In that instant, the evil spirits scatter out of the room. Not a single one dares to fly towards Cakara, making Cakara look confused by their oddities.
Cakara then shifts his attention to the mystical dagger in his hand. And soon, a weird voice suddenly occurs in his head. The voice sounds similar to his own voice, but he believes it's not him talking in his head.
<< Name your wishes! You can offer that kid as offering, and I'll make sure to fulfill your dreams >>
For a moment, Cakara is pensive while glancing at Adanu Raksa. It's as if he has been hypnotized by something.
Who knows what's on his mind right now. But then, Hasya comes to him and holds his right arm which is still so weak.
"Hey! Cakara! What's wrong?" Hasya shakes him.
"Huh?" Cakara shows a slight reaction. But he says nothing. His face and eyes are still looking so blank.
"Don't you feel strange?" Hasya asks. "They suddenly became so scared of you. You did manage to destroy some of them. But before that they were completely…"
"They weren't afraid of Cakara, but of the dagger," Agra interrupts.
Hasya and Cakara turn towards Agra, and find the man staring at Cakara with a very serious expression. A moment later, Agra's gaze shifts slightly downward, precisely towards the mystical dagger in Cakara's left hand.
Cakara also notices the presence of several of his men near the door. Just like Agra, their attention is all focused on the mystical dagger in his hand.
As if he knows what is wrong with them, Cakara immediately puts that kris into its sheath. Suddenly, the expression on those people' faces change significantly.
"That kris!"
"Cakara! Isn't that the king's royal dagger?"
"How did you get it?"
Just half a minute ago, they seemed to be filled with envy, and an intense urge to seize the sacred dagger from Cakara. But now they approach him with great enthusiasm, completely back to looking normal like genuine followers who trust their leader.
"Wooo! It's real!"
"It's the dagger of the kings! It is said that whoever obtains it will be able to become a great person and attain glory."
"I've also heard rumors that Prabu Jayantaka was able to establish the Chakradwipa kingdom because of an object like this."
"Maaan! Do you know what this means? The days of being commoners will soon be over."
"With this, we no longer need to walk in crowds by lowering our gazes like despicable men."
Cakara hides the kris under his cloak. He smiles sweetly listening to his friends' words, because that's indeed his main ambition to gather them, elevating himself and his followers to the upper strata like those of the nobles.
As a matter of fact, they live in a social order where humans generally believe in the concept of samsara. One of the impacts is the strata system that segregates people into several groups.
Those who were born into nobles, or often termed "Dhara" (the blue bloods), are considered as descendants of gods' incarnates. This term is usually directed at the royal family.
There are people belonging to Priyayi (the bureaucrats), the servants who work for the nobles. Meanwhile, the commoners are considered as "kawula", which means the people (merchants, laborers, or peasants).
They believe that all of this has been destined since birth based on reincarnation, something that cannot be changed until death and the next reincarnation.
But of course, there are still a few people who reject this concept, and still want to change their fates. Like Cakara and his followers, they choose to get out of the system by becoming criminals.
But unlike these small minded folks, Cakara has a great ambition to establish his own kingdom, where all people can sit and eat together without strata, without segregation.
"I saw it myself," utters Cakara with a face lit by high determination.
"What? What did you see?" asks Agra.
"Someone performed a ritual to summon the Carrion Flower Demon. I saw the monster myself. It's so huge. And this kid! I believe he has been branded as the offering for the devil. That's why the evil spirits are so attracted to him," Cakara explains.
All those people are slowly averting their attention to Adanu Raksa who is still lying unconsciously with high fever. They are all gulping, imagining the nightmare the kid had experienced.
"Then, how did you get him out?" asks one of them.
Cakara chuckles a little. "I climbed the devil itself, and got into the center of it all. I killed the devil's summoner and snatched the dagger from him."
But then, the smirk in his face suddenly disappears. He looks baffled, finding something odd with Adanu Raksa's situation.
As far as he knows, someone needs to sacrifice something important to him as a price to make a deal with the devil. In other words, Adanu Raksa, who has been marked as a sacrifice, must have meant a lot to the man that he had killed.
"Could he be the kid's father?" he mumbles.
"What is it?" asks Agra.
Suddenly, Adanu Raksa shakes his head while delirious in a state of still not being conscious, and keeps calling his mother. At first, he just looks scared as if asking for his mother's help. But then...
"No! Let her go! Leave my mom alone!"
"You devil! I'm going to kill you!"
Cakara is stunned covering his mouth. "Oh, God! Don't tell me?"
"What" Hasya asks.
"This kid's father," Cakara mutters. "He offered his own son to the devil only to torture his wife."
"No way," Agra looks so skeptical. "How could someone use that sacred dagger and summon the Carrion Flower Demon just for something as trivial as that? Anyway! We have to kill this kid! He's only going to bring disaster to the people around him."
He isn't joking around with his words. Without asking permission from his leader, he lifts his sword up and strikes it down by aiming at Adanu Raksa's head.