Creten had rough mental stability to consider a diplomatic approach but in all honesty, he did not see how this could not be as bad as he was already building it up to be in his head.
There was no way that this individual, whoever he was, didn't have bad intentions.
Plus, a quick look around made it clear that he(Creten) had the advantage as he had several Haron scions who had his back.
Hal was not looking to pacify anyone...
He had wanted to give the Dystopians he had contracted enough time to leave the border and make it deeper into the Dystopian Continent and while he waited, he decided to indulge in any altercations that came his way.
He expected some people to have enough sense to be cautious of a mask-wearing snake-draped sketchy individual with mysterious black hair but if that did not make them weary enough to not engage in a battle with him, he and Sassy could use the experiment and fairly casual battle.