Levy and Naggí stood at the center of a ruined village. The air smelled of rust and damp soil. The ground was littered with bones half-buried in dust, and the wind carried the sound of doors creaking on broken hinges.
Levy's eyes darted around. "Mother... what is this place?"
Naggí's voice was quiet, almost reverent. "This was once a Zoner town. Before the bacteria came and corrupted it."
He frowned, stepping through the rubble. The shell of a house leaned sideways, its roof caved in. A child's doll, gray with soot, sat propped against a wall. Levy reached for it, and the moment his fingers brushed the fabric, the brittle skeleton of a little girl slid from the shadows beside it.
Levy stumbled back, heart pounding. He bumped into Naggí, who steadied him with a hand on his shoulders.
"The El-Bacteria reached this place first," she said softly. "They corrupted it from the inside out."
Levy swallowed. "I've... never actually seen bacteria before."
"That's because you spend all your time with your father," she replied, a faint edge creeping into her tone. "And when you're meant to be with me, you run away."
Levy crossed his arms and pouted. "Yeah, well, that's because I'm out fighting parasites, getting stronger."
Without warning, Naggí summoned her bronze sword armor. The blade shimmered with a deep amber glow, humming with contained power.
The sheer force of it made Levy's hair stand on end. He took a step back, eyes wide.
She watched him carefully. "What's wrong? You're a man, aren't you?"
Levy swallowed hard. "Why are we here?"
"Because," she said, raising her sword slightly, "I want you to prove what you've been saying. That an Artimancer is stronger than a knight, stronger than a woman."
He sighed. "Mother, I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy the day. It was... interesting." His gaze hardened. "But I still stand by what I said. You're weak. All women are."
Naggí's expression didn't change. "Then show me."
She motioned with her sword.
Levy hesitated, but before he could speak again, the air shifted, a low chittering rose from the ruins. Shapes began crawling from the cracks between stones and the hollows of dead trees. Dozens of bacteria monsters, translucent and pulsing, surrounded them.
"The first one to drop is the weakest," Naggí said with a smirk.
Levy clenched his fists. "Alright, you asked for it, Mother."
In an instant he summoned his Mancer staff.
He shot forward, lightning flashing under his feet. The ground cracked from the speed of his movement. To him, it felt fast, but to Naggí, it was slow, almost graceful. She walked forward calmly, sword balanced on her shoulder.
Levy shouted, he swung it wide.
A wave of Artimancery burst from its tip, exploding several bacteria into mist.
He summoned a second staff identical to the first, although the orbs grew smaller, a clear indication of his limts "This will allow me to release more power, I'll show mother she's weak"
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Grave hands erupted from the soil, crushing others in their grip.
Naggí, meanwhile, moved through the chaos with effortless poise. Every time a creature lunged at her, her sword carved it apart in a single motion. Her strikes were clean, precise, almost elegant. She didn't rush, didn't shout. It looked like she was cutting through smoke.
Hours passed. The sun dimmed to a pale crescent. Levy's breath came ragged now. Sweat rolled down his forehead as he summoned one last Grave Hand, the massive palm grabbing a cluster of writhing bacteria before disintegrating.
He staggered. "She's... she's not even sweating."
Naggí stood amid the corpses, her armor still shining, not a drop of dirt on her.
El Bacteria 's spawned from the ground.
"No, no, no...I'm running out of Abi" Levy gritted his teeth. "Activate, Grand Macer Terra One!"
His body ignited with Abi energy. The ground cracked beneath him.
Levy "Darn it, I used to much power, my Terra macer form didn't complete, still this will be more than enough to till that thing"
Power pulsed through his veins as he charged again, striking with blinding speed. Dozens of bacteria burst apart under his blows, energy waves flattening nearby structures.
Naggí smiled faintly, proud, but still calm.
Then the ground quaked.
A massive bacteria beast rose from the rubble, its body a swirling mass of tendrils and eyes. It screeched, rattling the air.
Levy planted his feet. "Mother this is a feet you could never reach, the Grand Macer form is the strongest power to exists."
Levy pulled his arm back "King Tarantula!"
He hurled his staff like a spear. It pierced the monster's chest and exploded, tearing its body apart in a blast of blue light. The creature disintegrated into slime and steam. Levy fell to one knee, panting, exhausted.
But the slime twitched. The El Bacteria began to reform, its flesh knitting back together.
"What, how can it just regenerate after my strongets attack?" Levy gasped.
Naggí's steps echoed softly as she approached. "Bacteria aren't like parasites. Their bodies are colonies. They rebuild themselves."
Levy looked up from the dirt. His mother's Abi radiated like sunlight now, golden and fierce. The pressure of it forced him to look away.
Naggi "I am impressed son, you're a strong artimancer but art has no limits."
She raised her sword. The bronze gleamed brighter than fire.
"Bronze Sword, Electric Orange, Wolf Bite!"
The air howled.
A spectral wolf burst from the blade, its jaws clamping down on the re-forming monster.
The creature shrieked, its regeneration halting mid-process. With one clean motion, Naggí swung, and the beast split apart, its essence devoured by the spectral wolf's bite until nothing remained but silence.
Levy stared, stunned. "How...?"
She lowered her sword. "The Bronze Sword carries the spirit of the wolf. A bite that spreads like infection. To kill a bacteria, you release one even stronger."
The remaining bacteria quivered, their bodies twitching with fear. One by one, they slithered away into the ruins, fleeing her presence.
Levy's heart pounded. In that moment, surrounded by light and ash, his mother looked divine. The glow around her grew until it felt like sunlight breaking through storm clouds, the same light he had once seen when Braxill called upon Joy to destroy a parasite.
He could only whisper.
"...Joan of Arc."