The battle between Dj and Roy unfolded in the magical chamber. Becky wore a look of excitement to see the csh.

  Roy swung his sword with a rapid bination of strikes, but Dj effortlessly dodged each attack. His agility was astonishing. He wore a nont smirk.

  "Is that the best you do, Roy? You're moving slower than a snail in mosses,” Dj said.

  Roy’s face hardened with frustration. He lunged fain, this time with renewed vigor, aiming to catch Dj off guard. But Dj danced around Roy's attacks with ease.

  Dj tio evade Roy's assaults with almost pyful moves moving. "e on, Roy! I’m not even breaking a sweat.”

  Roy gritted his teeth. He adjusted his strategy, fog on precision and timing in his attacks. With a swift motion, Roy aimed a series of rapid strikes at Dj, aiming to exploit any opening.

  Dj, however, anticipated each move, sidestepping and dug with grace. "ry, Roy!" he called out, his tone ced with amusement. "But you'll have to do better than that!"

  Roy eled celestial energy into his strike, his bde surged with brilliant light. He swung swifter than he was earlier.

  However, Dj was quick to react. He raised his fists, blog Roy's celestial-irike with surprising strength. Sparks of energy erupted upon impact, creating a brief but intense csh of forces between them.

  Roy was astonished. He staggered back slightly from the ued strength of Dj's defense. "With his bare hands? But how?!" he excimed.

  Dj fshed a sly grin as he retorted, "Well, Roy, I've picked up a few ricks since we st crossed bdes."

  "By the strength of the celestial guardians," Roy decred with some frustration, but then raised his sword with a divine and, "grant me yht!"

  His limbs began to radiate with a radiant glow, the divine energy surging through him.“Let’s see you hahis: Astral Surge!"

  Roy's body bathed in the radiaial glow, Dj raised an eyebrow. "Well, well, Roy," he said. "It looks like you've been hitting the divine gym. But don't think that fancy light show is enough to stop me.” Dj braced himself for the ing onsught.

  Roy surged forward with his enhanced speed and precision. Dj found himself on the defensive. Dj dodged and weaved sshes of Roy. His agility kept him just ahead of Roy's attacks, but he soon realized that Roy's strategy was different. Roy wasn't swinging to hit Dj directly; he was using each motion to gauge Dj's position aions.

  While Dj's eyes tracked Roy's movements, Roy's heightened senses allowed him to anticipate Dj's dodges and ters and nd a few sshes on Dj. Dj attempted to blod terattack, but Roy overpowered him.

  With a swift maneuver, Roy tered Dj who attempted to strike with his fists, and nded a precise ssh across Dj's back. The force of the blow sent Dj staggering back, crashing into a nearby pilr with a resounding impact.

  Dj gritted his teeth, feeling the sting of Roy's attack. He pushed himself up.

  "You're fast, Dj, but did you think you could e in here a me using your newfound speed alone,” Roy questioned.

  Dj smirked, wiping a trickle of blood from his lip. "Looks like this just got iing…”

  With a swift motion, Dj drew his sword. Ohe bde sliced through the air, it ignited with brilliant blue fmes. The fmes danced and swirled around the bde, creating an aura of sizzling energy.

  "It seems you've received training from the swods," Roy said.

  Dj chuckled. “Looks like you've got me all figured out, Roy."

  The tensioween them momentarily eased. They stood at a standstill momentarily before Roy made a fident smirk and decred: “Astral Step!”

  In an instant, he vanished from his current position, reappearing behind Dj with unparalleled speed and agility. Dj looked stunned.

  "Dj, your training may have brought you far, but it couldn't prepare you for this," Roy decred.

  In the blink of an eye, Roy moved in a blur of motion, exeg a precise and rapid series of strikes that left Dj struggling to defend himself.

  Roy's Astral Step and sword sshes bined in a flurry of attacks, Dj found himself pushed to his limits. With lightning-fast movements, he mao barely block each of Roy's strikes. He barely avoided being cut. Sweat trickled down his brow while he strained against Roy’s assault.

  Then, in a burst of energy, Roy reappeared in the distance. He held anger in his eyes.

  Dj, despite the challenge, smirked. "You're not making this easy for me," Dj said.

  Roy responded."Sword magic is not something easily mastered. Maer the Eastern Swod School, but only a few persevere to reach the pinhe swod level is a league of its own, achieved by only a handful of individuals."

  He paused, his eyes narrowing with determination. "But don't assume I've been stagnant with my sword magic level 2 this eime," Roy tinued. "I have my ows and teiques."

  With those words, Roy prepared to release his sword magic. Roy resonated with the power of his sword and began the intation for his sword magic.

  "In the name of the celestial guardian ," he intoned, "grant me yht, your elemental power!"

  With the intation plete, Roy raised his sword high and spoke with authority.

  “Guard! !"

  A transformation occurred. The bde, once a simple, shining steel, began to shift and ge. The metal of the sword transformed into a deep, iridest blue, like the depths of a crystal-clear o. Etgs of swirling patterns aial symbols appeared along the bde's surface. The hilt of the sword elongated slightly, and a gemstone was embedded in the pommel which began to glow with a brilliant azure radiance.

  With his transformed sword, Roy advaowards Dj, who had barely mao block his previous attacks. Dj shifted from looking fident to wary while notig the ges in Roy’.

  Roy raised his sword high, the iridest blue bde gleaming with celestial power. He ted an intation in a low, resonant voice, calling upon the elemental might of .

  "Surge, ," Roy intoned. Roy's sword shimmered with an aquatic aura. Droplets of water formed around the bde. With a swift motion, he brought the sword down in a powerful vertical strike, sending a surge of water-infused energy hurtling towards Dj.

  Dj's eyes widened. He quickly raised his own sword to summon a barrier of blue fmes from its edge to intercept Roy's attack. The collision of water and fire created a steamy explosion, obsg their vision momentarily.

  Dj's blue fmes danced fiercely, while Roy's sword, infused with 's power, cut through the air with precision.

  Becky and Sybil, hidden behind the pilrs, watched in awe as the intetle unfolded before them.

  Wheeam cleared, Roy wasted no time. He spoke while releasing another surge of energy at Dj.

  "The results were the same st time," Roy decred with his eyes locked onto his oppo. It seemed that Dj’s fmes were celled out. "Your blue fmes are no match for this power."

  The surge of water-infused energy surged toward Dj with incredible speed, propelled by the might of . Dj knew he had to act quickly to ter this formidable attack. He raised his own sword to meet Roy's assault head-on.

  The collision of power created a spectacur dispy of elemental forces g. Water and fire intermingled in a chaotice of energy, filling the room with dazzling bursts of steam a. The sheer force of their magical frontation caused the pilrs to shudder and debris to rain down.

  Dj's calm demeanor shifted to one of seriousness. "That should do it for warming up," he remarked.

  "Nonsense," Roy retorted. "You couldn't have improved that much since our st enter."

  While Roy readied himself for the exge, he noticed a subtle ge in Dj. A faint blue aura began to envelop Dj’s body. It glowed with an iy that matched Roy's celestial energy.

  Dj's power surged upward with the aura. His eyes held a bluish fme within them.

  Roy's eyebrows furrowed in surprise, but quickly prepared to release aream of energy. Before he could react, Dj's incredible speed came into py. In the blink of an eye, Dj had disappeared from Roy's line of sight with his hands ba his pockets. His sword seemingly vanished from the area.

  “You’re wide open.”

  Roy's eyes widened in surprise. He instinctively turned around, sing the room, but it was too te. Dj reappeared behind him while raising a hand out of his pockets to release a fming blue fme punch which ected with devastating force. The intense heat and impact sent Roy flying backward through the air. His body tumbled untrolbly before crashing into the chamber's walls with a resounding thud.

  The room quaked from the sheer force of the blow. Dust and debris filled the air momentarily, but ohey cleared, Roy was revealed to be yed out on the ground. He was momentarily stunned by the ued attack.

  Becky and Sybil, who had been watg from the shadows both gasped at the same time.

  Roy struggled to his feet with his face marked by the scorg effects of Dj's punch. He wiped away a trickle of blood from his mouth.

  Roy took a moment to catch his breath. He looked at Dj, and then closed his eyes briefly.

  "Before this ends," Roy began with a strained speech, "tell me the truth. You want to see Jay, don’t you? Why do you want to see Jay so badly? What's your real reason?"

  Dj, with his blue fmes still flickering around him, stared up at Roy. He let out a heavy sigh and shook his head.

  "Roy," Dj replied while raising up both hands and wearing a smile, "you haven't been listening, have you?"

  "You see, Roy," Dj began, "I've been chasing after a certain relic, a powerful artifact said to be hidden within these depths. It's said to grant unimaginable power, and I've been on its trail for quite some time. Jay, well, she's just an unfortunate distra in all of this."

  Roy's eyes widened. A Powerful artifact? He had never heard of su artifact hidden within the underground chamber."What artifact are you talking about?" Roy demanded.

  Dj shrugged. "Now, now, Roy, that's a secret I'll have to keep for myself. Let’s just say it is something powerful, and I io cim it."

  Roy's anger and frustration had reached a boiling point. He felt ered, both physically aally, by Dj's relentless pursuit.

  Roy began the intation for another one of his teiques. His body seemed to radiate with a divine aura.

  "In the name of the celestial guardians," Roy intoned, "I call upon yht. Grahe strength to protect this pce!"

  When the intation reached its climax, Roy raised his sword high, then uttered the release and,

  “Sword Magic level 3, !” and the guardian's power surged forth.

  The room was bathed in a blinding light. Roy's guardian fully materialized. It stood tall and imposing, a magnifit being of celestial in with immense power at its disposal. Its elemental aura was at its peak, and its presence alo shockwaves through the room.

  "So, you've been holding back, huh?" Dj remarked with a smile. "Level 3, that's quite a leap. You're right; before, you only showed me the tip of the iceberg."

  Becky and Sybil watched in stunned silence as Roy's transformation reached its pinhe celestial guardian, now fully maed, radiated an overwhelming aura of power that filled the chamber with its majestic presence.

  Sybil bit her lip, "Becky," she whispered softly with worry, "that's... That's a whole different level of power. I'm not sure if Dj hahis."

  Beodded, "Yeah," she murmured, "Roy's really pulled out all the stops. I thought Dj had a ce, but..."

  She trailed off, uo finish her sentence as Dj faced off against the formidable celestial guardian.