Nester's chain blocked Red Hook's Blood Spear. But only for a moment. Red Hook might not be as strong as Dristel was, but she was still a mage at the ninth level, and when she used a spell, it would understandably be more powerful than when an eighth level mage used a spell, even if that mage was burning through all their mana and life force to power that spell.
Nester's spell was also wide-range, so compared to the concentrated power of Red Hook's Blood Spear, the power of a single chain link was nothing.
The Blood Spear tore through the chain before finally reaching Nester and exploding his brain in bloody gore.
After Nester died, his tornado of swirling chains quickly slowed down to a complete stop, after which they completely dissipated, leaving Nester's headless corpse to fall back down onto the ship.
