The whistler 3

Night enveloped the city in its dark cloak as Sue and Chia soared above the rooftops, their eyes frantically scanning the streets in search of El Silbón. The cold air cut across their faces, but adrenaline kept their senses sharp.

—Over there!

Chia shouted, pointing toward a figure moving through the shadows several blocks ahead.

It was him. Even wounded, El Silbón moved with unnatural speed, his grotesque form leaping from rooftop to rooftop with movements that defied human anatomy. The sack of bones hung from his back, bouncing with each jump, but it didn't seem to slow him down at all.

—How can he move so fast with that thing?

Sue muttered, increasing the power of her fire blasts to accelerate.

El Silbón leaped from a five-story building to another, crossing a gap of at least ten meters as if it were nothing. His gangly limbs extended, gripping the edge of the other building with fingers that sank into the concrete like it was butter.

Sue and Chia followed him, flying above the deserted street. The streetlights cast long, distorted shadows that danced on the pavement below.

The monster turned its head as it ran, looking at them with those empty eyes. Even from a distance, Sue could feel the malice emanating from him. Then he let out a sharp whistle that echoed between the buildings like a sinister bell.

—He's not getting away.

Sue said with determination, launching herself forward with a more powerful explosion.

They were gaining ground. The wound in El Silbón's chest was weakening him, his black blood leaving a trail on the roofs where he passed. Each time he landed, his movements were a bit clumsier, a bit slower.

But then the monster did something unexpected.

He stopped abruptly on the roof of a six-story apartment building. He turned completely toward them, his body twisting at impossible angles. The sack of bones fell at his feet with a wet, nauseating sound.

Sue and Chia slowed down, keeping a safe distance, hovering in the air in front of the building.

—What's he doing?

Chia whispered, feeling the darkness around her hands pulse nervously.

El Silbón opened his impossibly wide mouth and began to whistle again. But this time it was different. The sound was deeper, more resonant, vibrating through their bones. It was a hypnotic and terrifying melody that seemed to penetrate directly into their minds.

The building's lights began to flicker. One by one, the windows lit up as residents awakened, confused and frightened by the disturbing sound.

—Shit.

Sue muttered, realizing what was happening.

—He's drawing witnesses. He wants people to see what he's going to do.

El Silbón stuck his bony hand inside the sack and pulled something out. It was a long bone, probably a femur, covered in rotting flesh and dried blood. He held it high like it was a trophy, his whistle reaching a terrifying crescendo.

Then he attacked.

He launched himself from the building directly toward them, his limbs extended like the legs of a giant spider. The speed was incredible, much faster than should be possible for something so injured.

Sue barely had time to react. She released a massive explosion of fire, creating a wall of golden flames between them and the monster. The heat was intense, enough to melt metal.

But El Silbón passed through the flames as if they were mist.

His claw extended toward Sue's face, the bony fingers inches from her eyes. Chia reacted instinctively, creating a barrier of darkness that intercepted the attack just in time.

The impact was brutal. The barrier cracked, sending visible shockwaves through the air. Chia screamed from the effort, feeling her energy drain to maintain the protection.

Sue seized the moment. She concentrated pure light in her fist and struck the monster in the side, right where he already had a wound from her earlier swords. The impact resonated like thunder, and El Silbón was thrown backward, falling toward the street below.

But he didn't hit the ground.

Mid-fall, the monster extended his limbs and grabbed onto the side wall of the building. His fingers sank into the brick, stopping abruptly. Then he began to climb again, moving sideways like a giant crab.

—It can't be!

Chia shouted.

El Silbón jumped from the wall toward another building, this time an office building with large glass windows. He crashed through one of them, disappearing into the dark interior. The sound of breaking glass filled the night.

Sue and Chia looked at each other briefly before nodding. They both launched themselves toward the broken window, following the monster into the building's interior.

The interior was a labyrinth of office cubicles shrouded in darkness. Computers in standby mode cast a ghostly blue glow. Papers fluttered in the air from the draft entering through the broken window.

The whistle echoed everywhere, bouncing off the walls, impossible to locate. It was as if it came from all directions at once.

—Careful.

Sue whispered, her hands glowing with golden light, illuminating the area around her.

Suddenly, El Silbón appeared from behind a column, moving faster than before. He had left the sack behind, freeing himself of its weight. Now he was pure speed and ferocity.

His claws sliced through the air toward Chia. She raised a wall of black ice, but the monster simply passed through it, shattering it to pieces. Frozen fragments flew in all directions.

Chia rolled to one side, dodging by inches. Sue launched a spear of light that pierced El Silbón's shoulder, but the monster barely seemed to notice. He turned toward Sue with blinding speed.

The combat became chaotic. El Silbón moved through the building's shadows like a ghost, appearing and disappearing, attacking from impossible angles. Sue launched explosions of fire and light, illuminating the space in brilliant bursts. Chia created barriers and launched swords of darkness, trying to predict the monster's movements.

But El Silbón was too fast. He seemed to know every move before they made it, dodging and counterattacking with surgical precision.

A claw tore Sue's sleeve, barely grazing her skin. Another struck Chia's barrier with such force that it threw her backward, slamming her into a desk that shattered under the impact.

—Chia!

Sue shouted, distracted for a second.

It was enough.

El Silbón appeared in front of her, his grotesque face inches from hers. She could smell his putrid breath, see the malice in those empty eyes. His mouth opened impossibly wide, revealing rows of sharp, crooked teeth.

Sue acted on pure instinct. Not fire, not healing light. Something different. Something she felt surge from the deepest part of her being.

An explosion of pure white light, so bright it illuminated the entire floor of the building as if it were noon. So hot it melted the metal of nearby desks. So powerful it made the remaining intact windows tremble.

El Silbón howled—a sound that wasn't a whistle but a shriek of genuine agony—and was thrown backward with devastating force. He went through three cubicles before crashing into the opposite wall, leaving a crater in the concrete.

Sue fell to her knees, completely exhausted. That explosion had drained almost all her remaining energy. She could feel her vision blurring, her limbs trembling.

Chia got up laboriously, bleeding from a cut on her forehead. She ran to Sue, helping her to her feet.

—Are you okay?

—I'm... fine.

Sue gasped.

—Just... exhausted.

They both looked toward where El Silbón had fallen. The monster lay motionless among the rubble, his body smoking and charred. The wound in his chest had expanded, the golden light still flickering weakly inside it.

Slowly, painfully, El Silbón began to move. He rose with trembling movements, his body clearly destroyed but still functional.

He looked toward where he had left the sack of bones, and a grotesque smile formed on his disfigured face.

The sack began to move.

It wasn't the wind. It wasn't gravity. The sack writhed and convulsed as if it had a life of its own, pulsing with a dark and unnatural energy. The seams began to tear, and from inside, limbs began to emerge.

First it was a pale, putrefied hand, then another. Then twisted legs, skeletal arms, decomposed torsos. The bodies that El Silbón had collected for who knows how long began to crawl out of the sack, moving with spasmodic and unnatural movements.

They weren't zombies. They were something worse. Flesh puppets manipulated by the monster's will.

—What the hell...?

Chia began to say, but couldn't finish.

The limbs lunged toward them at impossible speed. Before they could react, dozens of dead hands grabbed them. Cold, damp arms coiled around their bodies like serpents, holding them with supernatural strength.

Sue tried to summon her fire, but nothing happened. Chia tried to conjure darkness, but her power didn't respond. It was as if something was blocking their connection to their abilities.

A sinister energy began to surround them, visible as a pulsing black aura emanating from the bodies holding them. It was cold, so cold it burned. They could feel it draining their strength, sucking away their will.

—I... can't...

Sue gasped, struggling uselessly against the limbs that squeezed her tighter and tighter.

—My powers!

Chia screamed, panic evident in her voice.

—They don't work!

El Silbón stood up completely, staggering but with a macabre smile crossing his disfigured face. He began to laugh—a wet, bubbling laugh that came from his destroyed throat. And as he laughed, he whistled.

It was a triumphant, mocking melody, the same one he had used to torment his victims for centuries. The sound echoed in the dark office, mixing with his grotesque laughter in a nightmare symphony.

He approached slowly, enjoying each step, savoring his victory. His body was destroyed, charred, bleeding that black substance from multiple wounds. But he had won.

The two heroines who had wounded him, who had pursued him, who had dared to challenge him, were now completely at his mercy.

El Silbón extended a claw toward Sue's face, caressing her cheek with grotesque tenderness. Then he did the same with Chia, his laughter growing louder, his whistle sharper.

Sue and Chia looked at each other, terror reflected in their eyes. For the first time since they had obtained their powers, they felt completely helpless.

The monster had revealed his true power. And they had fallen straight into his trap.