The air around Sarah crackled with energy as she completed the incantation, the talisman glowing brighter and brighter until it was almost blinding. The Penunggu screeched, its form shifting and distorting, as if it were being pulled apart. Rizal’s body twisted in agony, but the spirit was weakening. It knew its time was up.

With a final, deafening scream, the Penunggu exploded in a burst of shadow, its power dissipating like smoke in the wind. Sarah fell to her knees, gasping for breath. The silence that had gripped Pasir Gudang for so long began to lift, the oppressive weight of fear slowly receding.

But even as the darkness faded, Sarah couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong. The town had been saved, but she had paid a price. A deep, lingering sense of unease gnawed at her.

She knew the Penunggu would return one day—because evil never truly disappears. It only waits.

And in the deepest corners of her mind, the whispers began again, soft and faint, just at the edge of her hearing.