The Emperor’s Angel of Death

Inside the transport aircraft's cabin, four Inquisitors sat in silence, their faces almost indistinguishable in the dim light, or completely hidden in the shadows cast by their heavy hoods.

Skarmen Havas, his hands clenched into fists, stared at the faces of his old acquaintances over his gaunt fingers, as if trying to fathom their thoughts, while the others occasionally glanced back at him.

Skarmen's old friend across from him had a calm, resolute face that looked quite young, yet his eyes held the weariness of an old man. Upon closer inspection, one could see the unique psychic glow in his pupils. In reality, Skarmen knew that his old friend was over two hundred years old. His armor was covered by a uniquely textured robe, making him appear shrouded in shadow. If the robe were lifted, one would find many strange runes on his armor.

His name was Arcturus, nicknamed the Hound of Seven Sorrows, an Ordo Xenos Inquisitor active in the Halo Stars. However, there were many accusations against him within the Ordo Xenos, but he was very cautious and possessed a high level of psychic ability, so no Inquisitor had been able to truly find any evidence against him.

But he had another, little-known identity: the current leader of the Isha Witches' Coven.

Arcturus had once been a meticulous young Inquisitor. His mentor had dedicated his life to studying the Eldar and their activities in the Halo Stars. At that time, he became deeply fascinated by Eldar culture and history. After his mentor's death, he took over all of his resources and spent decades tracking down any trace of the Eldar in the Gothic Sector—according to rumors, the Eldar were deeply involved in the Gothic War that broke out in the early 41st millennium, assisting the Imperium in preventing Abaddon from destroying the Gothic Sector. However, this was not acknowledged by the Imperium or the Ordo Xenos—most of the time, any promotion of cooperation between the Imperium and the Eldar, even if only brief, was regarded as collaboration with the enemy.

But Arcturus still discovered some clues and had concrete evidence that the Eldar had indeed helped the Imperium against the forces of Chaos.

From that moment on, his thinking quietly changed, and he no longer rejected the idea of cooperation between the Imperium and the Eldar.

However, his first real ideological breakthrough occurred after an engagement with an unidentified alien spacecraft. At the time, Arcturus's ship was crippled and helpless before the enemy ship's weapons. At this critical moment, an Aeldari vessel intervened, rescued Arcturus, and repelled the enemy ship with a lance.

This ship belonged to Ulthyr Ellarion, a lone Eldar Corsair not affiliated with any pirate band.

But the ship carried not only pirates, but also another person, an extremely rare legendary figure—Uswe, the Great Seer, Eldrad.

Arcturus never told anyone else what happened between him and Eldrad, but Skarmen guessed that during his stay on the Eldar pirate ship, Eldrad had imparted a wealth of knowledge and many prophecies about the future to Arcturus.

Whatever the truth, Arcturus was completely changed after bidding farewell to his Aeldari "friends," firmly believing that cooperation with the Eldar was the true path to saving the Imperium from destruction, that their common interests far outweighed their differences. He also took over the nearly extinct Isha Witches' Coven from Eldrad, becoming the most fanatical member of the pro-xenos faction.

It was said that he also received a gift from Eldrad, an ancient set of runes that could help him predict the future, which was the main reason he was able to frequently evade investigations by other Inquisitors.

Afterwards, Arcturus began to contact the remaining members of the Isha Witches' Coven. This ancient organization originated in the early days of the Great Heresy, evolving from a destroyed cabal. After the establishment of the Inquisition, it began to recruit Inquisitors. However, due to its overly strange and exaggerated ideas, its numbers remained small, and most of its members were hunted down by other Inquisitors. Fortunately, because of its small size, they were mostly able to keep their secrets very well. To this day, it has not been truly exposed. The Ordo Xenos only believes that the pro-xenos faction is an extreme ideology generated by a few individual Inquisitors, and that a specific organization does not exist.

When Arcturus took over the organization and received the list from Eldrad, there were only three active members left in the entire Coven.

Skarmen was one of them, and he inherited his identity from his mentor. Coven members were basically passed down from master to disciple.

After Arcturus gathered all the members, he conducted an analysis and divination, determining that there would be a cataclysm in the galaxy at the end of the 41st millennium. If the Coven wanted to make a difference, it could no longer remain so silent. It had to expand the organization and increase its manpower. Although this would increase the risk of exposure, the Inquisition was no longer as strict as it once was. The overall organization was very chaotic, with various factions springing up, as well as the fallen and the traitors. These were the main targets of internal investigation. As long as they carefully selected new members, the risk of being discovered was still low.

In the decades that followed, the Isha Witches' Coven, under the leadership of Arcturus, recruited more than a dozen Inquisitors, and even a planetary governor, and carried out several key operations, such as protecting maiden worlds, diverting Imperial forces elsewhere under other pretexts, or boarding destroyed arks and finding many Eldar weapons and equipment inside to trade with certain xenophile Mechanicus Magi and forge worlds.

Their goal was also very clear: to allow the Imperium to absorb as much excellent Eldar technology as possible, while reducing unnecessary conflicts and contradictions between the two races, so that they could join forces in the face of future catastrophes.

But this did not mean that the Isha Witches' Coven was remotely controlled by Eldrad. In fact, after personally recruiting Arcturus, this heavyweight figure, the legendary seer never appeared again. Subsequent activities were organized by the Isha Witches' Coven itself.

"Their first initiative to invite us to meet must be related to the attack on the Ascetic Brotherhood, right? I can't think of any other reason for now."

Skarmen suddenly murmured, seemingly just expressing his thoughts.

"This matter only requires a little thought to know that the Eternal Court has no reason to do so. The Imperium's Astartes only shout war slogans, but have no interest in understanding their opponents. It seems they have become accustomed to fighting with their eyes covered. As the old Terra proverb says, 'Know yourself and know your enemy, and you will never be defeated.' I don't know if they can't learn it or don't want to."

Arcturus raised his head slightly upon hearing this, revealing his face in the dim emergency lighting, with a hint of a smile on his lips.

"You haven't known the Astartes for a day, they've always been like this, my old friend."