Ch.302297 – Horn Battle

In the past, there was a saying that if you couldn’t use magic, you should check if your education was lacking.

For example, to cast convection heat transfer magic commonly used during the 19th century Industrial Revolution, one needed to understand concepts like kinematic viscosity and thermal diffusivity coefficients.

Depending on the situation, you’d even need to adjust your own circuit formulas for density, specific heat capacity, viscosity, and thermal conductivity—truly a tremendous effort.

But the 21st century is different from the 19th.

With the establishment of systematic education systems, more people began studying magic.

Additionally, with the development of computational systems, magic officially registered with the Mana Works could be used with simplified procedures.

‘Now we’ve reached an era where if you can’t use magic, you should question if you lack money.’

I was having these materialistic thoughts even while heading to an amusement park.

After all, I was going more for “work” than “play.”

“NoName, we’re almost there.”

“Yawn. I’ve been awake for a while now.”

“There are so many people even in the morning. Looks like we’ll have to wait quite a while.”

While Professor Cheon looked around diligently searching for a parking spot, I secretly enjoyed the criminal act of lying flat across all three seats in the back of the car.

How comfortable it was without a car seat!

To wake myself up, I pressed the window button with my big toe and breathed in the cold air with all my might.

“Haaah. Whew.”

Beyond the wooden fence, I could start to see glimpses of the magnificent Neverland Castle and dizzying heights of various rides.

I picked up my phone from the floor and checked the messages I’d missed.

[Baek Hochan: You must have arrived at Neverland by now? Good luck, boss! Got any more adorable selfies?]

[NoName: Go die split in half.]

[Baek Hochan: (crying)(crying)(crying)]

[Baek Hochan: The review was suspended for the day so we couldn’t do anything… Please forgive me, princess ㅠㅠㅠ]

The 5-circle Devil’s Horns had been put on review suspension by the Korea Mana Works.

The reason was that they needed careful review and sufficient time to consider what consequences might arise if double casting became overused among the general public.

On their website, they posted a modest apology befitting a small company, and regretfully announced they would only sell the 3-circle “Simple Cast: Devil’s Horns – Projection” edition on October 31st.

[Baek Hochan: By the way, what color did you get, boss?]

[NoName: That’s a secret.]

[Baek Hochan: Wow, you won’t even tell me that.]

[NoName: I’m working right now. So CEO, please go do your job too.]

Bio-Akashic doesn’t have a separate marketing department, so my every move becomes the company’s image.

Bearing this heavy responsibility, I got out of the car.

My red skirt that reached my knees fluttered in the wind.

True to its modernized hanbok design, it had snap buttons inside making it easy to put on and take off.

I tightly fastened my black jeogori with oriental flower and butterfly embroidery and took Professor Cheon’s hand.

“Oh, wait a moment.”

I almost forgot the most important thing.

Before getting out of the car, I breathed on the window to fog it up and drew a magic circle on it.

[Innate Magic – Devil’s Horns Continued – Projection Horns]

A pair of horns protruded sharply from the top of my head.

About 10cm in length.

“Red today, I see?”

“Does it not suit me?”

“It suits you perfectly, NoName! Shall we go now?”

“Yes, let’s hurry, Dad.”

With Professor Cheon’s kind escort, I departed for the land of fantasy.

I could spot people wearing Devil’s Horns just like mine everywhere.

With the horns, waiting in attraction lines wouldn’t be so boring.

“I’m going to grow these horns to 1 meter today.”

“That much?”

“You need at least that to be called a true devil lord.”

If the horns are 1 meter long, wouldn’t I be over 2 meters tall?

* * *

The synergy between Halloween and the amusement park sent chills down the spines of Neverland employees.

Empty streets instantly filled with people, and individuals in various costumes hurriedly moved toward their destinations.

Couples who had planned to enjoy the day leisurely were already sitting on plaza benches, starting the “horn battles” that NoName had designed in advance.

Blue, white, red, black, yellow.

Among the five traditional colors, a man and woman with white and black horns faced each other and raised their auras.

“Ohhh… so this is how it works. It feels quite different!”

“Babe, how do you do this? Like this? Wow, amazing! How did that friend come up with this idea?”

Mana gathering around the horns.

The white horns emitted a strong light while the black horns exhaled thick fog.

Mana exceeding the capacity limit created sparks, bridging between the horns.

In the center, a mana particle sphere gradually expanded.

“…”

“…”

The couple flashed cold glares and simultaneously recited lines they’d seen in a fantasy movie the night before.

“Avada Kedavra!”

“Expelliarmus!”

Crackle-zap!

Straight projection beams extending toward each other.

Opposing mana collided, pushing against each other without yielding an inch.

The white beam pierced through the black fog, and the black fog devoured the white beam in return.

In this relationship of consuming and being consumed, the man’s black fog reached the woman’s horns first.

Her head jerked back dramatically as if she’d been flicked on the forehead.

“Ouch!”

“Yes! I won! Lord Voldemort is the best! That was definitely effective!”

Immediately, the woman’s horns shortened slightly, while the man’s grew by the same amount.

“Practice is over, give me back my horns…!”

“No way! I’m not giving them back. Go fight someone else to restore them, hahaha.”

Suddenly, the woman stood up and stomped her heel hard on the ground.

“Ugh… I’m leaving. Don’t follow me.”

“Huh…? Are you actually upset? Hey, what’s wrong!”

“How could you cast the forbidden killing curse on your girlfriend…? Are you even human?”

“I was just following the movie lines…”

“I said don’t follow me!”

A couple was on the verge of breaking up after being at Neverland, the land of dreams and hope, for just a few minutes.

NoName, who had been silently watching this interesting lovers’ quarrel from a distance, licked her mango ice cream and asked Professor Cheon:

“Dad, did you ever have love fights in the past?”

“Kuhak… cough cough!”

Professor Cheon spilled his juice and coughed violently.

“You didn’t?”

“It’s not that we never fought… but after a few fights, we stopped fighting much.”

“Why?”

“There was a lot to prepare. We had to rent an arena and get magic permits.”

“Ahaha…”

I wonder how seriously they fought to need such preparations.

NoName gave an awkward smile and looked ahead again.

“There are more people using your magic than I expected.”

“It’s all thanks to social media. At 150,000 won for a single use that can only be enjoyed for one day, you need to provide a reward or sense of achievement that matches that price, right?”

NoName had worked hard to create motivation for people to use the Devil’s Horns.

Vague effects like seeing mana in the air or feeling mana better weren’t tangible until you actually used it.

“You know what kind of people we Koreans are.”

“Well, a people of han—”

“We’re a people of PVP.”

“Hmm?”

Online, Koreans are a warrior race that even Vikings would bow to.

[NoNaMe_11]

[Real-time Average Length of Projection Horns]

[#2 Red: 10.03cm]

[#4 Blue: 9.95cm]

[#5 Yellow: 9.92cm]

[#3 Black: 10.01cm]

[#1 White: 10.09cm]

[This post is updated hourly.]

Additionally, she planned a kind of “challenge marketing” where people would compete in horn battles to see who could create the longest horns.

To increase participation, NoName had already started leaving comments for those who verified they had grown long horns.

[syj_1004]

10 consecutive horn battle wins proof shot. NoName come out! Let’s have a match! #DevilsHorns #HornBattleChallenge #Neverland

[Comments]

-(NoNaMe_11): Come to the front of the Candy House. I accept your duel.

└ (syj_1004): OMG it’s really her! Seriously?

And sometimes she didn’t shy away from duels like this.

“Waaah it’s me! Oh my god, NoName why is your hanbok so cute! Can I get your autograph after this is over?”

A man in vampire cosplay arrived, breaking through the crowd gathered around NoName.

Red horns, the same as NoName’s.

Being in the same faction meant they didn’t need to fight, but it didn’t really matter anyway.

Camera flashes clicked repeatedly.

NoName, checking from the corner of her eye, cleared her throat and raised her danso flute toward the man.

“Vampires were modeled after the English libertine Lord George Gordon Byron. Monsters who disturb good morals are not needed in this Confucian Joseon.”

“Wahaha! So cute, too cute! You danso murderer! I’ll finish you off right here!”

Whoosh!

Dark red flames erupted from the man, while bright vermilion flames blazed from NoName.

NoName recalled that in her past life, demons enjoyed horn battles from a young age.

Just being skilled with horns was enough to prove superiority over others.

‘Adults even fought life-or-death duels with horn battles, so that says it all.’

She was a girl who had reached the pinnacle of demonkind with just one horn.

NoName’s vermilion flames overwhelmingly dominated the man’s aura.

She controlled her power precisely at the point where the flames almost touched, skillfully inducing the man to exert his full strength.

“Nnngh!”

“You’re doing quite well for someone handling this for the first time.”

“Ugh… I didn’t notice when fighting others… but when you really go all out, this drains your energy like crazy!”

While aura is said to be a manifestation of will, humans and demons express it differently.

To create strong flames, humans imagine the size or intensity of the fire, while demons imagine the specific scale of damage those flames would cause.

It’s a difference between subject and object, but that single difference led to centuries of racial warfare.

“Whew, I give up!”

The vampire man raised both hands and fell backward onto his bottom.

NoName’s horns grew about half a span longer.

Her horns now stood tall toward the sky, larger than her own head.

“It was a good match. Where would you like me to sign?”

“I don’t have any paper. Would the back of my t-shirt be okay?”

“Of course.”

NoName nodded with a satisfied expression, and each time she did, her horns precariously sliced through the air.

Professor Cheon, watching from the side, asked a question.

“But won’t those long horns be inconvenient when you go indoors later?”

“It’s fine since they’re just mana particle clusters. They can be touched with hands wrapped in aura, but they just pass through other bodies or buildings.”

When NoName leaned her head against the wall, her horns passed through the stone wall without any resistance.

“Still, better to be careful.”

“It’s really a fun magic.”

“Would you like to try it now, Dad?”

“Now?”

“Yes. Waiting in line at the gift shop for a headband would take too long. It’s a waste of time.”

This was terrible value for money—rejecting a 5,000 won headband in favor of using 150,000 won magic.

But Professor Cheon, weak to his daughter’s earnest gaze, had no choice but to accept her proposal.

* * *

[NoName at Neverland??? (Video upload permission granted)]

[Views: 14K · 5 hours ago]

[Comments]

-That hanbok is fatally cute, insane

└ These days you can wear anything for Halloween, but hanbok is pretty funny lol

-Danso murderer lmao

└ Is she threatening to crack your skull with her danso if you don’t horn battle her?

-Aren’t those horns heavy? lol carrying them around is hilarious

└ It’s literally just mana. Not heavy at all.

└ Kind of awkward for everyday use, but must be super fun at festivals like this.

-Look at all those fans following her. Her recent popularity is really noticeable.

-The Academy Competition was epic entertainment lol

└ The other regions were all boring ㅠㅠㅠ Seems like Altair is still Korea’s top academy.

-(1:31) Favorite scene

-This is national treasure level footage, never delete it.

[My experience seeing NoName at Neverland]

Just got into a restaurant after seeing NoName in person, so writing my review.

I didn’t even know NoName was coming today, but my friends texted saying she was here, so I waited at the entrance.

I was worried I might have missed her, but after waiting a bit longer, there was no way I could miss her.

Dozens of people were following this tiny kid—she was like a world star.

If she decided to fight seriously, would she cut someone like me in half? Can’t even imagine lol…

Anyway, I had a chance to see her up close, greeted her father too, got an autograph and said goodbye. (Check out her cute cat signature lol)

In person, everyone says the same thing, but she really does look exactly like a doll.

On TV I thought she was just normally thin, but her face is seriously tiny.

Her body is so small that the proportions don’t show on screen.

Her personality is super polite and she greets everyone properly.

She’s mostly expressionless, but when she occasionally smiles, everyone cheers together, which was really funny lol (felt like an idol fan meeting)

And the rumored horn battles? She’s basically undefeated.

She lets younger kids win, but shows no mercy to everyone else lol. As expected of the creator?

Anyway, I’m so glad I came to Neverland and had this special experience!

[Likes: 137]

[Comments]

-She seems like she needs bodyguards at this point… a bit concerning.

└ Her dad is a war mage

└ Lol that makes sense. No one would dare mess with her then.

-So jealous ㅜㅜ

-Letting kids win is so sweet lol

-Sweet NoName (age 8)

-Two Devil’s Horns equals one VIP pass, who are these people buying them? Do they have money to burn?

└ But you get to meet NoName up close, right? Take selfies together too?

└ What’s so hard about waiting a little longer for rides lol? Seeing NoName up close is way better.

-Is NoName participating in the Magic Dream Contest today?

└ You genius! I’m going to save seats now lol

└ What’s the Magic Dream Contest?

└ It’s where people show off their best magic and win prizes

└ It was originally created to collect money from clans coming for promotion, but sometimes regular people participate and show all kinds of weird magic, so it’s worth watching.

-Can someone tell me which clans are participating today?

* * *

[Magic Dream Contest (16:30-18:00)]

[Halloween Special Event]

[Featuring Raon Clan and Cheoncheon Namgung Clan. (sponsored by ‘Raon’, ‘AzureSky’)]

Kim Han-gyeol, the grandson of the Raon Clan leader and a second-year Class A student at Cephiron Academy, saw a familiar face at Neverland.

‘Isn’t that NoName…?’

Why was the child who had declared she would take a break from the academy due to poor health at an amusement park?

He called out to the child who was walking away.

“Hey! NoName!”

The girl turned around sharply at the corner of the alley.

He couldn’t be mistaken. Who else would have such an outlandish hairstyle but NoName?

“Hi Han-gyeol! Fancy meeting a classmate in a place like this.”

And what were those tower-like horns on her head?

“Why are you here? Weren’t you supposed to be resting at home because you were sick?”

At the boy’s question, NoName slightly raised the corner of her mouth.

“When did I ever say that? Let’s just say I was faking it.”