Archanfel

Archanfel is the founder and ruler of the secret order of Cronos, making him the primary antagonist of the Guyver franchise. Despite his youthful appearance, he is actually the oldest living being on Earth, having lived for thousands upon thousands of years. He is the first of the Zoalords, created by the Ouranus themselves to be their general who would lead the entire human race into battle against the Creators' unknown adversary. But the Creators would suddenly leave Earth and abandon all of their creations, and even went so far as to try and destroy the planet by colliding a moon-sized asteroid with the planet. Archanfel used his own great power to destroy the asteroid and protect the Earth, but this feat would greatly weaken him, forcing him into a long state of hibernation. However, he would awaken centuries later and begin planning the domination of Earth, fulfilling his purpose as mankind's supreme ruler by leading them to the stars in order to find the Ouranus and take revenge.

Ancient Times
Archanfel was designed by the Ouranus to serve as the general for the armies of Zoanoids they had produced. Under Archanfel's guidance, all of the Zoanoids acted as one, as though they were all a single body with Archanfel serving as the brain. However, the Creators grew curious as to how their human creations might respond to bonding with one of their bio-booster armatures and so they experimented. To their horror, the bio-boosted human turned out to be too perfect a killing machine; not only was it able to destroy multiple enemies many times its own size, but it did so without responding to the psychic commands of the Ouranus. Unable to control this creature, the Ouranus ordered their Zoanoid legions to obliterate this "Guyver", as they called it. The Zoanoids failed, despite the elegant psychic coordination of Archanfel; the bio-boosted human appeared to perform a horrific dance of destruction and violence as it single-handedly wiped out wave after wave of Zoanoids. Archanfel was forced to contend with the creature himself and the Creators equipped him with a device that could forcibly remove the bio-booster symbiote. The device was not intended as a weapon, merely a tool to remove the bio-boosters when their Ouranus users did not need them, but it was the only thing left that might stop the Guyver. It worked; the symbiote was removed and the dumbfounded human fled in terror, only to be reduced to ashes by Archanfel's psychic command.

Following the Guyver debacle, the Creators realised that the weapons they had developed could pose a threat to them if they obtained bio-boosters, and so they decided to abandon the planet. Archanfel felt betrayed by his makers and begged them to let him go with them, but they ignored his pleas and their ships uprooted themselves from the planet's soil and took to the stars. As the Ouranus fleet vanished into warp, a planetoid the size of Earth's moon emerged from the warp field. The Creators had aimed the celestial rock directly at Earth with the intention of completely erasing their creations from existence. Outraged that his makers - his gods - had decided to cast him aside so callously, Archanfel mustered all of his power to destroy the incoming planetoid. He succeeded in vaporising most of the planetoid, but numerous fragments of debris were scattered across the Earth's surface, plunging the planet into another ice age. Exhausted by his tremendous feat, Archanfel descended to Earth where he sought shelter on an isolated island. He soon came to realise that his weakened state was not merely brought on by expending so much energy destroying the planetoid; the Creators had instilled in him a form of cellular "lethargy" that depleted his power and his life span. Archanfel was forced to withdraw into the ruin of a Ouranus bio-ship that had been shot down by the Guyver during its rampage. The ship's systems were still functional, and so Archanfel sealed himself away inside a large amniotic pod that restored his power and extended his life. While Archanfel slept, several Zoanoids and other creatures abandoned by the Ouranus gathered to his sanctuary, constructing a temple around it where they would worship him as their god and divine master.

The Foundation of Cronos
Over 400 years prior to the events of the Guyver series, Archanfel was roused from his slumber when a visitor happened upon his island sanctuary. This visitor was an elderly traveller who wished to explore the world before he died and happened upon the island of Silha after becoming lost at sea. The old man was brought to Archanfel's temple by the creatures that lived nearby and upon meeting the Zoalord came to recognise him as his master. Archanfel gleaned from the man's mind that the human race had expanded across the world since he first laid down to sleep, developing in culture and technology.

Archanfel realised that the human beings he had been made to rule over were almost ready to fulfill their intended purpose. Without delay, he appointed the elderly human as his subordinate and the two began planning the establishment of a new society, one that would strive to advance humanity to its perfect state. And so the secret society of Cronos was founded and its mission would be to recreate the Zoanoids, the soldiers of the Ouranus, and fill the planet with them.

In order to further his influence across the Earth, Archanfel assigned his first servant - Hamilcar Barcas - the task of finding other individuals who would join in council to carry out the optimization of humanity in his name. And so, Barcas travelled the world for countless years, blessing a select few humans with Archanfel's gifts: Zoa-Crystals formed within Archanfel's own body that granted immeasurable psychic power to those who bore them. While these chosen Zoalords would gain great power all their own, they were subject to Archanfel's will and ideals and served him faithfully. For the next few centuries, the Zoalords would establish new branches of Cronos all over the world, expanding its power and influence.

The Modern Era
By the late 20th century, Cronos had established branches in almost every nation on the planet. The management of the organisation was mostly left to Dr. Hamilcar Barcas and the other chosen members of the Zoalord Council while Archanfel remained in slumber, expected to remain there until the arrival of X-Day. However, Archanfel was forced to re-emerge early in order to deal with the growing threat of the Guyvers and also Richard Guyot, a member of his own council who was plotting to usurp control of Cronos and rule the Earth himself.

Archanfel decided that he had to take action, and so he came to Relic's Point in order to settle things with Guyot. When he arrived, he was seen by several Cronos troopers whom he killed with his psychic aura. He was also attacked by the renegade Lost Number Aptom, who had been over-optimized to the point that he was no longer receptive to Zoalord control. Archanfel effortlessly disposed of Aptom, obliterating most of his body before moving on to confront Guyot.

When Archanfel confronted Guyot within Relic's Point, it took all of Guyot's will to resist being enthralled by his presence. He transformed into his battleform and attacked, but his attacks had no effect against this seemingly god-like being before him. Guyot fled and Archanfel pursued, the two Zoalords causing tremendous damage to the base as they went. In desperation, Guyot unleashed his ultimate attack: he created a quasi-black hole within the base that slowly began to consume everything around it, expanding as it did so, and would eventually destroy the entire planet. Archanfel was pulled into the black hole and was apparently destroyed, but even such a force as this would not be enough to vanquish the vanguard of the Creators. After he had disappeared and Guyot and Dr. Barcas had closed the black hole, Relic's Point would soon be destroyed by a combination of the black hole, the fighting between Aptom and ZX-Tole, and the awakening of the Creator ship in the base's lower levels.

The Creator spacecraft, now under the control of Sho Fukamachi, had taken off with the Guyvers and their allies aboard it. Relic's Point was destroyed completely as the ship rose out of Mount Minikami and the Guyvers were forced into a final showdown with Guyot, who was now equipped with the Unit Remover, a Creator device for removing a Guyver from its host. The battle was interrupted by the return of Archanfel, who reappeared in his own angelic-looking battleform. Guyot was horrified that Archanfel had survived his black hole but he would not have long to contemplate on this as Archanfel telekinetically pulled the Zoa-Crystal out of Guyot's head, killing him.

Archanfel then directed his attention toward the Guyvers who had been causing no end of trouble for Cronos over the last several weeks. Sho and Agito realised the threat that Archanfel posed and they attempted to destroy him with their Mega-Smashers. Archanfel easily resisted the Mega-Smasher blast and turned it back on Sho, seemingly destroying him and the Creator ship. As his body disintegrated, Sho - who still maintained a psychic link to the ship - willed the vessel to send his friends away, saving their lives but at the apparent cost of his own.

After X-Day
Following the destruction of Relic's Point and the Guyvers' disappearance, Archanfel remained to oversee the final steps of Cronos' domination of the Earth. After Cronos had established itself as the world's sole government, Archanfel returned to hibernation and left matters of government to Dr. Barcas and the other Zoalords. However, Archanfel would occasionally make his presence known among the Council through Imakarum Mirabilis, the revived proto-Zoalord Masaki Murakami who had once aided the Guyvers. Murakami had been resurrected by Archanfel and had been given Richard Guyot's old Zoa-Crystal, and after being optimized had been turned into a brainwashed puppet. From then on, Mirabilis essentially functioned as an extension of Archanfel while the Cronos leader's own body remained in hibernation at Silha.

With the re-emergence of the Guyvers and their continued resistance against Cronos, Archanfel is likely to be drawn out again as the war between the Guyvers and the Zoanoids escalates.

Appearance
Although he is the oldest living being on Earth, Archanfel maintains a handsome, youthful appearance in his human form. Even in this form, however, he does not appear entirely human; his ears look elvish and pointed and his eyes have glowing golden irises with cat-like pupil slits.

In his Zoalord battleform, Archanfel's body appears almost chitinous and is adorned with wing-shaped spines on his head, shoulders, legs and forearms. In this form, he is perpetually surrounded by an aura of light, giving him an almost celestial presence.

Abilities
The full extent of Archanfel's power is unknown. He holds power over all the other Zoalords and normal Zoanoids who all become en-awed by his presence. In the few appearances he's made, Zoanoids are so overwhelmed by Archanfel's aura that it literally kills them, causing their bodies to contort violently. This appears to be an unconscious action on Archanfel's part.

In battle, Archanfel seems to be invincible. He is able to vanquish most opponents with a thought and no attack seems to harm him. Not even Richard Guyot's black hole could destroy him and he was even able to turn the Guyver's Mega-Smasher back against him.

Weaknesses
For all his god-like power, even Archanfel has a weakness. Since the Creators left Earth, he has suffered from some sort of affliction that has severely weakened his body, requiring him to remain in hibernation for great lengths of time. Even with all of Cronos' resources at his command, Archanfel has not been able to overcome this condition.