I put my hands over her wound. Her breath was slowing down. I had very little time to accomplish what I needed to do. It would take a miracle to save her, but I knew I could do it.

  I concentrated on my compassion for her life and her right to live. A bright yellow light emanated from my hands.

  "What are you doing?" Ziz asked, breathing very raggedly. She was taking gasping breaths. She was at the end of her rope.

  I needed to hurry. I focused harder. She deserved to live like anyone else. I would worry about her desire to protect her skies and harm humans later. I could feel the cells and tissue regenerating under my palms. The flesh knit back together and feathers grew back to cover the wound.

  I stepped back to admire my handiwork. The hole in her side had healed and the feathers that had been burned off had grown back.

  "Thank you, little bird. I am eternally grateful and not to rush you, but would you so kindly grow back the wings you burned off my body? It hurts."

  "Oh! Yeah! I'm so sorry! I forgot to do that," I said. "Turn over first."

  "As you wish," she said, turning over so what was left of her wings were above her and not smashed against the ground.

  I pressed my hands against her side again and focused on my compassion for her well-being in my mind. My hands grew warm, and I watched as her wings grew back. They were much smaller than before due to her recent transformation, but they ended up being quite large, regardless. They grew to the height of her body.

  She straightened up and said, "Again, I am very grateful, but don't you have a battle to get back to?"

  "Don't you mean 'we' have a battle to get back to?" I asked.

  "Why 'we'?" She asked, narrowing her eyes.

  I looked at her and narrowed my eyes right back. "Do you mean to tell me you were gonna get free healing from me and leave?"

  She looked away. "When you phrase it in such a way, it does not sound good."

  "No. No, it doesn't," I said. I took out my hands and started counting on my fingers. "I best you in battle, I spare your life, I restore you to your full form, and you think you get to cut and run? No, no, no, missy. You're going to help me end the battle that you helped start."

  "Alright! I will acquiesce to your demand," she said.

  At first I couldn't keep up with Ziz. I assumed I didn't have the speed ring power anymore since I lost the crown, but eventually I instinctively reached for the power and it activated. A line of purple rings formed in front of me, sending me blasting forward past Ziz, whose look of shock was priceless.

  Surprised, I looked inside myself, only to realize the wreath had transformed back into the Crown of Corruption. Damn it! I didn't know when it happened. I never felt it change. Had it changed just now, or had it changed when I was commanding Ziz to help me in the battle?

  If I could slip back into sin that quickly, what did that mean for my fate? Would I always be a slave to sin, diving deeper and deeper until I lost sight of my true self and my original goals? I had wanted to be a benevolent ruler of Hell. A better ruler than Lucifer.

  But if I became a slave to the Crown of Corruption, would I ever be able to do that? I might even slip deeper than Lucifer did and become worse than him in the end. I couldn't allow that, but I needed these powers, and I still didn't know much about how to activate similarly useful but selfless versions of them through the Wreath of Virtue.

  I needed to master the wreath before I lost my battle with the crown, but I didn't have to time to mess around and experiment with it. Too many lives were on the line.

  "Do you mind explaining to me exactly what it is you are engaging in right now?" Ziz said, flapping her wings.

  I was stopped in the air, flapping my wings as well. Huh. My internal thoughts deactivated my powers and stopped my forward momentum. I guess I really did have to keep indulging in the mental state of hubris in order to keep zooming forward.

  It was too bad that we had flown so far away from the battlefield. Traveling at Mach 15 or higher will do that. I had to indulge in hubris so long that I was afraid I would lose my mind all over again by the time we got back.

  I looked at Ziz and said, "Would you be able to give me a ride?"

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  "Oh. Yes, I can," she said. "Hold on to me!"

  I did as she asked and held on tight. She flapped her wings, and we blasted off into the sky.

  We arrived flying over the battlefield below. The battle was still going at a fervor. Demonic and abyssal blood alike covered the ground and the acrid smell of brimstone filled my nostrils as smoke rose into the air.

  "Looks like we have our work cut out for us," I said.

  "I heartily agree. So I must kill the creatures, but leave the red ones alone? Is that correct?" she said.

  "Before we start killing, I would like to try a peaceful resolution. I realize I have been going about things the wrong way lately, and I would like to correct that. Samael and the fallen angels may be evil, but these creatures are just animals. Terrifying animals, but still animals. I may be able to reason with them," I said.

  "If that is what you wish. You have shown yourself capable of many things. Peace feels like a small accomplishment compared to defeating me, the all-mighty Ziz," she said. "I'm sure you can fly from here."

  "Ok, I'm going to try to wrangle everyone up," I said, letting go of Ziz's body and catching myself in the air with my own wings.

  "Good luck," she said.

  I focused within myself. I didn't want to use the crown. I didn't want to dominate the creatures into submission. I wanted to persuade them into a peaceful resolution. I cleared my mind first and then concentrated on the desire for peace.

  The crown shrank and disappeared faster than it had before, and the Wreath of Virtue formed in its place. The yellow flower of compassion was already fully bloomed. As I continued to focus, another rose bud began to bloom. This one was a deep blue. Once it had finished blooming, the knowledge of its nature transferred into my mind.

  It was the rose of diplomacy. It would offer me powers related to that. "Creatures of the Abyss!" I yelled out over the battlefield. Everyone's heads looked up at me, including my demon troops. "We don't have to fight! I have found a solution!" I had.

  Although, I had come up with it in the last 30 seconds, I did in fact have a plan. "I can transfer you to the Dire Wilds of Hell where you can live out normal lives! I just need your permission!"

  I didn't actually need their permission, but having them stay still in one place would help with the Gates of Hell's targeting system. And I just wanted to do this the right way. As I said before, they were just animals. I didn't need to kill them or be cruel to them. Nature is cruel enough as it is.

  I heard a cacophony of different answers and shouts from the abyssal creatures that were all some form of agreement. I won't list all the shouts simply because that would take too long.

  "Steves, can you hear me?" I pulled a small earbud out of a special pocket in my jacket and put it in my ear.

  "Loud and clear, boss!" Steve 1 said.

  "Yes, boss!" the other three Steves said.

  "Mmmph bfff!" sword Steve said inside the sheath.

  Oh yeah, I had sword Steve with me. I could have used him during the fights with Behemoth and Ziz. Oh well. That didn't matter. I still won. Speaking of winning against Behemoth, I needed to heal him.

  I didn't like the idea of leaving him in his current state, and I realized he might be useful to me. All three of the 'great creatures', as I was calling them in my head, would be useful in the future. Now that I knew they weren't all unreasonable.

  "Steves, can you use the Gates' targeting system to teleport the abyssal creatures to the Dire Wilds?" I asked.

  "I think so. Shouldn't be too hard. Just have to temporarily relocate the Gates and recalibrate them," Steve 2 said.

  "Good. Do it whenever you're ready," I said.

  After a minute, red lights shot down from the sky, enveloping the abyssal creatures and teleporting them away to the Dire Wilds. I wiped the sweat off my forehead. That had been a lot easier than I expected.

  "All done," Steve 2 said.

  "Thank you," I said. "Now relocate the gates back to their normal position. I'm going to have you transfer the demon army back."

  "Yes, sir. Just tell me when," he said.

  "I will," I said.

  I focused on what remained of my demon army. I couldn't tell how many troops I had lost, because undead demon soldiers that had been resurrected by Gilbert, the necromancer, stood among the living, and I couldn't always tell which was which. That said, there were still a good hundred or two hundred troops missing.

  The only thing I could guess is some of the bodies had been torn apart and weren't able to function as undead soldiers due to missing limbs or heads. We had been well equipped and well armed, but there were just so many of the creatures, we couldn't help but take some casualties.

  It was a lot, but I was thankful it wasn't more. We had taken out far more abyssal creatures than they had taken out demon soldiers, but again, there were just too many of them. Abyssal creatures burned and shredded to pieces littered the ground with a sea of bodies.

  My troops looked exhausted and discouraged. They had seen some of their friends die and it had been a long battle. Part of that was my fault for not realizing I could end it sooner or rather, choosing not to, but what was done was done.

  At least they would get to go home and see their families now. And receive a fat bonus on top of their usual salary. The families of the fallen would be fairly compensated as well. I took care of my people. I wasn't a cheap bastard like the old Devil. No offense to Lucifer now, but back in the day, he had been a dick, and I heard about it a lot when talking to his former employees, who were my current employees. He constantly cut wages, increased hours, and turned all the toilet paper rolls backwards in the bathrooms.

  "Everyone! You fought well and you fought hard. You all get to go home! You'll be receiving a huge bonus for your hard work and sacrifice! I know this isn't the normal day to day for you all. You've also earned some well-deserved time off! Extra PTO for everyone who participated in the battle!" I yelled.

  "Yeahhh!!!" they all yelled and held up their pitchforks, firing them into the air. They were lasers so there was no danger of their shots coming back down, but I had to dodge a few of the less carefully aimed ones.

  "And don't worry, the families of the fallen will be very fairly compensated for their losses," I said, flipping through the air, dodging a few more lasers.

  The soldiers started to chant. "Dave! Dave! Dave! Dave! Dave!"

  "Ok, Steve 2. You can send them home. Only the living ones though," I said.

  "You got it, boss," Steve 2 said. "Don't transport the deadies."

  Red lights shot down from the sky again and teleported the demon soldiers back to the Gates of Hell.