I am amused on a meta level that Balder's inability to refrain from pulling giant twists that uphold the entire world by rendering irrelevant everything we've been painstakingly exposited about previously, has caused this book's epilogue to entirely undermine this book's climax.

What I'm saying is that this page makes a better climactic cliff-hanger for the story than the one where Caesar was running to the portal to suicide. But within a couple of text updates it's going to be entirely negated and made irrelevant by some other Charlie counter-contingency plan, and then a couple text updates later will undermine that, and so on.

Erfworld has become as narratively satisfying as looking at two kids playing cops and robbers, except these kids are extremely wordy about it.

"I shoot you! My medieval knight had a gun all along! Also strings strings strings."
"Nuh-uh, my woodland outlaw is wearing a bullet-proof vest so your gun don't work. And besides signs signs signs."
My bullets are explosive and incendiary and they have laser guns to melt your armor. Strings strings signs signs!"
"My skin is made of mirror so your bullets' lasers are reflected back at themselves and they explode right in your gun, killing you. Strings signs strings signs."
And so on and so on.

What I'm saying is that Axe Cop had a better, more engaging, and better thought-out plot.