The demonstration was a disaster.

Rumors had circulated all morning about the impending mission, the one that this "wasn't" an audition for. Vincent and his friends had information that Alex with Malice had arranged a meeting with Dead Eric, another outlaw type who had set up shop beyond the edge of the Ring. The Roughcoats were worried that if those two came to some sort of arrangement, particularly if they had access to a new weapon, it could fracture the fragile civilization that had taken hold out here.

The Hunters were invited to scout the meeting, and back up the Roughcoats in a fight, if it came to that. It sounded exciting, and most of the Halls wanted to be among those to go. Competition would be fierce.

The Abbey's Engineers kept a small stable of mock Gods for training exercises. They weren't quite as big, and not nearly as dangerous, but they were useful approximations for simulation. When the hydraulics were run by one of the Hunters, she could wear a special pair of glasses that allowed her to see from the God's point of view.

The setup for the demonstration, the one that had absolutely nothing to do with who might be going on this mission, was simple: A Class Two Ovalback in a semi-crowded setting. The bystanders were played by mops, painted and stuck in the ground upside down. For some reason, they always hung clothes from the mops. Rafferty had never been sure why they bothered.

The plan was simple. Rafferty, Cody, and Blaspheme would each attack the head in quick succession. That would distract the operator and reduce visibility, allowing Sheridan to slide between the God's legs and fire one of her more concussive arrows directly up into the body. Rafferty and Cody would then each attack a leg from inside the joint, forcing the legs out. Sheridan thought they could bring the God down nearly perpendicular to the ground, minimizing risk to the bystanders.

That's how it should have gone.

Rafferty leapt as soon as the mock God stepped into the circle. Hayden was at the controls. The senior member of D Hall was good at playing mock God, and she'd be motivated to defeat the J Hall Hunters. Rafferty didn't want to give her too much time to get her bearings.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

She soared into the air, pleased at first with the speed of her ascent, but soon realized she had jumped too high. Rafferty sailed past the head as she drew her sword, but figured she could still attack on the way down. She intended to swipe at the eyes, to obscure Cody and Blaspheme's attacks as much as possible.

As she descended, however, Rafferty came down right where Cody was supposed to be. Cody did her best to salvage the maneuver, bending and twisting in the air to put herself in position to strike the head from a different angle.

Cody might be the the smallest and sweetest of the group, but she also packed the biggest punch. A direct hit from her hammer would be enough to put the plan back on track.

Cody spun and started her swing. She was lined up perfectly to strike under the left eye, but had forgotten that Blaspheme's planned jump would put her in exactly that spot.

Rafferty saw Blaspheme crest for the briefest of moments, before she disappeared in the arc of Cody's hammer swing, quickly becoming a small black dot speeding into the distance.

Having failed on all three attempts to attack the head, they hadn't given Sheridan the cover she needed. As she slid into position between the legs, God Hayden kicked her from its path. Sheridan bounced all the way to the edge of the large training circle.

Rafferty landed near the God's left leg. She pivoted and swung her sword. If she could cut into the leg, she might slow it down enough that they could renew the attack. The sword scraped along the metal, but Rafferty wasn't close enough for the blade to bite into it. She tried to push forward, but her arm wasn't quite long enough, and she could only achieve the great shower of sparks you got whenever you dragged a Blue weapon against something metal.

She lined up another swing, unwilling to concede the fight just yet, when she heard Max call it. Rafferty was about to protest, when she noticed flickering out of the corner of her eye.

The bystanders were on fire. Not all of them, but a lot of them. The sparks from her failed strike had ignited their mop hair. Trevor and Oscar, Blaspheme's Jack, were frantically trying to save the flaming citizenry.

They won't even have to repair the God, or switch it out for another before the next team goes.

"That's enough," said Max. Rafferty joined Cody and Sheridan near the boss, awaiting his critique.

"I take it, Cody, that launching Blaspheme out to pasture was not part of the plan?" he asked. Rafferty could hear snickers from the crowd.

"I couldn't—" Cody started, looking over at Rafferty, not wanting to call her out.

"It was my fault," said Rafferty. "I missed my mark. I messed her up."

"Cody has to do a better job of adjusting to the unexpected, and needs to never, ever swing that hammer unless she knows what she's swinging at," said Max.

Cody opened her mouth, but did not speak. The look in her eyes showed how unfair she thought this was.

"There was nothing about that I didn't hate. Understood?" Max asked.

"Yes, sir," said Rafferty, looking at the ground. She heard the others mutter assent as well.

"All right, clear the ring. C Hall is next," said Max, and he walked out of the circle.

Rafferty saw the crackling blue and black shape hurtling toward them just before Blaspheme landed. The gunslinger skidded the rest of the way on her knees, stopping a few feet in front of Rafferty. She was dusty, bruised, and bloodied.

"So, did we win?" asked Blaspheme.