The Emperor’s Angel of Death

If it were a typical Eldar facing such a problem, they would definitely choose the most common method—stirring up a heap of trouble for the Imperium in some unknown place, creating chaos and havoc, and then using some inexplicable means to bring out the Craftworld, perhaps even engaging in a major battle with the Imperium.

However, having been by Trazyn's side for so many years, Veronica's understanding of the Imperium of Man and its operational methods far exceeded that of ordinary Eldar. She was well aware that the Imperium's response was always relatively slow, and that the Cadian Gate had not been attacked for many years, nor had there been any large-scale Chaos incursions. Even if the High Lords issued repeated orders and emphasized the importance of defense, the surrounding defenses would inevitably become lax. For example, after the Gothic War, the Imperium deployed twenty Astartes Chapters specifically responsible for defending against the Eye of Terror in the sectors around the Cadian Gate, also known as the Warden Chapters. But by the 41st millennium, only eleven of the twenty Warden Chapters remained, some having been destroyed, some having turned traitor, and others, like the Fire Hawks, having been sentenced to a penitent crusade.

In other words, as long as Autunsa acted quickly enough, they could completely slip away before the Imperium reacted, without the need for any extra tricks.

Of course, to assist Autunsa in escaping, the Court of the Young King also dispatched a fleet to the Webway nearest to the Eye of Terror as a supporting force, and also sent out some Rangers and Pathfinders to sabotage some of the Imperium's communications and monitoring equipment.

With everything prepared, Veronica mentally guided Autunsa to traverse the warp turbulence. During this time, the Phoenix Guard once again thwarted an attempt by Slaaneshi daemons to invade the Craftworld.

Finally, amidst the alarms of the Imperial monitoring systems, this Craftworld, after ten thousand years, finally left the Eye of Terror, also escaping the fate of being eternally devoured.

As soon as it broke free from the Cadian Gate, Autunsa went full power, desperately heading for the nearest Webway entrance, and it wasn't until eleven hours after this Eldar Craftworld left the Cadian Gate that the Imperial Guard Command on Cadia realized that a huge "alien vessel" had escaped, and then it took another three hours to notify the nearby defense fleet. The unprepared Imperial Navy could only scramble to find traces of the alien vessel.

Since the Imperium had deployed monitoring equipment throughout the area, they did indeed discover Autunsa's whereabouts, but the speed of the Imperial ships was completely incomparable to that of the Eldar ships, so they could only try to "block" the path of this huge vessel, so they sent messages to the worlds ahead of its course, requesting those small escort fleets to try to hold it back first, but the report they received was that there was more than one alien vessel, there was also a fleet, its existence made those small ships dare not approach at all.

In the end, after a period of chaos, the Imperium completely lost track of this alien Craftworld, and could only mark this incident as a "Swift Escape", many people were held accountable for this, but in the end only a few hundred unlucky listeners and technicians were punished.

The news of Autunsa Craftworld's return caused considerable discussion in the Court of the Young King. This Craftworld, which had gone through hardships, ultimately had less than 60,000 people left, and its Infinity Circuit was already filled with soul stones, many of which were young.

However, there were not only voices of sympathy for them, but also suspicion, because even after arriving at the Court of the Young King, none of these people took off their helmets. They seemed afraid to expose their true faces, and such behavior only fueled certain suspicions. After all, this group of people had stayed in the Eye of Terror, an area full of the evil power of the Ruinous Powers, for too long, and some residents of the Court of the Young King found it hard to believe that the souls of the Eldar within this Craftworld were as pure as before.

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The situation of the Craftworld itself also exacerbated this suspicion. Upon arriving in the orbit of the Court of the Young King, more than two-thirds of the Craftworld was still isolated, with rune shields protecting the rest of the worldship from residual warp contamination.

Despite the strong opposition from the Queen's inner court, Veronica still personally boarded the Autunsa Craftworld that had arrived in the orbit of the Court of the Young King, and personally met with the residents there, and it was at this time that the Autunsa people took off their helmets.

According to Veronica, all the handmaidens guarding her at the time raised their weapons.

Consistent with some of the rumors, the residents of Autunsa had indeed been permanently changed. Their faces had become paler and more withered than those of ordinary Eldar, as if they were already dead.

Veronica immediately judged that these Craftworld Eldar had actually suffered a fate similar to that of the Commorrites. Although they had the protection of the Craftworld and soul stones, because the Chaos power in the Eye of Terror was too powerful, their souls were still being slowly devoured by the Great Enemy. This was more akin to a disease than a curse. Although they had now escaped the Eye of Terror, the damaged souls could not repair themselves.

Fortunately, Madael proposed a solution, which was to have the residents of Autunsa live near the Shrine of Asuryan for a period of time, using the gentle power of the Phoenix Fire to slowly repair the damage to their souls, but they should not enter the shrine, because damaged souls are easily ignited.

Veronica used Isha's divine power to cast a spiritual rain, comforting the hearts of the Autunsa residents, and then announced their resettlement.

After learning that the Court of the Young King would accept them, the residents of Autunsa also swore that they would be loyal to the cause of rebuilding the Aeldari Empire for life, and used the unique "Broken Chain" symbol from ancient Imperial religion to represent them—this symbol symbolizes the hunter god and the life goddess escaping from Khaine's bloody hands in ancient mythology.

However, many people in the Court of the Young King, including members of the two councils, still held an unwelcoming attitude towards this group of people, because the residents of Autunsa were always unwilling to explain how they had survived after being imprisoned in the dark heart of Chaos for ten thousand years, coupled with the fact that after their appearance was exposed, some radicals claimed that these Eldar had fallen, they secretly served Slaanesh, and had been changed by the destructive forces that roamed freely in the Eye of Terror.

There is no doubt that these words and deeds angered Morganna. When the Phoenix Council discussed this matter again, he directly broke into it with his weapon in hand, stood silently at the door, glaring at all the council members inside.

The originally lively council hall instantly became silent, and everyone felt the pervasive killing intent.

Of course, this matter definitely couldn't continue to escalate. A team of handmaidens rushed over and used the Queen's edict to escort Morganna away, but everyone present could directly feel the Phoenix Lord's anger, and no one would doubt whether the Dark Reaper would really fire.

In the end, Morganna's dark reputation worked, at least no one dared to continue to talk about these things publicly.

Although violence only covers up the problem, some problems themselves cannot be dealt with immediately, and can only be left to time to slowly fade away, so covering up is sometimes indeed the best choice.

Therefore, Veronica only verbally reprimanded Morganna, without actually punishing this impulsive Phoenix Grand Duke.