Horamick

Biodata

Power Progression

Horamick never became an angel. The later advancement to Sequence 2 Knowledge Mentor belonged to Kronos while impersonating him 296 392 415.

Background / History

Senior Archbishop

Horamick was described as the Church of Steam and Machinery’s oldest non-angel member, older even than its current pope. By the time Kronos became involved with the church, his lifespan was nearly exhausted. His pursuit of angelhood was driven primarily by the desire to continue living, rather than by authority or greater power 243.

He had already reached Sequence 3 when Greenton was still Sequence 5. Greenton eventually overtook him, became a Sequence 2 angel, and assumed responsibility for the Enlightenment Monastery. Their duties subsequently gave them little reason to interact 337.

Horamick took Nosk in as a child and raised and taught him. Despite rumors that Nosk was his adopted son, their actual relationship was that of teacher and student 148.

Political Dealings and the Argel Family

When Ikanser could not secure Kask Wolf’s support for the church’s proposal, Horamick took over the negotiations. He visited members of both parliamentary houses, obtaining promises that would effectively secure Kask’s promotion to secretary-general of the Higher Education Committee and a seat in the House of Commons 131 132.

During the same period, Horamick authorized Kronos to inspect Roselle’s belongings, although the church would not give the collection away 131.

Horamick later questioned Kronos about his father’s departure from Backlund, his involvement with Backlund Technical College, and the research center. Kronos concealed his ambitions by attributing the plans to Professor Portland, then feigned hurt at Horamick’s warning that the church already knew what had happened. The performance unsettled Horamick enough that he apologized and ended the interview 135.

Afterward, Horamick privately regretted losing an opportunity to take control of the Argel Family and earn contribution credit 136.

Attempted Recruitment of Kronos

Following Kronos’s advancement to demigod, Horamick visited him with an order from the God of Steam and Machinery to recruit him. He brought the Scholar of Yore potion formula and advancement ritual, but threatened Kronos’s family when he hesitated 243.

Horamick resented Kronos’s exceptional talent. Privately, he hoped Kronos would resist enough to justify killing him with his Mechanical Puppet, reasoning that a dead, unruly genius could not gain the god’s favor. Kronos instead accepted the paper without arguing, then sought protection by joining the Church of Evernight 243 244.

Final Battle and Death

Horamick detected faint spatial fluctuations from underground ruins less than three kilometers from Saint Hilleran Cathedral. Recognizing an activated spatial locating key, he waited for its user to return and then followed the disguised Kronos without informing his students or the Machinery Hivemind 293.

He avoided attacking in Backlund because a demigod battle could attract other powerful Beyonders. Kronos deliberately led him to a secluded valley, drew him into revealing himself, and isolated the battlefield with barriers. Horamick demanded the ruins’ coordinates, everything recovered from them, and fifty years of unpaid labor 293 294.

His combination of material disassembly, the Rules Peeper, and his Mechanical Puppet repeatedly pressured Kronos. However, reflected damage cost him a hand, and a Spear of Longinus injured his leg. The puppet’s return appeared to restore his advantage 294 295.

Unknown to Horamick, Fan Aistin had taken control of the puppet. At Kronos’s command, it fired into Horamick’s chest and destroyed his heart. Kronos pinned him down with another spear, refused to reveal his identity, and shattered his head. He then extracted the Beyonder Characteristic and thoroughly erased traces of the battle 296.

Appearance

Horamick had an elderly, scholarly appearance, with a kindly, gentle face 293 324 366.

• Glasses: A recognizable feature of his appearance 366.
• Clothing: Usually wore a white priestly robe and a clergyman’s soft cap 300.
• Bearing: Presented himself as amiable, refined, and approachable 243 293.

Personality

Horamick maintained a patient, courteous public manner and was not naturally ill-tempered. He was also an accomplished actor: his controlled expressions helped him question others without exposing his intentions. Kronos’s unexpected display of wounded feelings was one of the few things that visibly disrupted his composure 135 243.

He preferred calculation over reckless confrontation. Before attacking an unfamiliar demigod, he considered the location, possible witnesses, and whether he could win quickly. Even anger at blasphemy initially left him rational enough to prepare a concealed ambush 293.

Beneath his gentle manner, Horamick could be coercive and exploitative. He sought control over the Argel Family, threatened Kronos’s relatives, and presented demands for confiscation and decades of forced labor as charitable correction. His fear of death and jealousy of Kronos’s talent eventually brought this hostility into the open 136 243 294 296.

He nevertheless showed genuine attachment to his puppet, Jacques, treating it as a companion rather than merely a weapon. That trust left him completely unprepared for its betrayal 296 300.

Abilities & Skills

Material Disassembly and Restoration

As a Paragon Pathway Scholar of Yore, Horamick could reduce substances whose essence he understood to their constituent essence 294.

• Disassembly: Could break down physical objects and attack a living body from nearly ten meters away 294 295.
• Close-range lethality: His power became stronger at shorter distances; he expected an attack within five meters to inflict a potentially fatal wound 294 295.
• Restoration: Could reverse disassembly only while the separated fragments remained intact. Once they scattered, restoration was no longer possible 295.
• Knowledge requirement: Effective use depended on understanding the target. His incomplete knowledge of matter also obstructed further potion digestion 294 299.

Rule Analysis

The Rules Peeper extended Horamick’s disassembly beyond ordinary material targets by revealing the internal rules of Beyonder abilities 294 297.

• Dismantled a Spear of Longinus and neutralized lightning and portions of the Fallen Domain 294 295.
• Could eliminate approaching corruption within roughly one meter of himself 294.
• Failed to analyze Kronos’s unfamiliar time authority, leaving him unable to dismantle its restrictions 295.
• Repeated activation caused mounting brain pain and potentially fatal overload 295 297.

Alchemy and Puppet Combat

Horamick concentrated much of his resources and combat strength in his Alchemy Puppet rather than carrying numerous separate Beyonder Items 294 297 301.

• Used the puppet for surprise attacks, direct assaults, and cannon fire 293 294.
• Maintained and strengthened it over more than a century 296.
• Considered it powerful enough that even he could not confidently defeat it 296.

Perception and Technical Knowledge

• Detected subtle spatial fluctuations that nearby residents and ordinary official personnel had not noticed 293.
• Recognized a spatial locating key and understood that it marked a traveler’s return coordinates 293.
• Distinguished the fluctuations from ordinary teleportation or Spirit World Traversal through long experience 293.

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Jacques — Mechanical Puppet: Horamick’s companion and principal combat asset for over a hundred years. It used an Alchemist as its energy core and incorporated three demigod-level Beyonder Items. Fan Aistin identified their likely functions as Red Priest cannon enhancement, God of Combat defensive enhancement, and Death Pathway traversal and sealing. Its equipment included a mystical cannon and a jetpack 295 296 297 300.
• Rules Peeper — Sealed Artifact 1-17: A Grade 1 pair of glasses belonging to Saint Hilleran Cathedral, not Horamick personally. It could discern a subject’s operating rules and grant complete mastery of them for three minutes. Repeated use risked shutting down the user’s brain 294 297 298.
• Purification Potion: Cleansed negative effects and allowed him to charge through the Fallen Domain without relying solely on the Rules Peeper 295.
• Knowledge Mentor advancement supplies: Had collected the Sequence 2 formula, ritual, and all potion ingredients, but still needed to finish digesting his Scholar of Yore potion 301.
• Alchemist potion ingredients: Possessed an almost complete set. Kronos connected these preparations to the Knowledge Mentor ritual, which required teaching at least two Beyonders until they successfully advanced to demigod 301.

Relationships

• Nosk — Student raised from childhood, not an adopted son. Nosk deeply valued his teacher’s approval and was regarded as a possible successor. Kronos suspected that training him also served Horamick’s planned Knowledge Mentor ritual 118 148 301 441.
• Jacques — Trusted puppet companion. Jacques also instructed Nosk, who respectfully addressed it as “Mr. Jacques” 296 300.
• Kronos — Initially a useful connection to the Argel Family; later a target of coercive recruitment and robbery. Kronos killed him and appropriated his characteristic, possessions, and identity 136 243 294 296 300.
• Ikanser Bernard — Church subordinate who reported difficulties to him and carried out his instructions concerning Kronos’s access to Roselle’s collection 131.
• Greenton — Former junior who surpassed him in cultivation. Their contact became limited after Greenton became an angel 337.
• God of Steam and Machinery — Deity he faithfully served. Near death, Horamick pinned his hopes on obtaining divine help 293 296.

Posthumous Identity and Legacy

Inheritance and Impersonation

Kronos used Horamick’s Scholar of Yore characteristic and the formula Horamick had delivered to switch to the Paragon Pathway. Arianna first separated the accumulated lower-Sequence characteristics to reduce the danger of the advancement 297 298 299.

On Arianna’s advice, Kronos then assumed Horamick’s identity to infiltrate the Church of Steam and Machinery. Jacques’s memories supplied information about Horamick’s possessions and preparations. Fan Aistin also impersonated him through the puppet after it acquired a Faceless characteristic 298 300 301 324.

• Rumored angelhood: Kronos’s excuse that Horamick was occupied with potion research grew into a rumor that he was approaching angelhood 300.
• Nosk’s advancement: Nosk eventually became a demigod under the impostor’s supervision. His original upbringing under Horamick helped fulfill a slot in Kronos’s Knowledge Mentor ritual 335.
• Faith and anchors: Faith directed toward Horamick passed to Kronos as the living user of his identity, helping stabilize Kronos after advancement 392.
• Angel status and transfer: Arianna deliberately exposed “Horamick’s” angel status, prompting Kronos’s transfer from Backlund to the Cathedral of Machinery and his appointment over the Enlightenment Monastery 415 418.

Exposure

After the war, “Horamick’s” absence during the church’s crisis triggered an investigation. The Cathedral of Machinery issued an arrest warrant, but could not determine whether its archbishop had defected or had been replaced by an impostor 452.

Kronos later openly confronted Stiano over both the church’s schemes against the Argel Family and Horamick’s attack, allowing Stiano to connect him to the disappearance 486.