A blonde man with long blonde hair tied in a ponytail was overlooking soldiers from the commanding deck of his Voidship as they were preparing to go into infinity and beyond, reaching the unknown.
His golden eyes flamed with a burning fire in a mixture of anticipation and nervousness at the same time as what was awaiting them there. He worked a black and red uniform with several sigils, including that of the Chthonian Empire and his own House.
Raziel Phenex was one of the many descendants of the House Phenex, a very prestigious House within the Chtonian Empire of the Baator, holding the rank of Chthonian Lord for several thousand years already.
His great-grandfather was Ruval Phenex, former commanding Tribune of Custodians before he returned three thousand years ago and married to have descendants. He also became the Head of House Phenex.
Raziel was thought special among the descendants because he inherited both Clan Trait of House Phenex and Clan Trait of House Lucifer, The Holy Flame, as Ruval Phenex married one of the daughters of Vali Lucifer and Latia Astaroth.
His Clan Trauit mutated, and together with Phenex Flame and Holy Flame, he very quickly became Being of Law with very frightening combat prowess, especially related to the Flames.
He even gained the moniker "Holy Phoenix" and, a few decades ago, obtained a written decree declaring him a Rogue Trader Militant in charge of finding a new world for the Chthonian Empire to plunder.
Rogue Traders were of high prominence within the Chthonian Empire and even across the entire Kadath Universe because they were doing a very dangerous job.
They were in charge of exploring totally unknown territories within the Endless Void and were in constant danger.
Endless Void was a very dangerous place; countless creatures lived in its cold depths, far more powerful than anyone could imagine, and that was only the tip of the iceberg. Yet, Raziel Phenex decided to become a Rogue Trader Militant.
It was one of the easiest ways of how to gather the enormous amount of resources needed for his research and advancements, obtaining immeasurable wealth... Though even from the Chthonian Nobility, only those of significant power dared to become Rogue Traders Militant.
He was now listening to the final report from the engineers about the state of his personal Emperor-Class Battleship, FirePhoenix, as they would be departing soon.
Though from the ranks of Chthonian Nobility, he wasn't actually alone.
On this endeavor, he was joined by the grandson of current Captain-General Adeptus Custodes Sairaorg Bael, Ezran Bael, who proved to be as much a headache as he was worth.
Not only did he inherit the same condition as his grandfather of being unable to use the Power of Destruction until he reached Satan-Class or so in physique...
He even had a similar combat style and was an utter battle maniac who cared only about fighting strong opponents to improve the infamous Bael's Destruction Martial Art that was developed by Sairaorg Bael.
A frightening combination of Power of Destruction, Martial Arts, Touki and a few other things created an unstoppable killing machine on the battlefield.
'Fortunately, he was stupid enough to allow Liala to come with him. Hopefully, that woman can reign him in if she doesn't too have an episode... fucking hell, why do I need to have this amount of luck...'
Raziel cursed internally because key members of his crew had some loose screws in their heads.
One of the utter battle maniacs who has a disregard for anything aside from battling strong opponents, and his fianceé has split personally in which she would massacre anyone whom she sees as a threat to him...
Just utterly perfect, but that was probably a curse for organizing the expedition at the last minute. Still, at least all members of his crew were very powerful, so hopefully, their expedition would go without major obstacles.
Their crew had several Tier 9 beings, including him, who was at the peak of Tier 9, only one step away from reaching Tier 10. He felt that he would be able to reach Tier 10 during this expedition.
"My Lord, we could depart."
Raziel heard the ship's captain say as he gave his order, and they were soon departing to the outskirts of the Kadath Universe, where the gateways into the Endless Void were located, and they guarded very well.
The Kadath Universe had only a few points where it was connected to the Endless Void, and each of these points was reinforced by the Father of All Devils and guarded with the most advanced Imperial Arcanotech, the most powerful entities of the Empire.
Each Gateway had one Tier 12 being all the time in case they were invaded by another Universe or some powerful creatures dwelling in the Endless Void. And that was not talking about the constant dangers of the Void Insect Swarms that were practically everywhere.
It only needed one jump to arrive at the Gateway into the Endless Void because it wasn't that far, and the technology level of the Chthonian Empire was improving with each passing decade by leaps and bounds.
Raziel looked at the Gateway Alpha with nervousness because of the sheer amount of military equipment, Voidlfeets, and powerhouses that were guarding it. If he remembered correctly, the Gateway Alpha was guarded by one of the Five Elders of the Baator, Zekram Bael.
Anyone who passed through the Gateway needed to have personal agreement from the Guardian of the Gate, who was naturally the Tier 12 powerhouse.
The exception to this rule were the Rogue Trader Militants, who only needed to pass a slight screening process and people from the Magisterium of Outer Plane Development, who needed to have permission from the Magister.
Because Raziel was a Rogue Trader Militant, he didn't have problems at the border, though waiting time was long, as they were told by the Gateway Corps that they would need to wait for several hours before they could safely pass through the Gateway.