Horn

Biodata

Feature	Value
Name	Horn Lancaster
Alias(es)	“Little Horn”
Gender	Male
Affiliation	Prevention and Suppression Bureau; Birmingham Alchemy Academy
Occupation/Role	Alchemist; procurement officer; alchemy apprentice; Bureau colleague
First Appearance	2

Power Progression

Stage / Realm / Level	Chapter	Notes
[Flame of Destiny]	2	Uses the flame for precise alchemical work, maintaining a 100% success rate; its ordinary use is largely limited to ignition and fine control.
Awakening — [Ignite]	7	Gains the ability to ignite combustible targets within sight through contact, including intangible spirituality; burning spirituality also strengthens the flame.
[Blade] experience / Thug’s Training	13	Defeating Jim Belloc grants “Thug’s Training” and substantial Blade experience, beginning the condensation of a Blade technique.
First Mark — [Blood Scorcher]	31	Chooses Ash Forge/Nigredo among the six paths of the Hours; transforms into a giant wreathed in profound black flame and battles Saliba.
Apprentice of the Ember	33	Activates [Blood Scorcher] to purge Saliba’s corruption and avoid becoming an Abomination.
Influence — Vitality	46	Gains Vitality after a dream involving an ice-blue lake and a Kraken.
Novice Scholar-level rune work	49	Independently creates and maintains a basic [Flame Seal Script] Faith Rune on his first attempt, meeting the minimum requirements for a novice Scholar.

Background

Horn is a transmigrator whose previous world resembled modern Earth. In Birmingham, he lives in a poorly insulated lower-district apartment and works under Professor Olive Borlaug’s name as an alchemy apprentice and procurement officer. His alchemy combines chemistry, botany, mineralogy, metallurgy, medicine, and mechanical dynamics rather than conventional fantasy magic. 2

Before becoming a transcendent, Horn used the [Flame of Destiny] to guarantee successful alchemical refinement while concealing the extent of his efficiency from others. He supplied high-purity reagents to Sacred Heart Hospital through Daren Garcia and relied on alchemy as both his profession and source of income. 2

A Blood-Thirst outbreak in his apartment complex forced Horn into combat with infected cannibals. He survived through improvised alchemical weapons, instinctive evasive movement, and the evolving properties of his flame. 3 4 5

Personality

Horn is practical, resourceful, and highly motivated by survival. When confronted with the infected, he quickly abandons panic in favor of immediate action, using his surroundings, alchemical stock, and stolen weapons to create advantages. 3 11 15 16

Despite his ruthlessness toward hostile cultists and monsters, Horn wants to remain “a good person” who advances without consuming people, blood, or corpses. He also hopes to change the world’s uglier aspects when he can do so without abandoning that principle. 14

He is ambitious about both alchemy and transcendent power, often viewing dangerous enemies as sources of spirituality, experience, or bounty. He nevertheless recognizes when an enemy is beyond him and will retreat when survival demands it. 9 14 35

Horn is also evasive about the true origin of his abilities. He allows Veronica and Emma to believe he is self-awakened rather than disclose his involvement with Saliba or the unusual nature of the [Flame of Destiny]. 35 38

Appearance

Horn has crimson pupils that may show orange-red light when the [Flame of Destiny] is active. After the Hound Bar incident, he spends time hospitalized with his upper body heavily bandaged. 2 3 12 22

• Crimson eyes, sometimes lit by orange-red flame. 2 3
• Bloodshot eyes when enraged by his neighbors’ noise. 2
• Sustains extensive wounds during the Hound Bar conflict, including torn muscles and blood loss. 22
• Can assume a massive flame-formed body through [Blood Scorcher]. 31

Abilities & Skills

[Flame of Destiny]

Horn’s central supernatural power is a colorless flame connected to his perception, alchemy, and progression. It can burn spirituality as fuel and provides feedback as it grows. 2 5 9

• Ensures exceptional precision in alchemical work, allowing Horn to maintain a 100% success rate. 2
• Cauterizes wounds temporarily, though it does not remove the underlying physical damage. 16 22
• Detects hostile targets through their visible scarlet spirituality. 7
• Burns the Blood-derived spirituality within infected people, potentially neutralizing them without killing them. 7 11
• Can extract and consume spirituality from enemies as fuel. 7 9
• Its use can induce hunger, anger, and Restlessness connected to spirituality. 9 30

[Ignite]

An evolved function of the [Flame of Destiny] gained after Horn’s initial awakening. 7

• Ignites combustible material within Horn’s sight when contacted by his flame. 7
• Applies to ordinary fuels such as wood and coal. 7
• Applies to intangible spirituality, including the Blood gift within infected targets. 7
• Begins at low intensity but can spread dramatically when supplied with fuel. 7

[Blood Scorcher]

Horn’s First Mark, received through Ash Forge and associated with Nigredo. 31

• Produces deep black flame capable of purging corruption from Horn’s body. 31 33
• Allows Horn to transform into a giant flame body comparable in scale to Saliba’s manifested form. 31
• Lets him devour spirituality and contest control over a ritual boundary. 31
• Saved Horn from imminent Abomination after Saliba’s corruption overwhelmed him. 33

Alchemy

Horn is a trained alchemist with unusual efficiency and a strong ability to improvise under pressure. 2 15

• Supplies high-purity nutrient-solution reagents to Sacred Heart Hospital. 2
• Uses ammonia and sulfuric acid-derived substances to incapacitate infected opponents. 3 4
• Creates the [Apprentice’s Explosive] from contraband materials and Bitter Black Salt. 15 16
• Uses alchemical knowledge to identify sal ammoniac as concentrated ammonia. 4

Spiritual Manipulation and Faith Runes

Under Olive Borlaug’s instruction, Horn learns to externalize and shape spirituality through a Metatron terminal and Mythos gel. 47 48

• Forms stable geometric spiritual constructs, including a cube held for nearly ten minutes. 48
• Learns to carve the symbol of the Secret of Change into Mythos gel through repeated attempts. 48
• Creates a [Flame Seal Script] Faith Rune that illuminates the workshop and dissipates Myth within a bronze mirror. 49
• Demonstrates unusually precise spiritual control despite [Blood Scorcher] not being a precision-oriented archetype. 49

Combat

Horn combines improvised tactics, firearms, physical resilience, and emerging Blade knowledge. 3 11 13

• Dodges infected attackers through instinctive movement and predictive observation. 3
• Uses the [Flame of Destiny] to analyze a pistol, suppress recoil, calibrate trajectories, and fire accurately. 11
• Gains practical knowledge of blade handling, force application, courage, and inflicting wounds from Belloc’s accumulated experience. 13
• Demonstrates increased strength after awakening, enough to drag an adult man one-handed with leverage. 7

Equipment / Items

• Reagent kit — Carries alchemical materials and prepared solutions for work and emergencies. 2 3
• Pistol — Originally dropped by Officer Martin; used during infiltration of the Hound Gang warehouse. 9 11
• [Apprentice’s Explosive] — A single-use Ember 4 contraband explosive created through alchemy; destroys the Blood-Thirsty Hound. 16
• Prevention and Suppression Bureau credentials — Supernaturally protected identification with a ten-year shelf life. 42
• Six Letters of Instruction — Julian Corselli’s book, from which Horn learns the Secret of Change. 45
• [Foresight] and [Secret of Change] cards — Acquired after studying the Six Letters of Instruction. 45

Relationships

• Olive Borlaug — Horn’s professor and alchemy mentor. He works under her name, while Olive later trains him in spiritual manipulation and recognizes his potential as a Scholar. 2 47 49
• Emma — A Candle Bearer and Bureau colleague who educates Horn on transcendence, the Hours, dream-entry, and the hidden world. 21 38 39 40 50
• Veronica Cessnodike — An Immortal of Key and Blade who saves Horn from the entity beneath the Hound Bar, assists against Saliba, and later supports his recovery. 17 30 32 33 35
• Jim Belloc — Hound Gang leader and Blood Cup Cult collaborator. Horn infiltrates Belloc’s warehouse, defeats him, gains Blade experience through the victory, and kills his transformed Blood-Thirsty Hound form. 11 13 16
• Daren Garcia — Sacred Heart Hospital procurement officer and Horn’s reagent customer. Garcia values Horn’s unusually pure products and pays above market price. 2
• Martin — An infected police officer who attempts to lure Horn into false witness protection, then reveals Belloc’s connection to the Hound Gang. 7
• Saliba — Blood Cup Cult High Priest and Horn’s principal opponent during the Storm Burnt Offering. Horn disrupts his ritual, absorbs divinity from the Blood Pool, and ultimately helps create the opening for Veronica to defeat him. 30 31 39

Story Role / Major Arcs

Blood-Thirst Outbreak

Horn discovers that his neighbors have become cannibalistic infected, survives their attacks, and learns that their Blood spirituality can fuel his flame. 3 4 5

Hound Gang Investigation

After exposing Officer Martin as infected, Horn follows the trail to the Hound Bar. He discovers the Blood Pool, infiltrates the Hound Gang warehouse in disguise, fights Jim Belloc, and destroys Belloc’s transformed form with an alchemical explosive. 7 9 11 16

Blood Cup Cult and Saliba

Horn becomes trapped in the Blood Pool’s larger ritual and is targeted by Saliba. He accepts the role of the Monarch of the Kingdom of Tears, awakens the River of Tears, gains the [Blood Scorcher] Mark, and survives subsequent corruption by becoming an Apprentice of the Ember. 29 30 31 33

Prevention and Suppression Bureau

Following his recovery, Horn joins the Prevention and Suppression Bureau. He conceals his real circumstances by presenting himself as a self-awakened transcendent while Emma begins his formal education in transcendent knowledge. 35 38 39

Alchemy Training

Horn returns to the Birmingham Alchemy Academy, where Olive trains him in spiritual manipulation, the Secret of Change, and Faith Rune creation. His performance leads Olive to identify him as having exceptional Scholar potential. 45 47 48 49

Trivia

• Horn deliberately pockets part of the material money from his alchemical work so that his 100% success rate will not draw suspicion. 2
• He refers to burning hostile spirituality as an “experience pack” and seeks Blood Cup Cult remnants partly for their bounty and fuel value. 9 35
• Horn jokingly describes his apparent ability to Emma as making objects disappear, using sleight of hand with a slip of paper. 38
• His Bureau credentials bear the motto: ALIIS SI LICET TIBI NON LICET (“If it is permitted for others, it is not permitted for you”). 42