Hal parried the dagger with the blade formed from Devil energy and struck towards Bray's midsection but he was able to evade thanks to a healthy combination of his Body skill and good instincts.

At this point, the guards had given the two a wide berth while they made a circle around them. Some of them. actually attempted to move closer but Bray glared at them. with eyes filled with malice,

"Get back!" He said and they did so with a frown.

Everyone in the family knew how battle-crazy Bray was but none of them really believed he could defeat Hal on his own since guards with the same cultivation had fallen in a matter of seconds.

Of course, the speed of their death was mostly due to the paralyzing feeling of fear Hal was exuding.

Hal, however, smiled behind his mask but was in no mood to drag this out as he initiated {Fear!},

The degree of impact was so much more than the fear he had been radiating and as cold sweets covered the Kruger youth's back, he attempted to fight despite the feeling and then Hal said,

"Kneel!"

The tone of his voice contained such authority that Bray's body was already reacting before he could try and fail to snap out of it, and then...

*Bam!*

Hal closed the short distance between them and kneed Bray's jaw so hard that it caused him to blackout and then Hal made to stab him with his Devil energy blade but just then, someone forced their way into the encirclement of guards, knocking some of them out un the process and swung his ax at Hal,

"I'll be taking the map back now" the new arrival said,

Hal's eyes widened behind his mask at the sheer force behind the ax swing and only just made it out of the way before it could hit him.

Only just.

Ergo looked the masked man up and down and felt the fear he was giving off before grinning,

"You seem like a worthy foe. A little on the weak side but I'll make it last" he said and gripped his ax tighter.

Hal frowned as he noted that getting the map back seemed a secondary concern of the newcomer,

'Great' he thought 'Another battle crazy asshole'

That said, the pressure this shirtless arrival was giving off was one of someone at the mid-stage of the Cosmic Aurora realm and while Hal could see himself probably holding out against such, the ax in his hand made things difficult.

Unlike when he had sparred against Cirk, Ergo was flooding his ax with cosmic energy and it was giving of the energy signature of an Aurora grade Artifact.

Suddenly, Hal felt a sharp pain in his thigh and looked down to see Bray grinning,

"Gotcha" he said with blood trickling down the side of his lips.

Hal groaned but was not too worried as he could feel the wound already closing up just as the Kruger youth's cosmic daggers dispersed.

He made to retaliate but never got the chance as Ergo was swinging his ax at him again and forced him to leap back and out of the line of attack.

However, Ergo the shirtless was not going to let Hal out of his range of attacks and pursued.

Soon they were crossing weapons: Artifacts against Devil energy blade and Hal was losing big time.

His strength was far from enough to hold back Ergo who, apart from having a higher cultivation base was also bulky and that added to the physicality of Contact. So he decided on a different approach.

Actually getting the idea for Bray the grinning battle-crazy idiot.

At this point, more guards were in the courtyard but none of them interfered with the battle and eventually, two others arrived at the scene.

They were none other than Cirk and the Kruger Patriarch's right-hand man, Xerx.

Xerx ran towards Bray who was still on the ground,

"Young master Bray" he said with concern and lifted the wounded Bray away but not before the Kruger youth snarled,

"I want to fight him" he said, obviously referring to Hal but Xerx just lifted him away and gave him to some of the guards who looked relieved to be able to leave here without looking like a bunch of wimps,

That said, the reality at the moment was that they were useless whether they stayed or left.

Hal on the other hand, while still attempting to fend off Ergo was more than a little surprised to see Cirk here. His presence here as well as his next words made more than clear that he was a part of the Organization the princess was against.

"Need any help?" Cirk asked.

Ergo scoffed,

"From you? You must be out of your mind." Ergo said.

It was no wonder why he said so. Hal was giving off the pressure of a mid-stage cosmic phenomenon realm cultivator and yet he had so far avoided all his attacks and even though Ergo was sure evasion could not work forever, this opponent was still leagues above Cirk who was one stage higher in cultivation.

That said, he could have at least accepted Cirk's help and have them overwhelm this thief.

How long had Cirk been a part of the organization? Hal could not help but wonder before he smiled to himself and decided, that if a chance should present itself, he would kill the bastard now that he was no longer under his father's and family's protection.

Cirk was also wondering why this thief felt familiar. Even the fear he was feeling despite not being close to him was familiar and he could not for the life of him put his finger on why.

Anyway, Hal felt it was about time he tried that different approach and so he switched from Devil bloodline to Shadow demon and even summoned Reaper with the scythe looking wickedly deadly.

Ergo grinned even wider at this,

"Oh, what is this? A different weapon, well, two can play that game..." He said and summoned his cosmic Armament which was a grey battle ax but did not keep his Ax artifact away but would instead dual wield.

Hal was not worried though as the Shadow demon bloodline transition was mostly to buy himself time to run down the clock and be able to turn invisible to their senses again.

Also, he had the scroll from Roxy in his hand and was charging it with Astral energy as had been instructed by the Runemaster and could not wait to see what this puppy could do.

Ergo soon found out that the weapon change went farther than simply preferred choice when Hal began to move so fast, he could barely keep up but on the one occasion he was able to catch Hal in a physical standoff, Ergo let his frustrations show.

"Nggh" Hak groaned in pain as he was hit to the ground and Ergo grinned before bringing down his cosmic armament on a prone Hal who raised Reaper to intercept.

Then Ergo took advantage of having two weapons as he struck with his Ax artifact while Hal's hands were busy holding back his cosmic Armament with the scythe.

However, just then, something sprung out from Hal's sleeves, so fast that Ergo did not get a good look before it sunk its fangs into his wrist and disappeared back into Hal's sleeves.

Ergo groaned in pain as the point that had been bitten swelled while the poisonous vapor Sassy had passed into him caused his hand to turn green. Ergo stood upright and quickly used cosmic energy circulation to eject the poison and he was able to clear it all up since his cultivation surpassed Sassy's.

He knew he had brought this upon himself because, despite the dual wielding, he was still toying with Hal.

Hell, he had not even used a cosmic aurora so far.

However, it had given Hal enough time to not only shake off the effects of the trap runes but also charged up the scroll which caused his hand to tingle as a signal that it was ready.

He then smacked it onto Ergo's body and it immediately caused spatial distortion as barely a second later...

"What the hell is this...? Arrhhhhhh"

... Ergo was forcibly sucked into the void.