Mechanical Soul

The Mechanical Soul (機械仕掛けの魂) is the eighth episode of BlazBlue: Alter Memory.

Short summary
Hazama uses Arakune, who he had subdued in a sewer, to buy some time. Kokonoe accidentally teleports Lambda -No. 11- to Kagutsuchi. Lambda is then assaulted by Arakune, where she is saved by Ragna the Bloodedge and Arakune escapes. Lambda meets a Tartar which Arakune had left behind. As Lambda is lost and alone, Ragna takes care of Lambda in the Hanging Gardens. Ragna and Lambda spend time together while taking care of the Tartar, only to have Iron Tager come to take Lambda back on Kokonoe's orders. Kokonoe reveals Lambda's origin and that she is going to use Lambda to defeat Terumi, and reveals that he is planning to smelt Noel Vermillion. Ragna leaves, contemplating his methods in fighting.

Long summary
Hazama walks through the sewers of Kagutsuchi, commenting that he would like more time. Arakune appears from one of the sewers gaps and attacks Hazama, recognizing his Azure; however, the attempt is futile as he gets easily pinned onto the ceiling by Hazama's Geminus Anguium: Ouroboros. Hazama decides to use Arakune to buy some time, where he asks Phantom to teleport all of them out of the sewers. Meanwhile, in Kokonoe's lab, while analyzing Lambda -No. 11-'s status, she accidentally spills coffee onto her clothes, where she unknowingly throws her stained clothing at Lambda's regenerating tank, activating the transfer system, which teleports Lambda out of the regenerating tank and makes her teleport to Kagutsuchi. Arakune meanwhile is teleported outside near the Hanging Gardens, where he senses the Azure and goes up the stairs.



The unarmed Lambda appears in Kagutsuchi, and is attacked by Arakune, where Ragna the Bloodedge, who was in the middle of going up the floors, appears to save her and slices Arakune, freeing Lambda and prompting Arakune to flee into the sewers again. Lambda stands up and makes her cloak appear from her suit, then looks at Ragna. Ragna takes caution after realizing the girl who he had just saved was the Murakumo Unit who had attacked him before.

While working, Kokonoe notices that Lambda has disappeared from her tank, making Kokonoe realize she had made a mistake by throwing her clothing stained with coffee. Kokonoe tries to hack into Kagutsuchi's camera systems and NOL's security systems only to have her attempts end in failure as the camera overloaded and the NOL's mainframe were shut down, where she resorts to asking Iron Tager to find Lambda.

Meanwhile, Makoto Nanaya was comforting Noel Vermillion who was sad about what had happened with Tsubaki Yayoi, where at first Makoto offers Noel that they should get protection from Kokonoe, and tells that Hazama is not trustworthy. Makoto decides that she will do something about the issue with Tsubaki, and tells Noel to not fall apart from her.

Meanwhile, Ragna asks Lambda where Iron Tager is and if she had appeared on Kokonoe's orders, but Lambda doesn't say anything. Ragna tries to leave but notices that Lambda is lying on her knees. When he runs to her to see if she was okay, he notices that she was looking at a squirming Tartar, which had come out of Arakune's body. Ragna asks Lambda for her name, where she tries to ask for authorization from Kokonoe, but no communication is made. Ragna finds out that Lambda can't really do anything without Kokonoe. Lambda then asks for Ragna's name, then after he answers her, Lambda grabs onto Ragna's arm, looking at him.



Ragna takes Lambda with him to the higher floor where the Hanging Gardens is. After coming up, he sees that Lambda is lying down on the floor, where he runs to see if there was something wrong with her, only to see that she was looking at the Tartar suffering from an injury. Ragna tries to look for something in the grass, where Lambda copies him, just pulling out grasses randomly. Ragna tells Lambda to not pick grasses so randomly, and tells her that he is looking for an aqualeaf to cure the Tartar. Lambda searches the area and finds some aqualeaf.

Ragna makes some fluid from the aqualeaf and tries to cure the Tartar from the injury. Lambda asks why Ragna was helping the Tartar, where he tells her that when someone is in trouble, it is okay to help each other. Lambda grabs onto Ragna's right arm, asking him if he had help in the past. Ragna tells her that he had received help in the past, which let him become who he is right now. Ragna's Azure Grimoire suddenly acts, making him suffer in pain for a bit. Lambda hands the leftover of aqualeaf to Ragna as she was worried about him, but he tells her they can't really help him.



Ragna's pain calms down, where he grabs one of the leafs to make a grasswhistle and play it. Lambda tries to make a grasswhistle on her own, only to end up in failure. Lambda walks around Ragna left and right, looking at his grasswhistle. Ragna makes a gentle smile and gives her the grasswhistle he made. Lambda tries to play the grasswhistle but it doesn't work as she is blowing too hard. Ragna tells her to play it more gently, but Lambda didn't know what being gentle means. Ragna tries to come up with an explanation, and tilts his head, which Lambda copies. Ragna tells Lambda she is a strange one, and then Lambda reveals her name to him.



A gentle breeze blows, where Ragna sits on the bench looking at the view. Lambda hugs Ragna's arm, saying that it is warm while gently smiling. Lambda notices that the Tartar has died, and asks Ragna what to do. Ragna tells Lambda she doesn't have to do anything, but Lambda disagrees, shaking her head. Ragna then tells her to remember the Tartar till she forgets. To put the memories about it within her soul. Lambda asks Ragna where the soul is, where he tells her it might be in the head, heart or it could be anywhere, but the soul is what makes one feel warm when one is happy, or cold when one is sad, and that it is what means to be gentle.

Tager finds Lambda and Ragna together, where Kokonoe calls out to Ragna through Tager's communication system. Tager uses his magnetic system to make Lambda float over to him. Ragna asks Kokonoe what Lambda is, where Kokonoe tells him that Lambda is the 11th Boundary Interface Prime Field Device that had the 13th Prime Field Device's salvaged soul inserted. Kokonoe tells Ragna that she plans to use Lambda to defeat Terumi, where Ragna tells her that he will be the one to defeat him, but Kokonoe disagrees, saying that his Azure Grimoire cannot defeat Terumi. Lambda is teleported back to Kokonoe's lab and Tager disappears. Ragna thinks about Saya, Nu, Lambda and Noel, that it may be okay to let something alive live on, and comments to himself he is being a hypocrite as he had been destroying everything in the past, but thinks that there is another way he can fight to protect.

Hazama and Phantom walk up to an opened coffin bed, where he tells the girl lying on the bed that it is time to wake up, where she opens her eyes.

Locations

 * 13th Hierarchical City of Kagutsuchi
 * Area 28
 * Hanging Gardens
 * Moonlight Castle
 * Cathedral

Weapons

 * Geminus Anguium: Ouroboros
 * Blood-Scythe
 * Mucro Algesco: Yukianesa
 * Mucro Somnio: Musashi
 * Sealed Armament: Izayoi

Fights

 * Hazama versus Arakune
 * Ragna the Bloodedge versus Arakune

Trivia

 * The fight between Ragna and Arakune takes place much later in the anime, than in the game. This also is the first time Lambda is seen in her non-battle mode. In the games, she always remained in her battle form prior to BlazBlue: Chronophantasma Extend. This is because the anime is based on the light novels, not on the games.
 * Arakune in the episode speaks in a more understandable manner compared to how he speaks in the games.
 * In an interview, Mori stated that this scene was supposed to be in the game, but it was cut from the final product for unknown reasons.
 * This is the first time Kokonoe's ears are fully shown, which is visible when she's lying upside down looking at Lambda's regenerating tank.