The Midnight Shuttle

Chapter 13: Black

"Say exactly what Ayi taught you, Al! You'll be alright. You'll finally break free from this demon's chains. Come on, say it!" Aditia urged as the air grew hotter by the second. Begu Ganjang's entire legion poured into the abandoned building. Alya had to recite the Oath of Contract immediately, or Begu Ganjang would become completely free. And if that happened...

Everyone here would die.

"I won't! I won't say it!!!" Alya screamed as the building was swallowed by countless demon offspring. They were cornered, and only Alya's oath could stop the nightmare unfolding around them.

"Al, all of us are in danger." Aditia desperately tried to convince her, but Alya remained frozen. Then, slowly...

She walked toward Begu Ganjang.

"Serve me, just as you once served my father, Harsawi Manjaya. Remain by my side, just as you once remained beside him. Grant me wealth and power, just as you granted them to my father, and I will reward you... just as my father rewarded you!" Alya shouted.

Aditia stood rooted to the ground, his eyes wide with disbelief.

"Those aren't the words Ayi taught you," he whispered in denial. "Ayi told you to command Begu Ganjang to serve you... then leave your life—and the lives of your descendants—forever, because unlike your father, you would never offer it another sacrifice."

His voice grew quieter.

His thoughts collapsed.

He slowly stepped backward as the truth settled in.

He had been wrong.

Wrong to trust her.

"You see now?" another man appeared from the shadows. Bare-chested, his entire body was pierced with shards of glass. Resting on his shoulder was a sword as long as he was tall, enormous enough to look impossible to wield.

"Malik, hurry! Harsawi's going to die for real if we take any longer! Move!" Dr. Adi shouted, breaking the suffocating silence.

Aditia collapsed to the floor.

He stared at Alya with empty eyes filled with disgust... and disappointment. He had defended her with everything he had.

For nothing.

Without wasting another second, Malik shot forward. He sprinted up Begu Ganjang's towering body and drove the massive sword deep into the demon's skull with a single devastating thrust. Begu Ganjang crashed to the ground.

Malik ripped the blade free.

Before the demon could rise again, he plunged the sword straight through its chest.

Clang!

Clang!

Clang...

Arrows rained toward Malik.

Alya relentlessly fired one arrow after another, but Malik effortlessly swept every projectile aside with his enormous sword.

"You little brat," Malik growled before charging toward Alya, dragging his giant blade across the ground. Then he opened one hand.

A snake emerged from his palm.

It slithered straight toward Alya.

She turned and ran.

Malik ignored her and dashed back toward Begu Ganjang. The demon had somehow managed to stand again, but the wounds covering its body had replaced its arrogance with unmistakable fear.

"Adit, help me move Harsawi! We need to bring him back!" Dr. Adi shouted.

Aditia didn't move.

He simply stared at Alya, unable to process what he had witnessed. The woman he had risked everything to protect was a monster in disguise. She hadn't hesitated to attack Malik—the husband of Ayi Mahogra herself.

How could he ever face Ayi again after this?

"Adit!!! Snap out of it! Help me before Harsawi actually dies!" Dr. Adi struggled to drag Harsawi's unconscious body away from the battlefield.

"S-Sorry, Doc." Aditia finally forced himself back to reality and rushed over to help carry Harsawi.

Dr. Adi tore open Harsawi's shirt, exposing his chest before pointing toward a nearby case.

"Adit, get the defibrillator."

Aditia sprinted over and grabbed it.

A defibrillator delivers controlled electrical shocks to restart a stopped heart. By stimulating the heart muscle with high-voltage electricity, it can pull a patient back from the edge of death and restore a normal heartbeat. Most people simply called it...

A heart shock machine.

Dr. Adi had prepared everything in advance. That was why he had brought a portable defibrillator—an incredibly expensive piece of medical equipment. Malik had practically funded half of Dr. Adi's portable medical collection over the years. Whenever new emergency equipment became available, Dr. Adi insisted on buying the portable version. It cost far more than standard hospital machines, but portability mattered.

Malik had nearly died countless times in remote places, miles away from clinics or hospitals.

Dr. Adi had learned that if he wanted Malik to survive...

He had to be ready anywhere.

This very defibrillator had once restarted Malik's own heart after it had stopped, just as Harsawi's had now.

"Turn on the monitor. Connect the paddles. Set it to Manual Mode," Dr. Adi instructed.

Aditia had practiced all of this earlier that morning before leaving to meet Harsawi. Every detail had already been arranged by Ayi.

Meanwhile, Dr. Adi performed chest compressions with steady, practiced rhythm. Despite everything Harsawi had done...

He still didn't want the man to die.

"Doc."

Aditia handed over the two gel-coated paddles.

They were ready.

Dr. Adi placed one paddle high on Harsawi's right chest and the other beneath the left side.

"Clear... One... Two... Three... Shock!"

He pressed both shock buttons.

Harsawi's upper body jerked violently off the ground.

The monitor still showed no heartbeat.

Dr. Adi immediately resumed chest compressions, maintaining a consistent rhythm to keep blood circulating.

"Switch!"

Aditia rushed in and took over the compressions while Dr. Adi prepared another shock.

If this failed...

He would have to surrender himself to the police for killing a man.

"Clear."

Aditia stepped away.

"One... Two... Three... Shock!"

Thump...

Harsawi's body leaped upward once more.

Dr. Adi immediately resumed CPR.

Twenty seconds later, his eyes snapped toward the monitor.

A heartbeat.

It had returned.

They had brought him back.

"Alhamdulillah... It's not your time yet, sir. Not today," Dr. Adi muttered, exhausted after saving the very man who deserved it least.

"Oxygen, Adit. Get the oxygen."

Their entire focus remained on reviving Harsawi after Dr. Adi had temporarily stopped his heart as part of Ayi's plan. Neither of them knew what was happening between Malik, Alya, and Begu Ganjang anymore.

Begu Ganjang was being completely overwhelmed.

Of course it was.

It was facing the husband of Ayi Mahogra—the man personally chosen by the Queen of the Kharisma Jagat of Pasundan.

Malik ended the battle by climbing the demon's towering body one final time before severing its head with a single swing.

Meanwhile, the spiritual snake Malik had unleashed finally caught Alya. It had been tiny when thrown.

Now it had become enormous.

It wrapped around her entire body, crushing her to the ground.

Begu Ganjang had fallen.

Its demonic offspring scattered in every direction.

Dr. Adi prepared to transport Harsawi to the hospital where he worked.

"Aditia, Ayi wants to see you. Go with Malik," Dr. Adi said.

Aditia simply nodded.

He no longer had the strength to argue.

"What about Alya?" he asked quietly.

His heart still hurt.

Despite everything...

He was still worried.

"We'll take care of her. You go with Malik."

...

"Aditia," Ayi greeted softly after they returned to her apartment. She was already sitting on the sofa when they arrived.

"My love, have the other Kharisma Jagat already reached the opposite side of the battlefield?" Malik asked his wife after returning to his ordinary human appearance.

Ayi nodded.

"Would you like something to eat?" she asked.

Aditia silently shook his head.

"Why, Ayi?" he asked at last. "Why didn't you tell me from the beginning?"

"Would you have believed me?" she asked before taking another sip of her black coffee.

"I... I..." Aditia buried his face in both hands.

"You trusted me only because of your father—because of his stories about me and the notes he left behind. Not because your own heart believed me. If I had told you that woman carried darkness inside her, would you have listened?"

She smiled gently.

"You believed in her too much."

"So the only thing I could do..."

"...was let you see it with your own eyes."

Everything that had happened today had been orchestrated by Ayi.

Every single step.

From having Aditia demand Harsawi's money and transfer it into Ayi's account...

To Dr. Adi injecting the precise dose of potassium chloride that temporarily stopped Harsawi's heart.

Dr. Adi had only three minutes to revive him. Once the heart stopped, blood flow ceased. If the brain remained without oxygen for longer than five minutes, irreversible brain death would occur. Harsawi would survive only as a body in a permanent coma.

That was why Dr. Adi had been genuinely terrified.

Had he failed...

He would have surrendered himself to the police.

Fortunately, God still protected them.

Ayi had designed the entire plan for one reason only.

To reveal the true face of the woman Aditia loved.

"Love can blind even the wisest heart, Adit," Ayi said quietly. "I was afraid that woman would eventually control you. So I had to let you witness who she truly was."

"Then why?" Aditia asked, struggling to keep his voice steady. "After watching her father destroy her entire family... after losing every sibling she had... why would she choose the same path?"

"Wealth. Power. And a long life." Ayi sighed before continuing. "Those were the things she wanted. Yes, she suffered because Begu Ganjang hunted her throughout her life. But you forgot something important. She was born to a mother who practiced black magic. Her father did. Her mother did. Her grandmother did. Generation after generation."

"So, sooner or later..."

"She became just like them."

Ayi drew another slow breath.

"Think carefully. Begu Ganjang hunted her from her teenage years until now. If she had truly been an innocent girl who wanted nothing more than freedom, she would've died years ago. Only someone just as cunning could survive a monster like Begu Ganjang. At first she wanted freedom, but after learning her father's secret—his wealth... his longevity..."

"She wanted his place."

"So she made her own plan."

"So..."

"She was really that evil?"

"You heard her yourself," Ayi replied. "She promised the lives of her own descendants if Begu Ganjang agreed to forge a new contract with her."

"Do you still doubt it?"

"I just..."

"Want to deny it?" Ayi smiled sadly. "I'm not allowing you to leave this apartment until I know you're ready. Rest. Give yourself a few days."

"After that..."

"You'll return to your old life."

"Ayi..." Aditia asked quietly. "Was Alya the one who killed Bude Pecel too?"

"No. She had nothing to do with that. It was purely Begu Ganjang's doing. She never knew about it. But..."

Ayi paused.

"...even if she had, I don't think she would've cared."

"Oh, and the money Harsawi transferred..."

"We'll return it."

"Little by little."

"Harsawi will probably be partially paralyzed after temporarily losing his heartbeat. Alya will still need money to survive, so we'll release it gradually whenever it's truly necessary."

"Thank you, Ayi."

"Come eat first. I made grilled chicken—your favorite, and Malik's too." Ayi stood and began setting the dining table.

Just then...

Aditia's phone rang.

It was Dita.

"Hello, Dit?"

"Hey, Diiit... hoooow aaare yooou?" A strange giggle answered instead.

That wasn't Dita's voice.

It belonged to...

"Dita! Dita!!!"

The call disconnected.

"Ayi..."

Aditia's face turned pale.

"Dita's in danger!"

Without another word, he ran out of the apartment.