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.