The beach's artificial sun hung low, casting golden glitches over the waves. Alex leaned against a pixelated palm tree, fiddling with the Independent System Core locket. Nyx sat nearby, her crayon sketchbook open to a half-finished drawing of the group—Kairo's scar rendered in neon orange, Finn mid-laugh, Veyra's smirk a jagged black slash.
Finn: "So, what's next? Another cosmic horror? A musical? Please say musical."
Kairo: "The Storyweaver's still out there. And Veyra's shard…"
He glanced at Alex's arm, where the Beta corruption had receded but left jagged scars. Before Alex could reply, the air split with the crisp snap of a book closing.
Ms. Harlow: "Hello, Alex. Still scribbling pretentious metaphors, I see."
She stood atop a floating stack of glowing manuscripts, her librarian's cardigan replaced by armor of red-inked critique notes. Her eyes burned with the Storyweaver's admin blue, a beta reader's ledger chained to her wrist.
Alex froze. "Ms. Harlow? I almost forgot."
Ms. Harlow: "You see, the Storyweaver offered… tenure." She flicked a finger. The beach disintegrated into a Library of Condemned Drafts, shelves groaning with books marked "REJECTED" in bold.
System Alert:
[Beta Reader Boss Battle: Ms. Harlow, the Final Edit]
Weakness: ???
***
Ms. Harlow's Opening Strike:
She hurled a Plot Hole Quill, its ink dissolving Finn's hackpad into footnotes. "Your pacing is atrocious, Finn. Too many filler chapters."
Finn: "Says the lady dressed like a thesaurus!" He ducked behind a crumbling shelf, pulling a USB of Stolen Memes from his pocket. "Nyx! Distract her!"
Nyx lunged, her glitched form blurring. She tore a page from a nearby manuscript—"The Hollows of Eden: Draft 12"—and slapped it onto Ms. Harlow's armor. The critique notes ignited, burning with Alex's old insecurities.
Ms. Harlow: "Predictable! You always leaned too hard on pathos."
***
Kairo's Intervention:
His Admin Blade clashed against her ledger, sparks of neon and crimson raining down. "You're not a beta reader. You're a bully."
Ms. Harlow: "And you're a plot device." Her ledger morphed into a Red Pen Spear, piercing Kairo's shoulder. He staggered, scar flaring as Protocol 7.3 threatened to reboot.
Alex: "Stop!" Their cybernetic arm glitched into a Shield of Scrapped Prose, blocking Ms. Harlow's next strike. "Why are you doing this? You taught me to love stories!"
Ms. Harlow: "And you spat on every lesson!" The library trembled as she summoned Chapter 1 of The Hollows of Eden—the dragon scene Alex had rewritten a dozen times. "You called this art. I call it amateur."
***
15-year-old Alex stood in Ms. Harlow's classroom, clutching a printed draft. The red ink bled like wounds: "CLICHÉ." "OVERWRITTEN." "TRY HARDER."
Ms. Harlow (Past): "You have passion, Alex. But passion without discipline is noise."
Alex's hands shook. "I'll fix it. I'll—"
Ms. Harlow: "Don't. Some stories aren't worth saving."
***
Present:
Alex's shield shattered. "You were wrong."
Ms. Harlow: "Prove it."
***
The Counterattack:
Finn hijacked the library's catalog system, flooding the shelves with 1000 Fanfiction Spin-Offs of Ms. Harlow's critiques. "Eat transformative works, lady!"
Nyx swarmed Ms. Harlow with Glitched Annotations, her sync rate dropping to 8% as she overwrote red ink with crayon doodles.
Kairo ignited his Admin Blade with Lyra's Lost Melody, the spectral quill's song unraveling Ms. Harlow's armor. "You don't get to define us."
Alex channeled Author Mode, rewriting a new draft of The Hollows of Eden in real-time. The dragon became a Phoenix of Second Chances, its flames melting Ms. Harlow's spear. "Stories change. So do people."
***
Her ledger crumbled. The beta reader's glow faded, leaving a tired woman in a frayed cardigan. "You… you insufferable child. You actually… improved."
She dissolved into overdue notices, her final critique: "B+."
The library faded. The group stood in a nondescript void, the Independent Core pulsing warmly.
Finn: "Did we just… pass the vibe check?"
Kairo: "For now."
Nyx held up her sketchbook. The crayon phenix soared over a stick-figure Ms. Harlow, tiny red pen crossed out.
Alex: "We'll frame it next to the middle finger."
***
A single overdue notice survived. It morphed into a VTuber Alert:
@Storyweaver_Prime:
"Adorable arc! But let's audit those grades."
Alex pocketed the B+ notice. Nyx's crayon phoenix glowed faintly. Somewhere, a dragon no one believed in roared.