Fanfic / astra inclinant, sed non obligant

astra inclinant, sed non obligant is an Evillious Chronicles Alternate Universe Fic by houfukuseisaku.

One fateful night, Adam asks Eve if she wants to venture into the forest to gather fruits. She says no. The consequences of this seemingly insignificant choice go far past what anyone could have predicted, and the history of Evillious is transformed beyond imagination. The Demons of Deadly Sin do not come to be...and the Angels of Heavenly Virtue take their place.

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This fanfic provides examples of:

• Acting Unnatural: Cherubim's first attempt at acting like Sateriasis is almost comically overconfident and self-aggrandizing. Miraculously (considering that the entire Venomania household has just been found slaughtered), Marquis Glassred still buys it. Thankfully, Cherubim gets better at it over time.
• Adaptation Name Change: Usually a Justified Trope on account of the increasingly different circumstances the characters originate from.
  • Arte and Pollo's counterparts are named Artemisia and Apollonia, or Mis and Lon for short. They aren't actually Arte and Pollo since Hänsel and Gretel don’t reincarnate.
  • Ney Marlon is born as Narcissa Lucifen d'Autriche, being the child of Arth and Prim in order to produce an heir when Anne's mud body leaves her infertile. That said, she does use Ney as an alias when she goes King Incognito. Subverted when she starts going by Ney as her actual name after escaping her execution.
• Adaptation Origin Connection: Eater in his bear form is made into the bear that attacked Eve in her childhood as opposed to a random wild bear.
• Adaptational Angst Downgrade: Clarith is noticeably more outgoing than her canon counterpart since the discrimination against the Netsuma clan isn't nearly as bad here.
• Adaptational Badass
  • Clarith takes an interest in learning magic at a young age, eventually becoming proficient in fire magic and Netsuma alchemy. Canon Clarith has no combat skills at all.
  • Ayn is a decent swordsman in canon, but most of his exploits in Elphegort's army occur offscreen and he dies protecting Michaela. Here, he survives the revolution and gets to really hone his sword skills. He also gains the ability to transform into a bear after inheriting Allen's pelt, a power he uses to great and awesome effect.
• Adaptational Gender Identity
  • Eater is a trans boy in this fic, whereas he was cis in the original.
  • Implied with Mikhail, whose gender isn't explicitly stated but is referred to exclusively with they/them pronouns. Canon Mikhail used he/him.
• Adaptational Heroism
  • Irina takes Elluka's place as the mage gathering the vessels and protecting the world from their influence as penance for destroying Levianta.
  • The original Sateriasis wholeheartedly encourages Cherubim to pursue Gumina romantically, a stark contrast to his murderous jealousy in canon.
  • Downplayed with Prim Marlon. Many of her actions aren't anywhere near as heinous as they were in canon, e.g. allowing Kyle to pursue his interest in painting, or conceiving an heir for Lucifenia when Anne is infertile. In this continuity, her obsession with Anne manifests as intense adoration and devotion instead of hatred and spite, but she is ultimately the same cold and calculating HER at her core and is more than willing to commit atrocities in Anne's name.
  • Mikhail Asayev is never possessed by the Demon of Envy, and thus never forms Neo Apocalypse. Instead, they're quite helpful to our heroes, using the Twin Blades of Levianta to soothe the spirits of the dead and detect the Vessels of Virtue.
• Adaptational Sexuality: Multiple characters are shown as being attracted to or in an active relationship with those of the same sex, whether exclusively or in addition to the opposite sex. In contrast, almost every relationship in the source material is straight, with exceptions like Lolan Eve or Clarith and Michaela being few and far between.
• Adaptational Villainy
  • Kiril takes Irina's place as the "evil" immortal mage, quickly losing his grip on his sanity and deluding himself into believing that he's Elluka. As "Elluka Clockworker", she manipulates everyone around her to spread evil and ruin, allegedly for the sake of being a "family" with Irina and Kiril again.
  • Leonhart is almost unrecognizable, encouraging Princess Narcissa to rule the citizens with fear and abusing his adoptive daughter Germaine. He later overthrows the Lucifen dynasty and invades Elphegort, Asmodean, and Beelzenia.
  • Germaine herself initially only exists to please her father and carry out his plans. Her only apparent desire of her own is her intense possessiveness over Narcissa; it’s Germaine who calls for the genocide of Netsuma women after learning that Narcissa is in love with one, kickstarting Leonhart's invasion of their neighboring countries. After she manages to take the Angel of Temperance's power for herself and gets crowned Queen of Lucifenia, she gets even worse, feeding off of innocent people's life force and ruling Calgaround with an iron fist.
• Alternate Universe Fic: In place of the Demons of Sin, Evillious's history is shaped by the influence of the Angels of Virtue.
• Arc Words: "Give everything over to me" and variations thereof.
• An Arm and a Leg: Arth loses his arm in the carriage accident. This is actually an improvement since he originally died in said accident.
• Art Attacker: Gumillia enchants Margaret's paintbrush so that its paint creates physical constructs, allowing her to join the fight against the skeletons under Yukina's control.
• Ascended Extra
  • Gumina's bodyguard Carol Shields plays a bigger role during the Chastity arc and goes on to be a Legacy Character in the same vein as Bruno, with her name being adopted by trusted second-in-commands in the Association.
  • Hakua Netsuma becomes one of the central characters in the Chastity arc, actively searching for her missing sister Haru and enjoying a romance with "Cherubim" along the way.
  • Josef Crim goes from a Posthumous Character that Carlos impersonates to Banica's mentor in cooking and an agent of Elluka's tasked with stealing the Vessel of Temperance.
  • Somi Hedgehog's relevance in the original was limited to holding Carlos hostage and subsequently allowing him to encounter AB-CIR. Here, he's an active participant in Elluka's plan to produce a child descended from three angel contractors and assists her in torturous experiments on his prisoners.
  • Ayn is much more prominent in the Humility arc than his Pride counterpart, being close friends with Clarith since childhood and running away from the village with her and Allen. He later befriends Narcissa and joins the Resistance.
  • Catherine is given a human mud body by Lich and ends up adopting Clarith.
  • Margaret Blankenheim is appointed by Prim as Kyle's art tutor and acts as his surrogate mother after he loses his memory. She later goes on to play a major role in Yukina's investigation.
• Bad Black Barf: Yukina starts hacking up globs of dark ooze after being attacked by Germaine, and it soon gets to coming out of her nose and eyes as well. The stuff flows out of her face nonstop for three days.
• Because You Were Nice to Me: Though the Angel of Chastity regards Sateriasis-as-Cherubim as a corrupt soul beyond saving at first, his consistent kindness towards it makes it feel love for the first time in a century and deeply regret assimilating half his soul. Sadly, by the time it starts trying to salvage his soul, it's so deteriorated that he dies soon afterwards.
• Big Eater: Vlad devours several bowls of rice in quick succession and is still hungry.
• Blood Knight: Since his sister isn't dead in this continuity, Gast Venom genuinely enjoys the thrill of combat instead of fighting to find a place to die.
• Clock of Power: The Vessel of Diligence is a pocket watch, and the Angel within it can artificially invigorate people, stop time, and raise the dead from their rest.
• Composite Character: Catherine assumes the role of Clarith's adoptive mother.
• Crazy Enough to Work: Meta is able to enter her own Mental World and meet her personified HER Syndrome by trying out the Body Swap Technique on herself.
  Meta: Wow. Didn't think I'd manage it. All those magic lessons with Eve, all that diligence really paid off. What a surprise, right?
  Malice: You're a very strange sort, to twist the Swap Technique into... this.
• Cue the Sun: Inverted. Once Margaret manages to knock the Vessel of Diligence out of Yukina's hands, the mid-noon sun that had been in the sky for several hours transitions near instantly to dark midnight.
• Curiosity Causes Conversion: As Meta's HER Syndrome given (mental) form, Malice is at first adamant on fulfilling its purpose to kill and destroy, but wants to see if Meta is right in her insistence that they can be loved by Adam and Eve. It's not only loved, but also grows to love them back.
• Death by Adaptation: The fragments of god are inadvertently stolen by Adam and Eve, leaving Hänsel and Gretel unable to reincarnate after death.
• Demoted to Extra: Aside from Yukina, the Freezis family appears much less frequently than in canon. Keel only has a few lines when the Resistance asks for his aid, and Mikina and their other children don’t appear at all.
• Dies Differently In The Adaptation: After Lucifenia falls to Leonhart's coup, Prim dies out of grief for Arth and Anne’s legacy instead of being killed by Ney.
• Early-Installment Weirdness: Zigzagged. The earlier chapters include illustrations interspersed with the text, but these stop appearing around the end of the Chastity arc. Then they start showing up again in the late Humility arc.
• Emergency Impersonation: At Gumina's urging, Cherubim pretends to be Sateriasis to cover up the fact that he's missing while they search for him. It works since Cherubim lies about receiving a scar as an excuse to hide his face. It also helps that no one knows that Sateriasis even has a brother.
• Enfant Terrible: Hänsel and Gretel, who attack Adam and Eve unprovoked and ultimately kill Meta.
• Evil Mask: The Vessel of Humility is four of these, each modeled after a different animal (butterfly, owl, crow, and fox). On top of making the wearer less noticeable, they also affect the wearer's personality, rendering them more self-effacing and subservient. The latter property was exploited by Prim to control Narcissa and Kay, and by Elluka and Leonhart to control Germaine.
• Evil Me Scares Me: Sateriasis makes a contract with the Angel of Chastity for this reason, as being cut by the katana induced a bloodlust in him that remains even after he kills everyone in the Venomania mansion.
• Feel No Pain: Mud golems can't feel pain on account of not having nerve endings. This is one of the small mercies in Allen's death by burning at the stake.
• Healing Factor: Exploited by Banica, who takes advantage of her Angel's regeneration power to endlessly cook pieces of her body into her dishes.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Meta dies protecting Adam and Eve from Hänsel and Gretel.
• I Ate WHAT?!: Josef is horrified to discover that Banica mixed her own blood into the batter of the takoyaki she fed him.
• An Ice Person: Irina's go-to spell, being able to shape icicle spears, handcuffs, and many more things; canon Irina's preferred spell was her blue fire magic. This should be a fairly big clue that it's actually Behemo's soul in her body.
• Identical Stranger: Allen isn't at all related to the princess in this fic, but still looks almost identical to her save for their differing eye colors. Similarly, Prim mistakes Riliane for Anne for a decent while, despite Riliane not being her daughter.
• Identity Amnesia
  • Sateriasis accidentally wipes more of his memories than he means to when he contracts with the Angel of Chastity, which leads to him falsely believing himself to be Cherubim when Irina, unaware that it isn't his, hands him Cherubim's diary.
  • Kay Blankenheim is actually the missing Prince Kyle, who first lost his memories of Narcissa and Prim when Elluka exorcised the Angel of Temperance from him. Then he was left traumatized after his beloved half-sister Kay suddenly died in front of him. He screamed her name so many times that after he trauma blocked the memory, he thought his own name was Kay.
• The Illegible: A variant with Runic Magic. Clarith often smudges or otherwise messes up her alchemy runes, though she's prodigious enough that they work anyway.
  Riliane: Clarith, we'll work on the ritual together. [...] In the meantime, you should practice your alchemic circles. They look like shit.
• Insomnia Episode: The entire town of Calgaround becomes unable to sleep for days on end thanks to a Mind Controlled Yukina using the Angel of Diligence's power.
• Iron Lady: After the Chastity arc comes to a close, Hakua becomes the first female Prime Minister of Elphegort and spends the majority of her service fighting against the misogyny and discrimination against the Netsuma within the country. The effects of her efforts can still be felt centuries later during the Humility arc.
• Ironic Name: Narcissa is self-deprecating to a fault and uncomfortable with being praised.
• Kill It with Fire: How Allen dies, taking Narcissa's place after Leonhart orders her public execution by burning at the stake. Since he's a mud golem, his body hardens, cracks, and falls apart as he dies.
• King Incognito: Princess Narcissa regularly dons a disguise to distribute food to her citizens during times of famine, and no one recognizes her due to the perception-warping powers of the Angel of Humility.
• Lazy Alias: After Irina has been going by IA Netsuma for a while, she decides it's about time to change her name again so as not to attract too much fame. What does she come with? Ai Netsuma.
  Hah, wow. I'm terrible at this. But it'll have to do.
• Light Is Not Good: It quickly becomes apparent that this is the case with the Angels of Virtue as they are not above hurting or taking advantage of their hosts or others to spread their "salvation". Despite their supposed holiness, they practically ooze so much malice that Irina soon realizes that the "virtuous woman" they were made from was an HER.
• Lighter and Softer: Not by much, given that this is still Evillious we're talking about, but the story is noticeably less grim in tone, with several characters being kinder or more heroic than their canon counterparts, living past their original deaths, and/or being redeemed or forgiven for their misdeeds.
• Loss of Identity: Kiril's sense of self rapidly deteriorates as a result of cycling through several mediums and personas within a short time frame. After possessing Lilien Turner, he comes to believe that he's Elluka and uses her name from then on.
• Marionette Master: Elluka relies on various Clockwork Creatures to do her bidding in both subterfuge and combat.
• Merger of Souls: Irina merges Hakua's soul with Cherubim's to repair the damage done by the Angel of Chastity, but this turns out to be a band-aid solution.
• Mystical Plague: Filling in for Gula disease is Pura disease, which makes its victims overeat until their stomachs are bloated, vomit it all back out, and then refuse to eat until they starve to death. The only way to survive is to eat just enough not to be hungry, but without approaching fullness.
• Named by the Adaptation
  • Phantom Thief Platonic's real name is revealed to be Mary Calgaround.
  • Clarith's adoptive mother is named Ludmila, or Mutti for short, though her real name turns out to be Catherine.
  • Kyle's art tutor Margaret is given the last name Blankenheim.
• Once More, with Clarity: One of Platonic's few remaining memories is being sent on a mission in Demilamb to steal a wine glass from a visiting noble's daughter. She was caught, and changed her hairstyle after seeing her twintails on numerous wanted posters of her. After Banica recognizes her as Mary Calgaround, she slowly remembers that she was that visiting noble's daughter and that she was abducted by Elluka, who cut her hair as part of destroying her identity. Those wanted posters were actually missing person posters.
• Original Character
  • Cagliostro Netsuma is Raisa's son. Though initially blaming Meta for his mother's death, he warms up to her after seeing that she's truly repentant for her crimes as a member of Apocalypse. He gifts her some items that Raisa had wanted to give her, which are later made into the Vessels of Virtue.
  • Malice is the name given to Meta's personified HER Syndrome. Developing thoughts and desires beyond the scope of its initial destructive purpose, it goes on to become the Angel of Temperance.
  • Bruce and Lauren Trovoc are bakers who hire Allen to work for them.
• Our Homunculi Are Different: The mud bodies that Lich makes can be made in a closer simulation of life than the ones in the original story via the addition of fire and air.
• Our Vampires Are Different: Aybee Cee is artificially transformed into a vampire by Somi's experimentation, and Aybee goes on to turn Carlos as well out of pity for his failing health. They are only able to consume blood as human food tastes awful to them. They possess increased strength and speed and can elongate their nails into claws at will; their bodies also crumble to dust upon death.
• Out-Gambitted: Banica manages to pull this off against the Angel of Temperance, twice. First, she traps it inside her psychological world before she forms Psychic Links with her citizens, preventing it from exerting any influence over the connections and leaving Banica in control while still using its power. The second time, she transfers a portion of her soul to Carlos every time he drinks her blood, eating the seeds from the Vessel of Patience each time to prevent Carlos himself from coming under the Angel's control. In doing so, she successfully escapes its claim on her soul and ekes out one last deal to extend Carlos's lifespan.
• Perception Filter: The Angel of Humility can make the wearers of its vessels less noticeable, the degree of which varies. Princess Narcissa uses this power to distribute food to her citizens without anyone recognizing her, while Kay and Seraph become nigh-invisible to gain an advantage while fighting Clarith and Ayn.
• Permafusion: Banica and the Angel of Temperance with Carlos, as a result of Banica transferring her soul to him through her blood.
• Point of Divergence: On the night that she would have stolen Meta's children, Eve hears a suggestion from the forest (actually Michaela) telling her that something's about to happen and decides not to go out to gather fruit.
• Polyamory: Quite a few - Adam, Eve, and Meta; Karchess, Yufina, and Martius; Muzuri, Megour, and Ron...
• Psychic Link: Banica establishes one with all of the townspeople in her territory, including her servants, by feeding them food made with her flesh and blood, infused with concentrated magic from the Angel of Temperance. She can read all of their thoughts, feel their emotions, and see through their eyes, and vice versa. It's not quite a Hive Mind since they're all still technically separate, and the link breaks down if they go long enough without eating parts of her.
• Rape as Drama: It's not directly shown, but while controlling Maylis's body, the Angel of Temperance is suddenly overcome by its old HER nature and rapes Cherubim. Maylis becomes pregnant with his child, though no one holds it against her since it was also against her own will.
• Reincarnated as the Opposite Sex: Lich incarnates into the Gretel body that he made and takes on the name Riliane. Interestingly, both the narration and other characters change which pronouns they refer to him with, depending on whether "Lich" or "Riliane" is being used at the moment.
• Related in the Adaptation
  • Played with. Seth still isn't related to them by blood, but Hänsel and Gretel recognize him as their father and creator; originally, they didn't know him.
  • Clarith was named after the name that her birth mother kept mumbling before she died: Clarisse. Clarisse is later revealed to be her mother's sister and Mariam's original name, making her Clarith's aunt.
• Replacement Goldfish: To his terror, Somi realizes that he's this to Elluka, and that their married couple dynamic is a result of her living out a fantasy of someone else. The terror comes when he also realizes that since he's not that someone else, he is ultimately expendable.
• Seven Heavenly Virtues: The Angels, obviously.
• Shout-Out: The Angel of Temperance makes a comment on Banica having "the appetite of a people-pleaser", a reference to a song of the same name by English VOCALOID producer GHOST.
• Spanner in the Works: Carlos ends up being one in Somi and Elluka's plan simply by not having a contract with the Angel of Patience. Because Somi falsely assumed he did based off his consumption of the vessel's seeds, he is caught completely off guard by Banica's and the Angel of Temperance's continued survival in Carlos's body, and their child is only descended from two angel contractors instead of three like Elluka wanted.
• Spared by the Adaptation
  • The initial premise of the fic, with Meta being taken in by Adam and Eve and getting to raise her children alongside them. Too bad that goes out the window when Hänsel and Gretel themselves kill her.
  • Cherubim-as-Sateriasis goes on to start a family with Gumina despite the tragedy of his brother's death.
  • Josef Crim gets to be his own character instead of being killed by AB-CIR before we meet him.
  • After they join into one body, Banica and Carlos live a long, happy life together with Banica's servants.
  • Mariam survives Kay leaving her for dead and lives past the revolution, even recovering her memories of her old life in the process.
  • King Arth lives to the Humility arc since he only needed his arm to be replaced with mud, rather than his whole body.
  • Gast's sister Sarah escapes Death by Origin Story and appears alongside him under the name Seraph Venom, working as a spy for Marlon.
  • Ayn lives past the revolution as a result of not joining the Elphegortian army.
  • Margaret is willingly brought on by Prim as Kyle's art tutor, averting her political imprisonment and subsequent suicide via Gift. Her husband, however, is not so lucky.
• Split Personality: Meta meets the Anthropomorphic Personification of her HER Syndrome inside her psychological world. Dubbed "Malice", it quickly becomes more than a base impulse to destroy. It later becomes capable of physically splitting from Meta, doing so to protect Adam and Eve right before being killed by Hänsel.
• Surveillance Drone: Elluka can perceive through the eyes and ears of her clockwork creations, which are usually bluebirds but can include gine dolls and artificial eyes as well.
• That Man Is Dead: A heroic example in Narcissa choosing to go by Ney, as it indicates that she's growing past Prim's control over her life.
• Time Stands Still: One of the powers of the Angel of Diligence, though played with in that people seem to be able to keep moving around just fine while the world freezes around them.
• Torches and Pitchforks: Clarith, Ayn, and Allen are driven to flee from Yatski when a mob shows up at their house accusing Allen of being an evil forest spirit and Mind Controlling Ayn into falling in love with him. Mutti stays behind to stall them while they escape.
• Tyke Bomb
  • Elluka semi-regularly abducts children and brutalizes them into becoming her pawns after stripping them of their identity, including Josef, Mis, Lon, Platonic, and Mariam.
  • Germaine is groomed from a young age into an obedient powerhouse by Leonhart's abuse and Elluka transferring the Angel of Temperance into her. She's completely content with carrying out Leonhart's every order, except where Narcissa's safety is concerned.
• Unrelated in the Adaptation: Riliane and Allen are not Arth and Anne's children, instead being mud golems crafted in the image of Hänsel and Gretel for Lich and Eater to incarnate into.
• Villain Respect: The Angel of Temperance grows to respect Banica after being Out-Gambitted twice in a row.
  Angel of Temperance: I can’t believe it! I can’t believe it. To have outwitted me not just once, but twice…! You’re truly a piece of work, you know that? And to think I ever looked down on you, Banica Conchita.
• Voluntary Shapeshifting: As long as a forest spirit has a piece of their animal form on their person, they can change back into that form even outside of the Millennium Tree Forest, similarly to selkies. This ability isn't exclusive to the forest spirits; only the animal remnant is necessary, as demonstrated when the human Ayn uses Allen's bear pelt to transform.
• The Watcher: Vlad Tuberci seems to be hanging out in a pocket dimension outside time and observing the events of the story through an akashic recorder.
• What If?: Meta is spared from her death at Eve's hands and is instead allowed to raise her children with the Moonlits. This creates a domino effect leading to Hänsel and Gretel killing her and creating the Seven Heavenly Virtues from her remains. The rest of the story is essentially an inverse version of the original, though the differences become more pronounced as the fic goes on.
• Wholesome Crossdresser: Irina briefly pulls this off after commissioning Lukana to make her a suit, though she presumably couldn't wear it anymore after swapping bodies with Haru since it was tailored to her measurements. This is the biggest clue that Behemo's soul is controlling her body.
• Yandere
  • Germaine, for Narcissa. She calls for the genocide of Netsuma women after learning that Narcissa is in love with one, which Leonhart uses as an excuse to invade Elphegort and Asmodean. She's also more than happy to sacrifice Allen to save Narcissa from her execution (though it's at least voluntary on his part).
  • Prim will do anything in her love for Anne, including but not limited to bringing her back to life as a mud golem, unleashing Pura disease on Beelzenia, and conceiving an heir with Arth for her when she can't.
• Your Soul Is Mine!: The Angels have a tendency to try and obtain the souls of their contractors in some way, with the Angel of Chastity absorbing half of Cherubim's soul before being forcefully stopped and the Angel of Temperance imprisoning its contractors, such as Maylis, inside its vessel after their deaths. It's implied that they're doing this to become "whole", i.e. become Meta again.