He couldn't sense it, at all. He couldn't even feel it in his head, but his hand definitely just hit something.

He immediately plucked it out.

The difference was instant. He felt the change, the subtle shift. His mind was.. clearer, sharper. As if he just stepped out of a cool lake, he felt refreshed. Even Blood Hunter sounded much clearer. Much clearer. He could actually feel its presence within his own thoughts rather than just touching the edges.

He stared down into his hand, but even as he felt the thin object between his fingers none of his other senses could pick it up. He could only stare at his empty palm.

What are you? Are you still clouding my mind?

He let some lightning zip towards it. If it was somehow messing with his ahjer, the black streaks were the best counter he had at the moment. He wasn't sure whether to pierce or just coil around it though. He didn't know what the consequences would be of either. Thankfully, he wouldn't have to guess. The second his lightning made contact with it, he felt it get attacked. Whatever it was in his hand, it attempted to disform and distort Thunderfield.

It didn't go well for it.

Dalric couldn't actually tell what happened next, but after a few moments the shard came into view. It was thin, iridescent, and about half a finger length. He blinked. He had felt a bit of his ahjer get sucked into the black bolt, but he had zero clue what it did.

Thoughts about the 'how' immediately vanished, however as he identified the object in his hand. A Jester Shard, named so because only a fool used it and only a greater fool fell for it. Its function was quite potent, it heavily amplified or weakened certain feelings within the person it was inserted into, but it was also aggressively easy to detect. The way it forcefully distorted ahjer made it as hard to notice as two of your limbs being severed while your eye is poked out. Topped off with the ease in which it could be removed and you had a painfully useless weapon, that was more often used for sex than anything threatening.

But. Someone had changed that. Someone had solved its greatest weakness. Someone had made it near impossible to notice it. Someone had made it dangerous. Dalric looked over his shoulder. He had indeed stumbled upon a person, a potential someone, who knew how to make himself impossible to sense. And that person also happened to be the first person he came in contact with.

"Well. Well. Well."

This would explain the presence of lucyberries, but when did you put this in me?

The Jester Shard opened the doors to a number of new questions, but it also answered the most important one he had right now. He may have been tired, sore, and running out of ahjer, but he hadn’t lost his mind. It had just been tampered with. Just. There was no just about that, but he framed it as such to not lose focus. Now that his mind was clear, he could finally finish off this unnecessarily long dance. Then, then there would be answers.

He coiled some lightning around the shard and attached it to the back of his hand. There were no pockets in or on his armor and he didn’t feel like carrying it in his palm.

Once he made sure it was secure he turned his attention back to the four in front of him, this time with murder firmly on his mind. He charged forward, feeling Blood Hunter giggle with glee. A large snake burst through the ground to meet him, the conjurer had apparently completed their spell. It appeared over two meters wide and a meter tall, its mouth was large enough to swallow a group of him whole. It also spat liquid fire. The stream of burning liquid sizzled through the air as it honed in on him. He comfortable dodged the bulk of it, whatever fringe droplets he didn’t evade burned away against his lightning covering. Beyond its ranged squirts, it was just a kind of big snake. Dalric didn’t bother getting close enough to it to disintegrate it. He hurled Blood Hunter into its mouth. It managed to close it before the halberd reached it, but that only worsened the damage. Blood Hunter cleanly cut through its entire head, dispersing it in a matter of seconds.

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Dalric ran beyond it before it even finished diffusing into regular ahjer. Blood Hunter hastily flew back into his grip, unsatisfied with killing a mere conjuration. It called for more and more it would have. He’d crossed into their cocoon again.The swordsman-conjurers had made themselves some new tools while they waited for him though. The fire one wielded a spear and small shield while the one armed one had a massive shield that covered their entire body up to their nose. They both realized running with swords wouldn’t cut it. The spear and shield routine wouldn’t cut it either, but it was better.

Dalric met the fire one first. Their spear being longer than his halberd, they jabbed at his head while keeping out of his range. He scoffed as he purposely put his head in the way, almost headbutting the sharpened tip of their spear. Even without any lightning covering his face, the purity of the ahjer he had meant a simple conjuration like the ones they used for their weapons could do little to harm him. Stunned by the move, they weren’t prepared when he swiftly grabbed the shaft of the spear and yanked it.

They let go, but not before being pulled off balance. He quickly empowered the simple spear he’d stolen and batted them in the head. The impact gave off a satisfying thwop sound as their head flew to the side and their body went limp. They unceremoniously crashed to the floor thereafter.

If they died from that, oh well. If they lived, he had a number of questions about their weapon. He wasn’t perturbed either way. The rest of the pigs wouldn’t be left to chance though.

The one armed one hadn’t moved. Whether by design, slow reflexes, or fear, they held their position while Dalric easily dealt with their companion. They were now all that stood between him and the two summoners who were actually close to completing their summoning spell. They had upped the amount of ahjer the poured into it, likely a result of witnessing Dalric’s strength. The difference wouldn’t do much help.

In a similar vein, their one armed protector wouldn’t do much to help them either. Though their shield covered most of their body, their eyes remained unprotected. Dalric firmly gripped Blood Hunter and slashed towards them. The speed was impressive, but not too fast to react to. They did so comfortably, deftly repositioning their massive shield to block him. In the end however, there was nothing to block. Millimeters before colliding, Dalric changed trajectory and raised the halberd up. With their eyes covered they only just glimpsed it over the tip of their shield, but by the point they did it was already on the way back down.

The halberd fell right over the top, effortlessly splitting their head down the middle. Their helmet offered no protection. Blood Hunter sliced through it with ease on its way into their skull. It revelled in all the blood it found, cackling as it reaped another life. Dalric calmly removed it from their brain. He almost preferred it when the shard subdued his connection to it. Almost.

Done with the ones sent to delay him, he eyed the summoners who looked back at him in terror. If they weren’t so close to completion they’d likely have given up on the summoning and fought another way, but at this point they’d put so much ahjer into it even if they cancelled it they’d be severely weakened. Whichever path they chose, they’d be sitting ducks right now either way.

Dalric played around with the idea of letting them complete it, just to see their face when their final hope was dashed by a simple swing of his halberd. He decided against it though, no need sowing despair in people he’d just kill anyway.

So he killed them, simply and cleanly. They didn’t do much to resist. Removing their heads from their bodies proved the simplest part of his dash over. As a nice bonus at the end it, he managed to absorb a good amount of the ahjer they poured into the summoning spell. Some of it dissipated too quickly, but he snagged a lot of it. It didn’t come close to making up for the amount he wasted, but it was a nice little bump.

Finally done with the reinforcements, he picked up the possibly dead swordsman-conjurer and walked back to the original two. He despawned Blood Hunter along the way, it was beginning to crave the slaves’ blood as well, and replaced it with the enchanted blade he confiscated. The Jester Shard spun between his fingers as he guessed which emotions it heightened and which it dampened. It clearly dampened his desire to kill, but he couldn’t quite figure out what it heightened.

By the time he reached the dark skin man he’d first spoken to, the man was cowering in his cage.

“Pl..please. I swear it! I swear on my life I’m just security!”

Dalric tilted his head, “Well, that could be true. But.” He showed the man the Jester Shard, “How would you explain this part?”