Someone else intervened, causing the ring of earth magic to shatter into thousands of fragments like glass hit by a bullet, canceling its effect.
"Imbecile! Who told you that you could kill the girl?!"
Daiana not only had her left hand raised and pointed at the ground beneath Tristessa, but one of her nails glowed like a firefly in the night: it was a glintstone grafted onto her finger, having catalyzed thaumaturgy. The Priestess, furious, rushed to the culprit who had attacked Tristessa and summoned her shadow saber to stab her in the sternum.
"You forced me to save her ass and show them that I was actually lying and know how to use thaumaturgy! You stupid, useless, idiot, piece of shit…!" With each insult, a stab made the witch spit blood, covering Daiana's face with infinitesimal red drops. "She still hasn't told me her name, and I still don't know why she is so loved by Vel'Moran and has the dark souls worthy of a Lesser Evil! How do you expect me to solve those riddles if she's dead, huh?! HUH?! TELL ME! …WAIT, YOU CAN'T?! OF COURSE NOT, YOU'RE ALREADY DEAD! DO YOU UNDERSTAND MY DILEMMA NOW?!"
Indeed, the witch had died long before Daiana finished her outburst, and she raised her body above her, her darksaber piercing her, demonstrating extraordinary strength, and bathing in her blood that spurted from the dozens of holes in her torso.
"Here, mother! I see you're hungry!"
Laughing out loud and radically changing her emotional state, the Priestess accumulated momentum with her supernatural weapon and hurled the witch's corpse at Tiara, who remained kneeling in the same place, breaking her fingers as she dug into the earth and stones beneath.
"Damn you, Tiara, move! Sycoma!" Severus shouted, struggling to his feet and visible fatigued. The glintstone on his cane cracked even further as it emitted white light, and a glowing glyph appeared above Tiara, repelling the witch's corpse with such force that it dismembered it and sprayed blood and entrails all over the remaining witches. "Maerwel Voltis Iirit!
"Severus, watch out!" Tristessa cried as she saw one of the witches conjure a blood spear that from the sky, heading straight for the elf. "NO!"
The sinister spear reached his left hand and tore off several fingers. But the girl saw a triumphant smile on Severus's sweaty, pale face: his final spell, which finally destroyed the cane's glintstone, materialized a large ring of blue glyphs high above, like a shining star between the earth and the heavenly ceiling of corrupted red clouds.
In a flash, the ring self-destructed, and in its place fell hundreds of lightning bolts that struck every witch in its path, burning them from within, liquefying their organs, and tearing their hands to pieces as the electrified glintstones on their wands were destroyed in small but condensed explosions.
"Well… What a bunch of useless bitches."
Daiana clicked her tongue, shaking her head as she looked at her minions lying on the grass, dismembered or smelling of burnt flesh, over countless pools crimson and dense liquid. Some were in agony, convulsing and drowning in their own blood, but never stopping laughing.
Even the Priestess began to laugh, filling the blood elf with dismay, as he did the impossible to keep standing while holding his blood-soaked hand. Now he was covering more ground, in his attempt to protect both the mind-broken Tiara and Tristessa.
"Fortunately, I have more cannon fodder to use at my leisure! Or am I lying, ladies?" she asked to more of the filthy, grimy, blindfolded women who were arriving at the vanguard, ready to join the battle.
"We will give our lives for you, Mistress!" one of the witches shouted.
"Yes, everything for the Coven and for Lord Moebius!"
"Well said!" celebrated the Priestess, whose smile turned into a grimace of annoyance at the sight of Severus: after getting rid of the cane and applying a tourniquet at the height of the wrist with a piece of his bloodstained shirt's sleeve, he was ready to keep fighting to the last consequences, pointing his right hand at Daiana. "Are you going to use thaumaturgy without a catalyst? I see your insides, elf, and it's not at all outstanding. You reek of normality. You'll shatter your soul doing that."
"Whatever it takes…in order to banish you to the blackest void, you monster." he hissed, his ancestral rage giving him the strength he needed to carry on. His red hair shone with the blood he was losing, and that of the dead witches. The scent of Death in the air strengthened him, as long as he could take as many of his enemies to the grave with him. "I will kill you, Daiana Mercer-Archeos!"
Severus's determination didn't intimidate the witch one bit; quite the opposite.
"Oh…oh, oh… Oh, how wonderful! Your hatred and your passion move me, elf! What drives you to such extremes to exterminate me? I am also moved by the fear of that cute missy who still hasn't told me her name: she is so afraid of Death that she is driving me completely crazy with love! And my mother…! Oh, mother! Have you lost your mind yet?! Do you know what it feels like to fall into that endless hole from which you will never be able to escape?! My heart can't handle so many dilemmas, so many things to learn, that fill me with so much happiness!"
Daiana had brought her hands to her chest, and since it wasn't enough to contain all those chaotic emotions she felt, she raised her arms in the direction of the skies that were being poisoned by the dimensional shift event, spitting bubbling saliva and crying freely.
"You're all blessed! Mother of mine, bless you! You handsome elf and missy beloved by the God of Chaos, bless you! Ah, ah, blessed you are, you who guide me on the path of questions and answers! Oh, such joy! And on a night like this, a night of impending Evil Dream!" In the middle of her monologue, Daiana covered her face with both hands to hide her tears, bowing her head and unable to contain herself. "Ahhh, you are blessed! I am so happy! So happy that I have, have, have…!"
Suddenly, her crying ceased, and the witches who had been listening excitedly to their Mistress clasped their hands and, smiling solemnly, bowed their heads in penitence.
As she lifted her head and revealed her tear-covered face, Tristessa saw a grin so full of malice that it was only surpassed by her following vile and dark words:
"…I must slaughter you all and devour your brains."