[24.17 spoilers]
The rarely-invoked Inverse Law of Wildbow Protagonists states that much as a Wildbow Protagonist may pull a win out of an unwinnable situation, so too does an Antagonist achieve an extremely unlikely loss. And as bad as the villain misplays in other Wildbow stories I've read have been, none measure up to good old Chuck. Oh, was annihilating your own sense of self by breaking literally your only rule "just karma working against you"? Was putting the pieces in place to build a Judge-stabbing stake "just karma"? Was building a perfect prison to trap yourself and then immediately running there "just karma?" Oh, was none of that your fault? Nah, that ain't karma, it's just you being stupid. And it sucks that Charles never really got to see the error of his ways, but he wasn't gonna. Fuuuuuck that guy (and Alabaster too i guess, lol). Sucks to suck. I LOVE the parallel that he 'died' because he ultimately 'succeeded' in the challenge John was given at the end of the Carmine Contest. John wouldn't sacrifice his principles to forswear someone, because he was an actually good person. Charles would, but that's the death knell for his arguments and annihilation for his Self. THIS WAS IT! OH MY GOD! IT JUST SAYS EPILOGUES LEFT. Hm... what would be the trolliest possible epilogue? We sorta don't know what happened with Percival 2 after Charles left the negotiating room. Wildbow should give us an epilogue that's literally just Percy 2's entire name, and then " lived happily ever after." And then end the story there. (But for real I want one last Extra Material, and one last Avery and Nora reunion chapter!)