When the sun sets, it is the time for believers to pray at night.

The crimson sunset unfolds softly like satin, shining through the colorful glass, creating a smoky light and shadow in the church.

Twenty-seven hours had passed since the end of the light burial. After a full day at the end of yesterday's short meeting, the fourteen popes gathered again in the Dome Cathedral.

But the decisive difference from yesterday is that there are not fourteen people in the cathedral this time, but eighteen.

After the fourteen popes took their seats in order, four people dressed differently from the pope stood silently behind the three gods, Tyre, Loda Khan, and Konnie.

Standing behind Loda Khan was a slightly chubby male mountain man who looked to be no more than thirty years old. Standing behind Connie was a middle-aged woman in her forties, with a gentle but sad expression.

Only two people stood behind Jupiter IV.

One is an old man who is in good spirits and has a posture as tall as a soldier.

The second person was very different from the other three.

There was no light flickering in him, nor the intense sense of sacredness that could be felt with the naked eye. On the contrary, he feels damp and dark, more like something disguised as human than human.

It stands to reason that a single cardinal has no right to participate in such a top-secret meeting in which only the Pope can participate.

But at this moment, the fourteen popes, including Jupiter IV, did not question the existence of this man.

The man bowed his head deeply, as if he was afraid that he would be recognized, or that something on his face would scare others. Never show your face.

But thirteen popes other than Jupiter IV recognized him.

- He's none other than Cell. Son of Enzos, the god of truth and terror, and a former elect.

Fortunately. Pope Tulayan II of Enzos is also here. But out of expectation, he didn't show a half-hearted look at Cell. Instead, he smiled inexplicably with relief, and lowered his head and muttered something - in short, it was definitely not a prayer.

At this moment, Jupiter IV coughed a few times.

"Now, guys," his voice remained the trademark slow, old, and gentle, "meeting began. ”

As soon as he finished speaking, the air suddenly changed.

As the fourteen popes' figures faded away, fourteen bright ripples flickered from the top of the round table.

Soon, the ripples fluctuated violently. The figures of the fourteen righteous gods were detached from the void and sat in the air one by one.

After all the gods appeared, Tyre spoke straight up, "Everyone, you must have felt the abnormal fluctuations on the wall of Aum. ”

The faces of the other thirteen gods were also much gloomer than yesterday, and they nodded silently.

"Now, the White Tower Wizard must have a deep understanding of the danger to this world."

Tyre whispered slowly, his voice gentle and sensible, "If you let them do whatever they want." Even we will suffer a lot. There is plenty of time today, so we will try to decide on the general plan today, lay out the Precursor coalition, and we will discuss the details tomorrow. ”

"Still the same old thing?"

Ra frowned.

"If it weren't for the Silver Queen's Scarlet Crusade a thousand years ago. We've succeeded. Now Elcat's desert has been burned to the ground, and the White Tower alone can't stand us off. ”

Tyre nodded helplessly, glancing at Enzos, who was babbling about something like his Pope: "And." The disturbance of the Aum Wall is getting worse day by day...... We can't wait. If we don't defeat the White Tower, I'm afraid we'll all be dragged to the ground. ”

"Enzos: He just went into a frenzy last month. It will take at least half a month for him to wake up from his madness. We might as well use the strategy he made last time and wait for him to wake up. The battle is about to progress to the battle, and then let him adjust the plan. ”

"It just so happens that the astrowizards of the White Tower all know that Enzos will go crazy at the beginning of the thirteenth month. Now we are suddenly attacking and it is a surprise, and we will definitely get good results. ”

Tyre's explanation caused the gods to nod.

"So. Today the meeting officially began. According to the old rules in the Council of Mages, when the even-numbered members convened the highest meeting, I did not participate in the vote, but had the right of veto. ”

Thiel said word by word in a clear voice. His body radiated a golden glow as warm as the sun.

"Today's main content is...... Elsachs, Knie, and Koranwo proposed to fine-tune the number of the Precursor coalition. My personal suggestion is to triple it, do you have any comments? ”

"I think it's better to double as we agreed a month ago."

Konnie's gentle and ethereal voice rang out from the air: "The experience of the last holy war has taught us that no matter what method is used, the result of taking the initiative to attack the White Tower will be the annihilation of the entire army...... I think it would be enough to increase the number of Precursor troops to twice as many as in the last crusade. ”

"Dissent."

A soft, damp voice rang out: "Twice is definitely not enough." Let's not mention the growth of the wizards of the White Tower in the past thousand years...... The four saints can entangle up to four tower masters, excluding the long-missing dragon hunter Esther, even if the remaining four tower masters are divided into one, Elukado's side can't solve it. ”

"So I propose to quadruple the troops. We don't have a shortage of them. If we can't remove the White Tower's defenses in the first wave of attacks, we will most likely have to pay a huge price to defeat the White Tower once the wizards open all the enchantments and drag them into a protracted battle. ”

"I second. Quadruple the troops, stunned them in one go, and couldn't give the wizards any time to react. ”

Al Sachs' sullen voice came out of the completely sealed black-red armor: "The more we drag, the more we lose." Once dragged into a protracted war, it is we who exchange our lives for their money. I'd rather fill their barrier with more than 10,000 lives than fight them for a long time...... Enough is the lesson of a thousand years ago. ”

"It's easy to say. That's because you and the followers of Sivir can only fight in the second wave of attack," the God of Contract, holding the scroll in his left hand and the sword in his right, was visibly dissatisfied, "but the first wave is a few of us. ”

"So, pull—what about your opinion?"

Tyre interrupted him.

Pull Shen groaned for two seconds, and then said categorically: "Three." Up to three times. ”

"Raising mercenaries is expensive, and I'm not like you Templars who don't wear much on a regular basis. Once my losses exceed 5,000 men, I won't be able to recover even if I knock down the White Tower. ”

"You don't have to worry about the losses," Tyre said suddenly, in a gentle tone, "because you and the Knicks' followers will make up half of the vanguard, and when the final division is made, you and the Knicks' share will be thirty percent higher than the others." ”

"But Tyre, I'm not going to be involved in the second wave of the battle."

"Yes."

"Deal."

Ra said without hesitation.

A golden light flashed from the scroll in his left hand.

The other thirteen gods present all saw this, but no one cared. Or rather, they have long been accustomed to this scene.

"So, to quadruple the number of Precursors to 28,000 as many as they did a millennium ago—do you have any objections?"

"I'm sorry Tyre...... I want to disagree. ”

"And me."

After a brief silence, Lorda Khan and Knei sighed and voted against it.

"Eleven against two, opposition is invalid."

"For the sake of concealment, Sivir, Cranvo, Elsax, and my followers are not involved in the Precursors. With the exception of the four of us, the others have given a revelation to the believers at the end of today's meeting to prove the sanctity of this holy war. ”

"After the sun went down, the Knicks sent 6,400 bloody fingers into the White Tower in batches within six days. Starting tomorrow morning, La will send 5,800 mercenaries to enter the White Tower within nine days. ”

"Others, starting on the fourth day, transfer believers in four days and prepare for jihadist mobilization in advance; And the four saints, after the end of the meeting tomorrow, will be led by Cell, who will infiltrate the White Tower. Everyone assembles on the evening of the 10th day – when you tell your Pope to stay here and keep in touch. ”

"And, Nix, you have your ghost masked get rid of the spies of the White Tower among the other popes while they are mobilizing for jihad. This time Enzos is not in shape, so you have to do it yourself. ”

Nicks nodded silently.

At this time, the figures of the fourteen gods had begun to fade gradually.

Tyre said solemnly, "For the sake of the ......"

Before his words even fell, the figures of the other thirteen Popes had begun to emerge in the void.

The faces of the fourteen popes did not change even the slightest. However, the momentum on their bodies is indeed much weaker.

In the blink of an eye, everything seemed to be back to square one.

The only difference is that the sun has already set at this time.

Across Faennes, countless devout believers suddenly raised their heads at the end of their routine evening prayers.

The divine revelation of the Holy War has begun. (To be continued.) )