Time rewound to when Shirou was fighting Arjuna.
Kiritsugu led Artoria, Irisviel, and the three Servants toward the Greater Grail. As long as Irisviel used the Heaven's Dress on her body to seize control of the Greater Grail, humanity's side would win.
But this road was far from easy.
They had not gone far before an endless stream of Shadow Servants blocked their path. Though Artoria possessed an Anti-City Noble Phantasm, there was simply no time to deploy it in this situation.
Kiritsugu unleashed his power, but the dim blue barrage could only keep the Shadow Servants from closing in.
Irisviel used the magecraft she had developed together with Kiritsugu, "White Crane Knight," but even its bombardment-like onslaught had little effect against their scalp-numbing numbers.
Okita Souji clenched the hilt of her sword, then loosened her grip, clenched it again, then loosened it again. After repeating this several times, she seemed to make up her mind. She came before Kiritsugu and said, "Mr. Kiritsugu, please leave this place to me."
"I refuse!"
Artoria reacted the most fiercely. As the King of Knights, she would not permit abandoning a companion on the battlefield to press onward.
Moreover, given the situation here, staying behind alone was no different from seeking death.
Compared with Artoria, Kiritsugu was much more pragmatic. He did not want to see Okita Souji disappear either; after all, they had lived together for seven years.
"If you stay, you will die. Even so, are you willing?" Kiritsugu asked gravely.
"Before I died, I succumbed to tuberculosis and did not fight alongside everyone in the Shinsengumi until the end." Okita Souji did not answer Kiritsugu's question directly. Instead, she began reminiscing with a wistful expression.
Though reminiscing on a battlefield like this did feel rather out of place.
"But at