station and the chief think tank of the Blood Angels made the same reasonable inference: considering the energy loss required to allow astrological communication to pass through the Great Rift as completely as possible, there may be many in this type of astrological communication. It is difficult to carry overly complex information or encryption methods that make the overall information complex and bulky.

——But the day before, Fujimaru Ritsuka, who proposed to borrow the largest astrological relay station on Baal, denied this reasonable inference. She herself said that there was no advanced principle involved in allowing the Star Language communication to pass through the Great Rift intact, it was just a matter of force. The communication content that needs to be transmitted can continue to be complicated. She (the Emperor) just needs to continue to add more power. However, here comes another question that must be considered: She can indeed send out that kind of astral language, but who has the ability to receive it?

Considering the previous tragic situation at the Star Language Relay Station, Jorgeselius, who was listening next to Mephiston at the time, had to admit that this did make sense. By the way, Mephiston's exploration of the library did not have time to produce any results, because early that morning, Joselius ignored the chief think tank's prohibition in desperation and read him out of the sea of ​​books. Digging it out: "Don't worry about that 'Arjuna', you should first study the resurrection of the 'Black Knight'!"

But when he successfully dragged the chief think tank back to the world from the library, he discovered that "the Emperor's Champion next to Fujimaru Ritsuka turned out to be the first grand marshal of the Black Templar" and "can one-way "The ritual of stabilizing astrological communication across the Great Rift" seems not that important in comparison. If Heselius didn't know what happened next, but he was sure that those things were important. At least it was important enough that Mephiston did not rush back to the library. Even the matters related to the astrological communication ceremony were left to his adjutant by the chief think tank to supervise.

Considering that the Chaldean side sent to the relay station was obviously the "second echelon", it seemed that at least the two sides had reached an agreement on the importance of this matter.

The elevator in the relay station mainly serves mortal astropaths with relatively fragile physiques, so in Jorgecelius' view, its efficiency is still somewhat unsatisfactory. Even so, before he really got impatient, the group of people successfully reached the towering spire. The chief astropath of the relay station was already waiting with his entourage on the red carpet laid out at the entrance of the elevator. superior.

From Jorgecelius's point of view, he thought that the standard of the reception was a little high, but it was not incomprehensible. Fujimaru Ritsuka's schedule was unnecessarily dense in the eyes of others, so for reasons of efficiency and "it was difficult to decide where she would go", Chaldea only wrote roughly in the application submitted to the relay station The purpose of coming, the number of people in the team, and the organization to which they belonged were not written down. With a few privileges and a sufficient guarantee, this part of the document could be supplemented later based on the actual situation.

Based on this premise, at first, Heselius thought that this was a preparation in case the Star Language Relay Station had to suddenly welcome the saint. After all, if the reception standard was high, it would not be a big problem, but if it was low, it would not be a big problem. You might lose your head. But at the end of the stage of mutual self-introduction, Kaelia herself also stiffly stated that she was not Fujimaru Ritsuka, but just her follower in the face of such a large scale of greetings. The face of the chief astropath with hollow eye sockets still showed Remaining completely respectful and still insisting on calling the other person "saint", Jorgeselius was a little confused.

What made him even more confused was that Kaelia herself did not deny the title, nor did Judge Hastings next to her. The dark angels who were quietly poking at the back were also very quiet. After considering the causes and consequences of the whole incident, a very nonsense conjecture began to form in Johselius's mind. He dismissed the idea angrily and decided to give up his random speculation and ask the insider what was going on.

+If my memory is correct, I think the only “Imperial Saint” registered in Chaldea Bureau is Fujimaru Ritsuka. +

Although Hesselius was not very good at telepathic powers, at such a close distance, it was still very easy to use his psychic powers to communicate with Judge Hastings who had a clear target. He was sure the other party heard the declarative question, but at least on the surface, Hastings acted as if nothing had happened.

+This is slightly...historical factor. Kaelia is a civilly recognized saint on Parmenio in Ultramar, with an imperial city called Tyros, local auxiliaries present at the time, the 99th Calth Regiment, and a high-ranking combatant The detachment of Sisters of the Scarlet Rose led by the nun can vouch for her. It is only a matter of time before she is truly recognized as a saint. Therefore, although the official certification process from the empire is still going through, we generally will not waste our efforts to refute this. +

The Inquisitor, also a psyker, answered Jogecelius in the same manner. There was a little bit of hidden embarrassment in his tone, but in the psychic fluctuations of the words, this emotional reaction was much more obvious than reflected in his tone - this topic reminded him that he had just boarded the During the Storm Frontier, this was one of the stupid things he did to make things difficult for Fujimaru Ritsuka.

Fortunately, Hesselius was obviously not interested in the details of this matter, so he would not specifically explore the stupidity of what Hastings did. He just continued to express in a tone of obvious distrust: + I don't know when the so-called "saints" in the empire can appear in any world. +

In order to prevent the topic from being diverted to a part that he did not want to mention, Inquisitor Hastings decided to start talking about him:

+But this matter has its own rationale. +He said this,+You think, the person who is qualified to inherit the position of an imperial saint should of course be another imperial saint. This is very logical. +

Joheselius frowned dissatisfied under his visor.

(End of this chapter)

Chapter 269: Chaldea’s Rebellion against Tiangang’s Psionic Ritual

"I'm starting to feel a little regretful that Astorius is no longer here." Corbulo said quietly beside Dante.

After two days, the Holy Blood Priest has clearly understood that "for the problem of red thirst, we have been looking in the wrong direction for ten thousand years." However, to the Chapter Leader's surprise, Kobro Although the current mental state cannot be said to be normal, this abnormal direction is different from what others have guessed... It cannot be said that there is some deviation, it can only be said that it is very different.

Cobro did not get depressed due to this blow, and even re-adjusted his mentality within two days, and was able to smooth the atmosphere at occasions where only the top leaders of the war group were present as before. This is of course a good thing. However, even Dante, who has always been (forcing himself to be) optimistic, can't help but wonder whether Cobulo's mentality has been adjusted a little too well.

It was not difficult for anyone present to figure out from the public records of the power armor after friendly force identification that this person had not slept for two days and continued to conduct research in his studio. But when Dante, as Chapter Master, ordered him to be dug out of his studio and brought to the Cathedral of the Holy Blood with the scarlet Holy Grail, he did not show any anger, complaint, or anger when he appeared. Instead of feeling impatient at being disturbed, they were cheerful - almost humming a song next to their respectable Chapter Master.

After realizing this, instead of responding to the other party's jokes to ease the atmosphere, Dante chose to remind the other party to calm down: "Priest Cobro, this is a serious occasion."

That is said, but in fact it is not convincing - judging from the atmosphere between the two theoretical core members of this incident, this occasion cannot be serious in the direction that the Blood Angels want.

The two servo skulls that had been modified and used robotic arms to grab small buckets buzzed and flew around the ground, using the silver liquid in the small buckets to draw something on the clean, shiny black marble floor. A magic circle. Fujimaru Ritsuka, who was about to preside over this psychic ceremony, and Mephiston, who was about to supervise all this, stood a little further away, talking about the production method of this silver "ink" in an overly relaxed atmosphere. If you didn't consider that their conversation contained a lot of words like "mercury", "gem", and "psychic power", the listeners would even think that they were talking about recipes rather than a costly and costly process. Ritual props.

Considering that most people's first impression of Mephiston is that he is "sinister, scary, and difficult to get along with", even within the Blood Angels Chapter, Fujimaru Ritsuka can still remain calm when talking to such a problematic gentleman. Keeping the atmosphere light and cheerful, perhaps it is appropriate to assume that she has some kind of supernatural ability.

Although the ceremony has obviously not started yet and is currently in the preparation stage, it is understandable that the atmosphere should be more relaxed. However, Chapter Leader Dante, who has always been open-minded and tolerant, still sincerely hopes that all participants can act in a serious manner only this time. And participate in this ceremony with an attitude of awe.

After all, what will be held by Fujimaru Ritsuka in the Cathedral of the Holy Blood is the summoning ceremony of Sanguinius.

"The Soul Conjuring Ritual" was a simplified version of the explanation Mephiston relayed to the senior leadership of the Blood Angels after listening to Fujimaru Ritsuka's statement. This statement is obviously easy to cause misunderstanding, but in essence, it cannot be wrong: what Fujimaru Ritsuka wants to do is actually nothing more than to give the same set to the Holy Spirit by comparing it to the manifested Emperor statue on the Storm Frontier. Gilles is just here again. But, how could this not be a "soul summoning ritual" that "retrieved the remaining part of Sanguinius' soul from the Star Torch and attached it to the statue"?

Compared with the Emperor, the current Sanguinius obviously lacks some "subjective initiative" in terms of "appearance", so related rituals are necessary. Fujimaru Ritsuka was originally thankful that this would not prevent her from being startled by a statue of Sanguinius that spoke when she was walking in the monastery of the Blood Angels Chapter (it is hard to imagine that the Blood Angels would The work of creating statues of his genetic father was largely done by others, and Arax Angel Fortress was indeed full of statues and reliefs with the image of Sanguinius), but when this ritual was interrupted by a hearing When summed up in a way that seemed suspicious, she just felt embarrassed.

Embarrassing as it is, you still have to do what needs to be done. Originally, Mephiston wanted to take people to the Think Tank Sanctuary, because performing spiritual rituals in the Think Tank Sanctuary sounded like a natural thing. But Fujimaru Ritsuka listed a lot of conditions for this ceremony, and then somehow succeeded in convincing the chief think tank to agree, and also found a way to convince the chapter leader to place the ceremony in the cathedral. among.

Fujimaru Ritsuka's requirements for the site were not based on the affinity of psychic powers, but on history, belief, and symbolism. Of course, the most important point is to have a statue of Sanguinius that is completely carved by the son of Sanguinius. The higher the degree of completion, the better - so the Cathedral of the Holy Blood is naturally the one to do it.

Among the entire Blood Angel Chapter monastery, this is not the only religious building built for the state religion or Sanguinius, but this one has special significance to the entire Chapter.

It may be hard to imagine, but during the Great Crusade when the Empire was in power, a chapel already stood in this location on Baal Prime - the Baal Trinidad had religious exemptions in the Empire at that time and could legally continue to maintain them of angelic faith, and the original worshiper in this church was apparently Sanguinius himself. Even though the Astartes at that time undoubtedly believed in the truth of the Empire, due to reasons such as the customs and traditions of Baal, this building was still planned at the beginning of the establishment of Arax Angel Fortress. Local.

Over the next 10,000 years, as the state religion gradually prospered, the size of the church gradually expanded, and the image of the emperor himself was added to the main shrines, but of course the belief in Sanguinius was not Squeeze out. The Emperor was the great leader of the entire human race, and Sanguinius was the genetic father of the Blood Angels. Countless generations of Blood Angels have worshiped the statues enshrined in the shrine in this form, and used their own hands and understanding of beauty to create countless works of art on this theme, layering them and decorating them in an orderly manner. in the church to show their respect.

Of course, during the Hive invasion a hundred years ago, this church, along with its shrines, statues, murals, stained glass windows and other art, was destroyed like many other buildings in the Chapter. But this did not prevent the indomitable Blood Angels from building an almost identical building on the original site a hundred years later, and remaking it into a treasure house of religious art. Unfortunately, the function of this building cannot be said to be completely the same as it was a hundred years ago.

In the distant past, this church was once the venue for the final stage of the Blood Angels recruitment ceremony. Those who passed the numerous trials would stay vigil in the Vigilance Chapel on the side of the church for three days. If they successfully passed the Vigilance Trial, they would be regarded as new blood of the Chapter and led to the main hall of the church. In the presence of several Holy Blood Priests and the brothers of the Chapter of the Tenth Company, they would hold a blood-donating ceremony and then be taken to the Blood Coffin for transformation surgery.

This is how Kobulo became the Blood Angel. After becoming the Blood Priest and even the Chief Priest, he also held many blood-giving ceremonies for the new blood of the Chapter. This is a long-standing tradition, and Mephiston (or Callistarius) and Dante join the Chapter in much the same way. However, during the arduous defense of Baal, the depleted war group was in urgent need of a large number of new recruits, and the selection criteria for the war group were therefore broadened. Although Cobro will still hold blood-giving ceremonies for newcomers in the main hall of the church, he also knows that the vigilance trial that should be placed before this step has not been held for a long time, and many previous screening steps have also suffered from the same problem. of shelving.