Sky Sorceress: Savior of Exahelm

Chapter 16: Desperate Plan of Action

A shadow treks through the misty streets of Exahelm. Every once and awhile Rogue would have to pop out of the shadow in a private area to get a couple seconds of rest in order to not overdo his magic before finding his master and partner, Sting.

Even though the shadow dragon slayer didn't show signs of fatigue or pain, he had to take precautions. He leaped back into his shadow and moved on out.

"Just how long can humans last up here...?" Rogue thought to himself. He then noticed above him, several beams of light zipping by. The Sabertooth mage briefly poked out and wondered what was going on.

Rogue then overheard some clashing not far from where he was at and went to investigate immediately. After slipping out of an alleyway, to his surprise, he saw Erza and Jellal on guard.

Jellal quickly spotted Rogue's shadow and turned to him. "Is that you, Rogue?"

Rogue began to slip out of his shadow. "Indeed, I was able to-"

"Don't move!" Erza interrupted as her head jolted back up. Suddenly, more magic bullets rained down at both the red haired wizard and Jellal. Erza requiped into her Flight Armor which was cheetah printed clothing with few actually armored parts.

The two were able to swiftly dodge the bullets with their enhanced speeds while Rogue quickly went back to his shadow. Once all the bullets stopped briefly, Rogue poked his head out and glanced at the castle.

"Is someone firing at us?" Rogue inquired.

"More than likely." Jellal answered while pointing at a balcony area on the castle. "We saw a bright light from up there earlier."

Erza swung her sword and glanced back at the building. "They seem to be targeted, not a single soldier or building was struck." She comments as she squinted her eyes. "The others may be targeted too, given their trajectory."

Suddenly, the three spotted the stone bunker far ahead shine and explode. Even though they were far away, the bright flash from that area did blind their eyes for a second. They then noticed flames erupting from said area and they all came to the same conclusion almost immediately.

"Is that...Natsu?!" Jellal exclaimed. "Wasn't he supposed to be with Gajeel?!"

Rogue had a deadpan expression followed by a sweatdrop. "And after all that work getting Chelia and Carla inside...he decides to charge in..."

Erza overheard panic coming from the buildings after witnessing the castle gate getting breached. She then took notice of something else in particular as the smoke traveled towards the upper area she and Jellal were watching earlier.

"It may seem...Natsu's abrupt change of plans may have made things easier for us..." Erza realized while pointing. "Look, the magic bullet air strike has stopped. I imagine whoever was responsible wouldn't be standing around when they have an intruder inside." Despite this, Erza sighed and made a note to herself later to scold the pinkette for making a sudden change of plans.

Jellal rubbed the back of his head. "Looks like we got lucky then, shall we get moving?"

Erza summoned a second sword and spread them out. "Of course, we should wipe out as many enemies so they all won't follow Natsu."

"You guys go on ahead. I'll go back to finding Sting." Rogue acknowledged before sinking back in his shadow and going off in a different direction.

Erza and Jellal nodded their heads and made their way towards the castle gates to stop anyone from getting inside.