He's Not Here

Before Gnash arrived with her squad, they were only one of many, yet one of the largest and strongest squads heading towards the fortress, Katrin approached the gate:

"Hmm?"

Katrin frowned, her coat trembling slightly with impatience.

"What's the matter? Shouldn't you be summoning your auras? I want to enter the fortress!"

For some reason, Katrin and the two Dark Watchers were confused. Trying to figure out what the matter was, the monsters turned around and banged their spears on the gate a few times.

Yet, there was no response from the fortress. For some reason, the External Artifact was ignoring them, even though everything was fine less than an hour ago.

Only a few seconds later, a light purple light traveled across the seal on the gate. Compared to the aggressive flames Adam had encountered, it was a weak spark, struggling to hold its shape.

It slowly flew towards Katrin as she instinctively strengthened her aura, just a little.