Meanwhile, lolo Gani stood in front of the creature, creating a one-man wall between the Bal-bal and tiya Elsie’s corpse. The old man took advantage of the creature being wounded and started to lash his pasyawan whip on the creature, inflicting more devastating wounds. The Bal-bal on the other hand, was howling in pain, non-stop all the while licking the wounds it was inflicted to heal them. As more and more wounds are being inflicted to the aswang, more white smoke starts to rise from its body, giving a smell of burning rotten meat.

Lumawig, just as he made it inside the house, carried the dead body of tiya Elsie towards the casket, however, he was stopped by a scream. Empoy’s mother, tiya Lita, saw him holding tiya Elsie’s corpse. Tiyo Noning who was grieving unconsciously looked towards where Lumawig was standing and saw Lumawig holding the corpse. However, the corpse he was holding was dirty, looking like it was tossed around the mud as the white dress tiya Elsie was wearing have large spots of brown and some dirt are still present. The corpse appearance looks like it was desecrated recently. Seeing his wife’s corpse in such a condition, tiyo Noning’s pupils constricted. He was angry, but his anger was not directed at Lumawig, but instead the unknown creature who tried to take his wife.

Having known lolo Gani for a long time, he is aware of some of the old man’s secrets, hence he was able to piece some things when he saw his wife’s body by Lumawig’s hands. He quickly made his way to Lumawig

“Tell me! Where is it!? Is it with your lolo!?” tiyo Noning asked, trying to suppress his rage. The people who are present, are now aware that Lumawig was holding tiya Elsie’s corpse, and started talking in hushed tones.

“Tiyo Noning, lolo is outside. Just a few meters aways from the gate.” Lumawig answered truthfully. He knew that Tiyo Noning wanted to hunt down the monster that killed his beloved wife but killing the monster who tried to take away his wife’s dead body has just been added to his list. As soon as Lumawig finished speaking, everyone at the wake suddenly heard painful howls and sounds of whip hitting flesh.

Hearing the howls, tiyo Noning bolted towards the gate and there he saw lolo Gani whipping a creature. As he came nearer, tiyo Noning was able to clearly see the creature and its appearance. He was frozen, terrified of the Bal-bal’s features, though it was crying out in pain, tiyo Noning could still see and feel the bloodthirsty nature of the creature. It was also trying its best to lick its various wounds on its body. The smell of burnt rotten meat wafted through night air and was smelled by tiyo Noning and his guests. Many of them threw up, while some were able to tolerate the smell.

“Gani, is this the creature?!” getting back to his senses, tiyo Noning hurriedly asked lolo Gani.

“No.” lolo Gani answered while not letting up on the whipping.

“Noning, get my sundang over there and chop this bastard’s head off. Lest we want it to escape and exact vengeance on us later!” lolo Gani commanded.

Looking around, tiyo Noning found the old man’s sundang a few steps away from their spot. He then quickly went to pick it up and returned to the old man’s side.

“Cut its head off,now! I cannot stop whipping, as doing so will give it time to run!” lolo Gani shouted.

Tiyo Noning, filled with determination and anger walked towards the Bal-bal that lay on the ground. He then swiftly hacked towards the aswang’s neck, aiming to decapitate it. The Bal-bal, sensing the impending danger, tried to dodge, but as it was being held down by the lashing of the pasyawan whip from lolo Gani it was only able to move a little before the sundang found its target.

However, no head rolled after the hit. The Bal-bal was able to avoid being decapitated, though more than half of its neck was separated from its shoulders. As a last-ditch effort, the Bal-bal thrust its arm upward towards the closest person, tiyo Noning who had just swung down the sundang was unable to avoid the arm and was pierced on his stomach and through his back.

“Noni! Watch out!” lolo Gani tried to warn his friend but was already too late.

“Arrgh!” tiyo Noning was overwhelmed by pain due to the sudden attack of the Bal-ba and could not help but scream; feeling the aswang’s hands inside his body, he gritted his teeth and held the monster’s head with his left hand, as the right hand raised the sundang again, this time to finish off the aswang.

“One of your kind killed my wife and ate our baby! Now you also want to eat her!? Then try to eat this!” As soon as tiyo Noning finished speaking, he brought down the sundang swiftly, hitting the remaining flesh and skin that is still attached to the Bal-bal’s body.

Another sound of metal hitting flesh was heard, and this time, the head of the Bal-bal was fully separated from its body. The hand that pierced through tiyo Noning’s body slowly slid down, bringing some of his innards with it. The wound was profusely bleeding.

Seeing the head roll, lolo Gani immediately went to pick it up and wrap it with the pasyawan whip. He then went to tiyo Noning and examined his wounds. The aswang left a gaping hole on tiyo Noning's left abdomen near his navel. Immediately, lolo Gani pulled out a bottle that contained an unknown liquid and started chanting on it, trying his best to control his emotions so that he will not make a mistake with his chanting and apply it sooner to his friend’s wound.

“Gani, I know that I can’t be saved anymore.” tiyo Noning weakly said.

Hearing his friend’s voice, lolo Gani’s hand trembled and his chanting was interrupted.

“Noni, what are you saying? I can heal you! You know that I have supernatural powers, right?” lolo Gani tried to convince his friend.

“I know but..you do not have the ability to regenerate lost organs.” Tiyo Noning said, at this point he was already gasping for breath.

“At least…I will not die as a useless husband…as I was able to kill the monster who…desecrated her…” tiyo Noning was now very weak, and his face pale. Although tears can be seen rolling down his eyes, a smile could be seen on his lips. Lolo Gani could do nothing but hold his friend’s hands tight, and just accompany him in his last moments.

“Gani…promise me that you will find…the monster who killed Elsie…I’m…tired…thank you my friend…I’ll meet Elsie now…” as tiyo Noning spoke the few words, his voice was no louder than a whisper, but his words were like thunder on lolo Gani’s ears. Tiyo Noning then slowly closed his eyes and breathed his last. Lolo Gani was no longer able to hold himself back and cried. He wailed at the loss of his two closest friends in just one day. He lamented that he was useless, failing to protect them.

Lumawig on the other hand has arrived a little later but was able to hear his tiyo Noning’s last words. Seeing the dead body of the man that took care of him like he was his own child broke Lumawig’s heart. He cried. All his memories when he was a child came surging back to him. In his memories he saw the two kindly couple buying him a pinipig ice cream even after his lolo told him not to eat anything as it was already close to lunch. He also recalled how his tiya Elsie taught him how to cook rice, and properly wash clothes. He recalled how tiyo Noning together with his lolo Gani cared for him when he was sick. Many more of these warm memories came flooding Lumawig’s thoughts.

Lumawig thought that he was useless. He lamented that he was not really able to help his lolo at this fight, but just got a lucky hit. He was instead protected by the old man and was sent back to the house under the guise of bringing the corpse back, but in actuality for him to get help. He was weak! He needed protection. He became cocky with a lucky hit, but when he was confronted by danger he was stricken with fear and paralyzed by it. He cried. However, he knew that had he not followed his lolo’s command earlier, he and possibly even his lolo would have died. Though he never thought that in their place, his tiyo Noning would die.

As the fight with the Bal-bal concluded, more people started to come outside and look at what happened. There, just outside the gate, lolo Gani was holding tiyo Noning’s lifeless body. Right beside them is a headless body of a creature.

“Is that the aswang?” asked one of the visitors.

“I think it is!” Empoy, Lumawig’s friend answered.

Hearing Empoy’s statement, everyone started to talk in whispers to each other. Evidently all of them are shocked and terrified of this event, as this has confirmed to them the existence of supernatural beings that are out for human flesh and blood…dead or alive. Some people are so terrified that the blood in their faces seemed to have vanished and they started to sweat profusely. Just when someone else was about to ask a question, lolo Gani’s voice brought everyone’s attention to him.

“This night has been a tumultuous one. But I would like to ask everyone here to help me prepare for the burial of my two friends.” The sorrow can be felt from lolo Gani’s voice.

Nonoy and Caloy on the other hand went to Lumawig’s side and comforted him. They then walked him towards the house to calm him down and console him. Lolo Gani on the other hand, stood up and carried and tiyo Noning’s body towards the house. The previous ordeal left him exhausted, but he gritted his teeth and carried his friend’s body alone.

“Please burn that body over there.” Pointing at the headless body of the Bal-bal, lolo Gani gave another instruction to the people around him.

The people took note of lolo Gani’s instructions. They did not ask any question and just did what they were told. Everyone in the crowd knows who lolo Gani is, so on matters that concern the supernatural they believe him like how a child believes their parents. Nobody questions his abilities as most of them had been his patient at least once. They were surprised though when they burned the body of the Bal-bal, normally, when an organic matter is being burned, it will take a lot of time to do so, and a roasted smell will waft out, it then will be replaced by an unpleasant smell. But in this case, the moment the people set fire to the monster’s corpse, it went ablaze for a good five minutes and then the flames died down. Not even ashes remained from burning the corpse.

No one left the house of the couple that night. All of them stayed because they were helping to prepare for the burial of the couple, while some did not leave because they were terrified of the thought that they might encounter an aswang on their way home. However, everyone has the same question in mind. Given how intense the fight was, why is it that none of them heard the sound of fighting. They were only able to know of the ongoing battle between the aswang and lolo Gani when Lumawig came inside the house to return the corpse of tiya Elsie. But seeing that the maglolo were in a state of grief, they all know that now, was not the time to ask such questions.

After a few hours, around one o’clock in the morning, the bodies of tiyo Noning and tiya Elsie have been cleaned. The wound on tiyo Noning was cleaned by lolo Gani himself, and he used his agimat and chanted into the potion he took out earlier and applied it on the wound to stop the bleeding. They dressed up tiyo Noning in his barong that he wore during his wedding with tiya Elsie. The dirt on tiya Elsie’s dress on the other hand have been mostly removed and cleaned, only some tiny brown spots remained. They were laid beside each other on a banig (mat), they also covered the two of them with another banig. This time, the two bodies were laid inside their bedroom, and at least five people are keeping watch over their corpses.

After arranging all this, lolo Gani then went out of the bedroom, he wanted to sit down and rest for a while, but he was surprised that the living room of tiyo Noning’s house was full of people. However, he knew why they were there, so he decided to answer the question in their mind.

“I know why you are here. Let me answer first the question that is in everyone’s mind right now. No, that was not the monster that killed Elsie. It was a variant of an aswang called Bal-bal. A monster who feeds on the corpses of people. They will attend any funeral wakes they fancy, disguise themselves as a human, and then exchange the corpse’s body with a banana trunk or a dead tree trunk. The reason why we do not notice their act is because they would cast out an illusion first. In fact, this illusion is so powerful that not even me was able to tell that a Bal-bal has already entered the house. If not for the hintura oil Lumawig and I have prepared earlier, we might have been crying over a banana trunk right now.” Patiently explained lolo Gani.

Hearing the old man’s explanation, the people inside the house were enlightened as to what happened earlier tonight. Many of them were relieved that the old man’s concoction was able to thwart the monster’s devious act and retrieve the body of the unfortunate tiya Elsie. Some of them are terrified of this information though, as it means that anyone could be this Bal-bal. However, before they can have their minds wander, lolo Gani’s voice was heard again.

“You have nothing to worry though as most Bal-bal do not commit their act from the same community where they live. They mostly target neighboring towns, cities, or barangays to look for food. So, there is no need for everyone to worry about a Bal-bal blending in with the crowd. However, I must caution each one of you not to carelessly mention their names out loud as they have the propensity to kill anyone who invokes their names. If you do not want to be food for these monsters, take extreme caution not to rouse their ire.” This time, lolo Gani’s voice contained a stern warning for every one of them.