In Hewitt's garden.
Nellie drew her sword and slashed at the dummy, leaving several marks on it.
The movement and trajectory of the sword were neither beautiful nor elegant.
But every strike was deadly.
The dummy wouldn't fight back, so Nellie imagined it making corresponding moves, clashing its weapon with her sword, blocking, attacking, counterattacking.
She kept imagining.
And then somehow, standing before her was no longer the dummy but her father, Ogden.
Ogden Lester said:
"I'm not your father."
Nellie murmured:
"Shape-shifter beast..."
Ogden said:
"That's right, but you know, I inherited everything he had, I'm almost indistinguishable from him, and I also inherited his swordsmanship."
"Ogden" laughed and said:
