Part 2

Six feminine figures were gathered at the center, their skins glistening with sweat and grease. Parts of their lithe bodies were covered in chitinous armour of a shimmering deep amber, particularly their arms, legs and groins, as well as the shell around the wings growing out of their shoulder blades. All six of them crowded around something. It was impossible to discern what just from looking, but the muffled protests from the bottom of the dogpile revealed that they were swarming a single man. Each of their slender frames pushed him down, eagerly rubbing their soft flesh against him as if their skin needed contact with his body for the to persist. Their faces warped with lecherous intent, their expressions turned feral with lust as they panted and drooled. Gone was the least trace of lucidity from their eyes. Their gazes roamed his faintly struggling form like wild animals.
Any resistance he could muster only enticed them further. They grabbed his writhing arms, pushed him back to the floor so they could have their way with him and explore his body from top to toe with their tongues.

Their onslaught of warped infatuation came to a sudden end. They froze in place. Slowly, they turned their necks toward the entrance, where their new guest had just made her presence known.
Catalina sighed in disappointment. There was no devil there. Those were Devil Bugs.
Filthy, disease ridden monster girls that fester in the garbage. Must have been attracted by some monk who just couldn't keep his habitat tidy. Soon after they spread throughout the abbey like wildfire. The monks must have fled shortly after, but not before leaving that poor fellow to his fate.

One of the bug ladies raced towards her next playtoy on all four.
The Grand Master had no intention to accommodate her. She unsheathed her sword in a quick narrow slash. The bug dodged away from the blade’s course, leaping at her prey.
With a fluid redirect, Catalina turned the miss into a hit as her sword’s quillon snapped the bug’s collarbone. She screamed. Collapsing to the floor, as if plucked from the air. Desperately she scrambled to her feet, even as her arm dangled uselessly like a dead appendage. The Grand Master had reeled her sword arm back by then, unleashing a punch using the crossguard as knuckle-dusters. The pommel impacted the insect’s jaw. With a resounding crunch, she was launched across the room. The bug slammed into the opposite wall with the back of her neck, landing on a twitching heap on the floor.

The attack hadn’t even ruffled so much as a hair on the head of the armoured knight. She stood unphased by the entrance, looking at what happened as exactly what it was: squashing a bug.
She stepped into the chamber nonchalantly, letting her spirit energy spike like a geyser. The room filled with torrents of mana. Invisible to the naked eye. Yet monster girls were sensitive to spirit energy, for they sustained themselves on it. To them, it appeared like an inexorable storm of killing intent. The air was suffocating. They scuttled closely together. Too scared to even blink. They stared blankly as they saw her approaching. Slowly. Inevitably. Like a spectre of judgement and vengeance.

Catalina raised her arm over her head and opened up her palm, “Incantatio Mali Exstinguens!”
A flash of gold pierced the shadows of the room. Anyone inside was blinded by its brilliance. The bugs shrieked from beyond the light, as if the air had become suffused with acid. That spell conjured a divine light which seared the flesh of monsters, sparing any humans caught in its embrace. The Devil Bugs barrelled past her on all four. Out through the doors with blinding speed. The one bug the Grand Master had crushed trailed behind. It was amazing she even managed that on three legs. But with enough motivation she managed to just about keep up, with the occasional burst of extra speed. Some of the Knight Brothers jumped out of the way. Others tried to stab them while the bugs scrambled past, but so fast were they there was not a chance. By the time they disappeared into the shadows, it was clear those monster girls would live for that day.

The light faded from Catalina’s hand. They had escaped. In ages past, the monsters would have burned to cinders the moment the radiance touched their skin. The new generation of monsters seemed to elude the magic, however. No matter. They would never again set foot in Andethyst.
The man crawled towards Catalina. His monk habit torn to shreds, revealing his spindly physique. He had a thick beard and long grey hair. His boney fingers grabbed Catalina's surcoat meekly, looking up at her with eyes swelling with tears, “...Thank you.”
He stumbled onto his feet to embrace her in a tight hug. He cried into her shoulder, “Thank you…So much… The Chief God has shone her light on me… Oh, I must be blessed… You… You are my… My hero. My guardian angel. You… You...”

The remainder of his sentence was left unspoken. He let go of the hug. Then stepped back, to unlodge the Grand Master's blade from his ribcage.
He stared at her in anger and betrayal. His eyes were screaming, though his lungs could no longer utter a sound. After his hand had brushed against his habit, he found an odd warmth on his palm. He raised his hand before his eyes. His vision shifted into a blur, yet he could make it out through the haze. There was no way he could ever mistake it for anything else. Blood. Red as a rose. He backed away. His knees trembled. His feet struggled to find the floor on their way down, and he collapsed.
His quivering of died down, and his eyes turned glassy.

The Knight Brothers entered then, to find the unmoving husk of what once was laying at the grand master's feet.
“My lady Grand Master… That... That really wasn’t necessary, was it?”

Catalina leered behind her at the knight brother with the audacity to speak.
He stopped in his tracks, “I mean… Probably he didn’t know who he laid hands on was the Grand Master of the Knights of Meruvia. And… Uh, after surviving a monster encounter... I mean we could have moved him for you...”
“Let me be perfectly clear,” Catalina said coldly, as she wiped her blade on her surcoat, “I don’t shed blood for a mere breach of human convention. This was divine ordinance. After a good thirty years of exposure to the demonic energy of so many monsters... He had turned into an incubus. Of that there is no doubt. All those who fall to the demonic taint must be destroyed. That is what the Chief God decrees.”
“...I see.” He sighed, looking down at the lifeless body, “So there was nothing we could have done to help him?”

“I spared him an existence of serving the corrupt will of the Demon Lord. To undo the good work for which he had dedicated his life. That is helping him enough.” Catalina sheathed her sword, then turned to the rest of her men, “Let’s go now, men. We’ll cover our losses and return to Josephburgh Castle. Today’s been a bust.”
“Hey, now Chief.”
Cedric said that as he approached, black hair flowing down the neck, “They'll probably be able to restore Adenthyst to its former glory after this. Wouldn’t exactly call that a bust.”
“Hmph,” Catalina stared angrily at him. He had a point. What she really wanted, though, was to find a cure for her Ceta, “Very well. But let us make contact with whoever becomes the abbot, and have him instruct his monks to keep the place exceedingly tidy at all times. If I have to come back and clean up their mess again, I swear, heads will fly.”