Babylonia Episode 0

Romani: This is your story, and the story of another.

Romani: The story of a journey.

Chaldea Engineer 1: It's a success! We did it!

Chaldea Engineer 2: D-Director!

Chaldea Engineer 2: Director, it's not safe here! Please evacuate!

Chaldea Engineer 3: Our second defensive barrier has been breached!

Chaldea Engineer 4: What is the director doing in there?!

Romani: I've got to hurry.

Romani: Yes. I did have to hurry.

Romani: I didn't have even a second to spare.

Romani: That's a nice fragrance.

Romani: Darjeeling, as usual?

Marisbury: As long as it's drinkable, it could be water for all I care.

Marisbury: I'm glad to see you in good health, Archaman.

Marisbury: Though I hear you won't be continuing as a magus.

Romani: I'm doing the best I can with the knowledge and skills I have now.

Marisbury: An excess of modesty is itself closer to bragging.

Marisbury: But I did feel that might be the case.

Marisbury: So, where are you now?

Romani: Well, I never did find a place that felt right.

Romani: Actually, I have a favor to ask you.

Romani: If you're willing, I'd like you to take me on here.

Romani: What do you say?

Romani: All right.

Romani: It all starts here, Romani Archaman.

Romani: Existences recorded within the collective knowledge of humankind, known as Heroic Spirits, can be given physical form using mana and commanded as "Servants."

Romani: Furthermore, a Heroic Spirit unable to materialize by itself could be made to possess the body of a human being, thereby becoming what was called a "Pseudo-Servant"— but our experiment's goal was something else altogether.

Romani: A fusion of Heroic Spirit and human— a living weapon with a conscious will.

Romani: The Demi-Servant Project.

Romani: That's what you've been working on for over a decade.

Marisbury: That's right.

Marisbury: I've raised a number of test subjects for that purpose.

Marisbury: Of all the subjects, she was the most ideal.

Romani: But the Heroic Spirit that fused with her refused to cooperate with us and went silent, leaving her without a Servant's powers— only the immense physical strain.

Marisbury: Not quite.

Marisbury: We did succeed in activating the Relic.

Marisbury: Using it as a catalyst will allow us to perform more stable experiments with the Heroic Spirit System.

Marisbury: Servants are an invaluable factor in the preservation of human history.

Marisbury: A successful Rayshift is only half the battle— we also need to prepare a stockpile of weapons.

Marisbury: But now work can begin on a more stable summoning system, all thanks to her noble sacrifice.

Romani: But she's a Designer Baby.

Romani: Her rate of cellular decay was already high, and the experiment may have accelerated it even further.

Marisbury: On the other hand, her fusion with a Heroic Spirit will allow her physical body to remain at its peak.

Marisbury: She won't age, even as her cells degrade.

Marisbury: She's lucky, don't you think?

Marisbury: She doesn't need to fight.

All she has to do is continue to live.

Marisbury: She'll accompany Team A as a catalyst for summoning.

Marisbury: I don't expect anything more from her, and I'd rather you didn't either.

Romani: Let me be her personal physician.

Romani: Is that all right with you?

Marisbury: That depends. Are you asking out of pity?

Romani: No. I ask purely that you allow me to maintain her health as a doctor.

Romani: Her condition is very precarious.

Romani: I don't think anyone else can ensure that she'll live two more years.

Marisbury: Very well.

Mash: Senpai?

Romani: Oh, no. I was only appointed to Chaldea five years ago, so if anything, you'd be my senpai.

Romani: Nice to meet you. My name is Romani Archaman.

Romani: I'll be your doctor from now on.

Romani: You can call me Roman.

Romani: Hm...

Romani: Dr. Roman.

Romani: Has a nice ring to it, right?

Mash: Roman.

Mash: A word that means "an optimistic observation of the future as holding countless possibilities."

Mash: Is that right?

Romani: Wow, you know a lot for a ten-year-old.

Romani: You really are my senpai.

Mash: The senpai-kouhai relationship is one of teaching and learning, but I haven't taught you anything, Doctor.

Mash: All of my knowledge was input by Sheba, so Sheba would be the senpai in this case.

Romani: Well, if you look at it that way, then I suppose so.

Mash: Yes. That fits my definition of what a senpai is.

Romani: I see.

Romani: I'd interpret it a little differently.

Romani: The way I see it, if there's anyone who would truly be your senpai, it would be someone who's an ordinary human.

Mash: Someone who's an ordinary human?

Romani: A person who can live among other people and share the joy, sorrow, and anger that they feel.

Romani: Someone like that.

Mash: So a senpai when it comes to socialization and living life?

Romani: I suppose so.

Romani: And also someone who can focus on the long term, I guess?

Mash: Focus on the long term?

Romani: Yes.

Romani: Someone who cares about their home and neighbors, whose heart is full of compassion for others.

Romani: Someone who sees people in need and acts to help them, no matter the reason.

Romani: In my opinion, this is the greatest virtue humans possess.

Mash: In other words, someone who is not egotistic but altruistic.

Mash: Would that not be a weakness?

Mash: To an animal, it would be a disadvantage.

Romani: I suppose that's true. Human beings are capable of thinking before they act, and they have to be able to make difficult decisions.

Romani: But that also makes them the only organisms to knowingly do things they know won't benefit them.

Romani: I find that fascinating.

Mash: I see. I will add these to the list of qualifications for my future senpai.

Mash: Are you not my senpai?

Romani: Nope. I'm still far too inexperienced to qualify.

Romani: Now, as your doctor, there's something I'd better talk to you about.

Romani: It's about your lifespan.

Romani: You were a Designer Baby.

That means your cells decay very fast.

Romani: Even if we're very careful about maintaining your health, your lifespan will be eighteen years at most.

Romani: First of all, do you understand that?

Mash: Yes.

Mash: All lifeforms can only operate for a limited duration.

Mash: I have no misconceptions concerning the length of my own operational period.

Romani: I see.

Romani: This is going to be even more difficult than I thought.

Mash: Are you referring to maintaining my health?

Romani: Ah, yes. There's that, of course.

Romani: But that's up to me.

Romani: As long as I'm around,

I'll keep you alive and healthy.

Romani: The problem is...

Romani: No, never mind that.

Romani: In any case, let's do our best together, Mash.

Da Vinci: This is utter folly.

Romani: Now, now. Settle down,

Romani: Successfully Summoned Heroic Spirit Number 3.

Romani: Or rather, Leonardo Da Vinci.

Da Vinci: I'm perfectly settled. But I'm also getting awfully fed up with all this.

Da Vinci: Safeguarding all human history?

With the paltry equipment they've given us?

Da Vinci: Not to mention those Demi-Servant experiments, which are not only inefficient but also inhumane.

Da Vinci: There's not the slightest bit of beauty in it.

Da Vinci: If I'd only been summoned sooner,

Da Vinci: I'd never have allowed those mediocre fools to make such a mess of everything.

Romani: You have every reason to be upset.

Romani: This is all wrong.

Romani: I want to be truthful with her and acknowledge that what we're doing isn't right.

Da Vinci: And you're a fool of an entirely different sort.

Da Vinci: Hey, Romani, don't you think this is too cruel?

Romani: Do you know of any magic that can reveal the sky,

Romani: Professor Lev?

Lev: That's an unexpected question.

Lev: Well, all right.

Lev: It does exist, but it's rather pointless.

Lev: Does that answer your question?

Lev: Rather than try to make the skies above Chaldea blue, it would be far more economical to take a trip to Antarctica.

Lev: You'd have much clearer skies out there, too.

Romani: I see.

Romani: I guess you're right.

Lev: But why do you ask?

Lev: Does the good doctor feel a touch homesick?

Romani: Not at all.

Romani: It's just...

Lev: So it's about Mash?

Romani: Yes.

Lev: I see. Very interesting.

Lev: I was invited to join Chaldea for my ability as a magus, in order to construct the Near-Future Observation Lens, Sheba.

Lev: In that capacity, I also served as Mash's teacher.

Lev: Though it was only in regard to magecraft,

I've known her even longer than you now.

Lev: She was raised to be as pure and reticent as possible, in body and spirit, so that she could one day become the vessel for any Heroic Spirit necessary.

Romani: Mash is indeed very mentally stable.

Romani: The theory of her upbringing was sound.

No doubt ever enters her mind.

Romani: But the physical wounds she bears are extremely painful.

Romani: Every test she's subjected to hurts her.

Romani: And that pain can become fear, ultimately turning to hate.

Romani: No heart can endure torture forever and stay pure.

Romani: And yet, she...

Lev: As of now, she has remained pure.

Lev: That girl never compares herself to other people, Romani.

Lev: Thus she never feels envy or hatred toward others.

Lev: To her, every human is her senpai in terms of their lived experiences.

Lev: She looks up to everyone and accepts them for what they are.

Lev: No matter how much pain or injustice she endures,

Lev: Mash sees only the good in people.

Lev: She said there's nothing she loves more than seeing people smile— that it's all it takes to make her happy.

Lev: Come to think of it, I suppose that's true of us too.

Lev: It's a natural reaction, isn't it, Romani?

Lev: But aren't you curious?

Lev: After all, no one can tell what kind of person she'll grow up to be.

Lev: "Pure" is a pretty word indeed, but "naïve" is an equally accurate one.

Lev: Once she's exposed to the ugliness of humankind and the corruption that permeates its history, will she still believe that people are good?

Lev: That's the one thing that still worries me.

Solomon: What do you wish for?

Solomon: The Holy Grail War is over.

Solomon: We've won.

Solomon: ...What will you wish for?

Marisbury: The completion of Chaldeas.

Marisbury: I care nothing for the Third Magic.

Marisbury: For an astromancer of the Animusphere line such as I, it would be unthinkable not to reach the Root via my own unique approach.

Marisbury: What about you, then?

Marisbury: What do you desire?

Marisbury: Oh, it's you.

Marisbury: You're five minutes late.

Marisbury: That's not like you—

Marisbury: You want me to put a stop to Chaldeas, eh?

Marisbury: That's an awfully difficult request.

Marisbury: The preservation of humanity, or my own life— which is more important to me?

Marisbury: What a silly question.

Olga: What's happening to the flame of Chaldeas?!

Romani: All too soon, the day arrived.

Romani: Human history would cease to exist beyond 2016.

Romani: The phenomenon couldn't be explained.

Romani: Chaldeas frantically combed 2,000 years of information about the past to find the reason for the future's disappearance.

Romani: What they discovered was Time-Space Singularity F.

Romani: In the year 2004, at the site of a certain city in Japan, an unknown quantity that had never existed in history prior to 2015 was discovered: an area that was impervious to observation.

Romani: Chaldea determined that this was the cause of humanity's future extinction, and submitted their experimental Rayshift proposal to the UN, which approved it.

Romani: The Rayshift process converts humans into spiritrons, which are then sent into the past to intervene in events there.

Romani: In other words, it's a form of retrograde time travel.

Romani: And Mash was chosen to be part of Team A, which would carry out the First Mission.

Romani: The Director really doesn't like me, huh.

Romani: She says my nonchalance is contagious.

Romani: Well, there's nothing I can do about that.

Romani: It might not look like it, but I'm charging ahead at top speed.

Fujimaru: Excuse me.

Romani: It's occupied—

Romani: Huh? Who the heck are you?!

Mash: Back then, I never questioned anything.

Mash: Not the pain I had to endure, nor the limited lifespan I possessed, nor my own existence.

Mash: None of the other doctors ever came into my room before.

Romani: Oh, is that right?

Romani: Chaldea's quite an advanced place if people here can convey their feelings even through glass.

Romani: I'm still so inexperienced.

Romani: I don't know how to talk to people unless we're face-to-face.

Romani: So tell me anything you want about what you think or how you feel. Don't hold back.

Romani: It makes a huge difference in the volume of information we'll be able to get, and besides, it's a lot more pleasant this way.

Romani: Successfully Summoned Heroic Spirit Number 2...

Romani: No, from now on, I'll call you by name.

Romani: Hello. It's nice to meet you, Mash Kyrielight.

Mash: H-Hello. It's nice to meet you too, Dr. Romani.

Mash: If this reaction could be called "human," then it was the first true "human" reaction I showed to anything.

Romani: Good morning, Mash! How are you feeling?

Mash: From then on, the doctor spent a great amount of time talking with me.

Mash: Every experience was new to me.

Mash: Everything I thought and felt, things I liked, things I considered important, things that were warm and pleasant.

Mash: Sometimes the Doctor told me funny stories about the facility, and sometimes I listened to him complain, but little by little, I started to develop an interest in the world outside my room.

Romani: Good morning, Mash!

I've got some good news for you today.

Romani: Your vital signs have been excellent lately.

Romani: Your brainwaves are also very stable.

Romani: If this keeps up, you won't have to stay in the clean room anymore, and you'll finally be a full-fledged member of the Chaldea research staff.

Mash: Thank you.

Romani: Oh, I know! When that happens,

I'll do something to celebrate!

Romani: Is there something you want?

Romani: A book, for example, or a toy, or a snack?

Romani: Isn't there anything?

Romani: If it's within my power, I'll make it happen.

Mash: I think I'd like to go outside.

Mash: I'd like to go outside and see a clear sky.

Mash: That was the only thing I wanted.

Romani: Unfortunately, Chaldea is located on a snowy mountain 6,000 meters above sea level.

Romani: The only thing visible outside is a blizzard.

Romani: But those rare nights when the sky is clear,

Romani: I hear you might get a glimpse of a beautiful starry sky.

Romani: I believe the day will come when you can see that sky for yourself.

Mash: Fou-san.

Mash: That was what I'd called the mysterious creature that had grown attached to me as of late.

Mash: Have you ever seen the stars, Fou-san?

Mash: Looks like the sky won't be clear today either.

Mash: Fou-san?

Mash: Wait!

Mash: Please wait for me!

--Song starts playing--

Whenever I’m alone, I start to hear it speak / hitori ni naru to kikoeru no

--Song--

“If it hurts so much, why not give up?”, it says to me / kurushii nara yamete ii to

Mash: The sky was the first thing I'd ever wished for.

--Song--

It draws me in as crushingly as a black hole black hole / mitai ni fukaku

Goetia: Our King pitied humankind and declared that he would save them from the inevitability of death.

--Song--

The terrifying yet bewitchingly sweet voice that speaks those words / kowakute miryokuteki na amai koe ga

Goetia: I cannot comprehend it.

Goetia: Can you, Mash?

--Song--

It tries to mimic your voice and the way you speak to me / anata no kuchiguse wo manete

Goetia: Does humanity truly hold such value?

--Song--

So I pretend that nothing is wrong / nandemo nai to itte miru

Narration (Kinda sounds like Merlin)): What you love, what you hate,

--Song--

But even if that wasn’t true, I wouldn’t care at all / sore ga uso demo kamawanai

Narration: what you hold dear, and what you consider evil...

--Song--

If it gave me the strength to get back on my feet again / tachitsuzukeru douki ni nareba

Narration: It's all up to you to decide.

Narration: By coming to know many things and seeing many places,

--Song--

Every lifespan draws to an end eventually / subete no inochi ni owari ga aru no ni you begin to endow your life with meaning.

Narration: Listen well.

--Song--

So why do humans fear and lament it the way they do? / doushite hito wa obie nageku no darou

Narration: The world is not what you make of it.

Narration: You are what the world makes of you.

--Song--

Knowing that eventually everything will be lost / itsuka wa ushinai to shitteru kara

Nero: An eternal empire will always be.

Nero: Even if the emperor changes, the country changes, or its very name becomes another.

--Song--

Makes the ordinary days we’re living shine brighter than anything / atarimae no hibi wa nani yori utsukushii

Nero: That is the way of mankind's prosperity.

Nero: That is the tree of life that is mankind.

--Song--

There is only one future that I’m looking for / watashi ga miteru mirai wa hitotsu dake

Drake: The most evil blackguard can do good deeds, and the holiest saint can do evil.

--Song--

I’ve never, not even a little, longed to have eternity / eien nado sukoshi mo hoshiku wa nai

Drake: That's what it is to be human.

Drake: And that's what we are!

Drake: That's why everyone has hope in their heart!

--Song--

Every moment, every second, is so dear to me / ichibyou isshun ga itooshii

Solomon-Goetia: Why do you fight?

--Song--

Because I’m alive right here in this world with you / anata ga iru sekai ni watashi mo ikiteru

Solomon-Goetia: Your life is destined to end.

Solomon-Goetia: With such a finite span of time allowed to you, why do you yet cling to life,

--Song--

Red, blue, indigo / aka ao ai

Solomon-Goetia: even knowing there is no hope in your kind's future?

--Song--

Water, rainbow, / sky mizu niji sora

Nightingale: Miss Mash.

--Song--

Their colors / iro

Nightingale: Dreams and wishes are radically different things.

Nightingale: Fixing your glare on reality, figuring it out, and fighting on until the end is the way to open the path to what you wish for.

Nightingale: From now on, live your life for your own sake.

--Song--

I can never be a goddess / watashi wa megami ni narenai

--Song--

Nor will I offer prayers to any deity / dareka ni inori mo sasagenai

Sanzang: There's no logic behind my actions.

Sanzang: I just do what I want to do.

Sanzang: No—I do what I believe I have to do, and I do it with my head held high.

--Song--

I don’t care what anyone else may say / tannin ni nani iwaretemo ii

--Song--

I know exactly what it is that I hold most dear / taisetsu na mono ga nanika wa wakatteru

Sanzang: You're the same way.

Sanzang: I know you are.

Mash: The sky was the first thing I'd ever wished for.

--Song--

I wish for nothing more than this / kore ijou nozomu koto wa nannimo nai

Mash: But that was no more than a dream formed waiting at a window in a snowstorm.

--Song--

The future I desire is the one that exists right here / watashi ga hoshii mirai wa koko ni aru

Mash: Now everything is different.

Mash: I've seen so many places, met all sorts of people,

--Song--

The person who first taught me what loneliness is / hajimete sabishisa wo kureta hito and came to know both the world's vastness and its warmth.

--Song--

Who gave a meaning to my solitary existence / tada no kodoku ni kachi wo ataete kureta no

Mash: Oh, that's right.

--Song--

There is only one future that I’m looking for / watashi ga miteru mirai wa hitotsu dake

Mash: I can feel it.

Mash: I've gained my own form.

--Song--

I’ve never, not even a little, longed to have eternity / eien nado sukoshi mo hoshiku wa nai

Mash: My true wish, and my own identity, found over the course of this journey.

--Song--

Every moment, every second, is so dear to me / ichibyou isshun ga itooshii

Mash: The journey on which I was born and came to life.

Mash: And now it's my turn to give the world an answer.

--Song--

Because I’m alive right here in this world with you / anata ga iru sekai ni watashi mo ikiteru

Mash: Would you please hold my hand?

Mash: Thank you... so much...

Mash: Senpai.

Mash: Today we will conduct the Rayshift to the Seventh Singularity.

Mash: Once again...

Mash: I am setting out on a journey.