The Emperor’s Angel of Death

The God-Tower that once belonged to the Scytheclaw Kabal had been thoroughly cleaned, with even the bloodstains wiped away, as if nothing had ever happened.

Apart from those inside the God-Tower, the rest of the Shadow Nexus had no idea what had occurred; even most of the Kabal members were unaware that their Archon was gone. All news was tightly controlled, and the God-Tower itself was heavily guarded, with few allowed to enter. This isolated environment allowed all the drastic changes to occur silently.

Under these circumstances, the God-Tower suddenly announced the lifting of the port lockdown, and a fleet arrived shortly thereafter.

This fleet was naturally the one Zahrgahn had dispatched to attack the Steel Eyes Raiders. In fact, they had been on the verge of breaching the Steel Eyes pirate band's hidden spire sanctuary—the so-called spire sanctuary was essentially a pirate base. It served both as a base of operations for Aeldari pirates to launch attacks and as a part of the Aeldari webway structure, typically hidden within asteroid belts or nebulae, using solar sails to capture solar winds for power and equipped with formidable defensive weaponry.

But at that critical moment, the fleet of the Eternal Court arrived, and the Shrieking Spectres Kabal, hired by the Scytheclaw Kabal, immediately chose to flee, leaving the Scytheclaw Kabal to be besieged.

However, Sotha had already issued orders that the fleet did not need to be destroyed, only repelled.

Realizing they could not complete their mission, the fleet ultimately chose to retreat.

Of course, they also had no idea what had happened at the God-Tower.

As the fleet docked, Drakul and other high-ranking Kabal members commanding the fleet received orders to report to the Archon's palace.

This terrified many of them, as it meant they would pay a heavy price for their failure. However, they had no choice but to enter the mysterious Archon's palace with trepidation.

But when they entered, they did not see the Archon. Instead, they saw a palace that had been burned and ransacked, dozens of high-ranking Kabal members suspended from the pillars, and the heads of the Archon and the Master Haemonculus. In the place where the Archon's throne used to be, sat a giant wearing a strange vest and cape, and a Khaine mask. Other high-ranking members of the Kabal were kneeling on the ground on both sides of the road, not daring to breathe loudly.

It was only then that they realized that the Kabal had changed hands!

The change itself wasn't the main issue, since political changes and conspiracies were basically daily occurrences for the Kabal. The problem was that the new "sky" was too strange.

It was actually the legendary Eternal Court, claiming to have inherited the legal authority of the ancient empire, establishing an Eternal Queen, and a mysterious Phoenix King who was rumored to be descended from apes. There had always been rumors about this, but few believed them. Commorragh always had all kinds of rumors, and it was difficult to distinguish between truth and falsehood.

But now, they confirmed the truth of the rumor with their own eyes. After all, those body proportions would never belong to an Aeldari, nor did they quite match a human.

But none of this mattered. What mattered was that they had walked right into the palm of the other side.

The only thing to be thankful for was that the Phoenix King did not have a murderous intent, but instead gave them a choice.

Hand over their souls, keep the secret, and after the Eternal Court completed its great task, they would be given freedom and identity.

Under these circumstances, they naturally knew what to do. After all, the Dark Aeldari who had managed to reach this level were generally not known for their integrity. Each of them was an expert at reading the wind, knowing that survival was the most important thing.

Thus, Sotha easily solved the problem of the Scytheclaw Kabal.

However, the plan had to be changed somewhat. Originally, he had considered supporting that Sarhain to become the Archon, creating the illusion of a counterattack by the Steel Eyes pirate band. But due to Zahrgahn's unique style, Sotha turned to a more secure plan.

Anyway, Zahrgahn basically never left his home. Even Commorragh's spies would not know whether he was dead or alive. He could just arrange for someone to remotely command here. As long as he controlled the high-ranking members of the Scytheclaw Kabal, everything would be worry-free. There was no need to create an uncontrollable factor—Sarhain did not seem like someone who would be easy to control, and might cause trouble for Sotha in the future.

After making this decision, Sotha had someone summon the "guests".

Since the Shadow Nexus had lifted the navigation ban, ships from various places soon began to come and go again. Among them, a ship without markings but with a clear pirate style entered the God-Tower port area. However, this kind of ship was a regular visitor to the Shadow Nexus, usually used by Aeldari pirates who did not want to show their faces to sell stolen goods.

However, this ship did not carry goods, but two figures who were famous in the Shadow Nexus.

Sotha sat on the not-so-comfortable throne, looking at the sorted intelligence and introductions of the various forces in the Shadow Nexus. For the past two days, he had been learning about and dealing with the affairs of the Shadow Nexus. The machine that liked to gossip had been sent back to the Eternal Court, and Galan had begun the restoration work. He did not need to worry about many things. The Haemonculi had announced to the outside world that their master had gone out to "sample" and would return after a while. During this time, all business would continue as usual. The Kabal declared that they had eliminated the traitors, and the trade of the Shadow Nexus would continue to prosper. As for the results of the battle, no one would be foolish enough to correct them.

During this time, Sotha also deeply and truly understood the operating mode of a Kabal for the first time. They were less like a gang and more like a business, a company.

A Kabal like the Scytheclaw Kabal was a large company. The Archon was the chairman, the War Council was the board of directors, and there were many secondary Drakul below. These people were like a subsidiary company. They actually had a high degree of autonomy, including how to "operate" and what "strategies" to take. But their results needed to be reviewed regularly. The most direct indicator of whether a Drakul was capable was profit, that is, the harvest of plunder.

A fruitful plunder could make a Drakul's KPI soar and gain the favor of the Archon, earning certain special honors and positions.

The entire Kabal operated and expanded around how to obtain more slaves and more territory. Its behavioral logic was actually very similar to that of a commercial group.

Before defeating an opponent, Sotha tended to find a way to understand them first.

This was also the reason why he chose to stay here despite being surrounded by a group of annoying flies. Completely resolving Commorragh was already very high on his agenda.

However, this period also allowed him to witness the extremely shameless and depraved side of the Dark Aeldari. Even knowing that he was not an Aeldari, the high-ranking members of the Scytheclaw Kabal still praised and flattered him like they were praising a god, and sent him many gifts. Doral had once said that the people of Commorragh only worship power and authority. If they had these two things, it didn't matter who ruled them.

From the point of view of being opportunistic, it seemed that the self-proclaimed noble Aeldari were not much different from humans.