That is probably an allusion to the ancient cult of Moloch, but that, AFAIK, has died out a long time ago. Romans stamped out human sacrifice really hard. (They themselves used to practice it, but after approx. 100 BCE, they not only stopped, but turned against it and stopped tolerating it among subjugated nations.)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moloch
The closest phenomena we have in modern world is suicidal jihadism, but its practicioners generally cannot be described as extremely powerful, even if they managed to tire out Western powers in Afghanistan.