The Emperor’s Angel of Death

“.Vect orchestrated a brilliant ambush and conspiracy, one that would have likely felled anyone else, but he still underestimated his opponent's power.”

A mocking laugh echoed in the opulent bridge, the bright flashes from distant exploding warships occasionally illuminating the space.

Like most pirate prince flagships, this was less a command center and more an exhibition hall, with trophies showcasing the owner's power and achievements adorning the pillars, walls, and every available surface: the skull of a massive Tyranid Carnifex, the head and enormous axe of an Ork Warboss, the armor of a fallen Imperial Space Marine, the twisted skull of a Chaos Space Marine, the shattered body of a Necron Overlord, and the family charter of an arrogant Rogue Trader.

Various bizarre, grotesque, and magnificent objects were on display.

All to demonstrate one man's arrogance.

“Hopefully, this will teach him a sufficient lesson.”

The pirate prince, seated on a jewel-encrusted throne, smiled more distinctly, stroking his chin; he possessed a lean yet noble face, a monocle covering his left eye, thick, dark hair swept up into a topknot, and wore soul-armor adorned with jewels and rare metals beneath a dark blue coat trimmed with gold thread.

He sat with his legs crossed in a relaxed posture, his left hand resting on the throne's armrest, his right hand swirling a goblet filled with a deep purple liquid, the warring and exploding ships in the distance seeming like bubbles suspended within the liquid.

Near the throne stood several pirate barons and subordinates in flamboyant armor, watching the battlefield, occasionally conversing in hushed tones, but overall, the bridge remained quiet.

The pirate prince disliked noise, a preference perhaps stemming from his life on Iyanden.

“Will Vect truly be utterly defeated by the Eternal Court, Prince Yriel?”

Hearing the question from his most loyal first mate on his right, Yriel grinned, taking a small sip from his goblet.

“Beautiful Yellinara, you underestimate Vect, and underestimate Commorragh even more; it holds secrets of our race spanning tens of millions of years; Vect's authority may be shaken, but to speak of his downfall... heh, it's far too early.”

Seated here was the infamous pirate prince, the scion of the oldest family in Aeldari society, and the direct descendant of Usanath, the first Phoenix Lord, the sole survivor of this illustrious lineage, Prince Yriel of Iyanden.

But now, he was simply the pirate prince of the Void Reavers.

Once, he was the pride of Iyanden, not only due to his ancient and noble bloodline but also because of the near-genius command abilities and combat prowess he displayed from a young age, after joining Iyanden's fleet, he rose with astonishing speed to become the Craftworld's naval commander, during the Battle of Burning Moon, Yriel skillfully lured a vast Chaos Lord's fleet, then ignited the atmosphere of the asteroids they were orbiting, nearly destroying them, but in pursuit of the enemy, Yriel used all of Iyanden's warships and interceptor squadrons to kill the Chaos Lord, which led to a surviving Chaos warship launching modified vortex torpedoes capable of penetrating the Craftworld's psychic barriers at the almost defenseless Craftworld, causing Iyanden to suffer heavy losses, resulting in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Aeldari.

After the war, Yriel was blamed and stripped of his command, in a fit of anger, he vowed to leave Iyanden and never return, then he took his followers and founded a pirate band.

The Void Reavers started as a small pirate group, not many were truly willing to follow Yriel, and the only warship was his flagship, the *Asuryan's Fire*.

But under the leadership of the brilliant Yriel, the Void Reavers grew rapidly, and by exploiting and manipulating the human Imperium's counterattacks, Yriel conquered and absorbed the Black Raiders and the Crimson Corsairs, rising to become one of the top pirate fleets.

Later, Yriel created a series of widely circulated exploits, such as using the tail of a solar flare to paralyze Huron Blackheart's massive raiding fleet, successfully reclaiming a batch of Aeldari relics from the largest pirate organization in human space (the Red Corsairs routinely used as stepping stones), and he also launched operations against Commorragh, invading a secondary area of Commorragh unnoticed by Vect—the thrice-cursed Shadom, raiding the Ziggurat controlled by the Ulgwyre Beast Packs, taking several treasures of the former Vect's greatest rival, Archon El'Uriaq, the “Emperor of Shadom,” from the dark ruins, even Vect praised Yriel as a “cunning thief” afterward.

Of course, after becoming a pirate, Yriel's personality not only did not mellow but became even more eccentric, his actions becoming increasingly unpredictable, for example, he risked greatly, entering a Necron tomb alone, just to retrieve an ancient necklace from the Overlord's treasury, only to give it to a savage world girl shortly after—not because he loved her, just because he thought she and the necklace were the best match, also, after hearing that the governor of the Cyrean quadrant in the human Imperium boasted that his giant space fortress was indestructible, Yriel sneaked inside and dug out the Void Dragon's proudly implanted eyeball, just to teach him a lesson.

Such things gave Yriel a unique veil, and also convinced people that he had moved away from the Craftworld's dogmas and precepts.

“But after this battle, the Eternal Court will surely increase its prestige, will it continue to extend its reach to other pirate groups, including us?”

Yriel raised an eyebrow slightly, then smiled:

“The galaxy is so big, can they manage it all?”

“But... in theory, the title of Phoenix Lord should belong to you, with the blood of Usanath flowing through your veins, not some low-level creature of unknown origin.”

The pirate prince shook his head, placing the almost empty cup aside, then a smiling female attendant came over, holding a long-necked bottle to refill the cup.

“My shadow, you must remember, strength gives bloodlines so-called nobility, but bloodlines will not, or rather, it's difficult to bring strength, regardless of race, he has been able to establish a dynasty in a few decades with an almost start-from-scratch posture, which proves that he has this strength, this is more convincing than any bloodline, besides, the Eternal Court has always claimed that the Phoenix Lord came from the Bhroopol-Quesnash family, right?”

“Ha, Prince, do you believe it?”

Yriel shrugged.

“Does believing or not believing matter? In the current galaxy, strength is everything, as long as you have strength, you can say you are anything, doesn't Vect often shamelessly declare himself the Dark Muse? A slave dares to call himself a god, why? Because he has strength, has guns, has power.”