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“Sir! I’m reading three groups of five mobile suits entering ORB territory!” a crewman was frantically flipping switches and pressing buttons on his radar console.

“The mercenary bandits are making their move. Inform HQ on the double!” Captain Lenard of the naval guard was in disbelief. It looked like the mercs weren’t kidding when they said they’d attack the capital. And now they were attacking the blind side of the ORB defense plan, by sea.

“Prepare for immediate assault! Ready the anti-air cannons!”

“Aye sir!”

If what he heard was true about the mercenaries’ caliber, then they were almost certainly fighting a losing battle. But the captain was not one to back down on his duties; he would go down with his crew if it ever came to that.

Inside one of the mercenary mobile suits, Jeethra Constent smiled; it was time again to kick butt. She and her teammates take the lead. They were going to do it by the book.

Assault 101, easy.

“Alpha squad, pincer formation. Beta and Gamma squad, spread out and cover our flanks. Let’s do this clean, grunts.”

The mercs fall into formation, and the attack begins. The navy ships were the first ones to open fire, but the mercs easily dodged the volley. The ORB opposition didn’t know it, but the mercenary brigade had information on all ORB weapons, so they knew how long a certain firearm can fire again after shooting. They could easily time their dodges based on the information they had meticulously studied. Even guided missiles had weaknesses, they simply cannot turn fast enough to track targets effectively, this info the mercs took into account also. The way the mercs dodged attacks looked like an aerial ballet, precise and well executed.

“Is this all ORB can throw at us?! How pathetic!” Kelmon chuckled heartily,

“Stay focused. We’re not done yet—“ Jeethra dodged a laser attack by inches,

“They’re launching mobile suits now. Beta squad, take out the other ships before they have time to do the same.”

“Roger.” Beta squad was headed by a redhead named John Akly, he was an old but capable man at forty eight.

“Beta squad, regroup. Single missile volley on my target coordinates, stand by and fire on my command—“ Akly expertly maneuvered his targeting cursor onto the ship’s heavily armored bridge. There was a weak spot on the hull of the bridge, just below the roof. He was targeting Captain Lenard’s ship.

“Fire.” Beta squad fired.

“No—“ It was the last thing Captain Lenard said before a bright light engulfed him and his crew.

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It was a cool night, but I remember sweating profusely. My hands were trembling as I typed in the URL to her website. I hesitated before I pressed the ‘Enter’ key, I probably looked like a mannequin placed before a desktop computer. It was 11:59 PM, just a minute away. I tried to swallow, but my throat was dry. It felt like time slowed down as I watched the wall clock in my room; watched as the seconds ticked away, ever closer to midnight.

Then my wall clock chimed. It was time. It took forever for my index finger to reach the Enter key. At last, I pressed it, and I was shocked.

I couldn’t believe it, the display on the browser said:

Error 404, server not found.

I started laughing. I must’ve looked insane. I couldn’t contain my laughter. I was rolling all over the floor, laughing until tears fell from my eyes. I thought I was a fool to have believed in such farce, that I was incredibly gullible and stupid.

But a few moments later, I heard a strange buzzing noise in my head. I slowly got up from the floor and sat back down on my chair. And at that moment, I received the second shock for the night.

The website was there. It took a little while for my brain to process what was going on, but eventually I figured it out: My wall clock was off by a few minutes relative to the GMT.

I must’ve stared at the screen for a while with my mouth open, had a fly flew in and out of my pie-hole, I probably wouldn’t have noticed. I took my hands and typed in my boss’ name and I hit the enter key without hesitation. That was the first time that I met her.

“You called me?”

Her voice was dulcet and at the same time emotionless. Her big red eyes revealed nothing. Her pale skin seemed to glow in the moonlight. I didn’t even realize that I had turned from the monitor and was looking at her. She seemed to approach me somehow, but I couldn’t really tell. Before I knew it, she was right in front of me. For an awkward moment, I couldn’t find my voice to speak to her.

I was shocked, relieved, anxious, awe-struck, and I felt a lot of other emotions jumbled together at the same time. She didn’t seem annoyed at the fact that I took so long to answer her. In fact, I thought that she wasn’t subjected to human feelings, seeing as she was a supernatural entity.

Finally, I answered.

“Yes, I did.” I said.

“Here.” She gave me a small straw doll with a string tied to its neck.

“If you truly wish to end the life of the person you hate, then you must untie the string on the doll.” She continued,

“But be warned, if you do pull the string, you will in turn make a payment to me, when one person is cursed, two graves are dug. When you die, your soul automatically goes to hell, forever damned, never knowing what eternal paradise is like.”

“I die as well?!” I asked her.

“No. But your soul goes to hell only when your life ends naturally or by chance.”

“So this agreement will take effect only if I pull the string..”

“Yes. I will give you ample time to think this through. Farewell.”

A second later, I find myself staring at the screen. The browser still displayed the ‘404’ error, but I felt my hand was holding something soft, and I realized, I was still holding the straw doll.

The hell girl was real. I sat before my computer for a long time, trying to piece together the events that just took place. My logical brain kept telling me that it never happened, but my hand that was holding the straw doll told me otherwise..