Sky Sorceress: Savior of Exahelm

Chapter 20: Empty Halls of Exahelm Castle

"What was that large explosion from earlier...?" Jellal silently asked. He and Erza hid in the alleyways as they continued luring the civilians away from other sections of town. They had their backs hugging the walls while Erza slowly peeked her head out.

The swordswoman noticed the crowd that was chasing them was significantly smaller than the last time Jellal lured them. She leaned back inside and held her chin. "It's not looking good out there..." Erza admitted. "It seems whatever that explosion was, it lured a good chunk of the civilians towards that area. If one of our allies is locked in combat, they could be in danger."

Jellal lightly gripped his face and sighed. "I see, I had a feeling this plan wouldn't fully work out..." He stood up and looked towards the opening in the alleyway. Erza stood up as well and peeked out the wall once more.

"Alright, let's hurry and-HHRGH!" Jellal began before feeling a sudden sharp pain on his lower right side.

Erza quickly turned around and widened her eyes in panic. "Jellal! What happened!" After she asked, she saw someone a bit away behind the two. There was a small light that quickly dimmed. A head of a young boy angel poked out who was several feet away from them.

"I think I hit him!" The boy marveled. A green Exceed poked his head out shortly after and noticed Jellal clenching the spot where he was hit.

"Gah! You only grazed him!" The Exceed exclaimed before flying upward. "Quick, let everyone know where they are!"

"O-oh! Right!" The boy replied as the two quickly fled the scene.

Erza bent down and examined Jellal's wound. "Are you alright?" She asked.

Jellal stopped clenching his wound and quickly grabbed Erza's arm. "It's fine...but we need to leave. Now."

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Natsu and Happy continued their trek through the castle halls. The two were currently trying to get to the highest point to reach Carla and Chelia, however the two were lost within minutes. Natsu kept on sprinting and sprinting, his patience was wavering.

"AAAAGH! What's with this place?! How the heck do these guys even navigate here?!" Natsu fumed. He proceeds to skid to a stop and looks around the place. They were currently in a long straight hallway with a wide set of stairs in front of them.

Happy was slightly lagging behind, he notices his partner stopping in his tracks and catches up to him. "This place really is empty...Do you think they are all on vacation?"

"Do soldiers even take vacations?" Natsu wonders while scanning the area, he then notices something and points at it furiously. "I swear we passed by that pillar already!"

"Everything in this place looks the same..." Happy slumped while floating.

Natsu clenches both fists as flames begin circling around them, he then looks above him. "Forget this! I'll just create a path above us!"

Happy panics and quickly grabs Natsu's scarf. "H-hold on! Carla is still above us! What if the place collapses on us, or worse you accidentally hit Carla!"

Natsu extinguishes his flames and looks back at his Exceed partner while crossing his arms. "Well, do you have any better ideas?" He asked.

Happy spreads his wings and arms out. "Aye! Since there's no one after us, I can take you up higher from outside!" He suggested.

Natsu plopped his fist on his palm. "Oh! You're right! I was so focused on finding our way that I didn't realize that no one was chasing us! Good thinking buddy!" Natsu praised before glancing back where he came from. "Though why aren't they chasing us...?" He wondered.