Soshyan knew very well that the Inquisition's request was no longer to arrest the murderer or to comfort the soul of the unfortunate Inquisitor. What they were asking for now was "obedience". They wanted to see that the Astartes organization, the Alliance of Suffering, respected and obeyed the Inquisition.
the authority of the court.
Perhaps to outsiders, this is just a stupid honor dispute, but there are profound political reasons behind it.
The authority of the Astartes comes from the fact that their transformation technology comes from the hands of the Emperor, from the Primarch who is the son of the Emperor, but this is only the source of sanctity. The real authority comes from their power, their ability to crush all living beings.
The absolute power of sex.
But the Inquisitors are different. No matter what their origins are, even if they are psychics, they are only mortals in the final analysis. So the fundamental reason to support their activities in this chaotic and dangerous empire is that they have been targeting all the people for ten thousand years.
The majesty accumulated through trials, executions, and even massacres of people, whether mortals or Astartes.
Tyrion once said to Soshyan that loyalty is the judge's blade, faith is the judge's armor, but authority is their life.
Without authority, blades and armor are just dead objects attached to a corpse.
Therefore, the Inquisition must and can only maintain their authority in an almost crazy way, so most of the Inquisitors have been created to have a self-willed image that does not accept any questions, will not give any explanations, and has no influence on the authority of the Inquisition.
The challenge will greatly touch the nerves of the judges and trigger a fierce backlash.
This is not emotion or some kind of arrogance, but the foundation of their survival. After all, without that layer of gilded authority, how can they, mere mortals, frighten those imperial figures who control a world and an army? Just rely on the law.
In fact, the life-and-death tactics they use to control people cannot actually help them intimidate everyone.
In this mentality, the Inquisition even occasionally used some trivial matters to "tame" certain organizations, especially the Astartes. They never stopped testing the obedience of the Astartes Chapter.
Of course, it also caused a lot of conflicts, and I don’t know how many inquisitors died, but they are diligently pursuing this.
Soshyan was convinced of this, and he also saw that the goal of the Inquisition had changed now. It was no longer the Relic Chapter, but the entire Suffering Alliance.
Although Mazar is not as radical as Seth, he also believes that the Suffering Alliance cannot retreat at this time, because the Tribunal is a group of people who know how to climb along the pole. Once they let go, the subsequent demands will be endless until this is eliminated.
They will only stop when the alliance becomes their tool.
After talking with the two chapter leaders, Soshyan had a preliminary plan in mind. He first arranged for people to find Alexei's secret stronghold. Every famous inquisitor will have his own stronghold, and usually
There is more than one, it can be used as an interrogation room, a treasure room, or as a temporary repair to hide from political opponents, and then let people find out how many of Alexei's followers are still alive and where they are currently.
It stands to reason that these would be difficult to check, because the Inquisitors are not only secretive, but also have the highest authority in all systems of the empire. It is impossible for anyone to find any clues about them from the official level, but...
Alexei is an exclusive judge, and the exclusive faction is very close to the state religion, so it is much easier to start from the state religion. Although the state religion may not be willing to cooperate, Soshyan has someone they can't refuse.
The bargaining chips are enough to make the senior officials of the State Church betray Alexei's information.
After both of these came to fruition, he met alone with Artecus Badan, Chapter Master of the Relic Chapter.
"Chapter Commander Soshyan Alexei, I have heard about him for a long time, but it is surprising to see him today..."
In the main office of the Trace of Victory, Artkus held Soshyan's hand, looked at this imperial legend who was wearing fine power armor but was still much taller than himself, and sighed repeatedly.
"Outsiders say that you have a heroic appearance similar to that of the original body. It is indeed true. It is truly a miracle of the emperor."
"Ha, I was taller before my transformation. This...maybe it is indeed the emperor's blessing."
Soshyan smiled slightly, avoided the topic of his height, led the other person to sit on a chair against the wall on the east side of the office, and then returned to sit behind the huge wooden desk.
"Brother Artkus, your group has been an observer of the Tribulation Alliance for some time, and has also performed many missions in various parts of the Storm Star Territory. Various Mechanicus orders and hive worlds also speak highly of your group."
"It is our calling and our duty to serve the Throne and humanity."
Soshyan looked at this warrior who had served for nearly four hundred years. He seemed to be no different from all other Astartes, or perhaps the Astartes had a high degree of consistency in their emotions and expressions.
But as Mazhar said, this person also has a certain unique concealment temperament, which can easily remind Soshyan of the Dark Angel.
"Brother Artkus, let me ask you one more question, why does your group want to join the Suffering Alliance?"
"The Alliance of Suffering is the current example and symbol of the unity of the Astartes brothers. The Holy Code has divided us into battle groups of a thousand people, and it has also made some forces in the imperial bureaucracy think that the Astartes have become weak.
No longer having the strength to defend their honor and tradition, they began to frame and attack us by any means. Many chapters were persecuted, but this would never happen in the Great Crusade, because at that time we had the Primarch and the Legion.
We are united together, and the little guys dare not make mistakes. Now all this has disappeared, but at least we can... choose to help each other and defend our honor together. This is why we choose to join the Suffering Alliance. We believe that only unity can make us better.
To fight against enemies inside and outside the empire."
Hearing this, Soshiyang didn't say anything. He just raised his right hand and scratched his temple with his fingers. He suddenly chuckled again and said instead:
"Brother Artkus, how many great demons have you banished so far?"
Artkus was stunned for a moment and didn't even react, so Soshyan asked again in a more serious tone.
"Brother Artkus, how many great demons have you expelled since you collected so many chaos weapons in the past?"
"This... doesn't happen."
"The tenth company commander of our battle group has told me about you. I think he should have also elaborated on his views. Of course, my views are slightly different from his. The weapons can be used, but... Arteku
Brother Si, I am not belittling you, but the chaos weapons you can collect will definitely not be very powerful things, or in other words, the power that can be collected by you will not be very great. You have paid such a huge risk, but yet