"I'm starting to regret that Astorius isn't here now." Cobro whispered beside Dante.

After two days, the Holy Blood Priest was obviously aware of the fact that "we have been looking in the wrong direction for 10,000 years regarding the problem of red thirst", but to the surprise of the War Leader, although Kobro's current mental state cannot be said to be normal, this abnormal direction is guessed by others...... It cannot be said that there are some deviations, only that they are very different.

It is certainly a good thing that Kobro did not collapse from the blow and even readjusted his mentality in two days, and was able to lubricate the atmosphere in an event where only the top brass of the warband were present, as he had done before. However, even Dante, who has always been (forcing himself) to be optimistic, can't help but wonder if Cobro's mentality has adjusted a little too well.

It was not difficult for anyone present to figure out from the public records of the Power Armor after the friendly identification that the man had not slept for two days and had continued to conduct research in his studio. But when Dante, in his capacity as the warlord, ordered him to be dug out of his workshop and told to bring him to the Basilica of the Holy Blood with the Scarlet Grail, he showed up without any anger, complaints, or impatience to be disturbed, but rather laughed - almost humming a song next to their venerable warlord.

Realizing this, Dante chose to remind the other party to be calmer rather than respond to the other party's gag that eased the atmosphere: "Chief Priest Cobro, this is a serious occasion. ”

That's what he said, but in fact, it wasn't convincing - judging from the atmosphere between the two core members of the theoretical core of this incident, this occasion could not be serious in the direction that the Holy Blood Angel wanted.

The two servo skulls that had been modified and gripped the keg with their mechanical arms buzzed to and fro against the ground, drawing some kind of circle of magic on the cleaned, recognizable black marble floor with the silver liquid from the keg. Rika Fujimaru, who was about to preside over the psionic ritual, and Mephiston, who was about to oversee it all, stood a little farther away, talking about how the silver "ink" was made in an overly relaxed atmosphere. If you don't take into account the fact that their conversation contains a lot of words like "mercury", "gems", "psionics", etc., those who are listening to it will even think that they are talking about a recipe rather than a costly ritual prop.

Considering that the average person's first impression of Mephistopheles is "gloomy, scary, and difficult to get along with", even within the Holy Blood Angel Warband, Rika Fujimaru was able to maintain a relaxed and pleasant atmosphere when talking to such a problem gentleman, and perhaps it should be based on this that she has some kind of paranormal ability.

Although it is clear that the ceremony has not yet begun, and the atmosphere is currently in the preparatory stage, it is understandable that the atmosphere is relaxed, but only this time, the always open-minded and tolerant leader Dante still hopes that all the participants will participate in the ceremony with a serious and awe-inspiring attitude.

After all, what will be held by Fujimaru Rika in the Basilica of the Holy Blood is the spiritualist ritual of St. Giles.

"The Conjuring Ritual" is a minimalist version of Mephiston's commentary that he relayed to the higher-ups of the Holy Blood Angel Warband after hearing Rika Fujimaru's statement. This statement is obviously easy to misunderstand, but in essence, it can't be miscalculated: what Fujimaru Rika wants to do is actually to compare the statue of the emperor on the Storm Border to St. Giles. But how is this not the "spiritualism ceremony" of "attaching the remaining part of the soul of St. Giles from the torch to the statue"?

Compared with the emperor, the current St. Giles obviously lacks some "subjective initiative" in the aspect of "apparition", so the relevant rituals are necessary. Rika Fujimaru was glad that this would not have allowed her to be taken aback by a statue of St. Giles who was talking while walking in the monastery of the Holy Blood Angel Legion (it is hard to imagine that the Holy Blood Angel would be making a mass fake work for the Father of Genes, and the fortress of Araks Angels is indeed full of statue reliefs with the image of St. Giles), but she only felt embarrassed when the ritual was summed up in a suspicious-sounding way.

Embarrassing is embarrassing, and what needs to be done still has to be done. Originally, Mephiston wanted to take people to the Think Tank Sanctuary, because performing a psionic ritual in the Think Tank Sanctuary sounded like a matter of course. But Fujimaru Rika laid out a lot of conditions for this ceremony, and then somehow managed to convince the chief think tank to agree, and find a way to convince the head of the war group, to place the ceremony in the cathedral.

Rika Fujimaru's requirements for the venue are not in terms of affinity for spiritual energy, but in terms of history, beliefs, and symbols. Of course, the most important thing is that there needs to be a statue of St. Giles carved entirely from the son of St. Giles, and the more finished the better, the better - so the Basilica of the Holy Blood was a natural choice.

This is not the only religious building built for the state religion or St. Giles in the entire Abbey of the Holy Blood Angels, but this one has a special meaning for the entire warband.

It may be hard to imagine, but at the time of the Great Expedition of the Empire's Truth, there was already a chapel in this position on the main planet of Baal - the three Baal stars had religious immunity in the empire at the time, and could legally continue to maintain their angelic faith, and this church was apparently originally dedicated to St. Giles himself. Even though the Astartes at the time undoubtedly believed in imperial truth, the building was planned for the site of the Araks Angel Fortress at the beginning of its existence, for reasons such as Barr's customs and traditions.

Over the next 10,000 years, as the state religion flourished, the church grew in size and the image of the emperor himself was added to the main shrine, but the belief in St. Giles was certainly not squeezed out. The Emperor is the great leader of the entire human race, and St. Giles is the genetic father of the Holy Blood Angels. Countless generations of Angels of the Holy Blood have worshipped the statues enshrined in the shrines in this form, and have made countless works of art on this theme with their own hands and understanding of beauty, decorating them in layers and in an orderly manner in the church as a sign of their reverence.

Of course, when the hive invaded a hundred years ago, the church, along with its shrine statues, frescoes, windows, and other art, was destroyed, along with many other structures in the warband. But that didn't stop a hundred years later, the indomitable Angels of the Blood had once again built almost the same building in its place, and rebuilt it as a treasure trove of religious art. Unfortunately, this building cannot be said to be exactly the same in terms of efficacy as it was a hundred years ago.

A little more recently, the church was used as the venue for the final part of the Bloody Angels' conscription ceremony. Those who have passed the trials will keep vigil for three days in the chapel of vigilance on the side of the church, and if they successfully survive the vigilance trial, they will be regarded as the new blood of the warband, and will be led to the main hall of the church, where they will be witnessed by several priests of the Holy Blood and the brothers of the Tenth Company, and then taken to the blood coffin for transformation.

This is how Kobro became an Angel of the Holy Blood, and after becoming the Priest of the Holy Blood and even the Chief Priest, he also performed many blood ordination ceremonies for the new blood of the warband. It's a long tradition, and it's a similar process for Mephiston (or Callistarius) and Dante to join the warband. However, after the arduous battle of the defense of Baal, the withered warbands were in dire need of a large number of new blood replenishment, and the selection criteria for the warbands were also widened and widened. Although Cobro still performs the blood ceremony for the newlyweds in the main hall of the church, he also knows that the vigilance trial that should have been placed before this step has not been held for a long time, and many of the previous screening steps have been similarly put on hold.

This is something that the warband has to do in order to get through the difficult times. For more than a hundred years, Kobro has always thought so. Or rather, he had to force himself to think so about a lot of things. As many times before, his mind was almost about to slip out of this direction again, but Rika Fujimaru's voice pulled him back to reality:

"Chief Priest of Kobro, please put the Scarlet Crimson Chalice in this place." The circle reflecting the metallic silver light had been drawn on the glossy black marble floor in the main hall of the church, and Fujimaru Rika pointed to the side farther away from the altar and the statue of St. Giles. Looking in the direction of her finger, there was a position in the circle where even if Cobro had no knowledge of it, he could tell "what should be there" from the graphic expression.

The Head Blood Priest didn't notice anything wrong, but glanced inquiringly at their chief think tank as he approached the figure with the chalice in his hand. Somewhat unexpectedly, Mephiston reached out a hand and shouted a timeout to him in body language, turning to Fujimaru Rika's face with some doubts clearly written: "Is there something wrong?" ”

Fujimaru Rika looked up, looked at Mephiston's face with the same puzzled look, and then lowered her head and quickly checked the circle drawn by her lazy command servo skull, and then raised her head again with a straight face: "No?" Everything is normal! ”

"If my understanding of this spell is correct," Mephiston had to point out directly, "you just asked for the Crimson Crimson to be placed in the 'caster' position. ”

Considering the age (and status) of the person presiding over the ceremony, he thought it was a mistake that a beginner would have made that would have seemed silly. But Fujimaru Rika still showed a kind of doubt that something was questioned for granted: "Right? In my plan, the 'caster' of this spell would be the Scarlet Grail, or some other warband artifact that is similar in history and symbolism among the Blood Angels. Essentially, this is a summoning ritual, so of course the stronger the bond between the summoner and the summoned, the better. ”

The summoning spells in this universe are not very particular about what "holy relics" (reusable catalysts), and if you want to summon a specific subspace creature, one direction of trying is to use the rituals or spells that the parties prefer (or some kind of equipment that integrates related rituals and spells), and the other direction of trying is to give sacrifices to their liking (things placed on the altar will really be taken away by subspace creatures and can only be used once), which once made Fujimaru Ritsuka, who relied on "fate" to eat, feel very uncomfortable. However, the supernatural power of "fate" does exist in this universe, and Rika Fujimaru eventually succeeds in finding a way to use it - in this way of "using the holy relic as a spellcaster".

For experienced think tanks, using fate to summon is not a difficult concept to understand, but it is not very practical for various reasons. But the format in which the ceremony was established puzzled the chief think tank:

"But the Scarlet Crimson Grail obviously doesn't cast spells, let alone chant incantations." "Even if you don't have to start this ritual any matter how you need to begin, how do you know for sure that it's really the soul of the Father of Genes like us?" ”

In directional summoning, fate alone is often not enough, and it is also necessary to use spells to accurately describe the entity you need to summon - it is better to say that the latter form of summoning is the mainstream of the empire, as long as it is a beginner think tank that involves relevant knowledge, it will be clear to you. There are so many things that have a fate with the Scarlet Grail, and the way the Matrix itself works will allow the ritual to screen out the dead battle brothers who have become Blood Angels through the blood of this Holy Grail (if their souls still exist in the subspace), but who can guarantee that in the worst-case scenario, there will be no demons with enmity with the Blood Angels in the statue?

Fujimaru Rika did not answer the question immediately, she just turned around and quickly ran up the steps of the pulpit in front of the statue of St. Giles, and then climbed to the altar and knelt down solemnly:

"Because the 'sacrifice' of this ritual is me. Or rather, 'the Emperor's psionic power'. "I'm interested in any of the eyeless subspace creatures other than the archangel himself who would dare to receive this sacrifice." ”

(End of chapter)