Kousuke Endou

"I am the shadow! The right-hand man of the godslaying demon king that was born from the bottom of the abyss! I came from the deep abyss, from the darkness that is deeper than even darkness! Now, engrave into your soul, this taboo name!"

- Monologue

Kousuke Endou is a major character from the "Arifureta Shokugyō de Sekai Saikyō" series.

He is one of the students from Japan who got involved in the Summoning Incident and ended up in Tortus along with his other classmates. He is friends with Jugo Nagayama and Kentarou Nomura and was part of Nagayama's party during the training in Orcus Dungeon. He also has a very weak presence and can't be noticed by labyrinth monsters or automatic doors.

A year after coming back to earth, it's revealed that he started dating the rabbitman Lana Haulia, a member of the Haulia Tribe and is studying medicine for the tribe since they have no one with that talent. He also started calling Hajime Boss and was given the name "Kousuke E Abyssgate" after being accepted into the tribe.

Appearance
Kousuke is a young man with black hair that covers his eyes. Whenever he goes into "Lord Abyssgate" mode, he puts on his "Heavenly Eye" sunglasses. He mainly dresses in black.

Personality
Kousuke has a normal personality, although he always complains about his very weak presence that makes it unable for the others to usually notice him. Even through he's aware of this enough to expect it, he can't help but complain about it. Reversely, he will become extremely happy when he meets someone who can notice normally, having fallen for Lana Haulia because she could keep track of him despite his best efforts and cried tears of joy when he found Claudia could naturally notice him. Nonetheless, Kousuke still cares deeply about those around him and hates the idea of abandoning them. When the Hero party was overwhelmed by Cattleya in the Great Orcus Labyrinth, Kousuke desperately wanted to save them and was full of guilt that he had to abandoned Meld and the other knights to survive.

Similar to Hajime, Kousuke has a stronger will than most people expected from him and can be very determent when he decides something for himself. After he falls in love with Lana, he keeps trying to win her over until she gave him two extremely difficult conditions that would make her consider going out with him. Despite everyone believing it would be impossible for him, Kousuke manages to successfully clear a Labyrinth and land a scratch on Hajime in combat. This impressive display of willpower is what earned him Hajime's completely respect and trust.

Kousuke is proud for being known as Hajime's right hand, but does not share his ideals with regards to how to deal with his enemies. He is against indiscriminately obliterating all of those in his way and will only use lethal force as a last resort. He also dislikes having to ask Hajime for help as he knows that Hajime will do so but he doesn't wish to trouble him with any personal requests.

Kousuke has proven to be a very understanding person when it comes to other people goals and reason. He understood that Sharon Magdanese isn't an evil person, but one who does necessary evil for the sake of protecting her country, which separates her from those who want to use the Berserker drug for evil purposes. He also can be extremely supportive for those whom suffered yet wish to finish what they started, which earned him the feelings of Emily and Claudia when he chooses to help them. He even goes as far as to talk back to Yue in the latter's case, something his friends respected him for doing despite also fearing for his life knowing what Yue will likely do to him for defining her.

Despite all of the powerful Artifacts in his possession, Kousuke does not want to become too dependent on using them when he is is not in danger, as he is concerned that it will make him become too complacent and take the simple things for granted that he feels makes life worth living.

When his skill "Abyss Lord" is active, his personality becomes that of a. He would often do and say things in an over-dramatic manner that are considered completely pointless. He proudly calls himself Lord Abyssgate and refers to himself as the abyss itself. He would also give ninja base names to his techniques and act like a ninja as well. At the same time, he would also act like a over dramatic gentlemen when talking to women. After he reverts back, Kousuke generally falls into a depressed state out of embarrassment. While he curses this state, he doesn't hesitate to enter it when the situation calls for it.

Weapons & Equipment
Kousuke was provided many weapons and artifacts by Hajime after returning to Japan. They were all named by Kousuke and the Haulia Tribe.
 * Heavenly Eye - A pair of sunglasses that have been enchanted with “Riftwalk” and “Foresight“ that enable Kousuke to evade most attacks.
 * Demon Sword of Destroyer Calamity Crawling the Earth - A short sword enchanted with a sublimated earth element magic circle. It can be used to create a barrier using the surrounding earth.
 * Heaven Destroying Sword of Brilliant Lightning Flame - A short sword enchanted with a sublimated flame element magic circle to assist in escape. It can create a flame snake that randomly moves around to make the area fall and be surrounded with flames. It is also possible to do a lightning version of the attack and to instantly activate two elements of magic for escaping or assisting in battle. It was named by both Kousuke and Lana Haulia.
 * Rakshasa Black Hand of Second Advent and Rejection - A pair of fingerless gloves that converts mana into shockwaves. It is also imbued with restoration magic in order to repair themselves from the recoil of the shockwaves they creates. They were named by Cam Haulia.
 * Light Severance Thousand Blades - Twelves kunai that can lay out space isolation defensive walls by making each other as a fulcrum. They flow freely using gravity magic and can accomplish space teleportation by replacing their position with the user. They were named by Par Haulia.
 * Staking the Pride of a Villager - A crystal pendulum in the shape of a 5 coin. It is imbued with spirit magic and allows Kousuke to hypnotize anyone and make them obey his commands.
 * Last Zell - A red gem that grants its user the skill “Limit Break“.
 * Mini-Treasure Trove - A ring that uses spatial magic to store items.

Powers & Abilities
Kousuke's Job as an Assassin gives him an ability that allow him to hide his presence and move quick. Later, after obtaining the Age of the God's Gravity Magic and awakening the skill "Abyss Lord", he becomes the strongest among his peers, excluding Hajime and his harem. However, even Hajime's wives would still need to go all out from the start and attack him with everything they have to avoid losing track of Kousuke and getting overwhelmed by his clones, further proving why he's the Right-Hand of the Demon King.

Physical Abilities

 * Thin Presence (Thin Shadow) - A trait that Kousuke has always had ever since birth that makes it difficult to notice him under normal circumstances. Even highly trained and experienced warriors such as Meld Loggins fail to notice Kousuke until he draws their attention. Even the detection system of advanced machines don't react to Kousuke most of the time. This is regarded as one of Kousuke's greatest strengths as most people lose track of Kousuke the moment they take their eyes off him, even when they're trying their best to focus on him.
 * Enhanced Physical Abilities - After being summoned to Tortus as one of Ehit's heroes, Kousuke was blessed with superhuman physical abilities. Kousuke focuses on agility and speed to aid his infiltration and assassination skills.
 * Enhanced Strength - After being summoned as one of Ehit's heroes, Kousuke gained superhuman strength. While not his strongest field, Kousuke could still repel monsters bigger than him with ease. He is easily able to physically overpower most human beings as demonstrated when he easily physically overwhelm Allen Parker.
 * Enhanced Speed - After being summoned as one of Ehit's heroes. Kousuke gained superhuman speed. Kousuke has confidence in his speed, but it pales in comparison to that of Hajime's. Combine with his stealth abilities, Kousuke was able to travel from the 89th floor to the 70th of the Great Orcus Labyrinth within a short period of time. In the After Story, with the assistance of the "Heavenly Eye" artifact, he is capable of dodging bullets.
 * Enhanced Senses - After being summoned as one of Ehit's heroes. Kousuke gained superhuman senses. His sharpen senses allow him to pick up on the faintest traces of life around him and notice things others would have missed. When the Hero's party reached the 90th floor, he was the first one to notice the monster blood on the ground and walls. He was also the first one to notice that Cattleya had far more monsters hidden. He especially has strong hearing, able to hear people whispering a fair distance away.
 * Immense Stamina - After being summoned as one of Ehit's heroes. Kousuke gained superhuman stamina and could fight for extremely long periods of time. The greatest display of Kousuke's stamina is how he managed to successfully conquer the Great Reisen Labyrinth, spending a week avoiding its death traps before facing Miledi's powerful golems and ultimately defeating it by himself.
 * Immense Durability - After being summoned as one of Ehit's heroes. Kousuke became far more durability. When facing the final test of the Great Reisen Labyrinth, he was able to survive Miledi's massive golems attacks and continue fighting until he won, through was using the Abyss Lord throughout the labyrinth.
 * Expert Hand-to-Hand Combatant - Kousuke has displayed high level martial art prowess. He is able to easily defeat Allen Parker also known as Mr. K who is infamous for his combat and assassination skills while also fighting the elite members of the British Security Bureau.
 * Expert Swordsman - Kousuke is very proficient in wielding daggers and duel-wielding short swords, both in reveres grip. His fighting style resolves around attacking his opponent's weak point. In the After Story, he's become skilled enough to easily kill several Berserkers in quick success.
 * Master Marksmanship - being an assassin, Kousuke has excellent accuracy with throwing weapons, particularly kunais.
 * Stealth Master - Thanks to both his thin presence and job as a assassin, Kousuke is a natural at infiltration and scouting. While a part of the hero's party, he would usually scout ahead to determent what path they should take. After returning to Earth, Kousuke would uses his stealth skills to infiltrate highly secure organization and gather information about them.

Magical Abilities

 * Enhanced Mana - As one of Ehit summoned hero's, Kousuke has stronger mana than most human. When in the final Depths of the Abyss Lord, his mana becomes strong enough to even surpass the magic dispersion effect of the Great Riesen Labyrinth.


 * Expert Magic User - Kousuke is a fairly high-level magic user. He can uses gravity magic in creative and skillful ways, including its most powerful spells.

Skills
There is a demerit to the "Abyss Lord" skill. While it was activated, the user’s speech and conduct would be forcefully be made into a flawless chūni. This prove useful in battle as his strange behavior confuses and infuriates his enemies (and friends), making him very unpredictable for more logical opponents. Furthermore, while the activation of the skill was essentially possible by the user’s discretionary, but it's possible for the skill to get activated on its own without the user’s discretion.
 * Assassination Technique
 * Dagger Art
 * Concealment
 * Tracking
 * Throwing Art
 * Hidden Weapon Art
 * Transmission Wave - A skill to strain one’s ear to pick up vibrations in the air, or in the wall, to listen to conversations from someplace a good distance away.
 * Escape Art - A skill that gives aptitude correction to magic if it is used as a means to escape.
 * Abyss Lord - A skill that had the effect of a gradual "Limit Break". It didn’t raise his stats explosively like Limit Break, but rather strengthens all his specs little by little while the skill was activated. Furthermore, while being different from Limit Break, this skill doesn’t have the normal side effect of strong lethargy after use. The skill is divided into five depth levels from 'Depth I' to 'Depth V', with each depth mean a certain level of stats boosts. In order reach a certain depth level the skill must be activated for a proportional amount of time. Once the user reaches the desired depth, that depth can be activated anytime.
 * Presence Manipulation - The user can manipulate the presence of oneself by making their presence disappear.
 * Presence Isolation - Different from Hajime's "Hide Presence", this skill allows the user to completely erase their presence.
 * Phantom Step - A skill that leaves behind a presence with an afterimage piled up on oneself to blur one’s own figure.
 * Dream Illusion III - A skill that produces up to three illusionary clones of oneself.
 * Clarity Phantom - A skill that gives substance to the clone.
 * Minimum Mind - An invisibility assistance skill. While the user is invisible, this skill would make the user’s breathing, heartbeat, presence, and even the fluctuation of the mind, and so on, to be in a flat state.
 * Shadow Dance - A skill that allows the user to run on walls. It can’t let the user stand still on a wall, but as long as the user has momentum, they can continue to run on walls.
 * Water Dance - A skill that lets the user walk over the water.
 * Leave Dance - A skill that lets the user use things like leaves that were falling in the air as instant footholds for jumping.
 * Wood Splinter Dance - A skill that lets the user use dust and dirt midair as instant footholds for jumping.
 * Gravity Magic - One of the "Ancient Magics" originating from the "Age of Gods". it gives the user control over gravity. The true power of this magic is the ability to 'interfere with the energy of star', and just not gravity. Theoretically, it could also interfere with things like earth vein or terrestrial heat, bedrock or magma; and it isn’t impossible to use this magic to purposefully generate earthquake or volcano eruption.
 * Language Comprehension - A base skill granted to all those who got summoned. It gives the user the ability to understand any language and be proficient in it.

Spells/Attacks

 * Obsidian Vortex - A basic spell that uses gravity magic to create a gravitational field around either the caster or a nearby target by touching it. It alters gravity's hold on the target to make them lighter or heavier.
 * Inverse Square - A spell that causes the target to be unaffected by gravity and float mid-air.
 * Nether Burst - The most powerful form of gravity magic. It releases a powerful sphere of destructive energy.

Stats
Kousuke's stats as per "Web Novel - Chapter 199 (After Story)"

Note :-
 * The base stats given above aren't Kousuke's current stats, as the last time the author provided stats for him in the Web Novel was during the 'Berserk Incident' in the "After Story".
 * Kousuke's base stats gets increased based on his usage of Derivative-Skill "Abyss Lord", which has an effect similar to "Limit Break", but rather than explosively increasing the user stat, it gradually increased them depending on how long the skill is active.

Trivia

 * The name "Kousuke" means "prosperous" (浩) (kou) and "forerunner", or "herald" (介) (suke).
 * Kousuke's face hasn't been properly revealed in any adaptation that he has appeared in. Whenever he is focused, his face is always shown to be partially hidden (particularly his eyes). This has become a recurring joke throughout the series.
 * Kousuke is the only known member of his class to successfully complete a labyrinth single-handedly.
 * Kousuke is the only one of his siblings that does not wear regular glasses.