When Augustine arrived, the venue was silent.

As the current pope of the Order, the old man from the scholastic family has a great reputation within the Order, more than half of the cardinals present have studied his theological works, and even the sword-bearers, who are not in the same system as the clergy, have much reverence for the power that single-handedly promoted the weaver Cassius Wald and founded the Choral Order for him.

"Good day, gentlemen. ”

However, those who knew the old man well knew that he was an elder who was always courteous and gentle - more of a scholar, a humble and pious scholar, than a pope who was on top of all living beings and shepherded all living beings for the all-knowing and all-powerful Lord.

"Good day, Your Majesty. ”

The cardinals, along with the great sword-bearers of the same rank as the cardinals, stood up and bowed to the old man.

The old man was not tall, although his clothes were luxurious, but the decoration was unusually simple, and the shepherd's staff, which symbolized the supreme agent of the Lord on earth, was held in his hand by him, and he came to the front of everyone with his unhurried steps, and then he took the ruby crown symbolizing the status of the pope on his head, and sat down on the main seat at the end of the square table, and his golden eyes as bright as the morning sun swept over everyone.

"Guys—"

There is a slight pause.

"I am sure that you all already know the contents of this Council of Cardinals, so I will not repeat it. His voice was deep and powerful, and although the rhythm was soothing, it had a deafening force, "Now, please report the progress of the work one by one." ”

"Your Majesty. "The first to stand up is a middle-aged man with a big belly, don't look at his appearance, he and the Wyman, Patrick and others here belong to the same peak of the Five Seals Great Sword Bearer, but he is not under the command of the Twelve Supporting Swordsmen Brigade of the Order, but is solely responsible for the operation of the floating fleet, and the Ministry of Faith and Reason, only responsible for the Pope alone, is a veritable real power figure," A total of forty-three cities of materials have all arrived, and they are currently being counted- All but a few sword-bearers who have been sent abroad have been returned, awaiting your orders. ”

"The Twelve Brigade of Sword Bearers has been assembled," speaking on behalf of the Sword Bearers, Patrick of the Guardian Brigade, as the captain of the Guardian Brigade directly under the Pope's Hall and responsible for the security of the cardinals of the present Canaan, he is faintly higher than his eleven colleagues in terms of identity, status, and voice, "He is ready to accept your review." ”

"Your Majesty, the Choral Corps is ready. Cassiu Wald stood up and said, as the founder and supreme commander of the Song Band, although he was only a great sword bearer of the Three Seals level, no one in the audience dared to underestimate him, "Strong-willed, peaceful-minded, and able to establish a connection with the 'gods' at any time." ”

"The Holy Cult Army from all over the country has been assembled," the person in charge of the Holy Cult Army is Hercules, who is the same as Cassius Wald and is a great sword bearer of the Three Seals level, but they are far from each other in terms of status, "At present, the war mobilization has been prepared, excluding the recruits who have not yet formed combat strength, and the total number of troops that can be mobilized is about 52,000 men. ”

Of course, these 52,000 men were not only from the living Canaan of the Order, but were transported from various cities through floating fleets, and they were all elites who were skilled in the use of steam-powered greatswords and flintlock firearms—and only such elites could maintain the corresponding fighting enthusiasm in the high-intensity battlefield of the deepest night, and not completely lose the will to fight in the battle day after day.

"There is no problem with the Cardinals, and the mechanisms have been fully transferred to the wartime system," after the head of the Holy Religious Army finished speaking, the cardinal in charge of the Cardinal Council made a report, as a pure clergyman, he is just a pure mortal, but his role is no less than others, and he needs to be responsible for everything in various fields such as wartime domination and the operation of the current Canaan during the war, or transit, "The artificial celestial system has been warmed up, and the 'Gabriel' system has been warmed up - it can be used at any time." ”

The core of artificial celestial computing is an all-round real-time computing system that operates with the differential machine intelligent consciousness 'artificial angel' as the basic unit, and the activation of this system requires the occupation of 20% of the steam units in the entire modern Canaan, but the corresponding turnover efficiency of the entire cardinal's and the various functional departments of the entire living Canaan can be as fast as 50%, which is especially useful in the period of war when every second is in time.

The Gabriel system is the final defense system of the present Canaan established by the god Augustus of the earth, and it needs to occupy 20% of Canaan's steam units just to activate, and to turn into an offensive state, it requires 50% of the entire Canaanite steam units to operate at full load or even overload, but its power is as considerable as its energy consumption - it is said that it is not inferior to Augustus's full force.

"Very well," the old man—the Pope—Augustine nodded, his gaze swept over the cardinals who were listening, and finally settled on the young man sitting in an inconspicuous corner, "Stewart, you?"

The young man, whom the old man called Stewart, looked to be about fifteen or sixteen years old, with a very tender baby face, with broken golden hair and a pair of azure shining eyes, and after hearing Augustine's inquiry, a very hearty and very sunny smile bloomed on his handsome countenance, and then replied in a clear and crisp voice like gold and jade:

—The Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith is always ready. ”

He played with the silver-white cane in his hand as he uttered a terrifying word: "In recent times, two cardinals, one grand sword-bearer, five white-clothed bishops, twelve regional bishops, and twenty-three sword-bearers have been purified. ”

Purification is undoubtedly a more literary statement, and the true meaning of its expression is actually known in the hearts of all of you here—with the Inquisition's style of doing things without leaving dogs, even if you are alive, there is not much difference between being dead and maybe worse?

As the head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, or the Inquisition, the boy who was called Stewart could not have been a real boy, but among so many people and so many dignitaries of the Order, none of them could say his exact age, and could only give a general number of forty or fifty based on the time he had been active, and there were even more opinions as to whether he was a sword bearer or not.

However, it is generally believed that he is very strong, at least above the ordinary great sword-wielding, otherwise he would not be qualified to be the head of the executioner organ of the Inquisition.

"I see," Pope Augustine retracted his gaze, as if the dead cardinals and the archswordsman were just insignificant numbers, not enough to keep him in mind, and his face remained unwavering, "Now, let's move on to the next topic—"

There was a short pause.

He said: "A specific strategy for the Great Wall of Eternal Night. ”