After receiving the message from Soshyang, Azriel, who was fighting on the ground, immediately chose to return to the boulder fortress on the orbit, not only because he needed to know more, but also because the next important action was no longer something he could decide alone.
Although he is the highest tutor of the battle group, collective decision-making still must be made in major events.
As Azriel walked down the Thunderhawk and stood at the Knight's Gate on the boulder, the echoing bells of the church had stopped, the lights went out, and even the servants who had been patrolling the passage disappeared.
I can't say why, Azriel doesn't want others to discover his whereabouts, and doesn't want others to know that he has appeared here at this moment.
Therefore, he had no servants or guards around him.
The Knights Gate is one of the few remaining ancient buildings of Caliban. There are two statues standing on both sides of the gate. On the left is a proud young knight holding a pistol and a chainsaw sword. He is stalking towards the world with his head held high, and on the right is an old knight full of scars and dusty body. His armor is broken and his weapons are broken. He kneels weakly on both knees, but his head and spine are raised high, and he looks deep in his eyes at the gate.
As Azriel passed by these two statues, he reached out and gently touched the stone tablet on the right. This was a tradition with a profound origin. He felt the smooth touch of his fingertips, his thoughts drifted thousands of years ago, and recalled countless ancestors who had done the same movements from previous generations.
Then he walked into the Knight's Gate alone, and the artificial breeze gently pulled up his green robe and pulled his hood.
After entering the door, Azriel walked straight to the center of the hall.
The light in the dome hall was dim, with several candlesticks placed on the raised platform, and several candles were burning. The painted glass on the high ground reflected the swaying candlelight. The heroes of the former Legion depicted on the glass looked a little hideous under the dim candlelight, and their eyes seemed to be staring at Azriel.
Azriel took off his helmet and glanced left and right, looking for someone's traces.
Darkness enveloped the entire hall, and the light of the candles only illuminated the rows of stone benches in front.
“Ezekiel?”
He yelled in a low voice, no answer came from the darkness.
Suddenly, Azriel turned around suddenly and saw Ezekiel, the great mentor of the War Team think tank, appearing on one platform, holding the railing.
The director of the think tank wore an ancient robe and his face was hidden in the shadow of the hood, which could reduce the strange gaze of ordinary combat brothers. The think tanks felt that any explanation was inevitable and superstition, so they kept it mysterious.
"You're here."
Ezekiel said with a smile that his figure was hidden in the darkness. If it weren't for the manners and the voices of his speech, Azriel wouldn't have recognized him.
Then, the great mentor of the think tank took out a lantern like a magic trick, and the warm light illuminated the position under his feet.
"Everyone is here."
Ezekiel waved and let Azriel get on the platform.
The tall tutor nodded and walked down the steps. These stone steps were worn out and a little old, and only members of the inner ring could walk on it.
Soon, they entered another almost completely hidden space, next to it was a stone staircase, a spiral downward staircase, both in the center of the hall and in the middle of the platform.
But most people in the battle group don’t know the existence of this staircase, nor do they know what secret space there is below.
"I heard that the commander of Soshiyang's battle seems to have some new ideas."
The two walked down and chatted. The voice of the think tank's great mentor was very relaxed, and there was no such excessive respect as subordinates when treating their superiors.
The reason is actually very simple. Every Supreme Master will have a pair of left and right hands. The first thing that Supreme Master does after taking office is to appoint his left and right hands, that is, the two closest consultants.
The right and left-handed men appointed by Azriel when she took office were Ezekiel, the think tank master and Dagone, the former pastor master. Although Dagone is no longer in office, Ezekiel is still the closest and most trusted person Azriel has and is also his strongest ally in the battle group.
Correspondingly, as the think tank master Ezekiel who has served three Supreme Masters in succession, his status can be said to be second only to the Supreme Master himself.
The ancient history of the Dark Angel not only brought about a glorious history, but also brought about a complex internal political ecology. As the highest tutor of the war team, it is absolutely not as strong and free as outsiders imagine.
"Well, his plan was successfully realized, and he caught a lord Abaddon in a fortress."
Speaking of this, Azriel couldn't help but sigh.
"I almost caught a Chaos Warlord of the Son of Cool, but Asmodai temporarily took the three companies away, resulting in a failure."
"Yes, I heard that he took people to destroy a cult den, and found nothing except to kill hundreds of cultists."
"He was deceived by fake information but he still didn't know it."
As he said that, Azriel had already gritted his teeth.
"Why dare he transfer the troops without my consent?"
"Azriel, this is his duty, and the request for interrogation of the pastor must be put first, which is a resolution made thousands of years ago in the inner ring."
“Is it just a craze to be an interrogation priest, and doesn’t it take a little bit of reason and wisdom?”
"Okay, let's put away your complaints for the time being, we're here."
Azriel simply kept silent, and after counting more than a thousand steps in his mind, he finally came to the bottom.
The staircase leads to a brick room with a low roof arched with no decoration on it, like a house built by a mortal farmer.
Similarly, the room is also round, the end of the stairs is in the center of the room, and an oil lamp is hung at every node of the ceiling, and almost every lamp is underneath it, a figure wearing a green robe and a hooded figure.
The men were motionless, their faces hidden in the shadows under their hood, and their arms crossed in front of their chests.
The eyes of the gathered people were staring at Azriel as he entered the sacred chapel in the shadows, and a total of nine men stood in full armed manner around the huge granite table embedded in the deck, the place where important matters of the War Chapter have been debated and decided for decades.
Each of them had a helmet on the table in front of them, and different styles of paint showed their command in the battle group. At the same time, there was a sheathless sword next to each helmet, plus Azriel and Ezekiel, a total of twelve people and twelve swords. This represented the twelve battle group leaders convened by the inner ring when the second army was established.
It was at the first inner ring meeting that the secret responsibility of hunting the fallen angels was decided, and all the unforgivable battle groups formed their own inner ring organization.
The Dark Angels' inner ring conference had a long history. Before the Great Rebellion, deep in the Dark Angels flagship "Invincible Reason", there was a conference room with the chairs of the Six-wing Commander and the Primrose himself. They determined the future of the Legion, which can be said to be the early prototype of the inner ring.
After the Horus Rebellion and the Caliban incident, the official inner ring was formed.