"Ha… a lot happened today. Dinner was really filling too, thankfully the fish did not taste too off."
Having finished washing up and returned to his room, Shirou stretched as he recalled the day's events.
Accidentally wandering into the Lower City, rushing into a fire to save people, chatting a bit with Sora, then giving Croissant her own bread as dinner and afterward cooking a big meal that made her drool… though that was just a bit of teasing. In the end, Croissant still got to properly fill her stomach.
Honestly, the sight of Croissant looking like she was about to cry from craving food was surprisingly stress-relieving.
Shirou wrapped the Holy Shroud around his hand from where it lay on the bed, then began today's projection practice.
The desk was already covered with various swords. By now, Shirou could project ordinary blades quite well even without chanting.
But that was his current limit—just normal weapons. As for projecting Originium arts units shaped like swords, that was still beyond him.
"I can not project Originium, huh?"
He pondered the reason, eventually concluding it lay with Originium itself.
He had been trying to project Texas's Originium light sword. Normally it was just a hilt, but when activated, a blade of light would extend from it. Texas always maintained her weapon carefully after missions, so Shirou had grasped some of its workings.
He could project the hilt but could not make the blade appear like Texas did.
He had not tried letting Texas use one of his projected hilts either. Originium was extremely dangerous here, and if that was the reason it did not work, he could not risk letting her test it.
Shirou had never been a "proper" magus anyway. Compared to studying magecraft in depth, he preferred using it as a convenient tool. People like that were usually scornfully called "spellcasters."
"…Maybe I can try projecting a Noble Phantasm?"
He withdrew the mana from the swords he had just created, letting them dissipate.
Fixing a projection into permanence required extra mana, but the desk was already too crowded, so he did not bother keeping them.
"Trace on.
Analyzing the concept of creation,
Imagining the basic structure,"
Copying the materials,
Imitating the techniques,
Synchronizing with the experience,
Reproducing the accumulated years,
Surpassing and completing countless processes—
As the chant progressed, a sphere of light formed in Shirou's hand, gradually taking the shape of a blade. When the chant ended, it became a black sword.
It was one he remembered seeing Archer use, one of his favored weapons.
But the one in his hand now was nothing more than a hollow shell with the same appearance.
How did his past self manage to project Noble Phantasms so effortlessly? Was he cheating or something?
After spending several days with Penguin Logistics, Shirou had gradually picked up the local slang.
Of course, he would not casually use things like Lungmen profanity, but he had gotten used to everyday expressions.
He looked at the sword in his hand for a moment. Though it was a complete failure, he did not dispel it. Instead, he wrapped it in a clean cloth and placed it on the table.
After all, it was the first Noble Phantasm he had ever managed to project. He had to keep it properly.
"…Ugh, this familiar soreness."
As he stood up with the wrapped sword, a familiar ache spread through his body.
"Have I already entered old man life?"
Rubbing the sore spots, Shirou sighed, feeling like he was starting to resemble Taiga, aching here and there all the time.
After arranging the swords on the desk, he placed the wrapped blade in the cleared space.
"About time."
Checking the clock, it was already close to midnight.
Lying down, exhausted from the day, Shirou quickly fell asleep.
—————————————
"…Is it about time?"
A low male voice echoed.
"Time for what?"
Shirou woke at the sound and looked around.
It was that space with the four doors no, now only three remained.
"Why am I here?"
He wondered, then noticed something strange.
"…Wait, the chains on the doors are gone?"
The chains that had always bound the doors had disappeared. After a moment's hesitation, he decided to push one open.
This time, it was the red door, simply because it was closest.
The moment he opened it, his consciousness sank.
Up until the Holy Grail War, the memories were mostly the same, either cooking or helping others.
Until that night, when he summoned Saber in the warehouse again and drove back the lancer.
But this time, when Saber chased after Archer, he used a Command Spell to stop her.
From that point on, everything diverged completely.
With Archer's greater involvement, the issues between him and Archer gradually surfaced.
First was magecraft. With each battle Archer fought, the Shirou in those memories found his own magic circuits resonating and synchronizing with Archer's.
This time, the effect was obvious, giving Shirou an answer: as long as he and Archer existed simultaneously, his magic circuits and his magic would grow closer to Archer's through resonance.
Witnessing battles firsthand made it even more pronounced.
The fight with Berserker, the battle at Ryuudou Temple… and the battle with himself.
Because of the Command Spell, Archer had not killed him earlier. Even after their contract ended, he still had plenty of chances but he never struck.
What Archer wanted was to crush the ideal of becoming a "hero of justice" from within. Even knowing that doing so would not erase him as a Heroic Spirit.
Still, it was worth trying—right?
Through repeated battles, the Shirou in those memories finally grasped the one thing Archer possessed: Unlimited Blade Works.
Projecting his inner world onto reality.
Only then did Shirou truly understand what his projection magecraft was.
It was not simply projection, it was having swords within Unlimited Blade Works, then expending mana to retrieve them through tracing when needed.
That was all he had.
With Rin's mana support, he deployed Unlimited Blade Works and defeated Gilgamesh before the king could properly react.
If Gilgamesh had fought with the same seriousness as in the previous memory, victory here would have been far more difficult.
At the end of those memories, he went to London with Rin to study.
In this version, he no longer clung to the ideal of becoming a hero of justice the same way.
Partly because of Rin but also because he felt guilty. If he became a hero of justice, he would merely be imitating Archer's path. No matter how well he played the role, there would always be sacrifices. In the end, it was just self-satisfaction.
Seeing the version of himself in those memories smile genuinely at Rin, Shirou understood that this version of him had already found what he wanted to do.
His consciousness withdrew and was immediately replaced by intense pain.
"Guh—!"
The sudden agony forced a pained groan from Shirou.