Crazy Britain:They’re All Raising Me

"Right now… maybe I'm not so different from you."

Though Frankenstein didn't react immediately, Gawain noticed a flicker of light in her previously vacant eyes. Her gaze, once scattered, began to focus. Seeing this, he knew his approach was working and pressed on:

"Look at me—I'm technically a corpse too, you know? It's just that due to some special circumstances, I can still run, jump, think… and even… love."

At that last word, Frankenstein twitched. She tilted her head slightly, seriously looking into Gawain's eyes.

That look made Gawain suddenly feel a twinge of guilt.

Was he… emotionally manipulating a girl?

"If you'd be willing to share some of your electricity with me, maybe I could come back to life… become a real living person again—just like you."

He said it hesitantly.

"...Really?"

Frankenstein's eyes sparkled, like a traveler spotting water after days in the desert—filled with hope and joy.

Unlike the articulate "Ella" from before, this Frankenstein now spoke with the stilted, raspy effort of a child learning to talk:

"...So you… could love me?"

"I…"

Gawain hesitated.

He knew. One nod and this whole thing would be settled.

But damn it—he couldn't do it.

That girl's eyes were so pure, filled with nothing but the sincere longing for love. They were too pure for him to lie to.

After a moment of silence, he finally said:

"If you mean… love in the romantic sense, then I'm afraid I can't. That place in my heart… it's already taken. I don't have that much love to spare."

He couldn't bring himself to deceive her, not when she looked at him like that.

Of course, he regretted it the second the words left his mouth.

What the hell, man! You've already committed to faking your way through—why get honest now? You realize this is the worst possible timing for a moral epiphany, right? Bad guys who grow a conscience at the end always die the worst deaths!

Why are you suddenly playing the noble act like some split-personality "good guy"? Cut it out!

He cursed himself internally.

As expected, Frankenstein's eyes dimmed, her hopeful light fading. Gawain panicked and rushed to salvage the situation:

"But hey, hey, don't be discouraged! I mean, look around—the world's big! If there's a second person like me, then surely, there must be a third, right?"

He glanced up.

That black hole was now only a few meters above them. He could feel his hair starting to lift, drawn toward it by invisible force.

Terrified that Frankenstein might give up right here, Gawain continued rapidly:

"And you don't have to fall in love with another undead, right? I mean, look at me—I still got someone to love me. If you try, maybe you can find someone human to love you too!"

"But…" Frankenstein slowly lowered her head, like a dog abandoned at the door.

"...Can't… do it… everyone… hates me…"

"That's just because you haven't found the right way yet. But don't worry!"

Gawain pounded his chest confidently.

"I'm a pro at this! If you'll accept me as a companion, I'll help you figure it out!"

"Companion…?"

Frankenstein looked at him, confused.

"Yeah! A companion! Someone who laughs and cries with you, who stays by your side!" Gawain nodded vigorously.

By now, the black hole was nearly touching his head. The pull was so strong he had to dig one hand into the ground to keep from being dragged away. He also gripped Frankenstein's shoulder tightly, fearing she'd be yanked in too.

"I can't love you romantically—but we can be friends! I'll help you find someone who can truly be your partner!"

The gravitational pressure increased. His words came faster and faster.

"So please help me!"

The instant the black hole hovered within a meter of them, Gawain shouted:

"If you bring me back to life with your lightning, I'll do anything—except date you!"

Whether she understood him or not, Frankenstein nodded.

"...Mm!"

Then she lifted her head, grabbed his hand, and just before the black star could swallow them, a flash of green lightning surged from her into him, wrapping his body in crackling arcs.

In the next moment, the darkness swallowed them whole.

Gawain's consciousness drifted away. All senses vanished. Everything around him went black—silent and void.

But then—two system notifications popped up in front of his mind's eye:

[Nightmare Incarnation IV: "The Lonely One Who Seeks Love in Vain" has been neutralized.]

[Target defeated. Rewards will now be distributed.]

[Both personalities active. You may transfer one or more rewards to your alternate self. Proceed with transfer?]

[Player has reverted from Undead to Living. Special quest "Rebirth of the Dead" complete.]

[You have received: Shared Trait – "Twin Souls as One."]

......................

[Shared Trait: Twin Souls as One]

[You will no longer be forced into dormancy when your alternate personality is active. Within this Singularity, both personalities may act simultaneously—one in the real world, one in the dream world.]

[This trait is shared by both personas.]

[From Will, you've received: Base Endurance +1.]

[From Will, you've received: Base Agility +1 and Hunter Rune – "Manifold."]

"...What the hell?"

Still groggy from his return to consciousness, Gawain stared at the flood of notifications.

What just happened? Why did I get all these rewards?

Did I seriously complete quests… while asleep?

Utterly confused, he reread the names.

"Player: Will."

Ah.

It was all himself.

"Oh, well that makes sense," Gawain said aloud, giving himself a big thumbs-up. "I really am amazing."

No questions asked—if he was amazing, then I'm amazing. Who cares about the details?

He was basically piggybacking on his own power. That wasn't "carried to victory"—that was "self-carry," baby!

Another notification popped up:

[Thanks to Twin Souls as One, both personas may act simultaneously. Upon any status update, you may choose to synchronize memories. Synchronize now?]

Obviously, yes.

[Both players agreed. Synchronization in progress.]

With a slight jolt to his scalp, a rush of images poured into his mind—flashing past like a slideshow, only to fade and embed themselves permanently into his memory.

"...Damn. Having that blood-boosted persona is OP as hell. Will got a whole power fantasy arc over there!"

He couldn't help but complain after digesting it all.

Not only was it a full power-up ride—it came with a weird personality shift. Was I always this much of a tsundere?

Reviewing Will's interactions with others made Gawain pull a strange face.

He really seemed like one of those awkwardly prideful types… and weirdly competitive. He constantly found ways to throw shade at this side of himself—like dissing himself brought him joy.

What kind of logic was that? He'd eventually have to merge with this guy. Insulting his other half meant insulting himself.

And someday, when that merge happened, he'd be stuck thinking: "Wow, I was kind of a dumbass, huh?"

He'd started to feel amused by it, but that quickly shifted to despair.

I'll suffer for my own dumb behavior, committed by me, to myself.

It was… abstract. Abstract in that particularly cursed, Nasuverse kind of way.

"Who's making me look bad?"

"…It's ME."

Only in Fate.

All he could hope now was that this wouldn't spiral into something worse—like a future where a white-haired version of himself walked up and said, "Drown in your ideals," or "Ahead lies only hell."

Because if it came to that, he'd have to go full Lu Xiu-tsai mode and say, "Wonderful. Just wonderful."

Still, all things considered—at least the other him had really carried hard. He was throwing resources left and right. Gawain just had to lie down and take it.

With that in mind, he opened up his status panel to check the latest haul:

Strength: C

Agility: D

Endurance: D

Mana: E

Luck: A

Just from Will's efforts, he'd gained +1 Endurance from defeating Mephisto and +1 Agility from convincing Frankenstein—quite the stat boost.

And then there was the rune business.

The "Hunter's Sigil," which Gawain hadn't had time to explore, had been fully unlocked by Will. Besides its core effects, Will had also handed over a new rune:

Rune: Manifold

[A sigil derived from a forbidden deity in the stars. Only those deeply bound to their other self can wield it.]

[Use this rune to split one thing into many. As long as each part can exist independently, the original will remain unharmed. "Whole" items remain intact. "Living" things won't die.]

["All things return to One; from One, they become many."]

Hmmmm.

"Feels kinda… gimmicky?"

Gawain squinted at it. It sounded like a glorified disassembly tool.

The only combat use he could imagine was extracting shrapnel from teammates without hurting them. Otherwise, it seemed like a waste.

Unless there was some counterpart rune—something like "Unity"—that could fuse parts together…

Now that could be overpowered. A "pre-fusion" merge of both selves would be a broken power spike.

Still—what really mattered was the other rune.

[Player Will has transferred Rune: Powder Keg.]

Tears filled Gawain's eyes.

"I take back every insult I ever made about him."

If it weren't weird to call himself "dad," he'd have bowed on the spot.

Being carried by your other self—can you really call that a free ride?