Shannon O'Reilly was bullied and everything his older sister wasn't. When his sister Sarah gives him a chance to change things through a single wish things don't go as planned.     I Wish: Book 5 Chapter 31 The Final Battle By Amethyst

Baal looked just as I remembered him from Xuriel’s memories, though older and even more commanding. During the previous war between the Demons and Celestials, he had been young, brash, newly ascended to the position of Demon King, and wanting to prove himself. Demons may age slowly but they do age, and he looked older and harder somehow, though he was still probably in his prime and I wasn’t willing to wait another few thousand years to end him and the threat that he posed.

It felt like he had grown in power since his last battle with Xuriel, not a comforting thought when one also took into account the thousands of years he had to do so and gain experience between that last war and now. Just the fact that he had grown further during that time when he was already the strongest Demon that Heil had ever produced was enough to be concerning. His aura was overwhelming enough that it seemed to smother the auras of the dozen guards with him, making it hard for me to get an accurate sense of their power. They probably weren’t strong enough to be generals though, so I had fought stronger than them before, when I wasn’t unsealed and at full power.

I waited until they were all through the portal and it was closing behind them before I made my move, first releasing the scythe of holy magick from where it hovered where it had removed the head of Baal’s statue. The Demons, and even Baal himself, had been watching it warily, and their eyes widened in surprise as it shot toward the group. It was followed by a barrage of obsidian shards that had once been the statue’s head, even as one of the Demons raised a horn to his lips and blew, probably calling for reinforcements.

The other three spells I was casting settled into place even as the first two were launched toward my opponents. The first was the most powerful protection spell that I could muster, I might need it if I was going toe to toe with Baal. The others were a barrage of stone spikes launching from behind the group at the base of the rapidly closing portal and the second was a spell that would turn the ground at their feet to a morass of tar that would drag the unwary down to suffocate as they struggled against it.

Baal already had some sort of protection spell in place. He tanked the scythe and what obsidian projectiles flew his way and leaped away from my trap even as it started to form, before the tar could do its work. Now he stood at the base of the headless statue, unharmed by my attacks.

Most of his demonic companions were not so fortunate. While a pair of Succubae took to the air at his command, the others were now struggling against the tar and three had been impaled and killed by stone spikes. Another two were shredded by obsidian projectiles, including the one with the horn. The booming sound of the horn was cut short as a shard of obsidian found his throat and he gurgled his last bloody breath.

Baal was scanning his surroundings and shouting orders to the pair of Succubae as I continued to draw in more magick energy and purify it. I had plenty still in the tank, but I didn’t want to get overconfident and face the possibility of having to rush to gather and purify more when I truly needed it. I expended a bit of that magick energy, focusing my will and intent, and the newly formed tar pit burst into white flames of holy magick, causing those caught inside to scream as they were consumed.

I didn’t have time to pat myself on the back. I was still on a timer here before either my friends or Baal’s reinforcements showed up and I wanted this battle over before then if at all possible. Baal was still looking around for their attacker and I could feel him readying spells and two of the Succubae were searching from the air, heading toward the walls of the courtyard, one of them almost directly toward my hiding spot.

I hit the one headed for the opposite wall, forming an assault of stone spikes from that wall and launching them at her. She dodged the first wave, the second shattered on her shielding spell, but the third hit her with full force and she crashed to the courtyard floor with her chest and both of her wings impaled. As I hoped, both Baal and the other Succubus took this to mean that the one I just killed was approaching my hiding spot and focused their attention there.

Baal loosed a terrifying blast of magick that eviscerated the opposite wall of the courtyard even as the Succubus approaching my hiding spot turned and raced toward the rubble Baal’s attack had left behind. The moment her back was turned, I cast two more spells. The first was my own blast of magick, this one holy in nature which I sent toward Baal, burning with raw power and antithesis to the essence of Heil.

The second spell was a simple teleportation spell which had me dropping onto the Succubus’s back with force. She barely had time to shriek in surprise at the impact and added weight before I thrust the silver blade on the tip of my tail into her back. As the ash that was all that was left of her was taken by the wind, I spread my wings and got in position to hover as I turned my attention back to the Demon King.

When the dust cleared, Baal stood in the middle of the now devastated courtyard looking unharmed. I knew better though. That attack may not have hurt him physically, but it had completely drained his shielding spell, and I could sense him drawing on more tainted magick energy to create a new one even as his gaze settled upon me.

“Xuriel, I should have known,” the Demon King spat in the demonic tongue. “I would have thought you long dead by now.”

I was already firing off two more spells even as I replied in the same language, “I’m not Xuriel, but she left me all her memories, and her power, to finish what she started. And don’t bother hoping that your generals might show up to give you a hand, the other Sentinels have already taken care of them.”

The second blast of holy magick impacted his new barrier spell, but not before obsidian shards from the destroyed statue rained upon him. He managed to avoid the worst of it, but he now had a host of cuts and his tail had been severed near the base, leaving me with an advantage until his regeneration could grow it back. That holy blast had taken a huge chunk out of the new shielding spell too and I had a feeling that one more big spell would take it down completely.

Xuriel had learned in her first battle with Baal, and she had passed those lessons on to me. He might be powerful, but he relied on pure power and favored large, destructive spells and powerful shields when not in close-quarters combat. While that may give him an edge against most Demons, those big spells also took a while to build up the power for, and an agile and sneaky opponent who could avoid his attacks, keep out of range for a slugfest, and whittle down his shields could beat him. Xuriel had him on the ropes when they first fought and would have won if she had not been cursed by Izhara at the critical moment.

In a one-on-one battle between the two of us, it would probably end up as a battle of attrition, one that I had confidence I would eventually win. Now I just had to worry about interference. I could feel other demonic auras getting closer by the minute and Ziralin and three other Celestial auras were fast approaching as well. I was on the clock here.

If I had to split my attention between multiple opponents, Baal would have more opportunity to cast his shields and wide area attack spells, which was why I took care of the hangers-on and didn’t show myself until I had Baal alone. I was also keeping to the air and out of physical combat range because I knew that he would have an edge there if I got too close. Baal was as powerful physically as he was magically, maybe more so, and while I did have my regeneration and the physical strength and attributes of a Succubus, I knew I wouldn’t be able to match him in the type of physical fight he preferred. I needed to play to my strengths.

I slammed a holy lance into Baal’s shield, depleting it and forcing him to use the magick energy he was building up to cast another instead of a big attack. Spell after spell, I kept him on the back foot, forcing him to focus on shielding himself rather than attacking until the clock ran out. I could sense the portal forming even before it opened, and that meant a magic user. Still, I poured on my attack, hitting Baal with every powerful spell I could muster, counting on my shielding spell to protect me from another spellcaster.

I barely glanced at the Demons emerging from the portal as I hammered Baal with another barrage of spells. There were a couple more Succubae, an Incubus, and a large group of heavily armored Demons with nasty-looking weapons. One of them looked like a Minotaur and it must have been twelve feet tall. A trio of vicious spells hit my barrier, but I was much more powerful than them and could probably take at least another dozen attacks like that before I needed to shield myself again.

Baal was casting another shield spell already, but it didn’t feel as powerful as the ones he was casting before. I had him on the ropes, I just needed to hold out long enough to finish this. I was already casting another barrage of spells when one of the Succubae that was pelting me with spells dropped out of the sky, turning to ash as she fell from the silver-tipped arrow in her back. “Leave my Witch alone, Demon filth!” Ziralin’s voice shouted, making my heart flutter in both relief and anxiety.

I wanted to keep the others out of this fight. “Shannon, finish off Baal! We’ll handle the rest of them!” my sister’s voice called out as a barrage of spells pelted the remaining Succubus and several gunshots rang out, Demon slayer rounds slamming into the shield of the Incubus.

Sarah didn’t need to tell me twice. This was my fight, and it was about time that I finished it. My holy blast slammed into Baal’s shielding spell, followed quickly by a holy lance, and a couple of volleys of holy missiles that finished his shield.

It seemed that Baal was through with letting me fight this battle my way though. Instead of refreshing his shield this time, when he cast his spell, I felt a dark magical force shatter my battered shield spell and crush me in its grip as it pulled me down to the ground and toward Baal. I worked my arms free and hammered the construct with spells of my own to destroy it, even as I fired another volley of holy missiles toward the now unprotected Baal.

He managed to avoid most of the projectiles as I worked through the agony of my wings being crushed against me to free myself, only taking a glancing blow from a missile that cost him an arm. He had me above him and within a few meters of the remaining arm now as the construct finally shattered from my attacks, but my wings were both damaged and would probably take at least a few minutes to heal. It was make it or break it time, and I had an idea to finish it.

“Is that all you’ve got, Baal?” I asked as I fell the remaining couple of meters toward him, focused on another quick spell, and angled myself to avoid his remaining reaching hand to grab at his face. He screamed in pain as soon as the platinum handflowers I was wearing met his eyes and caused both them and the flesh around them to sizzle and burn. Then, while he was blinded and distracted from the pain, I thrust the silver-bladed tip of my tail into his chest, sheathed in pure holy magick for good measure.

I fell to the ground as Baal turned to ash. I didn’t have the time to pat myself on the back though, because there was still a battle going on. Annie and Ellie were side by side, the ex-cop ready to protect my Faery cousin as they both fired their guns at another group of approaching Demons, the ones I had sensed getting closer earlier. Ziralin was firing arrows into the unprotected spots of the armored Demons, landing one in the eye of that minotaur, and Rebecca had gotten up close and personal with another armored Demon, slipping her armed tail through a gap in the armor to finish him.

Most surprising of all though was that my sister was in her human form and still hammering the Incubus with spells until his shield vanished and her last holy lance turned him to ash. She had her magick back. I was so happy for her that I almost didn’t notice that she, the others, and even the Demons suddenly stopped fighting to stare at me, standing over the Demon King’s ashes.

I was tired, but determined not to let it show as I cracked my knuckles, smiled viciously at the remaining Demons, and said, “Okay, who’s next?”

I wasn’t prepared for what happened next, I don’t think any of us were. Though maybe we should have been, given that I had just defeated the strongest Demon that Heil ever produced in combat and looked very much like a Succubus right now. The Demons, who were staring at me in terror as I began to prepare more spells, all fell to their knees. Then their voices rang out through the ruined courtyard. “All hail the Demon Queen!”