The weird dude had purple fairly translucent skin that seemed to shimmer occasionally and he was dressed in leaves and vines with a horn right over his left eye which was completely black to match his right eye.

Also, he was bald.

The weird dude was facing where Hal was and he eyed them all with his black eyes while his satisfied smile slowly became nasty.

Almost like he was imagining them all with their heads squashed or simply dying so many types of horrific deaths.

He began to turn slowly as though he wanted to get a good look at all of them and creep them out with his nasty smile so his back was turned to Hal's side.

"Hey, who the hell are you? Are you the one who caused the fog? Are you the one who stopped me right at the cusp of success?" Yelled out a guy not far from where Hal was standing.

In all honesty, he was not the only one who felt the way he was feeling. He was not the only one who felt he was close to the fruit but the others were bidding their time.

After all, it was now clear that the fog was to herd them over here and this purple dude could very well have been the source of the fog.

The weird dude said nothing as he was still making his turn but for some reason, the vocal guy seemed quite peeved about the whole situation and was not going to take silence for an answer,

"Hey, I'm talking to you. Look at me when... Ack"

It was so sudden.

One moment he was ranting or at least beginning his tirade, the next, a large purple spike was materializing from the ground and stabbing right through his stomach to stick out the back.

It even raised him off the ground.

The spike had been so fast, the vocal guy did not even have time to react.

No one screamed hysterically.

Not even those who had come with the victim.

They were devastated, more so because they were family, but no one here came without appropriate knowledge on how dangerous it would be.

No one came here without the choice to send a representative but most would prefer to come themselves as it is always much easier to trust yourself to get things right than to trust others.

Instead of any hysterical screams, they summoned their Cosmic Armament and veiled them thinly with Cosmic Phenomenons and their expressions showed a readiness to gut the fucker who killed their companion but none of them made a move. Yet.

Throughout the spike attack and the subsequent summoning of Cosmic attacks, the Wierd dude still had his back turned to it all.

He had killed someone so accurately without lifting a finger and seemed quite nonchalant about it all.

Hal frowned at the display.

'What are you, a god?' He thought.

He felt it made absolutely no sense that this purple weird dude was so overpowered. At least some sort of gesture should have accompanied that attack.

That there was no gesture was quite frankly mind-boggling.

The weird dude sighed and finally he spoke in a quite the mellow tone,

"I hate nuisances. I detest them actually. You humans, Nay, you beings whether human or beast have absolutely no respect for someone else's solace.

For millennia, I have tricked you. I have ambushed you. I have killed you, all from the shadows of course but you always come back. You never stay away.

You just can't help yourself.

Are the resources that grow here so important that you are ready to risk your lives to get them?"

Hal looked at the faces of everyone he could spot which was quite a lot thanks to his cultivation and their expressions showed they were all thinking 'Yes' in their minds.

Now the Wierd dude was facing Hal's side again and his eyes paused on his face but moved on soon enough,

"Or maybe I have been too lenient?

No matter, I will not be lenient anymore.

And what better day and way to show the end of my leniency than this. Clearly, the best of the young generation have gathered here. Killing you all should be enough to send a message. And a message that would be heard this time.

Not ignored like before"

Before the weird dude could continue his chilling words, a group dressed in practical battle-ready but expensive attires began to advance from behind and everyone made way for them.

Looking at their eyes, Hal knew the reason for the respect they garnered from all those present.

They all had deep blue eyes.

They were all Doxons.

The one at the forefront of the group was a handsome young man with his black hair held up at the top of his head with an expensive-looking male hairpin.

Everything about the group screamed status.

"That's Ivan Doxon" Jelena told Hal and he looked over at her with a raised brow,

"What gave you the impression that I wished to know?" He asked.

Jelena shrugged,

"Nothing. I just feel like making idle talk." She said and then continued,

"The one behind him grinning like an idiot is Artyom Doxon. They are cousins but from the way they relate with each other, you would think they were brothers.

The Bitch behind them is Elora. Not exactly an immediate sibling to Ivan and Artyom but she is a Doxon nonetheless and regarded as a genius in the use skills." She told him with a frown.

"Is there bad blood between you two?" Hal asked with an amused smile.

Jelena shook her head,

"None at all. What makes you even think that?" She asked and Hal shrugged it away just in time to hear Ivan speak to the Wierd dude in a deep voice.

"You say we are nuisances but have not once introduced yourself. That's a little rude, don't you think?"

The weird dude paused and looked into their eyes, there was almost a sense of familiarity in his expression before he said,

"I'm about to kill all of you and you want to know my name?" He asked, almost confused.

Ivan nodded,

"That's right. I would hate to die at the hands of someone whose name I didn't even know. Besides, you're strong enough that I actually care to know" he said.

"Very well, I am Embry. Tender of this garden. I am its caretaker, its Gardener"

Artyom chuckled,

"So that would make you what, A Gardener of Peril?"

He must have meant it as a joke and a play on the Garden's name but Embry looked thoughtful for a second and nodded,

"I guess it would. Now that you know my name, you can all Die figh..."

Almost as though everyone here had been expecting those words, they all poured out cosmic attacks, cosmic phenomenon, and in some cases, cosmic Auroras at Embry.

Hal did not participate. Neither did Karmen and Amelia but the Antonovs all did.

*BANG!!!*

*BOOOMMM!!!*

When the dust settled or more accurately, once the attacks had hit and fizzled out. Embry stood where he had been before looking completely unharmed.

In fact, it seemed as though not one of the attacks had hit him.

It was as though the attacks had all simply canceled each other out.

Embry sighed,

"So impatient. Well, it's all well and good. I suppose. Now you know it is absolutely pointless to try attacking me as your attacks will have absolutely no impact on me whatsoever."

While almost everyone was looking speechless and stunned with Ivan frowning with suspicion, Hal was looking around and noticing that the fog which had chased them here and had been behind them was now gone.

He could not help but smile and did not look like he cared about the ineffectiveness of the attacks.

"Is there something funny?" A familiar voice asked him actually beating Cheslav to the punch.

The speaker was none other than Vihaan and Hal's eyes widened when he saw him.

"Hey look, it's Vivi. Fancy meeting you here. Come on Karmen, say hello" Hal said with a bright smile.

"Hello" Karmen said with a feral smile while she cracked her knuckles.

Then Hal recognized the one beside him,

"Delaney" he called to her and was in front of her in the blink of an eye.

He took her hand and kissed it before leaping away before Vihaan could attempt a swipe at his head.

"Bastard" Vihaan fumed and the exchange between the two was already garnering the attention of others.

Especially the Doxons who were quick to notice the color of Hal's eyes.

"I can't believe you're wasting your time and beauty by being here with this idiot" Hal told Delaney who almost looked like she was also thinking she could do better.

Then her eyes went to those closest to him apart from Karmen who she recognized. The closest apart from Karmen was Amelia and being a family friend of sorts, she already knew who she was.

Also, since two days ago when they first met, she already knew the identity of the one who had come to the restaurant was none other than Emiliana Antonov and she had also been privy to the Legend of the young man who made her scream in pleasure later that night.

Just thinking about it was making her feel flushed.

"I ask again, you blue-eyed bastard, what's so funny?" Vihaan asked again and actually got into a battle stance.

Hal sneered,

"Do you really have to ask? You all could not even wait to hear what this respectable Gardener had to say and were so quick to attack."

Respectable Gardener?

Vihaan looked shocked and so did all who heard Hal,

"What he has to say? After he just said he wants to kill us?"

Hal nodded,

"Yes"

And then he faced Embry who actually looked surprised at how things were turning out,

"Come on Emy, continue what you were saying. I promise I will not interrupt"