Night once again descended over Puncak. But tonight, the sky was clear, scattered with stars beneath a half-moon.
In the basement of the large villa, the lair of the demon dolls could be seen. This was where the purple-robed figure and Dewi Golek abducted and then murdered their victims, all of them young men.
The atmosphere was unbearably terrifying, with so many corpses littering the place. The stench of decay was indescribably foul.
On the iron cross at the center, positioned among the three iron crosses in the room, a young man with a Japanese-looking face and a mohawk could be seen. Wearing a T-shirt and jeans, he was crucified there, unconscious under Dewi Golek's supernatural power. She was both the queen and mother of the demon dolls—manifestations of the victims she had murdered before.
Yes, the demon dolls were dolls that imprisoned the souls of their victims so they would obey Dewi Golek's every desire completely.
Only two demon dolls were not the spirits of her victims: Demon Doll Arjuna and Demon Doll Srikandi. They had been with Dewi Golek from the very beginning.
Who knew what relationship those three demon dolls had with one another all this time?
The young man hanging on the cross was Ari, Syafir and Pio's college friend, who had disappeared several days earlier. No one had discovered a trace of him since.
On the right and left of the iron cross holding Ari, two dried-out bodies could be seen. Dewi Golek had drained their bodily fluids as part of her sacrificial ritual.
The two human skeletons were still fully clothed in the distinctive fashions of young men today. Four paces in front of Ari stood the purple-robed figure, while Dewi Golek floated calmly beside the figure's right side.
The two of them stared at Ari with cold, sadistic eyes, as though they wanted to kill him with nothing but their gaze. They were thirsting for blood and death this very moment.
Silence remained, as if time had stopped in that place and held no power at all within the demon dolls' lair.
After a long silence between them, the purple-robed figure finally began to speak.
"Dewi... it's time to wake him up and send him to his death..." the purple-robed figure said coldly, initiating their conversation.
"You're right. It's time for him to wake up..." Dewi Golek replied. Then she blew purple smoke from her mouth. It immediately struck Ari in the face and caused him to regain consciousness. The purple smoke hit his face and entered his breathing through his prominent nose.
Ari began to open his eyes, slowly adapting to the dim atmosphere of the basement while surveying his surroundings.
As his vision returned to normal, so did his sense of smell. He could smell the stench of human corpses filling the basement. His stomach churned, and the smell immediately made him vomit.
Seeing Ari throw up from the stench of the human corpses—the remains of Dewi Golek's victims—the purple-robed figure spoke as though mocking him. In truth, the figure knew Ari very well from his everyday life.
"Ari, you're such a pathetic excuse for a man..." the purple-robed figure said. Ari jolted in shock and fully realized that he was crucified in a place he did not recognize at all.
He narrowed his eyes toward the front to see who had spoken to him. When his eyes caught sight of the purple-robed figure and Dewi Golek floating at the figure's right side, Ari was utterly shocked. He looked to his left and right and saw the two dried-out corpses there, still radiating a stench that seared his nostrils.
"WHO ARE YOU!?" Ari demanded loudly, struggling to break free of the rope binding him to the cross.
"You don't recognize my voice?" the purple-robed figure replied, taking two steps closer to Ari.
Ari thought hard, trying to identify the voice coming from the figure in the purple robe. It sounded familiar, but he could not quite place it. The purple-robed figure was using her real voice—the natural voice of a young woman.
Hearing the purple-robed figure dare to use her real voice in front of her victim, Dewi Golek grew worried that Ari might recognize it. The figure really was Ari's friend in his everyday life.
"Don't be reckless. He might discover your true identity, purple-robed figure..." Dewi Golek warned. Then she shot toward Ari until only a handspan separated them. Ari was terrified out of his mind at the sight of the living, human-looking golek directly before him. His body trembled in response to his fear of the transformed creature shaped like a wayang golek—a form of puppet opera originating from Pasundan.
"Don't worry, Dewi... Even if I remove this mask and he discovers my true identity, he will die soon enough. You can kill him," the purple-robed figure replied, then removed her wooden angel mask with her right hand.
"Aren't you fond of teasing me...? What if I tease you all the way to your death?" the purple-robed figure said in a seductive voice, like an entertainer girl. It was completely at odds with the figure's usual cold demeanor.
Ari was utterly shocked when he saw the face behind the wooden mask, a face that had been concealed so completely all this time. No one had known who was behind the angel mask worn by the purple-robed figure. Ari might have been the first person to discover the purple-robed figure's true identity.