Alpha Dragon

Alpha Dragon (アルファドラゴン Arufa Doragon) is a race associated with the Eternal Stride mechanic.

Background
The Alpha Dragons are weapons of mass creation born from the Dragon Deity of Creation, Messiah. After Messiah's mind was warped by its master and creator, the demiurge, into turning against Cray i and its fellow creator deities, the Messiah created the six Alpha Dragons. As Messiah is a far better creator than Gyze, the Alpha Dragons were created wholesale from nothing, unlike the Zeroth Dragons which were created from spirits absorbed by Gyze's Dragon Bones of Destruction. The Alpha Dragons are also far more physically and temporally stable than the spacetime-warping Zeroth Dragons, at the cost of wielding a lower amount of power. Messiah created the Alpha Dragons in the images of the clans of the original Cray, to oppose the different clan arrangement of Cray i.

The Alpha Dragons are capable of overwriting Cray i, transforming it into the original Cray and retroactively changing its history to be the original Cray's. The maddened Messiah's mind sees Cray i as a disgusting abomination that should never have existed, a mockery of the perfect beauty of Cray, and thus seeks to erase Cray i completely and replace it with a timeline completely under the control of the demiurge. The Alpha Dragons can terraform parts of Cray i into areas of the original Cray, edit Cray i's past and future into the original Cray's past and future, erase people and areas from Cray i from existence, and summon armies and individuals from the original Cray. Thus, the Alpha Dragons pose an existential threat to Cray i.

While Kairos's Faction and the Interstellaris faction led by Arcturus work to undo the changes in spacetime effected by the Alpha Dragons, the nations of Cray have mobilized against the armies summoned by the Alpha Dragons, uniting under the banner of the Nexus Guardians, the inter-clan alliance of warriors of Cray i. The demiurge, and thus the insane Messiah, see the Nexus Guardians as especially abhorrent, as they believe that clans should stay segregated and in perpetual conflict.

The demiurge knows that while it acts to war with Cray i, due to the system that it created, it can only truly triumph by sending cardfighters to defeat the cardfighters of Earth i, the alternate Earth corresponding to Cray i. Thus the maddened Messiah summoned several cardfighters from the original Earth, including the original Aichi Sendou, Toshiki Kai, Kouji Ibuki, Leon Soryu, and others, and gave them the cards of the six Alpha Dragons. (Chrono Shindou was not present, as he had already entered Earth i to fight against the revived Gyze.) Using their absolute trust in Messiah, the maddened Messiah convinced them to fight against the cardfighters of Cray i, telling them that they were planning to invade the original Cray.

However, this was a flawed plan, as it was likely that both sides would figure out the other side's true intentions quickly and ally to defeat the maddened Messiah. Messiah, in its delusional state, truly believed that telling them about the "threat" posed by Cray i would be enough to convince them to fight against them, not understanding that a regular person wouldn't see anything wrong with Cray i. Thus the demiurge reached out to the minds of Messiah's champions, and using the Alpha Dragons as channelers, the demiurge forcibly imprinted the desires and expectations of the people of the original Earth on Messiah's champions, allowing it to take control of their minds and preventing them from going against the demiurge's will. Messiah was kept ignorant of this, as it would not have approved of this due to it valuing people's free will.

Distortion Levels of the Alpha Dragons

Each Alpha Dragon's core has taken root in the mind of one of Messiah's champions from the canon Earth. The Alpha Dragons induce powerful negative effects on the minds of their host, usually molding them in accordance with the desires of others (especially the demiurge), regardless of what the host actually wants. The Alpha Dragons are capable of brainwashing others from the canon Earth, usually powerful fighters, through the same process, although their distortions are not as strong.


 * Sol (United Sanctuary): Infests the mind of, causing him to become obsessed with and emotionally dependent on Toshiki Kai and Ren Suzugamori. While controlled by Sol, Aichi is unable to make his own decisions or stand up for himself, leaving all choices to be made by Sol through the equally brainwashed Ren or Kai. In this state, the only remaining area of competence Aichi has is Vanguard. Distortion level: S
 * has been brainwashed to guard Aichi. The mental distortions Sol inflicts on Ren reverts him to his old self under PSYqualia, filling him with a desire to dominate Aichi while causing him to disregard his friends Tetsu and Asaka. The distortion affecting Ren's mind exceeds that of other full-fledged Alpha Dragon hosts.
 * [REDACTED] (Dragon Empire): Infests the mind of, heavily distorting his personality; under the influence of the Alpha Dragon, Kai has no regard for others and treats them cruelly, especially Aichi, and cares about nothing other than getting stronger. Distortion level: A
 * has been forced to guard Kai. The distortions the Alpha Dragon broadcasts to his mind cause him to become obsessed with serving Kai even at the expense of his own well-being. The distortions in Kai's mind prevent him from acknowledging that Miwa even exists.
 * Gravity (Star Gate): Inhabits the mind of . While the personality of Ibuki himself shows little distortion, Ibuki is the vanguard of the maddened Messiah, the source of the Alpha Dragons, which is bound to negatively affect his mental state. Distortion level: C
 * Zodiac (Dark Zone): Was intended to inhabit the mind of, but since Chrono had prematurely entered Cray i, he was not present when the Alpha Dragons entered the minds of Messiah's champions. While sightings of Zodiac have been reported in the Dark Zone of Cray i, it has not yet attacked. However, Chrono has started hearing an unpleasant voice whispering in his mind... Distortion level: D
 * [REDACTED] (Magallanica): Infests the collective unconscious of all of the members of Bermuda Triangle. The only Alpha Dragon which inhabits multiple minds, as well as the only Alpha Dragon which inhabits the minds of inhabitants of Cray rather than fighters on Earth. The Alpha Dragon apparently brainwashes the idols of Bermuda Triangle into surrendering utterly to their fans' whims, wiping away their individuality and personalities in the process and forcing them to do humiliating things for their fans' pleasure. While infested by the Alpha Dragon, the collective unconscious takes on the form of a human, but can change its face and form at will to any of Bermuda's idols. The Alpha Dragon can brainwash Bermuda Triangle fighters from the canon Earth en masse to do its bidding. Distortion level: B
 * , as a strong fighter using a Magallanica clan, has been forced to guard the host, although his mind shows few distortions.
 * [REDACTED] (Zoo): Inhabits the mind of . Tokoha's mind appears to have no apparent distortions; supposedly, Tokoha was chosen due to being the most prominent player of a Zoo clan among the fighters of the canon Earth. However, the Alpha Dragon might have an as-of-yet undiscovered effect on her mind. Distortion level: E

Trivia

 * The Alpha Dragons' names are derived from the second half of the name of the nation they represent.
 * Sol's "S" is derived from the "Sanctuary" in "United Sanctuary."
 * Gravity's "G" is derived from the "Gate" in "Star Gate."
 * Zodiac's "Zo" is derived from the "Zone" in "Dark Zone."
 * Zodiac's "Zo" is derived from the "Zone" in "Dark Zone."