Chapter 8: THAT'S FIVE, MOTHERFUCKERS!
Chapter 8: THAT'S FIVE MOTHERFUCKERS!!!!
(20 years ago)
The scent of incense lingered in the dimly lit stone hall. As light from a bronze and stone brazier flickered excitedly, dimly illuminating the faces of those gathered, a low steady chant emanated from their tidy rows. The priests of the Order of Kantus continued their meditative drone as the high priest rose to greet the initiate striding forward to meet them. As he reached the altar he knelt before the head of the priesthood, who drew forth from the burning pit a smoldering brand. The high priest Skorge swung the burning tool upright, holding it aloft as he spoke to the young neophyte in a voice as pitch as the dark caves in which they dwelt.
“Bare yourself. Speak the Oath."
Without a moment's restraint the young priest removed his chest coverings, revealing a pale and scaly abdomen.
“With dedication, I surrender my flesh, that it might be the face of the shadows.”
“With loyalty, I surrender my bone, that it might carry our people forward.”
With each phrase spoken, the high priest used the brand to carve a line into the initiate’s bare chest. The rancid burning smell wafted into his nostrils as he continued.
“With diligence, I surrender my blood, that it might flow for the Horde.”
“With subtlety, I surrender my footsteps, that I might walk the dark path.”
The assembly watched raptly for any sign of hesitation, for the slightest hint pain. Should the candidate be found unworthy of the Order into which he was being inducted, they would tear him limb from limb for the insult of weakness. He went on however, the strength in his raspy voice unwavering.
“With reverence, I surrender my life, that it might serve the night.”
“With pride, I surrender my soul, that it might become the Will of our Sovereign. ”
The ecstasy and agony of the fiery rod seared his flesh again, driving his mind into sharp focus. It was at this moment, seemingly dragged out across hours, that he was struck by an epiphany. These words were not merely a code for his Order to live by, the code itself was to become his very existence. The last line of the Oath roared from his maw, each syllable uttered with complete faith and devotion.
“With absolution, I surrender myself, that I may please my Queen!”
The dimming glow of the brand was returned to the fire, and the chanting ceased. The initiate rose to his feet, light headed, but filled with satisfaction. The high priest turned to a large box, bound with leather made from the skin of pitiful humans. From it, he drew an ancient long-blade, rusted and bloodied, but of sturdy make and with a look of deadly cunning. Skorge hefted the weighty sword with ease, gingerly offering it to the newest member of his sect.
“The Order of Umbra Kantus welcomes you, Scryed. From this moment, you are a blade in the shadow, you are the vengeance of our people. Today, you are Assassin.”
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(2 days ago)
'Those fools, they make it too easy.' Scryed thought as he tracked his prey. The distinct and pungent human stench left a trail remarkably distinguishable from the painfully bright and unworthy vermin who inhabited this world of valuable resources. In almost no time, he had tracked them to a deserted barn where they had obviously spent the night. From there, he followed their trail to an entire town of the soft little creatures. As much as he detested the very sight of them, there were simply too many for him to dispatch efficiently, and this was not his mission. He skirted the town, hoping to catch the humans' scent again, succeeding as he came across a set of train tracks.
“Too easy...” he repeated aloud. He would find them, and when they were alone, he would end them. For his Queen.
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(The Present)
The shrill screams shook Marcus the most, and for a moment, it was E-Day all over again. Bodies already littered the streets where the drone army had caught the ponies unaware, those who remained stumbled over each other in their efforts to flee. Monsters of the Locust army poured from the devious tunnels they had dug under the outer walls of the city. A massive explosion tore through the wall on the east side of the city, opposing the cliffs, and boulders of mortar and stone rained down on the buildings and inhabitants. More Locust flooded the city.
The guards tried in vain to defend the citizens, but were quickly gunned down by the Locust's superior weaponry. At this rate, the city would be overrun in less than an hour.
"Like hell..."
Marcus drew his Snub pistol from its holster, chambering a round as he turned to Princess Celestia.
"Ma'am, I need to coordinate with whoever's in charge of your defenses. The faster we act the more lives we can save."
"I...w-what?" The Princess stammered, trying in vain to process the scene unfolding below, the sight of her beloved subjects being murdered before her eyes rendering her aghast.
"MA'AM! We need to secure the city and try to evacuate as many of these ponies as possible before it's too late! Who's in charge of your defenses?"
"That would be me Sergeant." A white unicorn stallion with a blue mane charged into the room. Unlike other guards, his armor was a deep lavender, and encrusted with an emblem on the chest. "Shining Armor, Captain of the Guard.”
“Big brother!” Twilight exclaimed,
The newcomer smiled briefly at his sister, before turning back to Sergeant Fenix, once again becoming stone-faced. 'Good, all business.' Marcus thought, 'That's exactly what we need right now.'
“Captain, You've got a world of pain coming down on you. The Locust are merciless, and honestly your defenses aren't ready for them. We'll do what we can to organize your forces, but I need to know what are our assets?”
“The royal guard consists of four branches. The Terra Infantry squad is our main fighting force. The Royal Air Force is ready and able to provide airlifts and launch storm based attacks. The Rune Squad is very capable in tactical magical support, and Princess Luna's Night-Guard has a balance of the other three, making them very versatile.”
“The Grubs will be using projectile and explosive based weaponry. It'll be more than enough to tear through your armor. Do we have anything to defend our guys with?”
Shining Armor pondered a moment. “I...suppose we could project high density magical barriers. But, they won't be able to move very quickly, and it'll occupy our entire unicorn battalion to shield everypony.”
“It'll be worth the trade off to give your guys some cover. Now, do we have anything in terms of weaponry?”
“Our earth pony troops are well trained with spears and swords, and the pegasus squadrons often use wing-blades in conjunction with high speed dashes. We also have a number of balistas and siege weaponry, but I'm afraid they weren't designed for the tight quarters inside of the castle.”
Marcus considered this a moment. “We need more fire power. Captain, our first objective needs to be to evacuate civilians and dignitaries, then we need to secure the castle. After that we can drive them back underground and out of the city. Arm your men, and organize them into diverse squads. Every group needs a shield, and whatever you can muster to defend it with. Dom and Cole, I want you with the Captain. Watch his back and help him organize our defense. Baird, you and I are gonna get the rest of our gear before rounding up as many troops as we can to start the pushing the Grubs out. Jack, weapons.”
The droid dropped out of cloaking mode for the first time since the Gears had arrived at the castle. The ponies were startled at the sight to say the least. The panels on either side of the droid folded out, revealing a pair of Lancers. Marcus tossed one to Dom and Cole each, before handing them the few spare clips Jack still had room for after Marcus had stored the larger weapons aboard. Celestia shot him a glance of disapproval, but refrained from rebuking the blatant defiance of her wishes.
Shining Armor motioned to his fellow guards and moved to leave the room when Twilight Sparkle came to a horrifying realization.
"My friends are down there! Rarity, Fluttershy and the others! They're down there, we have to save them, we have to help them!"
Princess Celestia composed herself, the sound of her panicking student calling her to action. "Twilight, my student, you need to remain calm. Losing your head won't help them. The best thing we can do is to help in the evacuations by assisting with the barriers.”
“You....you're right Princess,” the lavender unicorn said, regaining her composure. “We need to make sure that everypony gets out safely, not just my friends.”
The Princess allowed her student a brief smile. “They'll be safe. We'll find them, and with any luck, they'll have escaped already. Captain? Lead the way, we must begin at once.” Turning back to Marcus, she gave him a brief nod of gratitude. “Sergeant Fenix, good luck.”
The alabaster Princess and her guards left to begin the evacuation of the palace. Shining Armor, along with Cole, Dom, and the other guards took a different hallway, heading to organize the defense efforts.
“Everyone, watch your backs!” Sergeant Fenix called after his friends.
Marcus and Baird left the study as well, cautiously making their way back to their room in the tower where their weapons were. As they approached the central stairwell, frantic ponies scrambled past them, desperately trying to escape something ahead. A howling screech reverberated through the halls, and Marcus know immediately what it was the ponies had been fleeing from. A percussive series of 'crack's rang from the stairwell, and one pony fell mere feet from Marcus, a mist of blood erupting from a wound in his neck. With a gurgling noise, he closed his eyes forever.
For an instant, Marcus' mind shot back to his nightmare a few days ago. The images of burning ponies and the sounds of their tortured screams swam through his mind, paralyzing him for a brief moment. It was Baird's voice that snapped him out of his shell shocked rumination.
“Marcus, enemy contact!”
Up the stairwell came the familiar figure of a Kantus, flanked by a trio of Drones. The momentary look of surprise on the Locust's faces was enough for Marcus to gauge that the humans weren't expected, as well as enough time for him to unload three rounds into the forehead of one of the Grubs. A shower of blood and brain matter splattered over the rest of the hostile soldiers, who immediately responded with a hail of their own gunfire. Marcus and Baird ducked into the cover of a doorway, which turned out to be a small corner linen closet. The bright streaks of the Locust bullets relentlessly whizzed by the the open door, pinning the Gears into the cramped room, lit only by the light of an open window. Baird glanced quickly out the window, before turning back to the Sergeant.
“Marcus, draw their fire, I have a plan.”
“Make it quick.” Sergeant Fenix said, popping off a few blind rounds down the hall.
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Corporal Damon Baird poked his head out of the window, and found that there was a ledge of satisfactory width leading to another window. Easing his large frame slowly out the window, he gently shifted his weight onto the outcropping. Carefully, he began side-sliding his way to the next window, and was soon struck by how much more narrow the ledge seemed now that he was on it.
“This was a terrible idea. A stupid, terrible idea. 'Yeah, I'll just spider-monkey over to that window, standing on a two inch lip over a thousand foot plunge. No fuckin' biggie...'. Real smooth jackass.” he reprimanded himself, as he shuffled slowly along, belly to the wall, hands spread wide, searching for firm purchase. “Just take your time, there's no rush...”
From inside the linen closet, he heard Marcus holler, “Baird! I'm runnin' low on ammo! Whatever you plan on doin', make it fast!”
“God damn it...” Baird's heart sank as he picked up the pace. He was still a few yards from his goal, when a strong crosswind caught him by surprise, pushing his balance just over the edge. He reached out desperately, trying to grab a hold of anything to save himself, only to find himself halting mid-fall. He felt something pressing against his back, shoving him back up onto the ledge.
“Holy buck, you're heavy!” cracked a strained voice behind him. As Baird found a firm handhold in the masonry, he turned thank his savior.
“Rainbow Dash?”
“The one and only!” the cyan pony said as she struck a pose. “The guards asked all of us pegasuses to help airlift ponies out of the castle. I was just flying back in when I saw you slip.”
“I...I owe you one Kid-...Rainbow,” Damon said gratefully as his fingers finally grasped the edges of the next window. “Listen, You're gonna want to get out of here before too much longer, it's getting ugly in there.”
“Why, what's going on? All I saw were some ponies screaming and the fires.”
“It looks like our war followed us here. There's some real nasty Grubs making my day all kinds of difficult. I'm talking total panic in there.”
“Well then I can't leave yet!”
“Look, I'd love to sit here and play dollhouse with you, but I'm kinda strapped for time.”
“My friends are still in there! I won't leave without them.” The finality in her voice and the resolution in her eyes lent much credence to her sentiment, and the engineer knew that Marcus didn't have time for him to argue.
“Alright. But you do exactly as I say. If I say 'hide', you don't come out until I say different.”
“Gotcha!”
As he climbed into the window, the veteran soldier wondered briefly if she actually did comprehend what she was getting into. He refocused on the task at hand, and found himself in what appeared to be servant's quarters. He instructed Rainbow Dash to take cover under a double bunk, and once he was confident that she was well hidden, he carefully cracked the door, peering down into the hall. He was now on the left flank of the Locust, who were still distracted by Marcus' gunfire, though it was decreasing in frequency. 'Fenix must be almost out of ammunition.' he cringed. He had to hurry before the Sergeant was overrun. Gently, with very slow movements, so as not to attract attention, he slipped his pistol arm though the door and took aim.
They never saw it coming. One took a shot in the jaw, permanently removing his mandible. As he spun, Baird caught him a second time in the heart, putting him down for good. The other Drone stood from cover to try and pinpoint Baird's location, but was caught by a sudden burst of fire from the hallway.
'Nice shot Marcus,' Baird thought as he unloaded on the sole survivor. The Kantus took several hits before dropping to one knee, and began crawling back towards the stairs. Corporal Baird took careful aim with his pistol, ready to finish the deed.
*click*
Out of ammo. 'Well fuck that', Baird wasn't gonna let a single one of these assholes get away. No way in hell would he let them scar another world. He booted the door open and charged the retreating Priest. He kicked the Kantus hard in the ribs, crippling him further and sprawling him on the ground. Using his knee, the engineer put all of his weight onto the Locust's chest, pinning him down. His armored fist burned with rage, and with one hand the Gear held the Grub's throat tightly, squeezing it with every ounce of strength he could muster, while his other fist began raining heavy blows upon the monster's face.
“You. Will. Not. Hurt. These. PEOPLE!”
Every word was accentuated with another powerful strike, and with every bashing jab, the Locust's skull gave just a little further, eventually crushing under the onslaught of Baird's rage. The life fluids of the fallen Kantus dripped quietly from his sore knuckles and a smattering of grime covered his sweaty face. He was breathing heavily as he allowed himself to slide off the lifeless corpse, and only then did he notice the rosy eyes peering at him with utter terror from the door of the servants quarters. Rainbow Dash had seen it all.
“I...told you it'd get ugly...” Baird said weakly.
“Y-you...you k-killed them.....just like that.....”
The blonde engineer groaned as he rose to his feet. He picked up the Kantus' Gorgon sub-machine pistol, and inspected it as he continued. “This is our life. Kill, or be killed.” He holstered the weapon as Sergeant Fenix came down the hall. “You okay, Marcus?”
“I'll be better once I get my hands on a good old Lancer again.” he complained, picking up one of the fallen Drone's Hammerburst assault rifles, “But this will do for now.”
While Marcus policed what ammo he could from the bodies, Baird turned back to Rainbow, and he saw that her gaze was still locked on the motionless corpse of one of the Drones. Dropping to one knee, he looked her square in her tear filled eyes as he placed a hand on her shoulder.
“I'm sorry you had to see that...this war has made monsters of us all in a way. We bury our hearts deep, surrounded by six feet of armor and hardcore bullshit. But it's for the best. If I hadn't put them down, they would have done the exact same thing and much, much worse to you. To your friends. Now I need you to be strong, for them. Can you handle that, Ace?”
Rainbow's stare turned to Baird, and though he still saw fear, he saw the tiniest bit of resolve return. Her love and loyalty to her friends was too deeply engrained, and in that moment he knew that she'd go to the brink to drag them out of hell.
“So, are you ready to move Kiddo?”
“Y-yeah...I won't let these ugly freaks hurt my friends!”
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Marcus smirked with satisfaction as he loaded up the Hammerburst. It wasn't COG tech, but it was still good to have a proper weapon again. He watched as Baird comforted the cyan pegasus, before ordering them to keep moving.
“Alright, we're nearly back to the room. Baird, Dash, let's head out.”
They reached their suite unhindered, and immediately began loading themselves up with every weapon they could carry. Marcus swapped the Hammerburst out for his faithful Lancer and Longshot rifle. They slapped fresh clips into their pistols, and reloaded Jack's compartments with spare ammo and grenades. Moments later, Rainbow's voice interrupted their work.
“Hey, look down there!” She exclaimed, glancing out the window.
Marcus walked over to follow her gaze, and for a moment wished that he hadn't. No less than fifty Locust soldiers were swarming the gardens below. 'Then again,' Marcus thought as he got a better look at the layout of the terrace surrounding the yard, 'If we could push them all down into the center of the garden, we could hold them there from the high ground and wipe them out.' He keyed his mic and relayed his orders to Dom.
“Dom! Get Shining Armor's troops down to the gardens and use those barriers to lock the Grubs there. We'll hold them in place until you show up.”
Between bouts of static and gunfire over his receiver, Marcus caught Santiago's reply.
“We'll try Marcus, but we're not really going anywhere right now. We've got them outnumbered, but they've got us outgunned. The shields are holding, but we're stuck here in the west hall.”
“They need help. Baird, take Jack and the rest of the weapons. Get down there. I'll cover the garden from here.”
“On it Marcus, but do you think you can hold all of the uglies by yourself?”
“I'll handle it. Go!”
“Alright, just be careful.” Baird said worriedly as he jogged out the door, followed by the invisible robot.
“Wait up! I'm coming too!” The rainbow maned pony choked, hurrying to catch the engineer.
'Looks like someone made a friend', Marcus thought with a small smile as he reached for his Longshot Sniper Rifle. He hefted the precision weapon, peering down into the garden, and the world of the scope came into view. Through the lens, he could see the cruel faces of the Locusts troops in gruesome detail. Every piercing, every scar, every snarling toothy maw, they were Marcus' to witness. Time slowed, and Marcus' world shrank. What he saw through the scope became his only reality, the world outside ceasing to exist. He took a breath to stabilize himself as he flicked the safety off of his weapon. Thunder rolled.
*CRACK*
“That's one...”
A Locust Drone fell dead, his head conspicuously absent. Marcus' hand flew back along the rifle, pulling the action open and ejecting the spent casing. In the same fluid motion, he slid it forward once more, locking a new round in the chamber as he re-entered the scope. Again, the shattering crack of the rifle rang clear above the garden.
“That's two.”
Again, and again, more of the Locust warriors fell to his deadly aim. A Kantus priest caught on to his position, but before he could signal his troops to open fire on the tower, Marcus claimed his head.
“THAT'S FIVE, MOTHERFUCKERS!!!!”
Slowly, Marcus picked off the key Grubs who dared make a break for the castle doors. Minutes passed and soon the Drones learned to fear leaving cover, beginning to fire their rifles blindly up at the castle towers, unsure of his location. After twenty minutes, the Locust had stopped exposing themselves altogether, hiding behind hedges and statues to protect themselves. 'Just as well...' Marcus thought. He was nearly out of ammunition. He had made seventeen beautiful shots with his rifle. He had scored seventeen kills. He loaded one of his remaining three rounds, and peered carefully down into the corpse littered garden, watching for any movement. At that moment, the castle doors burst open, and bright bubbles of glowing energy slowly crawled through. The royal guards had made it to the party.
The unicorns carefully spread themselves along the terrace, never allowing even a single exposed point in their rapidly expanding barrier. Soon, the garden was sealed in a ring of magical energy, and earth ponies began hurling heavy spears over the edges of the barrier, raining pointy death on those trapped within, while pegasi stomped on small storm clouds, showering the glade with hail and lightning. Marcus could see his squad mates lob grenades into the ring, not sure whether he was happier that they were all alive, or that the explosive weapons claimed the lives of no less than a dozen of the remaining Grubs.
Satisfied, Marcus turned to head downstairs, hoping to coordinate with the castle defenders to clean up any enemy forces that remained in the palace and city. To his shock and surprise, he was met by a tall figure standing in the door behind him.
Lean and muscular, with burning eyes of dark ebony, and carrying a wicked blade.
With a shrieking roar, the assassin attacked.
(A/N: WOW, this was a hard one to write. Definitely one of my least favorite chapters to write, even if it ended up being one of my favorites to read. Endless thanks must be showered upon Ciera_Bells for her help, this chapter wouldn't have turned out nearly as awesome. I've got work, and I'm starting school in a couple weeks, so I'll try and get as many chapters out as often as I can, but no promises that it won't be awhile between updates. Thank everyone for the reads and the support!)
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Oh boy, Marcus is going to need help.
Nice!
This story just gets better and better!
934859 Read all the books!
They have quiet a history dont they?
1144438 lancer saw would come in handy for this kind of situation. cut 'em up and best served extra crispy.
1144628 The books have all been read.
Now what to do...
Reread ALL the books!
Is there anything funner then removing heads from those poor, poor headed Locust?
And the suspense. IT'S KILLING ME
1144438 Come oooon. He's Marcus effing Fenix! How bad could it be? He's only fighting an unbeatable killing machine. By himself.i.imgur.com/hIzM2.png
1145040
static.fjcdn.com/comments/Dump+ALL+my+paycheck+_c10868c578c5944b7e2b5a3505545d92.png
Baird is gonna get the almighty fuck mocked out of him at some point.
"Dashie and Baird, sitting in a tree, a-r-g-u-i-n-g!"
*Cackles*
Can't wait to see more, especially the Unsure!Celestia.
Methinks Marcus is going to liken her to Prescott!
Cheers
GM
1147747 Well he did have Dom's help last time. And he wasn't surprised by him either.
1. Just went back and reread some previous chapters, and saw that you edited some of the Baird/Dash dialogue. For the dedicated fans of this fic, the revised version is pretty epic.
2. Love how this chapter turned out compared to the rough draft, which was pretty rough
3. I get what you mean about the emoticons on the site now lol
Well... Aim for the knee?
1147747 He killed more than 5 unbeatable creatures, (Skorge, RAAM, Myrrah, lambent berserker and giant worm) and some tanks during Aspho
1155029 *SPOILERS* Skorge (with help from Delta), RAAM (with help from Dom), Myrrah (not really unbeatable, but her bug was killed with the hammer of dawn, and he took her down with a simple knife),lambent berserker (help from delta and the H.O.D.), giant worm (help from delta AND from the inside). Today, he stands alone. Should be fun, eh?
1156383 but he's got one thing on his side that the locust don't, he's a canon main character!
1170119 Shhh, the secrets of plot armor must never be revealed!
1170123 should I keep quiet as well about the only weapon that can kill game characters? The dreaded cutscene?
1170525 yes, we should definitely keep that hush hush.... i.imgur.com/hIzM2.png
Marcus starts his lancers chain saw and fucks the locust up en lodges his blade in the ground with the locust head on top
HELL FUCKIN' YEAH, I WAS LOOKIN' FOR A GEARS FIC WITH MARCUS WHERE THE AUTHOR DIDN'T DISSAPEAR !
Needs more Retro Lancer and Prescott. But everything else is fine, and that Locust bitch will be crying for his mommy when Marcus is done with him.
1343224 Lol, holy shit comments. Glad you're liking the story. I was wondering how long it would be before you stumbled across it. i.imgur.com/hIzM2.png And while I AM still active and working on this story, I have work and MASSIVE amounts of homework, so it may be a while before the next chapter gets released. I PROMISE I'll work on it as often as possible though. Anyways, thanks so much for the fav/comments. Glad to know my work is well enjoyed.
i.imgur.com/fWbVx.gif
1387201 The one and only. Boomer Lady is awesome.
update you filthy brumak porker (I love you [no homo])
1387631 yeah, you may wanna edit those spoilers. and i'll update when I can, I'm just really busy with life.
1387631 What, no, before Dom was dead it was still depressing and unhappy, it was just funnier.
MOAR!!!
2082150 The next chapter is about 80% done. Just need my editor to stop being so busy.
I'll gladly be an editor if you want O_o
I'm kinda bored because my English 3 class is too easy and I don't have much to do :/
If you want me to, hit me up.
2085880 I appreciate the offer. I'd like to stick with my current one if possible, but if i can't get her nailed down, i'll hit you up.
i.imgur.com/E8rYe.jpg
I am disappoint.
2863867 Thanks. I swear, I really am gonna finish it....
can't wait for the next chapter
Juuuuust waiting...
2891969 That's it. I'm sitting down tonight and just writing. LET THE BRUTALITY COMMENCE!!!!
2910354
Hope you got a lot done!
Also, you should totes mc scrotes do something with Queen Chrysalis and Queen Myrrah. I'm sure the two of them would be willing to work together to benefit both of their species.
And besides, who says Changelings can't turn into Locusts, or even humans?
2911629 Total confession time. I don't really like the changelings. They don't compel me as characters. :I
2915020
but-but-but-but
D:
awwwww.
COLE TRAIN BB
980343 stabs him again then eats the Healy lazer
1147747.... CLEAN ALL THE THINGS!
3047276 they better join the COG
aaaand almost one year later
3186815 More than a year. The next chapter has been sitting, almost done for a while now. I'm just so...damn...busy......
3291781 Pls, Author help. I need GoW Mlp. PLEASE
3409278 Must....try.............fans....need me.......rrrraaAAAAAHHHH!!!!!!
I'll see what I can do. I've been trying so hard to get going on this again, but I so rarely have free time. I'll try.
3413831 That's okay, I just need to know that you ARE working on it, however slow the pace.
3413831
You shouldn't push yourself if you really are that busy. The longer it takes, the better it is, I suppose. :3
Progress is being made on the newest chapter, for realsies.