"You were... a famous Hunter."
Klahi Andrich, shuffling in with his entourage in tow, opened with that statement, his voice thick with emotion.
Of all the ways this incident had been a disaster, if I had to name the single biggest victim, it would probably be Klahi Andrich.
He'd been dragged into the Martial Emperor Festival without knowing a thing, and on top of that he'd caught an absolute storm of lightning from me—granted, my own luck had been rotten too, but his misfortune of being mistaken for me and attacked by the fox mask was something else entirely.
Still, Klahi's demeanor was as calm and collected as ever.
He didn't seem bothered by the fact that I'd been hiding my Level 8 either.
Well, I could understand not knowing my real name, but the epithet "Thousand Transformations" was fairly well-known, so claiming total ignorance was a stretch...
If Citry were here, she could've steered the conversation along smoothly, but she happened to be out on business today. Lucia, Anthem, and Liz weren't around either.
With no one to lean on and no idea what to say, I fell silent—until Klahi continued.
"I wanted to come see you sooner, but I only got back on my feet this morning. That last hit pushed me way too far."
"...Yeah, the one I aimed at you."
I remembered it well—the blow that took out his last Barrier Ring. Come to think of it, I hadn't actually been attacked by the fox, but Klahi had hit me plenty...
Lightning magic was called a hero's magic not only for its devastating power, but because its difficulty was among the highest of any magical discipline. And that difficulty included how unforgiving it was to control.
Put simply, lightning magic was great for sweeping across wide areas, but hitting a specific target was a total nightmare.
Even with perfect control of the spell formula, if someone like Anthem or a certain very unlucky man happened to be nearby, there was a high chance the lightning would be attracted to them instead.
How did I know all this? Because Lucia told me!
Lucia never used lightning magic, and now you could understand why. I would never forget the look on her face the first time she demonstrated lightning magic and accidentally hit me with it.
Klahi nodded deeply at my words, then pressed his palm against his forehead and swept his hair back. It was a somewhat dramatic gesture, but it suited him well.
"I heard the rumors. What a mess—apparently you held back in that fight to lure out the fox?"
"...Huh?"
How had things gotten so twisted from what actually happened?
Not a single word of those rumors bore even a passing resemblance to the truth. The gossip had sprouted a tail fin and a dorsal fin.
But trying to set the record straight was... complicated. Especially explaining the part where Klahi had been fighting a me that wasn't really me.
I glanced back—Luke, who'd been standing guard in the room, was nodding with a knowing look. Mate, you have absolutely no idea what's going on, do you...
He was a passionate man, but anything outside his interests left him completely indifferent. I regretted that the level-headed ones had stepped out.
For a brief moment, Luke and I locked eyes. He nodded, stepped forward, and let out a long-suffering sigh.
"You don't get it. Held back? Nope. That was all part of Klye's strategy. I don't really understand it myself."
If you don't understand, then please stay quiet...
Hmm, what would be the smoothest way to handle this? Even if I couldn't tell the whole truth, I wanted to clear up at least some of Klahi's misunderstanding.
Klahi looked at me with a dead-serious expression.
"Klye, just tell me one thing. When you got blown away by my lightning—was that an act too?"
!! This is my chance!
At least... at least try to make myself look a little smaller! Why did making something that was already tiny look even tinier have to be so impossible?!
"...No, no one could act that out. I can't go into the details, but that was terrifying lightning magic. If there's a lightning user on your level or above, I only know of one person."
No ordinary hero could have unleashed that much lightning. My eyes were pretty much useless for gauging Hunter strength, but when it came to handling lightning alone, he'd be above Arnold, the Level 7 Hunter known as the "Thunder Dragon of the Mist."
And if you asked who was above even him? Well, obviously—Ark Rodan. I was biased in Ark's favor; my history with him ran longer than with Klahi. The number of times I'd called in favors was in a completely different league.
Klahi shut his eyes at my words and remained silent for a while, then slowly nodded.
"I see... just as I predicted. But it's hard to swallow. I'd always believed no one could match me when it came to handling lightning—but I have no choice but to acknowledge it."
Klahi looked straight at me. His tightly clenched fists were trembling—from frustration, perhaps. Hunters really were all sore losers.
But there was no helping it. After all, his opponent was Ark Rodan of the "Silver Star Ten Thousand Thunders." On top of that, I was biased. I'd give him 99 points without a second thought. If he could fix the one problem of not being around when I needed him, that'd be a perfect 100.
And as I grinned, Klahi declared clearly: "I acknowledge it, Klye Andrich. You are—a Thunder Emperor superior to me."
"...Excuse me?"
What was this man saying? Had he been struck by lightning so many times his brain had short-circuited? Did "Thousand Heavens Ten Thousand Flowers" mean your head was a flower garden?
As I stood there speechless, Klahi continued. His voice was quiet, but it carried a strange intensity.
"There's no need to hide it—I can tell. You deliberately took my lightning to absorb its power, didn't you?!"
"!? Absorbing power by taking lightning to the body?! What is that, that's incredibly awesome! Klye, I'm gonna do that next time too!"
Luke's eyes lit up instantly at the nonsensical explanation and he jumped right on board.
Someone give me a straight man. Please, I desperately need a straight man.
"That mysterious fox mask's power, and the Earth Key's energy I felt just before losing consciousness—no human mage could stop that! Right, unless you borrowed the power of nature itself! No, my reasoning goes beyond that alone. The lightning aimed at the fox—you took it head-on! Twisting another practitioner's magic, absorbing it, and making it your own. That's beyond anything I've ever seen. In that moment, you were unquestionably the Thunder Emperor—no, that's not right... You are above the Thunder Emperor—the Thunder God!"
I didn't "take it"—you're the one who hit me with it! I tipped my hat to that level of creative thinking.
Wait, could Klahi Andrich actually be... a total nutjob?
I needed to clear up this misunderstanding... I had to clear it up.
"I-I only got hit because your aim was off—"
Klahi's hair crackled with purple lightning. Such intense emotion had surged into a torrent and triggered a physical phenomenon. It was the kind of spectacle you'd expect from a powerful Mage, and I involuntarily stopped my commentary and took a step back.
The "Thunder Emperor" jabbed a pointed finger at me and declared at the top of his lungs: "I've decided—Thunder God! I will surpass you! I'll master the secret art of absorbing lightning and aim for even greater heights! The Martial Emperor Festival getting cut short was unfortunate, but I'm glad I participated! Now I know who's above me—the fox mage and—you! I can become even stronger! The fact that you and I, with our similar epithets, met must be destiny!"
No it isn't. The superior lightning user isn't me—it's Ark. And honestly, if you want to say you're going to surpass someone, wouldn't you normally phrase it differently?!
I had a lot I wanted to say, but Klahi was crackling so intensely I couldn't get a word in edgewise.
While I was floundering, Klahi's momentum reached its peak. His eyes were blazing.
"Someday, we'll fight again. I won't forget that there's someone who surpasses me in lightning! And I'll tell everyone about the existence of the Thunder God who exceeds the Thunder Emperor! Next time, we'll have a real battle—until the day I defeat you, I'll entrust the title of Thunder God to you!"
Somehow, I'd ended up with the title of "Thunder God."
The gossip hadn't just grown a tail fin and a dorsal fin—it had sprouted an entire tail. High-ranking Hunters really were all eccentric.
Klahi turned on his heel with a flourish, intending to make his exit.
I had to... stop him somehow! Damn it, the constant crackling was so loud I couldn't even organize my thoughts.
But I managed to force my mouth open and shout: "Wait, Klahi! You've already beaten me!"
"...What did you say?"
Klahi froze mid-step and turned to face me. But the purple lightning wreathing him only grew more intense. At this point, you could say he'd lost control of his lightning entirely.
The "Thunder Emperor" fixed me with a suspicious look.
"For reference... in what way have I won?"
Well... in every way, obviously. If anything, I couldn't think of a single area where I surpassed Klahi.
But I had to be specific, or he wouldn't buy it.
What caught my eye in my moment of panic was Klahi's companions, standing quietly behind him amid all the spectacular lightning display.
I'd only ever seen Rusha, but these must be the lookalikes of my own companions I'd been introduced to earlier.
A timid-looking young man (probably Cool), a female Thief with a suspiciously large chest and flashy outfit (probably Zurii), and one woman with a severe, Mage-like expression (probably Kutory). They weren't knock-offs or anything—aside from gender, everything about them was completely different from my own crew. Ah, if this weren't an emergency, I would've loved to sit down and have a proper chat with them.
"...What do you mean, won?"
Klahi asked again in a low voice, taking another step closer.
If he got any closer, I'd be hit by the lightning wreathing him. I blurted out the first thing that came to mind.
"The variety of your companions! Look at what amazing companions you have!"
...No. That's not right. That's not what I meant at all!
It might have even sounded sarcastic. But Klahi's eyes went wide, and he took a deep breath.
"...You're right. You're absolutely right."
Had I... actually succeeded in persuading him? Could this be the first time I'd ever successfully talked someone around?
As I gaped in stunned silence at this unprecedented turn of events, Klahi seemed to have regained his composure and said in a calm voice: "Allow me to correct myself—we will defeat you together!"
!? That's not it! That's not what I meant!
Look—the reasonable ones, Luke and Liz, were bowing desperately behind me. Look behind you!
...Could it be that "Mourning Demons" was in every sense the polar opposite of "Mourning Specter" as a party?
Maybe Klahi didn't listen any more than Luke and Liz did.
In other words... persuasion was pointless? I was going to become the Thunder God?
That was when our own problem child, Luke, stepped forward. That's it—Luke! When it comes to being impossible to reason with, you're right up there with the best!
Now was your chance—beat some sense into Klahi!
I prayed to any god who'd listen. Luke shouted with supreme confidence: "You still don't get it, Thunder Emperor! What you don't understand is—why you're vastly inferior to the Thunder God, and—how to become stronger!"
For a split second, I had no idea what he was saying. I couldn't keep up... Did you see that? This is our guy—Luke Saikol! Luke Saikol without the cool filter!
...Luke, since when did I become the Thunder God? You've been adventuring with me for ages—have you ever once controlled lightning? Don't just get swept up in this!
Was there a sword stuffed in his skull or something?
Even the Thunder Emperor, who never listened to anyone, was apparently thrown by those words, staring blankly with wide eyes.
And then Luke spoke as if delivering a sermon: "Listen up! The reason you lost to the Thunder God is because you rely on Treasure Weapons! Those training wheels are corrupting you! Just as the greatest swordsman doesn't choose his weapons, the true master of lightning should be able to wield it freely without any tools! And the proof is that Klye has never once relied on a Treasure Weapon! I gave up every weapon I had to Klye in order to become the strongest! If you want to reach the pinnacle, then leave that staff right here!"