GOAT Iri giving so many answers, I love to see it!
Comments
Kuro's existence is more of an Alter-Ego approach. She's the manifestation of the knowledge implanted by the Grail, kinda like how Illya started speaking like Justeaze is Heaven's Feel? That persona was sealed away by Irisviel when she was just born. Then after the Saber Alter incident we see the seal break and Kuro's personality first takes over. This season, this split personality used the Archer card as a vessel to independently manifest itself. That would be Kuro/Chloe.
OneTrueReason
2025-07-06 19:54:32 +0000 UTC
Aswering as always:
1. The thing that Kuro says about skipping the process is not a thing exclusive of Kaleid. That's how the "magecraft" of Fate/stay night Illya works too. As long as she have Magical Energy, she can produce the result.
2. Kuro is basically the original Illya. She was sealed at a really short age (8 months old) by Iri. When she was sealed a new personality was born in the body, that is the Illya of Kaleid that we know.
(Watch Kara no Kyoukai: The Garden of Sinner to know more about how the body, mind and soul interact in the Nasuverse *wink wink*).
Then, after installing the Archer card, that personality that was sealed 10 years ago reemerged. You see the first time Illya installed the Archer card, there is a scene of a chain with a lock. In that moment the seal broke.
So yeah, the divergence point of this timeline is the birth of Illya. In Fate/stay night she was born 8 years before the 4th Holy Grial War, but in Kaleid she was born 8 months before the 4th Holy Grial War.
Btw, there is a scene in the first season that was skipped where Sella and Liz talk about how Illya's seal was being weakened after the first time she installed the Archer card. For some reason the anime leave that out, probably to create more mystery.