Note: This chapter is complex. Read it slowly. Perhaps, you might have to read it a second time.
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A few moments before,
Berserker's time was running out.
Even before the fused Reality Marble had taken shape, Kai had known that it would be his graveyard.
When he had arrived in this Key timeline, Kai had used the Skill — Fate Borrower — to borrow Heracles' fate.
…
[
Skill: Fate Borrower
Grade: B+
Specification: Borrow an Individual's fate from the past, present, or future
…
Effect:
— The Contestant can borrow any event, concept, or miscellaneous, inexplicable phenomenon centered around an Individual's life trajectory that represents the said Individual's fate
— If the borrowed fate belongs to the Individual's past, it will affect the Contestant's past
— If the borrowed fate belongs to the Individual's present, it will affect the Contestant's present
— If the borrowed fate belongs to the Individual's future, it will affect the Contestant's future
— Borrowing fate from an Individual's future life trajectory can cause severe backlash in the Contestant's life trajectory if the borrowed fate never comes to play out later. All outcomes of such a backlash are unpredictable and impossible to quantify
— The borrowed fate will become a part of the Contestant's individuality
— The Contestant will bear all the consequences of the borrowed fate
…
]
…
Along with Nothing Is Impossible and My House, My Rules, Fate Borrower was the most complex Skill in Kai's arsenal. Not because the Ad Infinitum couldn't analyze and put it to use efficiently, but because of its unpredictable and unquantifiable nature.
In Fate Borrower's Stats, two things could turn the tables for Kai — for better and for worse — in this case.
First — If the borrowed fate belongs to the Individual's future, it will affect the Contestant's future.
Kai had borrowed Berserker's entire future.
In almost all timelines, regardless of their Key, Mirror, or Pillar status, the Berserker Class Servant never survived the Holy Grail War.
Even Heracles, Illya's Servant, had died long before the Holy Grail War's completion in the Unlimited Blade Works and Heaven's Feel timelines — the two routes that seemed to have merged in this world.
Even if Illya survived till the end of the Holy Grail War in the Heaven's Feel route, Berserker's fate hadn't changed — as Saber Alter had killed him, with the Shadow ending up devouring him entirely.
And so, Fate Borrower, the same Skill that had promised Kai Berserker's fate, letting him accomplish an impossible feat of acting both Master and Servant in the same Holy Grail War, would also make sure that he died… much before the War reached its completion.
Following Berserker's fate, Saber Alter's empowered Noble Phantasm had almost ended Kai's tale in this timeline, if it hadn't been for his Standalone Title — Fiend.
However, here came the most broken caveat in the picture, in the form of the second of the two table-turning things.
Second — Borrowing fate from an Individual's future life trajectory can cause severe backlash in the Contestant's life trajectory if the borrowed fate never comes to play out later. All outcomes of such a backlash are unpredictable and impossible to quantify.
If Kai kept pushing himself to survive, then he might face an even bigger threat in the form of an unpredictable and impossible-to-quantify backlash.
It was like saying to someone — Make sure you survive this battle… but something worse than death will happen to you later.
As stupid, ironic, and utterly garbage as it sounded, the Fate Borrower was such a Skill that would cause exactly this scenario.
So, not only did Kai need to survive his doomed fate, he also needed to make sure that he died…
As if this paradox wasn't enough, there was one more difficulty just waiting to spit on his face.
Even if Kai won the War and ended Angra Mainyu's incarnation, the Holy Grail would never manifest as long as all but one pair of Servant and Master survived in the end.
Joyless Slaughter would make sure that all Servants died, sacrificing themselves.
But… even then, two Servants would remain on the battlefield.
Medea the Caster and Kai the Berserker.
And so, one of them — must die.
Kai had grand plans for Medea, especially after the Holy Grail War was over.
After merging the Harry Potter and this Key Fate timelines with his Verse Fusion, a Grand Witch like her, who was solely loyal to him, would be his greatest General for years to come.
If this Medea died, then Adulterer wouldn't work on any Medea of any timeline.
Surrounded by these impossibilities and seeing no way ahead, Kai had nothing but one path left in front of him.
To... kill himself.
So, just as Kai's Lucky Intuitions screamed that his time was up, that the Fate Borrower was taking the shape of Gorgon's Noble Phantasm to end Berserker, he had created a Room around himself, bringing Medea with him.
With an alarming rate, as Medea plunged Rule Breaker into Kai's chest, he imposed the rule, "Two fates cannot end together."
A purple glow oozed out of Kai as Medea severed his pact with Black, making him a rogue Heroic Spirit.
Then, knowing that the borrowed fate had become a part of his Individuality, Kai rejected the rule, "One Individuality cannot hold two fates…"
A hum took over the tight space within the Room.
As the Rejected Rule came into force, both Berserker and Kai died, creating a bug in the Rule itself — as he hadn't, and couldn't have, specified which fate would end up dying first.
But something amazing happened at that moment—something only Medea could have accomplished. None other.
Like the rogue Assassin, she had also been lacking in Mana. However, Enkidu had powered up all Servants using his own Command Seals. That's why Assassin, who should have already disappeared, was still active outside.
In the House Common Room, the Rejected Rule was making sure that both Berserker and Kai would die. However, the Imposed Rule ensured that they wouldn't die simultaneously.
So, as if programming itself to sort out the bug, the Rejected and Imposed Rules decided to kill the shorter fate first, as predicted by the Ad Infinitum and the Lucky Intuitions.
And the moment Medea sensed a fellow Heroic Spirit dying, the dagger into Kai's chest exploded with another glow as she used Rule Breaker again —
— breaking both the Imposed and Rejected Rules!
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