The Battle for Angel's Soul was a magical duel between Jasmine, while possessing Cordelia, and the witch Willow Rosenberg, with the help of the remainder of Angel Investigations, over the restoration of Angel's soul. In this confrontation, Connor unwittingly held allegiance to both contending sides.
Background
As part of her plan to manifest physically on Earth and rule mankind, Jasmine intended to have Angelus unleashed to keep Angel Investigations and her other enemies in disarray. The ex-Power-That-Be found an opportunity to convince Angel Investigations to remove Angel's soul during a desperate attempt to defeat the Beast, a powerful demon that served Jasmine herself. After several dangerous encounters with Angelus, however, Angel Investigations realized they have no choice but to restore Angel's soul. They recruited Faith, who successfully subdued Angelus with the drug Orpheus. However, they were unable to restore Angel's soul as it was stolen. After several hours of fruitless planning, Fred finally called Willow to help return Angel.
Although attempting to help Angel Investigations, Connor was earlier successfully manipulated by Cordelia to prevent others from visiting her room, thus allowing Cordelia to perform spells and rituals she needed to keep Angel's soul imprisoned in the Muo-Ping. Connor's participation was also heavily influenced by his desire to seek vengeance against his father Angel.
The Battle
Although initially clueless on how to restore Angel's soul, Willow came up with the solution to use the Delothrian's Arrow to free Angel's soul after Cordelia's discouraging phrase "tough nut to crack" inadvertently gave Willow the idea. After realizing her mistake, Cordelia attempted to stall and kill Willow with a knife.
While Wesley discussed the procedure and the basis of Willow's plan, Fred and Gunn helped set up the instruments they needed in the hotel lobby. Gunn then later volunteered to go down the basement in case Angelus woke up. Before Willow could begin, she was thrown off her feet by a powerful blasting spell cast by Cordelia. Immediately after, Cordelia infiltrated Willow's mind. They tried to overpower each other, although the witch finally succeeded in banishing Cordelia from her mind. Willow eventually managed to cast the Delothrian's Arrow. Cordelia tried to dissuade Willow once more, this time by casting an illusion of a demonic head. Unfazed, Willow continued her spell and fires the marble towards the Muo-Ping. As Cordelia was deciding on her next move, she sees the marble darting towards the Muo-Ping and catches it mid-air. Using powerful telekinesis, Cordelia kept the marble a few inches away from the magical jar.Down at the lobby, Willow was concentrating on her spell. Fred noticed Connor was missing. Connor was, in fact, running towards Cordelia's room to alert Cordelia of Willow's progress. Cordelia was distracted, and during the second she lost focus, the Delothrian's Arrow cast by Willow managed to shatter the Muo-Ping.
Aftermath
The destroyed Muo-Ping released Angel's soul into the ether, which would then be retrieved by Willow and restored into Angelus.
