The sky hiccuped. A cloud cow exploded into glitter. Time paused—but only for dramatic effect.
> "What now?" I muttered, picking glitter out of my eyebrows.
The ground cracked. A large red pen stabbed through a tree.
> "Oh no," Arc said. "He's here."
From the mist stepped a tall, shadowy figure in a business-casual blazer stitched from deadlines. His eyes were highlighters. His breath smelled like rejected plot points.
The Editor.
> "Who dares mess with canon?" he thundered.
Grubnuk raised his hand.
> "I once licked a footnote."
The Editor ignored him. He held a massive clipboard labeled 'Continuity Crimes'.
> "You!" he said, pointing at me. "You've created three love interests, six side quests, a duck monarchy, and a jam uprising—all in 41 chapters. WHY?!"
> "Uh… vibes?" I offered.
> "VIBES ARE NOT STRUCTURE!" he bellowed.
He pulled out a giant eraser.
> "Wait!" Arc shouted. "You can't just delete us—we're trending!"
The Editor paused.
> "Trending?"
Clucksworth pulled out a crystal orb.
> "#BinderWarz is at 84,000 magical impressions."
The Editor looked conflicted. He lowered the eraser slightly.
> "...Fine. You've bought yourselves some time," he said. "But I'm watching. And if another side character becomes sentient toast, I'm rewriting the entire subplot into a tax seminar."
> "Not... the tax seminar..." Lyria whispered in horror.
With a final, judgmental sigh, The Editor vanished in a puff of red ink.
Silence.
> "Well," I said. "That wasn't horrifying at all."
> "I need to lie down," Arc muttered.
Grubnuk licked the eraser residue.
> "Mmm. Bureaucratic."
---
End of Chapter 41 (The Editor lives. Canon trembles. Tax seminars loom.)