Chapter 289 Goddess Aurelia ㉙
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
Honoka and the others stepped forward, forming a wall of white armor to protect Goddess Aurelia.
”Honoka…” I started, but she cut me off.
”What? I don’t want you calling me by my name,” she said, her eyes narrowing with a contempt that felt like a physical weight. “A bottom-feeder like you should stay in the corner where you belong. Just do nothing, like a good little loner.”
”Just a second ago, you were clinging to me, calling me ‘Master’ and acting all sweet,” I countered. “What the hell is your game?”
”Huh? What kind of sick fantasy is that?” Honoka replied with a sneer. “I’ve never said anything like that to you.”
(She’s writing it off as a delusion.)
”You rebel! You dare oppose the Goddess and disturb the peace?” Hina shouted, leveling her sword at me. Her mind had been completely “corrected”¹, reduced to a state of infantile obedience. It was a mirror image of our confrontation at the Demon King’s castle. “I’ll turn you into rust on my blade!”
”Reese, you too?” I asked.
”Yeah,” Reese replied. “Natsu, you were definitely a friend once. But if you’re going to be an enemy of the Goddess, then I don’t see how we can be friends anymore.”
”Tatei, Yokoo, even you guys?”
”Indeed,” Tatei said, his voice taking on a stilted, formal tone. “This humble one no longer considers thee a brother-in-arms de-gozaru.”
”I-is that so,” Yokoo added, looking away. “Sasaki-shi is nothing but a traitor. I don’t feel a shred of friendship for you anymore.”
All three of them were glaring at me with murderous intent.
”By the way, what happened to Sango and Alice?” I asked, testing them.
”Who might that be de-gozaru?” Tatei asked.
”I-I don’t know how you know the name ‘Sango-shi,’ but what are you trying to pull?” Yokoo stammered. “Why bring up someone who doesn’t even exist in this world?”
(They don’t even remember Alice and Sango… and they were always by their side.)
The Kijima sisters remained silent, simply readying their weapons as if they were machines.
”Yukiko, even you?”
”Um, who are you?” Yukiko asked. I knew she was bad with faces, but we had been together for so long. That reaction… it actually hurt.
”I don’t know who you are, but you’re a bad person for defying the Goddess,” she continued. “That makes you our enemy.”
”Yeah, that’s right,” Chihiro agreed. “He is… our enemy.”
”Mihiro… no, it’s Chihiro now, isn’t it?”
”Mihiro? Who is that?” Chihiro asked, sounding genuinely confused.
”Don’t lie to me,” I said. “You lived as a woman-as Mihiro-this whole time. You even said your heart was that of a woman.”
”Me? Becoming a woman?” Chihiro laughed. “What kind of joke is that? I’m a man, and my heart is that of a man. To think you were looking at me that way… it makes my skin crawl to think we were childhood friends.”
”It’s no use,” Mashiro added, mocking me. “He’s just a plain, talentless nobody who evokes no interest. Just because he’s become the Goddess’s enemy doesn’t change a thing. No, if anything, he’s gotten even more pathetic. Is this that ‘eighth-grader syndrome’² everyone talks about? You really are a child forever, aren’t you?”
Before I was summoned, I really was just a plain, powerless brat. It made sense that Mashiro wouldn’t care about me. Before I was summoned.
”How does it feel?” Goddess Aurelia laughed, puffing out her chest. “The sting of betrayal! They were your allies once, but look at them now. Once they learned the ‘truth,’ they all came to my side. How does it feel? Tell me! Ahahaha!”
I looked at the Goddess and let out a long, weary sigh. “This is pathetic.”
”Oh? Betrayal is ‘pathetic’ now? How cold,” Aurelia said. “Fine, then. I’ll let these children be the ones to deliver your final rites.”
”Heh… hehe… Hahaha!” I started laughing, the sound jagged and dry. “Give it your best shot. Though… it’s probably already too late.”
”Sore loser! Kill him now!” Aurelia shrieked.
But not one of them moved. Instead, there was a hollow, dry collapse as every single one of them crumbled into heaps of dirt.
”What? Why? What happened! What did you do!?” Aurelia screamed.
”Here’s a question,” I said, walking toward her. “Sin Magic³ is named after the Great Sins. But there is one attribute missing from the list, and there are sins that were cast out from the original ‘Deadly’ list. Do you know what they are?”
”What are you talking about? What does that have to do with this!?”
”It has everything to do with this. Look closely at what’s left of their bodies.”
”I said-! Wait, what is this? Why is everyone… why are they all just piles of soil!?”
Honoka and the others were gone. In their place were nothing but mounds of earth.
”‘Earth of Lamentation and Grief’… it’s the hidden Sin Magic,” I explained. “Originally, there weren’t seven sins, but eight: Pride, Vainglory, Wrath, Gluttony, Greed, Lust, Lamentation, and Grief. Eventually, Vainglory was merged with Pride, and Lamentation and Grief were tossed out for being ‘weak,’ replaced by Sloth. That’s when Envy was added to make the current Seven Deadly Sins.”
I continued my lecture as she cowered. “The known Sin Magics are ‘Pride’s Radiance,’ ‘Thunder of Wrath,’ ‘Darkness of Gluttony,’ ‘Flames of Envy,’ ‘Wind of Greed,’ ‘Ice of Sloth,’ and ‘Tidal Lust.’ None of them cover the element of Earth. The Earth Sin Magic is the one that was buried: ‘Earth of Lamentation and Grief.’ Its effect is simple: anyone who meets my eyes turns into a pile of soil. It’s like Medusa’s gaze, but while stone can be cured, these are just brittle mounds of dirt. They crumble at a touch. There is no coming back from this.”
”To think you’d slaughter your own comrades without a second thought,” Aurelia whispered. “You’re a heartless monster.”
”Hah! Don’t make me laugh,” I spat. “Did you really think I’d be shaken by a few cheap fakes? You really should have checked your work.”
I snorted at her. She had a lot of nerve calling me a monster.
”My real comrades-the ones freed from your shackles-would never turn on me,” I said. “Those things are dead, but my connection to the real ones hasn’t flickered once. Let me show you what’s actually happening to Honoka, Tatei, and Yokoo. I’ll show you exactly where they are.”
Images began to flicker into the air, revealing the true situation. And what was shown there was…
—
Summary:
Natsu is confronted by his former classmates who have been ‘corrected’ by Goddess Aurelia to hate him and forget their past. They mock him and prepare to attack, but Natsu reveals his hidden Sin Magic, ‘Earth of Lamentation and Grief’, which has already turned the classmates (revealed to be fakes) into piles of dirt. The chapter ends with Natsu preparing to show Aurelia the actual status of his real allies.
—
Trivia:
- The Seven Deadly Sins were historically Eight Sins.
- Vainglory was absorbed into Pride.
- Lamentation and Grief were removed for being ‘weak’ and replaced by Sloth.
- Envy is a relatively newer addition to the list.
- Natsu’s Sin Magic ‘Earth of Lamentation and Grief’ acts similarly to Medusa’s Petrifaction but is permanent and brittle.
- Chihiro was previously Mihiro and lived as a woman, but the ‘correction’ has reverted him to a strictly male identity.
- Yukiko’s inability to remember faces is a pre-existing character trait being exploited here
—
Character Insight:
Natsu demonstrates high emotional resilience and strategic thinking. He isn’t fooled by the fakes and has already set his trap before the dialogue even concluded. Aurelia’s ‘correction’ seems to target specific memories and identity markers, such as Chihiro’s gender identity.
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Behind the Scenes:
The author notes that the Eight Sins history is a real-world theological fact (the Octadecad of Evagrius Ponticus).
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TL Notes:
Notes:
• Aurelia – An ethereal goddess, heard only over the school intercom, announces reincarnation and later takes a physical form, retaining student memories. She is arrogant, calls herself a Goddess, holds Lil captive, and uses Natsu’s former friends to torment him, viewing war as entertainment and lamenting she cannot see into Greedia.
• Honoka – Petite maid in gleaming white armor, shimmering angelic skin, hidden wings, large breasts, lewd eyes under a pristine uniform. Former cold class‑rep who mocked Sasaki Natsuki, revived as his masochistic Goshujin‑sama, bound by his scent and a wish to bear his child, survived frozen stasis. Now an energetic Apostle of Lust, wields a Caduceus staff, heals with wind sorcery and wings, trembles with devotion, feels excluded, fiercely protects Natsuki, and serves as a loyal, sexually obsessed companion in his harem.
• Hina – Yamato Hina, a serious, beautiful student‑council vice‑president with long straight hair and sharp eyes, is the Apostle of Pride. She wields fire magic and a sword, trained by Sieben and reborn as her Master’s servant; she sometimes calls him ‘Onii‑chan’ and her mind regresses to childlike. As a Japanese associate of the protagonist, she despises nuclear‑scale destruction, her mind infantilized and corrected to serve the Goddess, viewing conflict as a battle against a rebel.
• Reese – Jessica’s sister, a striking blonde, serves as the Apostle of Wrath—short‑tempered, impulsive, and armed with the gear she first received. Once under Sugita’s control, she fell into despair and exposure when the effect ended, and now, as a former friend of Natsu, she places loyalty to the Goddess above their past bond.
• Natsu – The protagonist and ‘Avenger’. Formerly considered a plain, powerless loner before being summoned. Currently possesses Sin Magic and a connection to his true comrades.
• Tatei – Tatei Kozoo, 186 cm tall and now gaunt at 52 kg, once a solid otaku friend of Natsumi and a bully alongside the narrator and Yokoo. He uses Materialization Alchemy to forge class gear—most notoriously the X‑shaped restraint used in Sugita’s execution. Former best friend of Natsu, he now speaks in a stilted, samurai‑like warrior style, no longer recognizing her as a brother‑in‑arms, and serves as Sasaki’s loyal retainer.
• Yokoo – Natsuki Sasaki’s former best friend, modeled after Yoko from Comic Party, now addresses him with cold formality using “-shi,” viewing him as a traitor for his role in the class’s sacrificial bullying pact. Encased in Living Armor and wielding Materialization Summoning, he appears alongside Tatei in the rescue party, his once-familiar demeanor replaced by distant formality, yet still tied to Natsuki by shared trauma and unresolved loyalty.
• Tate – Male Otaku friend of Reese. Gaunt and thin, wears glasses. Possesses Materialization Alchemy skill.
• Sasaki – 168‑171 cm, 57‑59 kg, baby‑faced with black bangs, in green scale armor and a red muffler, wielding dual longswords. Former outcast gladiator “Seven” famed for “Seven Deadly Sins” and time‑compression, now master of a harem, violates souls, and seeks revenge in Maginoia with a self‑made sword that cuts divine armor.
• Alice – A small, adorable girl summoned by Yokoo. Based on the ‘Red’ and ‘Black’ Majin versions. Stronger than Tate or Yokoo. Celadon Rank Monster Hunter.
• Sango – A bunny-girl with long white hair and red eyes; younger sister of Torimaki Ichigo.
• Yukiko – Silver‑haired, crimson‑eyed True Ancestor vampire with porcelain skin, dressed in black Gothic Lolita and a daytime parasol; she flies cloaked in shadow. Notably terrible at recognizing faces, she has erased Natsu from memory and sees him only as the Goddess’s enemy.
• Yuki – Yuki Chihiro. Height 178 cm, weight 70 kg (Male). Natsumi’s childhood friend. A handsome, athletic top student in the soccer club.
• Chihiro – 178 cm, 70 kg male; handsome, athletic top student in the soccer club and Natsumi’s childhood friend. Formerly Mihiro, he identifies as a man and denies any past or desire to be a woman, despite Natsu’s claims of a shared history.
• Mihiro – 160 cm tall, B-W-H 82-55-80, short black hair; a handsome futanari known as the Apostle of Gluttony. She instantly absorbs skills, wields swift water-based sorcery and sword strikes, leads a loyal circle of disciples who admire her power. An associate of the protagonist, they/them, haunted by the salvation void left by forbidden art.
• Mashiro – Strikingly beautiful yet cold, this rank‑one student radiates immense mana. As the Master’s associate she provides ant‑biology data, betrays under the alias Apostle of Greed, wielding barrier and reflection magic such as Mirror Shade. Her Unique Skill works like a living dictionary, giving encyclopedic knowledge and informing the protagonist about Sky Temple Suria. She also mocks Natsu, calling his behavior “eighth‑grader syndrome.”
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Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
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