The Styx CLI halt command works via the common QueuedStateManager, and slow processing of the queue is one of the more common overload symptoms in Styx. Thus when Styx is overloaded with elevated queued events count, styx halt doesn't appear to do anything.
The CLI error is moreover quite uninformative, like API error: 500 : "Request Request{method=POST, url=https://styx-scheduler.spotify.net/api/v0/halt, tag=Request{method=POST, url=https://styx-scheduler.spotify.net/api/v0/halt, tag=null}} failed"