The Mechanical Soul (Alter Memory)

The Mechanical Soul (機械仕掛けの魂) is the eighth episode of BlazBlue: Alter Memory. It originally aired on November 16, 2013.

Short
Hazama throws an obstacle in Ragna's way to buy himself some time. This encounter leads Ragna to have an entirely different sort of experience with Lambda.

Long
In the sewers of the 13th Hierarchical City of Kagutsuchi, Hazama searches for Arakune, finding him and defeating him with his Nox Nyctores - the Geminus Anguium: Ouroboros. Nine the Phantom teleports them both to the surface of Kagutsuchi under Hazama's order. Inside her lab, Kokonoe looks at the readings of Lambda-11, accidentally spilling coffee over herself. Carelessly, she throws her jacket onto Lambda's tube, teleporting her to Kagutsuchi. As Lambda looks around, she recognizes that she is in the Hanging Gardens and detects the presence of Arakune, who grabs her by the throat and begins to consume her while she is defenseless. Ragna grabs her and pulls her out of the monster before defeating him with Aramasa. The monster then slinks back into sewers.

Ragna recognises Lambda soon after rescuing her. Rachel Alucard watches over the situation while Kokonoe only just realises that Lambda had teleported away. She attempts to hack into Kagutsuchi's surveillance system, but is unable to because of the Sealed Weapon Izayoi. Ragna walks away from Lambda, and she sinks to her knees, having found a tartar that had dropped from Arakune. Kokonoe attempts to hack into the Novus Orbis Librarium to find Lambda's location, but the mainframe shuts down. Meanwhile, Lambda cares for the tartar, and Ragna shows his softer side to her, and the two introduce themselves to one another.

Noel Vermillion and Makoto Nanaya talk about Tsubaki Yayoi. Makoto reveals to Noel that there exists no official documents on Hazama - nothing on his age, birthplace, etc. She also tells Noel about Kokonoe being ready to take them both to safety. Lambda continues to watch over the tartar, noting that it's dying because it's no longer with Arakune. Both Lambda and Ragna search for aqualeaf, a plant that can help cure wounds. Kokonoe has contacted Tager, asking him to bring her back. Lambda asks Ragna why he saved the tartar, and he tells her that he owes his life to Rachel and Jubei, both of them having saved him once. The two bond of blowing leaves, and Lambda reveals her name to him. Eventually the tartar dies, the aqualeaf being unable to save him. Tager has located Lambda, interrupting the two's tender moment, and retrieves her. Kokonoe thanks Ragna for looking after her, and tells him that Yuuki Terumi is planning on smelting Noel. Ragna walks away, vowing to protect Noel. Hazama and Phantom awake Izanami.

Characters

 * Hazama
 * Arakune
 * Nine the Phantom
 * Ragna the Bloodedge
 * Kokonoe
 * Lambda-11
 * Rachel Alucard
 * Valkenhayn R. Hellsing
 * Noel Vermillion
 * Makoto Nanaya
 * Iron Tager
 * Izanami (first appearance)

Locations

 * 13th Hierarchical City of Kagutsuchi
 * Hanging Gardens
 * Sector Seven
 * Kokonoe's lab
 * Alucard Castle

Weapons

 * Nox Nyctores
 * Geminus: Anguium: Ouroboros
 * Aramasa
 * Grimoire
 * Azure Grimoire

Battles

 * Hazama vs Arakune (Hazama victory)
 * Ragna the Bloodedge vs Arakune (Ragna victory)

Trivia

 * Ragna jokes to Lambda that she "Won't get lunch out of (him)", referencing earlier episodes where he paid for the lunches of Taokaka and Platinum the Trinity.