Kouki Amanogawa

Kouki Amanogawa 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 somewhat like the leader of the whole class, as most of the students look up to him. This is further enforced by him being blessed with the rare Job as the Hero.

Appearance
Kouki is a typical  (good-looking man). With good looks, athletics, smarts, and a good personality. He has silky brown hair and gentle eyes. His body is toned and slender at about 180cm.

Personality
"I’m going to fight. If we save everyone, then we can go home. So just you watch! I’m going to save everyone, including us!"

- Kouki proclaiming his desire to save Tortus

Kouki is a kind, fair, and overflowing with sense of justice. However since he never thinks he's wrong, he has a bad habit of interpreting adverse situations to his own convenience. This stems from his childhood. During his childhood he greatly admired his grandfather that would teach him his ideals of righteousness and justice. After his grandfathers death, Kouki held to his grandfathers teaching of ideal righteousness. Even so, the righteousness that his grandfather taught didn’t recognize good and evil at all. To further say it, Kouki came to think that what the majority of people thought as right was the absolute right. As he grows, he is capable of overcoming many problems while holding to his ideal. As a result, without realizing it, Kouki came to not doubt his own righteousness. Despite being cautioned by several people close to him, especially by his parents and Shizuku, he ignore it and simply believe in his righteousness, making him quite arrogant, foolish and delusional about himself. This only worsen after being summoned to Tortus, where the Holy Church and the Kingdom of Heiligh labeled Kouki (and his classmates) as their Hero who was sent by their God to save them from the demons, something he took great pride in believing.

Because of his self righteousness and egotism, Kouki can't accept things when it doesn't go the way he wants, making him act like a spoiled child and very rude man. This was seen when Kaori decide to follow Hajime on her own free will, he couldn't accept it as he always believed that they should be together forever and would rather believe that Hajime is the one that took her away. He further mistake that all the girls who were following Hajime were being force by him and tried to get them to come with him instead by saying he will treat them better than Hajime, which only greatly disturbed them because of how far off the mark he was. This only upset him further, causing Kouki to challenge Hajime to a duel for them, which was no different from him trying to take them by force. Hajime noted the reason why he didn't bother telling him and the rest of their classmates about the gods was because Kouki wouldn't want to believe what he's been doing was completely pointless and would just get mad at him instead, something Kouki couldn't deny.

Due to his always being successful in everything he did when he was on Earth and being summoned to Tortus as a Hero, Kouki has developed a lot of pride in himself and his abilities as he believes that due to him being the Hero, others should follow his lead and that he is the person who will save everyone. This is displayed when Hajime killed the demon Cattleya over Kouki's protests despite her previous attempt to kill the Hero Party and the Kingdom knights as to him killing a person was wrong and thus condemned Hajime for not following his commands. Kouki seeks to enforce his morals and ideals onto others as he believes that he knows what is best as he often clashes with Hajime over what actions to take. He gets irritated and annoyed when he learns that Hajime saved more people despite Hajime's ignoring the plight of Tortus and Kouki's own desire to save everyone. Despite Kouki insisting that Hajime take them along with him, Kouki doesn't wish to accept what he believes as charity from Hajime as he strives to prove that he is right and stronger then Hajime. This is shown in the fact that Kouki is reluctant to use the upgrades to the Holy Sword that Hajime added. This desire to prove himself stronger to Hajime got worse after Kouki failed to clear the Haltina Labyrinth as that failure made him more irritated and increased his animosity towards Hajime.

Kouki is easily swayed by his emotions, making him increasingly reckless as he tends to act without thinking about the present situation. Even through this has been pointed out by Shizuku several times and has even almost got him kill, he rarely reflects on this issue. This has proven to be his greatest weakness, as he will hesitate when he learns new information about his enemy and always ending up giving them an opening to defeat him. During his second battle against Cattleya, Kouki stopped his blade when he was about to kill the demon due to the realization that he was able to kill a sentient being, something Cattleya berated him for doing, who also later revealed that Kouki most likely only ever considered and saw those of the demon race as "animals" or "monsters" and viewed the war against the Demon race as simply "hunting". Eri also made uses of this weakness by making the undead Meld appear as if he could be saved, causing Kouki to stop his blade once again before he could finish his opponent, getting defeated as a result.

He has a large amount of charisma, but always charges straight forward without thinking of the consequences. He also has a naive, childish outlook on the topic of love and the topic of killing. Kouki is often too optimistic for his own good, usually failing to consider the possible dangers surrounding him at times. Even when the situation in the palace was becoming suspicious, he still failed to consider the possibility that there were being surrounded by the enemy. This ends up also affecting most of his classmates as they all look up to him; so when he says there's nothing wrong, they believe it without considering whether it's true or not.

As Hajime pointed out, Kouki is naive enough to believed that his classmates are always obligated to help and protect each other, as after Hajime rescued them from Cattelya's ambush, Kouki mistook Hajime's cold refusal to rejoin them in cooperating in the war against Demons despite having extremely powerful firearms and Artifacts as an sign of utter selfishness. Kouki even stated that Hajime could have convinced him of Ehit's true nature by thoroughly explaining it several times, Hajime simply mocked Kouki, stating that his convenient delusion of the fact that classmates must be obligated to help each other is what had allow Eri and Hiyama to betrayed him without even realizing it.

Another noticeable trait about Kouki is his denseness. Despite being very popular with many different girls on both Earth and Tortus, he failed to notice this. Similar, he completely failed to notice that his childhood friend Kaori had feelings for Hajime back on Earth, and instead believed she only talked to Hajime because she felt bad for him. Even when she confessed to Hajime right in front of him he still couldn't believe it. It's because of his denseness that neither Shizuku or Kaori ever found themselves attracted to him, despite knowing him for so long.

While traveling through the Frost Cravens of Schnee, Kouki showed signs of growing increasingly unstable. Despite repeating saying he would save and protect everybody, he continually failed at every turn, including failing to clear the Haltina Labyrinth. Worse for him, Kouki's own teammates were doing a better job than him and were getting praised from Hajime and his party for it. While facing his copy during the final part of the trail, Kouki continue to deny everything his copy said, which only made his copy stronger as he wasn't accepting his negative qualities. Once he saw Shizuku sleeping peacefully on Hajime back, he completely snap, choosing to believe Hajime was brainwashing everyone and everything would be return to being "right" if he killed him. His logic likewise grew increasing erratic/crazed and delusional to the point that almost every assumption made by Kouki bared little to no relation or connection to the very situation, leading for many to wonder how he had even come up with these conclusions. Despite this however, he still believed in whatever he made up due to refusing to accept his errors. However, he became doubtful after he almost broke his relationships with Kaori and Shizuku due to his misguided righteousness after his defeat by his former classmate, Hajime.

In the After Story, due to his past failures and mistakes, he has lost his childishness and naivete along with most of his confidence and has become far more insecure and guilt due to not trusting his own judgement of killing Hajime which almost broke his relationship with Kaori and Shizuku. This is reflected on the fact that he is initially more reluctant to be enlisted to help others. After meeting Moana and the people of the Synclea Kingdom, Kouki was able to find his answer and not hesitate anymore, killing several thousands "Dark Beings" to save Arquette. Kouki's growth and his desire to save Moana impressed Hajime enough that Hajime lend his power to save the Synclea Kingdom, so Kouki could save the woman he fell for and finally found a newly romance after got kissed at cheek by Moana. Due to this, Kouki was able to make peace to Hajime as both acknowledged each other by hating the other, in contrast to Hajime's previous dismissal of him and Kouki affirming that despite his dislike of Hajime, he admires his resolve and his ability to push forward no matter what.

Weapons & Equipment

 * Holy Sword - as a hero, Kouki has the Holy Sword - a divine artifact which is a legendary weapon used by various heroes in the past. It is a unique Artifact that possesses various abilities. The sword is blessed by the element of light and has the ability to weaken the enemies struck by it's light while increasing the physical strength of the wielder. The sword can summoned to the user's hand and for some unknown reason, it also possess the ability to automatically return to its owner without their consent, when they move away from it for a certain distance or try to abandon it. It can change it's shape into whatever sword the user wishes, for instance changing from it's western design to a katana.
 * Divine Armor - the strongest armor artifact in Heiligh Kingdom. It is a set of nigh-impregnable western-style holy armor that increases the defensive capabilities of the wielder. It was later enhanced by Hajime after acquiring Evolution magic so that it could absorb mana from its surroundings and lessen Kouki's mana consumption as well increase the duration of his Limit Break. It was also upgraded with the ability to form a veil of light to be used as a barrier.
 * Aerodynamic-Enchanted Boots - they allow Kouki to walk mid-air.
 * Treasure Trove - is a ring-shaped artifact that had small one centimeter ruby set in its center. The ruby was actually an artificially created dimensional space where things could be stored.

Physical Abilities

 * Enhanced Physical Abilities - being both one of Ehit's summoned warriors and the Hero on top of it, Kouki gained all around superhuman physical abilities. His stats are among the highest in the Hero party only being surpassed in speed by Shizuku is speed and Ryutaro in strength after he powers up with magic. Despite being the strongest fighter of the Hero party, his abilities pale in comparison to Hajime and his companions.
 * Enhanced Strength - Kouki possesses enhanced strength which is further enhanced by the power of his Holy Sword. Kouki's strength stats are the highest in the Hero Party, only being surpassed by Ryutarou when he enhances himself with body strengthening magic. When he enhances himself with "Overload", he was able overpower and bisect Cattleya's monster army and penetrate her earth shield with ease.
 * Enhanced Speed - Kouki possesses enhanced speed, being the second fastest member of the Hero Party, only being surpassed by Shizuku, who is a speed based fighter. However, he cannot catch up to Hajime's demonic speed.
 * Enchanced Durability -  Kouki has enhanced durability giving him the ability to witstand attacks such as Cattleya and her monsters' attacks with moderate injuries. He was able to withstand Ryutaro's gauntlet enhanced attacks and his Metamorphosis transformation as well Shizuku's Black Blade strikes.
 * Enchanced Endurance - Kouki has a enhanced degree of endurance which he honed by fighting in the Great Orcus Labyrinth and other Labyrinths. After he obtained the skill "Limit Break- War Demon", his endurance was further increased as he was capable of fighting several thousand "Dark Beings" for several days without succumbing to his accumulated injuries.
 * Enhanced Senses - Due to his "Sense Presence" and "Sense Magic", Kouki has good situational awareness as the Hero Party relied on him to detect oncoming threats. However his sense skills are inferior to Hajime's who has the same skills and several derivative skills with them which he continuously honed and Shea, who's enhanced hearing allowed her to detect threats a moment before Hajime.
 * Master Swordsman - Kouki has trained in Kendo and the Yaegashi dojo since a young age. After being summoned to Tortus and receiving further training by the likes of Meld Loggins, who was the best swordsman in the Heiligh Kingdom, Kouki skills with a sword have been further honed. By combining his swordsman capabilities with the skills "Serene Mind" and "War Demon", Kouki was able to kill several thousand "Dark Beings".

Magical Abilities

 * Enhanced Mana - being the Hero, Kouki has higher mana than most humans. Among the Hero party, Kouki has the highest mana capacity with the exception of Kaori, who trained relentlessly and increased her mana capacity.
 * Expert Magic User - Thanks to his job as a Hero, Kouki is fairly skilled in magic, capable of using all elements magics specializing in offensive Light magic that is enhanced by the power of his Holy Sword. While he lacks the same level of mastery as those's who specialize in magic, Kouki has enough skills to uses high level spells in rapid success.

Skills

 * All Elements Aptitude - a skill that increases the aptitude for all elemental spells and increases activation speed.
 * Light Element Proficiency - it increases the effects of light magic being cast.
 * Speed Casting - can cast magic at a fast rate.
 * All Elements Resistance - a skill that increases the resistance to all elemental attacks.
 * Increased Light Resistance - it increases resistance to light magic.
 * Physical Resistance - a skill that increases the physical resistance and recovery rate of the user. The degree of impact is reduced as well.
 * Advanced Healing - it further increases the recovery rate.
 * Shock Absorption - it decrease impact effectiveness.
 * Composite Casting - a skill to fuses any type of magic which allows the user to use combined/joint magic.
 * Sword Mastery - a skill that increases the user's proficiency in the art of sword-wielding.
 * Serene Mind - a skill in which the user swings their sword in the state of a complete trance. Because the sword is swung in a state of nothingness, the process of the sword being swung is remarkably difficult to perceive. If one didn’t have an extreme degree of sensory capabilities that could notice the sway of the grass below even while crossing sword in a battlefield, this sword strike would be extremely difficult to be evaded with how very naturally it was done.
 * Herculean Strength - a skill that increases the physical strength of the user.
 * Supersonic Step - a skill that makes the distance shorter, similar to teleportation.
 * Explosive Supersonic Step
 * Armor Proficiency - a skill that further increases the defensive rating of the user when he is wearing armor.
 * High Speed Mana Recovery - a skill that increases mana recovery rate of the user.
 * Foresight - a skill to predict anyone or anything's movement.
 * Sense Presence - a skill that allows the user to gain a better understanding of the surrounding and sense life signs along with being able to sense beings who can utilize basic camouflage abilities. Has a range about 10 meters radius.
 * Sense Magic - a skill that allows the user to detect and perceive the flow of mana and activation of hidden or ranged spells and magic.
 * Limit Break - a skill to go over one's limits; amplifying their power by three times one's basic stats, but this power comes with a rebound - once used the user will be heavily fatigued. Using it for long periods of time will damage the user's body.
 * Overload - a skill greater than "Limit Break" - it multiplies the abilities of the user by 5 times with more damage recoil to the user than the normal "Limit Break".
 * War Demon - a derivative skill of "Limit Break" which reinforces his body using his mana no matter how broken up his body is. As a result, Kouki can continue fighting for multiple days with numerous injuries without rest.
 * 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
Light Magic Wind Magic Barrier Magic Healing Magic
 * Heavenrend- a spell that uses light attribute and accelerate his attack speed and unleashes countless blades of light. “Light that tears through all creation, Wind that erodes time itself, rage like a thousand flower petals and coalesce into a blinding storm— Heavenrend!”
 * Holy Blade- a magic spell that imbues a holy sword with light attribute magic to deal extra damage. “Light of judgment, smite mine enemies— Holy Blade!”
 * Radiant Slash- It coats the Holy Sword with light around 2 meters in length transforming the Holy Sword into a greatsword to increase the cutting power of the blade. “My will is a blade! Light, heed my call and sunder my foes!— Radiant Slash"
 * Divine Deluge - is an attack magic from the light element where it flies above enemies, targets several enemies, and attacked them simultaneously.
 * Heavenstrum - a relatively weak spell that covers a large area. Unleashes a single stream of light over a large area.
 * Heavenstrum - Shatter - A upgraded version of "Heavenstrum" that Kouki can use due to Hajime upgrading his Holy Sword. It has increased power and unleashes shockwaves along with the stream of light.
 * Holy Shooting Stars - countless points of light shoot out at once. It is also able to blind the targets.
 * Astral Unleash - draws a curve in the air, and four slashes of light appeared from the space.
 * Dazzling Eruption - gathers a vast amount of mana at the tip of the Holy Sword. It unleashes an explosion when the enemy is cut.
 * Light Explosion - a flash gushes out from the holy sword round shield like an explosion, and the shockwave blows away the targets.
 * Celestial Flash - an advance-rank light spell. It is so powerful that it can shatter through barriers of similar rank. Unleashes a blade of light to destroy the enemy. "Soar unto heaven, O divine wings— Celestial Flash!"
 * Celestial Flash - Shatter - a upgraded version of Kouki's "Celestial Flash" that Kouki can use due to Hajime upgrading the power of his Holy Sword. It is twice as large and powerful then his standard "Celestial Flash". Unleashes a blade of light that is accompanied by a tornado of shockwaves.
 * Celestial Flash - Eightfold Wings - unleashes a barrage of light slashes from the Holy Sword.
 * Celestial Flash - Storm - A new version of "Celestial Flash" that Kouki can unleash due to Hajime upgrading his Holy Sword. It releases a "Celestial Flash" along with a storm of invisible wind blades. Due to Kouki's mana supply, he can unleash wind blades in the double digits.
 * Divine Wrath - The most powerful offensive light magic in existence that exemplified God's wrath and most powerful offensive spell in the world. This spell is Kouki's trump card. It unleashes a bombardment of annihilating light to destroy the user's enemies. However, despite it's immense power, it has a long chant which makes it difficult to use in battle. “O Holy spirit! Bring ruin to all that is evil with thine divine light! By the breath of God, may these clouds of darkness be swept clear, and the world bathed in sanctity! By the mercy of God, may this strike redeem the sins of man! — Divine Wrath!"
 * Divine Wrath Infinite Change - a technique which makes it possible for Divine Wrath that could only be activated as bombardment before to be continuously controlled in its activated state by shaping it into a form of a light dragon. The dragon possesses power equal to that of Divine Wrath and can shot out beams of light from it's mouth like a dragon's breath which has power equivalent to that of "Divine Wrath" to attack enemies. The light can also change it's shape into whatever it's wielder wishes, such as a light shield to defend against attacks. Has a range of 1 kilometer.
 * Divine Wrath Infinite Change - Celestial Flash - Enhances the power of "Celestial Flash"  with the power of "Divine Wrath". Unleashes a wide slash of bladed light that is similar to bombardment.
 * Divine Wrath Infinite Change - Holy Shooting Stars - Enhances the power of "Holy Shooting Stars" with the power of "Divine Wrath". 'Unleashes a intense light based meteor shower to bombard a certain area. Due to each of the stars being created from the power of "Divine Wrath", they carry a tremendous amount of power.
 * Wind Bomb - a wind magic spell that creates an explosive ball of wind. “Come, O’ wind— “Wind Bomb”!”
 * Wind Wall - a barrier comprised of wind the flows in all directions.
 * Air Hammer - shockwave magic. Blows away the target with a blade of wind.
 * Holy Shield - a beginner level defense magic spell that summons a barrier of light attribute. “Guardian of light, lend us thy aid— Holy Shield!”
 * Sacred Shields - an advanced version of the basic light spell, "Holy Shield", that allows the caster to deploy multiple Holy Shields at once. "Undying holy light, be my shield forevermore—Sacred Shields!”
 * Hallowed Ground - it creates an impenetrable barrier that can't be broken by normal means, but does have some limitations. It separates a particular area from other areas and not people from people, so enemies within the AOE would not be pushed away. It also consumes a lot of mana and can only be used for a minute. "Reject all malice and let this be a holy ground that denies thine enemies passage — Hallowed Ground!”
 * Divine Veil ― the effect was low dependent on the amount of magic power laced into it, but it was a magic that periodically invoked recovery magic. "Celestial ladder illuminating the land unceasingly. That is the light of protection and healing."
 * Vast Sky - Light element intermediate level recovery magic, a magic to recover from abnormal state. "Dissolve grief, clear away the dark clouds. That thing not stained is the light of all creation. The heaven light of salvation."
 * Aetherflow - the highest-ranked healing magic of light attribute. A super wide-ranged healing magic with effect of healing everyone inside its area. The range itself was depended on the amount of user’s magic power and proficiency, but at its worst, its effective range was 500 meters in radius. Moreover, if the user gave out the “sign” beforehand, it would be able to heal specific object. And normally this magic was used with tens of magician, and took a lot of time to chant along with its stupidly gigantic magic array. To be able to activate it in only one, two minutes alone was impossible unless one was a cheat-like character. “Divine Mother, smiling down from heaven, encompass all in thy heavenly embrace— Aetherflow!”

Stats
Note :-
 * The base stats given above aren't Kouki's current stats, as the last time the author provided stats for him in the Web Novel was before the Haltina's Labyrinth trial.
 * Kouki's base stats gets increased based on his usage of Skills "Limit Break" which triples his base stats, and "Overload" which quintuples his base stats.

Quotes

 * (To Kaori Shirasaki): “This doesn’t make any sense. You’ve always been with me, Kaori... Why would you want to leave now? You’re my childhood friend... so... you have to stay with me. Isn’t that right?” 
 * (Kouki trying to convince Kaori to stay with him and the others): "Kaori. You can’t go with Nagumo. I’m saying this for your own good. Look at him. He has girls all around him, and he’s even got a daughter now... Worst of all, he’s put a slave collar on that rabbit girl. And that black-haired girl called Nagumo her master earlier. He’s probably forcing them to come with him. Nagumo probably thinks girls are nothing more than objects to add to his collection. He’s scum. Look at how easily he kills people. And even though he’s so strong, he’s refusing to help us, his comrades. Going with him will only bring you misfortune. It’s better if you stay with us. No, I’ll make sure you stay with us. Even if you hate me for it, it’s for your own good. I won’t let you go, no matter what!"
 * (Kouki trying to get Yue and the others to leave Hajime): "You girls as well. You shouldn’t stay with him. Come with me! Our party would love to have people as strong as you. We can save the human race together. You said your name was Shea, right? Don’t worry. If you come with me, I’ll free you right away. We don’t keep slaves here. You too, Tio. You won’t have to call Nagumo your master any longer."
 * (To Hajime Nagumo): “Hajime Nagumo! Duel me! No weapons! If I win, you have to promise to never get near Kaori again! And to release those girls you’re holding captive!” 
 * (Kouki lamenting his frustrations about Hajime): “Back when we were in Japan, he was a nobody. Just a lazy, unmotivated otaku who wasn’t even good at studying or sports. Always smiling like an idiot. He just did whatever it took to escape the situation he found himself in... He wasn’t even that nice to Kaori... Plus, he was an otaku... I’d never treat Kaori like that. I was always nice to her. I did everything I could for her... so how come Nagumo’s the one with the harem? He doesn’t even respect those girls! Besides, he’s a murderer! He killed that demon, even though she was helpless to resist. There’s something wrong with him! I knew it, it’s just too weird that Kaori likes him.”
 * (Kouki demanding that Hajime take his party to the Labyrinths): "There’s no way we can leave Liliana in the care of a guy who says he doesn’t care about this world. We’ll be her guards. Also, if you won’t do anything to save this world Nagumo, I will! But first, I need strength! I need the same ancient magic you have! If I travel with you, I’ll be able to obtain it too, right!?"
 * (Corrupted Kouki to Hajime Nagumo): "Nagumo, even if you’re a former classmate, don’t think you can get away with hurting my friends. I’m gonna kill you and free Kaori and the other girls from your brainwashing! Then I’ll save the world together with them!"
 * (Corrupted Kouki to Hajime Nagumo): "You—Guys like you always talk like they know everything! But I’m the one who truly understands Kaori and Shizuku! I’m the one who cares about them the most! I’m the one they should be together with! Not you! Not a shitty scumbag like you!"
 * (Corrupted Kouki to Hajime Nagumo): "It’s all because of you! If you weren’t here, everything would be perfect! Kaori and Shizuku would have been mine! I would have saved the world! But you ruined everything! Even though you’re a murderer, even though you abandon people without a second thought, how come everyone likes YOU!? It doesn’t make sense!"
 * (Corrupted Kouki to Hajime Nagumo): "Please, Nagumo. Give it all back to me. I’m begging you, please just die."

Trivia

 * The name Kouki means "light" (光) or "happiness, good luck" (幸) (kou) and "hope" (希) or "brightness" (輝) (ki).
 * Kouki's surname Amanogawa means "rain" (雨) (ama), "field, wilderness" (野) (no) and "river, stream" (川) (gawa).
 * Ehit specifically summoned Kouki and gave him the "Hero" due to his manipulability as a pawn and potential as an alternate vessel. The other members of the class were simply tag-alongs to the evil God's game board.
 * Kouki is the only known character to have failed at conquering a Labyrinth more than once (the Sea of Trees of Haltina and the Frost Caverns of Schnee).
 * Ryo Shirakome based Kouki off of Saber from .