The Yew Queen gestures at one, her nails lancing out and piercing his body in several places - not killing him outright, but making him stumble, and certainly making him bleed rather profusely.

Convenient.

Eliana turns the blood into whips to attack everyone in the area.

More than a few of them can shield themselves.

The Yew Queen flash boils the air around them. They scream, their attention broken, their desires turned towards make it stop -

Leaving them open to Eliana's continued attacks.

She feels almost superfluous, but once more blood is in play, she switches her magical manipulations to make the enemy group physically attack each other.

The Yew Queen is powerful, but seems allergic to taking the fight seriously.

Making the enemy group attack each other disrupts their counter spells, most importantly - it's hard for them to fight the Yew Queen while they're also fighting Eliana.

Not being in control of your own body can certainly be distracting. Pity she can't activate their magic.

Well, between the lot of them, they'll get this group quite messily killed. The Yew Queen shows off a disregard for gravity and getting her hands dirty. She's viciously good, probably approaching the 'destructive force of nature' weight class Hisame hovers near the top of.

But she doesn't seem to be actually fighting as recklessly as Hisame would, even if their styles look similar on the surface - and she draws out the fight long enough to make that apparent. She scrupulously avoids injury, and she keeps control of the battlefield in a way Hisame probably can't. Even where her allies falter, even when one of their enemies gets a few moments to breathe and start to gather want - the Yew Queen's in all the cracks, disrupting them, keeping them contained. She's either done this a thousand times before or has some element of precognition running, or perhaps both - she responds to problems before they arise, several times.

Isn't that refreshing.

Still -

Their opponents fall, all the same.

"A good fight," the Yew Queen says, standing over the last of their bodies.

This doesn't get less hot.

"We're all still alive, so I can agree."

She's giving Shade a rather promising look.

"The fight against our final enemy will be significantly harder - unfortunately, people who are between this level of deadly and his are few and far between." She tilts her head, smiling. "You three practicing against me might be worth something."

"Perhaps, though hampered somewhat by refraining from lethal techniques."

"That is one problem, yes."

"Still, you are closer to the power of the one we seek, yes?"

"Quite. I've never actually faced him - but I suspect he's more powerful than me, but likely not by much."

"Will you give us a moment to formulate a strategy?"

"Alright."

Once the Yew Queen has gone off a ways, Eliana turns to the others.

"I don't think either I or Mora can stand against her. Can you?" she asks Shade.

"Not for long."

"Given enough time I can increase everyone's powers, at least some."

"I propose a three-layer plan. Shade distracts, I harass, and Mora works on supplements."

"I think that works out well for me, though how effective I'll be depends on how much lead time she gives us."

"Can you start now?"

She nods, closing her eyes and starting chanting softly.

Her magic's definitely doing something - the ritual needs to bolster both Shade and Eliana without bolstering the Yew Queen as well... She's not used to bolstering the intensity of someone's caring, but maybe... She might be able to damage the Yew Queen's ability to use magic too, but should hold that in reserve...