Chrono (Chrono Crusade)

nihongo|Chrono (or Chrno)|クロノ|Kurono is a fictional character manga and anime series and one of its main protagonists. He was once a high ranked devil in the demon society, Pandemonium, but due to losing the source of his energy after an unfortunate event, he changed into what appears to be a mere boy to store power in order to remain alive, and to not hurt his contractor, Rosette Christopher.

History

Chrono was a devil; considered an outcast by his peers, but respected and feared because of his rank and power within the society and earning the title "The Killer of a Hundred-million Devils". His ideals were to live in freedom and peace. Chrono came in contact with Aion and, sympathizing with Aion’s wish to obtain absolute freedom, joined Aion's cause. On the day of their assault in pandemonium, DeFaux offers him a chance of atonement, but found that Chrono's revolutionary attitude had rendered this option impossible. Declaring the Devils to be a lost cause, DeFaux ordered the death of the Sinners. In a blind rage, Chrono attacked the oncoming demons, and had slain one hundred million before the Sinners escaped, hence his nickname.

The manga portrays this battle somewhat differently. Though Aion and his faction had managed to steal Pandemonium's head, they attempted to flee to Eden. The Pursuers gave chase and slaughtered most of the Sinners, causing them to lose Pandemonium's head. After seeing so many of his comrades die, Chrono fought the 100 Viscount level demons and defeated all of them. With the most powerful demons defeated, Aion and the others were able to finish off the rest of the opposition and escape.

Mary Magdalene

After the attack on Pandemonium and deciding to stay for safety reasons, Aion ordered Chrono to kidnap the human Mary Magdalene. Mary, much to his surprise, already knew of his intent and did not resist. As the two were about to leave, The Order arrived to attempt to stop their escape, but was unsuccessful.

Due to her kind nature, Magdalene was in good graces with the Sinners. They became fond of her, especially Chrono, eventually developing a deep relationship that caused Chrono to lose sight of the cause he had been fighting for. At this time, Shader was beginning work on the pocket watch that would later gain great importance. When Aion realized that Mary's purpose had been spent, he ordered Chrono to kill her, but Chrono refused, enraging his superior. They fought in an intense battle that lost Chrono his horns. As the Sinners left him to die, Mary attempted to save him, though Chrono declared it to be futile since he was sure to die without his horns. Making use of the finished pocket watch, Mary agreed to a contract with Chrono in order to save him. In exchange for her life, Chrono would live. However, injured and dying he didn't understand the weight of this decision and thought that by agreeing she'd stop being sad. Mary died soon after and Chrono stayed in Mary’s tomb to watch over her in solidarity.

The manga version of this event progresses differently: The Sinners were attacked by Pandemonium's head and heavily injured; Mary assisted in trying to subdue it before Aion and Chrono were able to kill the dead. However, Aion discovered Mary was possessed by Pandemonium, and he ordered Chrono to behead her before she became fully corrupt. Chrono refused, and fought Aion; his horns were ripped off during the fight. After the event, both Chrono and Mary fell off Eden, barely surviving thanks to her powers. They started travelling through the country until one day, Shader appeared and sadly offered Chrono the pocketwatch. Realising this meant that the other Sinners were nearby, Chrono rushed to Mary's side, but Aion appeared and killed her. Father Remington arrived at the scene in time to see Chrono in his weakened form, crying, with Mary's body on the top of a hill.

After banishment

Fifty years passed and Chrono is reawakened (in his 12-year-old form) by Rosette and Joshua. Despite having introduced himself as a demon, they quickly become friends. Days or weeks later, Rossette tells him about Joshua's leaving. At that time, Aion in a form of an eagle appears, and tells them about what he has done to Joshua. They then head to Seventh Bell. Upon arriving, the pair meet Joshua, who was covered with blood and attached by Chrono's horns. He told Rossette to stay away and left the orphanage.

Later, Rosette wanted to do something to get back the things she had lost. After a conversation about Chrono's energy problem, Rosette agreed to a contract with him. Chrono feared that Rosette would feel the same pain that Mary did and did not want Rosette to go through the same thing. Nevertheless, he agreed to it, when he saw Rosette's determination.

Chrono and Rosette found themselves at the Order of Mary Magdalene and at first, people treated Chrono differently because of him being a devil. However that soon changed as they became popular within the ranks. Often, Chrono is referred by Rosette to be her 'assistant'. Chrono is always carrying a toolbox that is outfitted with guns, a telephone and all sorts of gadgets. He is barred from certain places, such as the church or Sister Kate’s office because he is a demon. He sleeps inside the Elder’s lab which is separate from the main building.

Because of him being a hornless devil, Satella identified him as being an enemy the first time they met. Despite this, Chrono only sees her as a friend and keeps a calm and collected manner with her. As the story progresses, Chrono is more comfortable with Satella and vice versa. Soon Chrono is the only devil that Satella feels comfortable with (In the manga, another reason Satella finds herself comfortable with Chrono, much to Rosette's and Chrono's chagrin, is the fact that she has a preference for younger boys.).

Anime version

While under a spell, Chrono reminisces about his past with Mary and how the contract came to be. As he recalls his past, he felt someone behind him to hug him back from going to Aion. He had thought the 'warmth' that it was Mary at first, but when he woke up, it was, in fact, Rosette. Then later when the pursuers came to attack him, one of them had starting taunting him by saying how he won't have anywhere else to go, which had angered Rosette since she shot it and said that Chrono's home was found 4 years ago already.

Later in the series, Rosette Christopher's, however her inert powers had awakened her to become the 'Saint'. After a futile attempt to talk to the mesmerized Rosette, he steps up to Aion and attacks him. Rosette prepares to shoot Chrono, but her self awareness returns due to her last stigmata before she is able to do so. As Chrono embraces her he is attacked by Aion. After a very brief battle in which Chrono is the victor butsustains serious injuries, he disappears along with Rosette.

Seventh Bell, the orphanage where Rosette and Joshua grew up, was returned to its original state by Aion's horns (which had the power to move time forward) and brought Aion's horns to Mary's tomb. Rosette and Chrono spend their last moments together as they watch the sunset. They embraced one another, before they died peacefully.

They are later found and buried together by Azmaria and the Order.

Manga version

After Rosette found Joshua in San Francisco, she also ran into Aion and several other Sinners. Unable to bring herself to fight her own brother, Rosette's hesitation allowed Joshua to shoot and badly wound Chrono. Aion continued to prod the pair, enraging Chrono to the point where he lost control of himself. Breaking the seal, Chrono healed his wounds and transformed into his demonic form to engage Aion. However, this brought Rosette to her knees and paralyzed her as her soul was being drained away. The resulting battle nearly destroyed much of San Francisco and knocked out Rosette. The Order attempted to ambush the Sinners but were roundly defeated, losing Azmaria as well. When he finally come to his senses, he decides to seal his own consciousness, to preventing Rosette from dying.

While diving in Chrono's soul, Rosette learns of his past and of his relationship with Mary Magdalene. She also convinces Chrono to accept all his memories, and to share the joy and pain together with her, instead just locking himself in his own sadness for other's sake.

After their reunion, Father Juan Remington, once the bodyguard of Magdalene, under order of Magdalene council, is tasked to execute Chrono, and challenge him "to settle their dispute". Distraught by disbelief and anger, Chrono attacked him in rage, only to having himself get defeated soundly. Only after Rosette made her mind and attacked Father Remington, Chrono became much calmer, realizing that Remington is teaching him "not to lose in anger, and to control inner violent emotions as a demon". WIth this, he finally defeated Remington. Later, he let Chrono and Rosette walk away, while falsely reporting that Chrono is already executed and Rosette is "officially disbanded" by the order.

Thanks to Satella's help, Chrono and Rosette make their way to Eden, the home base of the Sinners. There, they face not only the Sinners but also the Pursuers of Pandemonium led by DeFaux. During the fight, they reunited with Satella. The trio finally enter Pandemonium, the source of all demons and their home. Inside they find a veritable paradise quite unlike the "Hell" that Rosette imagined. There, Satella leaves them to confront her sister while Chrono and Rosette continue on. They engage the masses of demons, now all completely out of control due to Aion's actions. The pair are ambushed and Chrono pushes Rosette through a door before being impaled. Eventually, she caught up with Joshua, and manages to release the horns from Joshua's head.

The pair go off in search of Chrono but when they reach him, Rosette falls. Her time is seemingly up and she collapses in Chrono's arms, trying to put his horns back on for him. With this, Chrono, although saddened by Rosette's death, resolved to fight Aion, finish it once and for all, so that no more souls like Rosette will die in vain. In here, it is revealed that by controlling his emotion and focus, he manages to hold off legion's poisoning effects on his body.

However, it is revealed by Azmaria that her soul is in a state of flux due to the pocketwatch; and Pandemonium soul, if the core destroyed, will looking for Rosette's body as the most suitable container. The fighting turned into a game of tag; first, to stop Aion from reaching Pandemonium's core, and later, while Aion manages to decapitate Pandemonium, the game turned into race between Aion who wants to ends Pandemonium together with Rosette, Chrono who desperately trying to hold off Aion, Pandemonium soul who looking the way to possessing Rosette, and Apostles who tried to returns Rosette's souls.

During the fierce battle, it seems that Rosette's souls is going to go into an afterlife in a train. However, she realized that her life is not completely fulfilled yet; although her initial objective (to reunite with her brother) had been already accomplished, she realized that she had developed feelings for Chrono, and cannot bear to be separated with him. Realizing this, she decided to returned once again, (although the time will be short) with the help of Magdalene soul, that had been looking for them for long time from inside the pocket watch.

Before Pandemonium can possess her body, Rosette's soul is returned in time, while Chrono undo the watch seals. However, when the two decide to stop Pandemominium from breaking up in atmosphere and finish off Aion, Chrono tells Rosette to take his hand - and uses his time-freeze power on her. He tells her to go back to the others, stating that in spirit they would never be apart, and that he would definitely return to her. They kiss, and Rosette accepts his promise. Though they had won the battle and stop Pandemonium, Chrono stayed behind to put an end to Aion. Sheda witnesses their final battle, although its exact outcome is uncertain.

After several years, Chrono returns to Rosette as she is dying, missing an arm and with bandages wrapped around his face (whether he was actually alive or he was waiting for her to join him in death is speculation). They embrace and Rosette dies a moment later. Chrono's time of death is never revealed in the manga. However, every year, flowers mysteriously appear at Rosette's undocumented grave, perhaps suggesting that Chrono is still alive.