It was already heading towards late in the evening and it would seem Gavin had no interest in letting Wade see the light of tomorrow.

He wanted him dead and he wanted him dead now.

With the scroll floating in mid-air in front of him, the ex-advisor walked in behind his force which numbered at about two hundred with the weakest being at the Cosmic Phenomenon realm and the strongest being at the peak.

While the force was a tad bit small and the size of a small gang in the old Salmon city, Hal knew there was really no comparison.

Their cultivation was what mattered and in a situation where the weakest of them was worthy of becoming mayor in old Salmon city, the disparity in strength was clear.

Hal felt he would need backup and was a good thing he had already thought of something and actually had his ladies with him.

The duo of Wade and Lucile however scoffed at this force because they were not really worried about getting overwhelmed.

"Please don't be complacent" Hal warned them because now that they were mutated, these men were bound to be far above whatever level the two put them at.

Both Lucile and Wade physically composed themselves and realized Hal had a point.

Gavin looked up at the little hut of a temple from afar and grinned, at least he did until he noticed the sure sign of an activated array on it and then barked out Master Fenrir's name.

The Runemaster was by his side in a matter of seconds,

"You called?"

Gavin pointed,

"What the hell is that?" He asked.

"Well, it's a hut my lord, but also looks to have been built like a temple" Fenrir replied while wondering if there was something wrong with Gavin's sight or he just had never seen a hut prior to today which should not have been so.

Gavin growled and his eyes narrowed in anger,

"I know what it is, you dimwit! I meant what is that array activation?" He asked.

Fenrir made an 'O' shape with his mouth in understanding especially since he had been informed about the guards moving to damage the arrays,

"I see. Well, the damage was patched somehow. By that *shivers* Hal I suppose. It won't hold for long if you focus your attacks at that front which is where the patch is most." He said.

Gavin eyed him,

"Did you just shiver when you said Hal's name?" He asked.

Fenrir tried to look confused,

"Did I? I didn't notice" he said, having sworn to keep what he had seen of Hal to his grave.

Gavin gave a noncommittal shrug and then smiled as he ordered his men to attack while they all became encrusted fully in the thick grey crust of the mutating technique.

Then they charged the array and began their attempt to overwhelm it with their numbers and monstrous strength.

Lucile frowned while charging up an attack to toss at them once the array was breached,

"Go ahead Lucy" Hal said with a smile still seated on the ground.

Lucile tossed the attack and watched it go through the Array and blast her target back.

Wade looked over at Hal,

"I didn't know the array allowed attacks." He said in a surprised tone.

"It took a few tweaks. Now if you don't mind, I'd like to study this black water before the Array becomes overwhelmed which is inevitable."

With that, he stood up just as the two began blasting men back with comic attacks and walked over to the black water with which he had been feeling an affinity since he arrived at the Temple.

He dipped his hand into it and the feeling was unmistakable, the water was a kind of liquid Devil energy. It would explain why people died from drinking it.

They were not Devils and hence, it was dangerous to them.

To Hal however, it was god sent or more accurately, Devil sent. He wondered how it was here and upon closer inspection, he could detect impurities.

This was not really genuine Devil energy but a synthesized one which was most likely the work of the Devil tribe on the Dystopian continent.

That of course did not mean it would not prove useful for Hal because it would, it was just that the water being of this nature pointed to further infiltration of the Dystopians.

Hal mind shrugged. If they were here and planning something against the Denizens of the Haron continent, he really could not be bothered to be concerned as long as his ladies were safe.

He cupped his hand and took a sip of the water and felt it was incredibly light. In fact, it seemed to evaporate the moment it touched his tongue and all that was left was the Devil energy which his body refined of all impurities before it was absorbed into his blood to be assimilated.

After that sip, Hal fashioned for himself a makeshift straw and began to draw up the water in the pool.

The sound caused the two to pause and look back at him and their eyes widened when they saw what he was doing.

First, he was still alive and looked to be enjoying himself, and second why the hell was he even doing it in the first place.

Hal noticed their eyes on him and passed his sucking,

"What? It was a long walk, I'm thirsty" he said and got back to it.

Once the water was completely drained and the energy was assimilated into his blood, Hal took a deep breath and stood to his feet while patting his stomach with a satisfied sigh.

"Alright, there is no point with you two wasting your time with these small fries. I'll handle it" he said.

"What?" Lucile exclaimed.

Hal smiled.

"I said I'll handle it.

With the mutating technique, Gavin is no longer really a Late-stage Cosmic Aurora realm cultivator but can actually be related to the power level of the Early stage of the Cosmic Pagoda realm. With a tougher defense should he use the technique to shield his entire body.

It will be hard for the two of you to defeat him if you have spent all your energy here.

Lucy, can I speak to you privately."

Hal said and she nodded and walked to the side with him under the jealous gaze of Wade,

"You speak like you've experienced this technique" Lucile said and Hal smiled.

"Well, of course I do, Beldar used it to battle me" he said.

Lucile nodded with an understanding expression,

"So Gavin was right. You are involved with the man who interrupted the auction." She said.

Hal nodded having cast a noise-canceling rune to keep things quiet,

"Yes. Now I need you to do something for me. Let Wade get beaten up. Preferably to unconsciousness, but don't let him get killed. I know that would leave you to contend with Gavin on your own but I am sure you can hold him off till I can offer support."

Lucile looked at him for a long while before shrugging,

"Okay. But I can defeat Gavin on my own" she said and walked off just as the Array gave way and allowed the influx of mutated guards.

Hal released immense Astral energy, the entire supply he had stored in his body, and created a Dome of Astral energy that covered him and the mutated guards but left out Wade and Lucile.

The guards having not lost their sense of reasoning paused at this new development only to see a portal appear by Hal's side and out of it emerged Twenty-four ladies with Rita and Marla leading the charge.

"Oh finally! This will be so much fun" Marla said and was already summoning her cosmic armament while also releasing her avatar.

"I trust you will keep her close" Hal said to Rita with a smile and she nodded,

"Of course"

Then he opened another portal and out of it slithered Sassy and she was leading the forty beasts who had come out when he battled Beldar.

This time, however, he gave them an edict that they were not to devour the bodies. Not yet at least.

They were already showing signs of advancement on account of their feast of monster bodies earlier in the day.

The mutated guards still outnumbered them with almost two hundred to sixty but this time Hal's attention was not occupied with anything else and he would be fighting by their side...