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.