Arata Hikari

Overview

Arata Hikari is the younger child of Yoshino Hikari and the brother of Satomi Hikari. Volume I identifies him as the usurper in the struggle for the throne of the Kingdom of Hikari. His claim comes after Yoshino dies of illness, leaving both children vying for the crown despite Satomi’s position as the rightful elder heir.

The conflict becomes the Hikari Civil War. Arata’s forces rout Satomi in its first battle, forcing her and her royal knight to flee to the Tower. Six months later, after Satomi has rebuilt her army, the two sides meet again. Shun Sato intervenes on Satomi’s side in the Battle of a Thousand Shadows; Arata dies in that battle and Satomi regains the throne.

Developments

Twenty-three years old, of average height and build, with short brown hair, gleaming plate armour and a pristine katana. He trained under Takane Raijin and could call on the peerless speed of the Raijin style.

He built influence before his father's death with the backing of nobles who held it unfit for a woman to rule, and declared himself king within days of the funeral. He intended to purge those same nobles once the war was won.

He hired the Black Hand to hunt his sister, and blackmailed her own general into betraying her by threatening his wife and child.

He was not killed in a duel. Shun set Ryosuke on him, and told the creature to show him a fate worse than death.

On the battlefield Arata told Satomi that her family was next on his list, and named his true aim: to claim the legacy he said their father had been too weak to take, unite the entire continent under his banner, and rebuild the world in his image.