Pioneer of the Abyss - Book 3 - Intermission 1 (Patreon)

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Don't mind this. It's so that free readers can't see half the chapter when the chapter eventually becomes patron only.

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For those of you who are reading this on a website that is not Patreon, please stop. You're reading a pirated version. Instead, if you would be so kind, please click on the table of contents link below and go to my Patreon instead. Or even read it off of Royal Road, which is free.

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Table of Contents

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As this is an intermission, it is much shorter than the usual chapter. As usual.

Click the following link for Intermission 1:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1z-37k3xC8xcwz4sdSkbAamYy0fDoRXO-xsXN1aZ90hI/edit?usp=sharing

Or you can read the unformatted version below:

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Within the Military Command Center of the Alliance

“Has there been any update?” Seravos Orcayne, the General of the Alliance’s military and maternal grandfather of Aqua, asks as he stands with his hand resting on the handle of his sword sheathed as a cane in the middle of the main comms room of the command center.

“No, sir! The Ancient Monsters are still fighting with no signs of stopping, sir!” one of the officers in the room declares while staring at his screen, which currently shows two Ancient Monsters fighting against each other. One of whom left the Abyss recently, and the other appeared on the outer edges of the Alliance recently without warning.

Of the two Ancient Monsters, one of them looks like the Phoenix from old, but with strange changes. Such as deep bluish black flames emanating from its body, and a pale blue light shining amongst the crimson in its eyes.

Meanwhile the other Ancient Monster is completely unheard of from any text, appearing as a butterfly with a carnivorous mouth. It spans the size of an entire planet and was eating multiple planets before it was attacked by the strange variant Phoenix.

What makes things even more problematic about the Phoenix variant is that it came from the Abyss. The very place they’ve already confirmed the original Phoenix should be locked away.

Coincidence?

Seravos doesn’t think so.

Especially as his thoughts turn to his granddaughter and her abyssal servants.

Is that the reason the Abyssal Kraken has been capturing Ancient Monsters? To use them as servants for work outside of its territory?

If that’s the reason, then Seravos can’t help but feel even more terrified by the creature. One he isn’t even sure can be classified as an Ancient Monster because it’s too powerful.

“Keep monitoring the situation,” Seravos orders. “Pull up the current video feed on the main screen.”

“Yes, sir!” another officer says before making the large screen at the front of the room show a video feed with lower resolution.

There’s no helping the lower resolution on the video since it’s a live video broadcast from outside of the Alliance’s territory. It’s enough for their purposes, and that’s all that matters.

In the video, Seravos sees the large butterfly spreading some sort of pollen all around it that rushes to attack the variant Phoenix. Meanwhile the variant Phoenix throws deep blue, almost black flames all around it to combat the pollen.

Completely destroying entire worlds in the process of their battle.

Luckily for the Alliance, the variant Phoenix came from deep within the Alliance and is currently pushing their battle further away from the Alliance. Thereby keeping them away from inhabited planets of the Alliance itself.

The most terrifying aspect of their battle by far to Seravos, though, is that the variant Phoenix just instantly recovers from any and all damage dealt to it by the butterfly.

Just like the abyssal servants made by Seravos’ granddaughter.

This is one of the largest reasons why Seravos has heard opinions spreading all across the Alliance’s higher ups that they should have Aqua enter the Abyss. Because it’s becoming more and more obvious amongst the upper brass, even to him, that Aqua’s Bloodline is most likely the creature ruling over the Abyss. One too terrifying to put into words just from the sight of its enormous tentacles spotted imprisoning Ancient Monsters down in the depths of the Abyss.

And if she truly does have the Bloodline of such a creature, then a lot of experts are beginning to think she may have the most powerful Bloodline out of any Bloodliner known to the Alliance.

Seravos himself feels both understanding and furious about those opinions.

He personally understands their thoughts very well as the General of the Alliance’s Military, but he hates them at the same time.

It wasn’t even that long ago that he was estranged from his newly found daughter – who was trapped in the Abyss – and his granddaughter, and now a few people have directly asked him to request to Aqua directly that she enter the Abyss?

Unforgiveable.

Seravos glares at the screen while imagining those who tried to ask yet are now in various different hospitals for the trouble. Meanwhile the soldiers and officers in the room feel terrified at the sight of his scowl. Since they all know how foul his mood has been for a while now.

After glaring for a few minutes, Seravos turns around and begins to leave the comms room, his cane tapping against the ground as he walks.

It’s time to have a word with the Chairman.