The Emperor’s Angel of Death

In response to the attack on the Eternal Court, the Wraithbone spears and Dissolver missile batteries on the Commorragh warships unleashed a deadly net, causing Court ships to break apart one after another. Countless unmanned rescue boats darted through the void, saving the surviving crew members.

Fighters met in the no man's land between ships, engaging in slow, solemn duels deep within a scorching sea of death. Nightwings and Razorwings chased each other, like nimble insects striving for an advantage. Frigates, like duelists in the arena of Khaine, spun, rolled, and attacked within their zones, their movements often punctuated by the death screams of overloaded engines and collapsing hulls.

Just then, a new sun was born. The terrifying beams erupting from the wings of the Void Dragon tore through a Commorragh battlecruiser in an instant. It was a Doomsayer-class from the Cult of the Dying Sun, and before it could truly unleash its firepower, a quarter of its entire hull had vanished.

The crippled ship struggled, tilting and rolling away into the distance.

But then, the Void Dragon was subjected to ferocious fire. Dozens of dark matter cannons fired, causing the entire void to stagnate for a moment. Immediately afterward, the Tal-Anrekh shook violently. Soloshyn could even hear the groaning of the Wraithbone.

"Three areas breached! Energy shields at their limit!"

Commorragh's weapons were as powerful as ever. Even the Tal-Anrekh, which had never disappointed Soloshyn in previous battles, sustained damage after a concentrated barrage. Soloshyn could even see large chunks of Wraithbone fragments peeling off the hull, including some ancient weapons.

Vect was clearly familiar with this ship and was determined to destroy it.

If the Void Dragon hadn't been strong enough, any other ship—Soloshyn was certain of it—any human ship would have been unable to withstand that attack. According to the data he had just received, the force of that strike was comparable to two black holes forming near the ship.

Only the Tal-Anrekh, with its incredibly powerful Wraithbone core and the support of hundreds of powerful Eldar psykers capable of instantly altering the rules of the surrounding physical space, could withstand such an attack, and even then, it was a struggle.

At this moment in the void, the ratio of the Court fleet to the Commorragh fleet was ten to one. The black and red warships were like arrows, densely packed and piercing through. The void seemed to echo with Vect's unrestrained laughter.

"Indeed, it is a warship that only exists in legends..."

Watching the Tal-Anrekh survive the combined fire of a dozen Doomsayer-class cruisers, Tariel clicked his tongue.

"This is the Archon Dominar's ultimate trump card. If this can't take it down, then even if we emptied the Great Arsenal, it probably wouldn't be enough."

As he spoke, he glanced at the damage report and frowned.

"Why is the casualty ratio so terrible... 19:1? Were those captains raised on shit?"

The massive flagship was speeding through the torrent, evading enemy fire. Tariel scrutinized the crystal screen, the image flickering with scenes of external combat. As with most battles, it was chaotic. Ships rose and fell at strange angles, tracing erratic interception trajectories or pursuit routes. Kinstrife was more intimate and swift than slaughtering those clumsy, lesser races.

But each time, a very dense and fierce barrage of fire would erupt from the Eternal Court's fleet. Tariel noticed some warships he had never seen before. At this moment, one of his Dracons pointed to the Void Scythes in the void, which looked like "giant light bulbs."

"My Lord, it's mainly those warships. Their attack methods are too unique. They can concentrate energy or disperse it into dozens of beams, and they have almost no blind spots in their firing arcs, making them very difficult to evade. The vast majority of pirate ships and raiders have been sunk by them."

"I'm not blind! Send a message to the Third Blade, concentrate their forces and take out those annoying light bulbs first!"

"My Lord! Detecting an emergency signal!"

"Hmm?"

To Tariel's astonishment, flashes of light began to appear in the distant void.

At first, they were very faint, but then they became increasingly intense, to the point where they obscured the more distant stars.

Over four hundred warships of various types rushed towards the battlefield from three directions. Tariel jumped up from his throne, his eyes wide.

"Impossible! Where did they get so many ships!"

"My Lord! It's not the Eternal Court, it's Biel-Tan! Alaitoc! And—"

Tariel paused for a moment, then slowly sat back down on his throne.

"Why are these rigid fellows siding with the Eternal Court... Aren't they always talking about freedom? Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!"

In fact, before the operation began, Vect had specifically discussed this with them. Some had mentioned the possibility of other Craftworlds intervening in the battle.

But most people, including Vect, believed that the Craftworld elders' support for the Eternal Court was just lip service and that they wouldn't really risk their lives. After all, the Court didn't seem to be able to offer them any benefits. More importantly, if other Craftworlds intervened, the scale of the war would become uncontrollable, and the Harlequin Troupe, which valued balance, wouldn't sit idly by and would definitely provide advance warning.

However, the truth proved that they had underestimated the prestige that the Eternal Court had established through a series of actions over the years, and they had also misjudged the Harlequins' attitude. Or perhaps Vect had other things on his mind. At least during the ambush preparation phase, no one had considered the possibility of more fleets intervening. The Archons of the Black Heart always believed that as long as they dealt with the Dragon's Nest, the battle would be a foregone conclusion.

But in fact, fleets from more than a dozen Craftworlds had secretly gathered in batches long ago. They hid in more remote and concealed locations, using the void probes of the Maelstrom's palace to contact the Court. The magnificent holographic field of the Maelstrom, personally directed and built by Callidus Tu, could create a vast area of concealment, making it difficult for the non-psyker Commorragh residents to detect. And it just so happened that the Maelstrom did not return to the Court after supporting the Tyranids, but instead took a stroll around the Sahaal's homeworld, promoting the Court's military might on the one hand and helping them solve a group of Ork invaders on the other, so it was difficult to detect their movements.

A series of plans, a series of hidden pieces, were all for the final moment to turn the tables.

This battle was not only for the Void Dragon pirate band, but also to make clear to all Eldar factions the state of military hostility between the Eternal Court and the Black Heart.

The Biel-Tan Craftworld's fleet took the lead, their ships arranged in a line, like a giant cosmic serpent undulating through the star clusters, the weapons mounted on each ship blooming magnificently.

As it slithered toward its prey, it was like opening a blood-filled mouth full of fangs, leaving a string of floating wreckage in its wake.

The Iyanden Craftworld favored large ships, just as its inhabitants were adept at creating massive, magnificent spectacles and beautiful, large-scale sculptures. Therefore, in addition to various small ships, they also sent six massive Dragonships as their main force. These fierce warships spewed storms of death at extreme speeds, and those fast-moving Commorragh ships seemed to crash into a giant net of plasma and lasers. Only a few could quickly pass through, and most were reduced to scarred wreckage.