According to Inner Circle tradition, when an Inner Circle member makes a proposal, all members hold a secret vote, at which point the candles in the chamber are extinguished and the room is plunged into complete darkness.
Each participant has a white ball and a black ball, representing votes for and against respectively. Everyone has equal voting rights, even the Supreme Master is no exception.
There are grooves engraved on the big table of the conference, which are connected to a container in the center of the conference table. In the dark, each member uses the white ball and black ball in his hand to vote for or against, and the balls they vote will move along the The groove on the table slides into the container in the middle. After the voting is completed, the candle is relit, and a machine will take out the container in the center of the conference table and present it to the Supreme Master. He will count the balls of different colors and determine the final result of the vote. result.
Soon, the candles in the hall were extinguished one by one, plunging into complete darkness.
None of the inner ring members could see each other, and no one made any noticeable movement, only the faint sound of breathing, and then the clink of the sphere colliding with the grooves on the table.
When the candles lit up again, the voting results were out.
There are 7 white balls and 5 black balls in total.
"That's it."
Azriel didn't want to cause any further trouble, so he immediately decided on the voting result.
"Put the channel on."
After more dial turns and button flicks, static washed over the communicator before fading.
"Captain Soshyan, I am Asmodei of the Dark Angels. We are suspending your decision. The Dark Angels will engage in joint operations. I will rush to the ground to talk to you later."
Soon, the return message was sent.
"I am extremely grateful, Supreme Master Azrael. I look forward to your arrival."
When the link goes down, more static comes through.
Azrael's face then turned stern and determined, and he looked directly into the eyes of every member of the Inner Circle.
"Go now, brothers, and prepare your companies for battle."
This sentence announced the end of the war group meeting, but after everyone left, some people quietly stayed and went to another more secret space.
As mentioned before, a major feature of the inner circle is that there are circles within circles, and there are secrets behind secrets. (Stop saying that the Eleventh Legion is hot, Suo Zhanshuai doesn’t have such free time to play with extreme matryoshka dolls)
So it is very natural that even in the chapter meeting, there are also more senior inner circles who know more secrets. They are the six secret mentors.
The Hidden Mentors were summoned by Azrael himself, and it was Seph who summoned them.
More than ten years ago, not long after Azrael became the Supreme Master, the long-lost Lord Cypher suddenly surrendered during the battle in Tharsis and was subsequently transferred to the Great Stone.
Azrael believed that some knowledge about Cypher was not suitable for widespread discussion in the Inner Circle, so he summoned the other five most senior Inner Circle members. They were Ezekiel, Grand Master of the Think Tank, and Sa, Grand Master of the Priest. Fu, Chief Inquisitor Asmodai, Grand Master Belial of the Deathwing, and Samuel, the Grand Master of the Ravenwing.
The six of them had a secret discussion about Cypher's surrender, and Azrael also revealed a secret to the other five mentors at the meeting - in the past ten thousand years, Cypher had taken the initiative to visit the Stone seven times, and he He managed to escape each time, and at the same time revealed the true reason for the establishment of the Inner Circle to the five mentors.
Then, not long after the meeting, it was very shameful because of a series of accidents (actually a very long story, but gw didn’t say exactly when it happened at the end of M41, so I moved it to before the Battle of Pandora , if someone knows and can correct him), Seve once again escaped from the sight of the Dark Angel——
The place where the six people met was called the Chamber of Secrets, and the six people also made a blood oath here to keep the secrets discussed at the meeting. Afterwards, Sappho used the term "Secret Master" to refer to these six people.
And these six people, in a sense, are the real leadership core of the Dark Angels Chapter.
The secret room is very small, and the furnishings are also very simple, with a huge rough round stone seat, six huge stone chairs, and a candlestick in the center of the table, but the weak candlelight can only barely cover the person sitting on the edge of the table. Human figures, most of their outlines are trapped in shadow.
"...Seph once mentioned the name of the Death Star during the interrogation. In that conversation, he mentioned that there seemed to be a huge secret hidden in the old era, but he never knew what this secret related to. Willing to elaborate."
In the darkness, Asmodai recounted the most confidential information in a rare calm tone.
"But we've found nothing until now."
Sappho, the Grand Master Priest, sighed softly.
"Is this another lie?"
"No, he must be here. Abaddon's existence is enough to prove it!"
Asmodai's tone suddenly became high-pitched.
"The Black Legion will never come here without a reason. We have already talked about this before setting off."
"You mean Cypher lured the Black Legion here?"
Ezekiel's voice was filled with doubt.
"This possibility cannot be ruled out!"
"Then if that's the case, why did he reveal this to us in the first place?"
Asmodai did not answer this question.
Azrael sat motionless on the chair, as if he were a sculpture, but no one present would really think that he was a sculpture.
The Supreme Master is always thinking.
Suddenly, Beria spoke.
"Do you feel that the Gray Knights are very abnormal this time? We have cooperated with them several times in the past. These people have a fanatical desire to attack demons and heretics. They usually do it on their own without saying hello, but this time they seem to be watching. Like others, there is almost no action.”
"It doesn't look like that on the surface."
Samuel's deep voice was like the engine of a motorcycle.
"Jushi once detected that several small aircraft quietly left their warship."
"The White Templar and the Astral Knight are also very suspicious. I still can't understand why they come all the way here."
Asmodai voiced his opinions loudly as always.
"Suspicious! Very suspicious!"
Finally, Azrael spoke, with unquestionable authority.
"I was also present when Seve mentioned the banishment of the Death Star. He only said a few words, not much. The traitors have long been accustomed to releasing various smoke bombs to attract our attention. We don't know how to eat this at once. He suffered a lot of losses and even had bad relations with other war groups because of this."
"but--"
"The primary goal now is to defeat the Black Legion. As long as we defeat the enemy, you can turn the whole world upside down. However, if the battle is unfavorable, then not only will we fail our oath to the throne, but it will also cast a huge shadow on the war group. The shame! We have had enough shame. I don’t want to add another big predator. Let’s put aside the pursuit of the traitor during this period. Sappho, Asmodei, I need you to go to the front line to inspire the soldiers. them."
Sappho nodded, Asmodai struggled for a while, and finally made no further objections.
Azriel breathed a sigh of relief, then waved his hand gently.
"Then let's break up."
In an instant, the candle went out, and all the secrets and betrayals were once again hidden in the darkness.
