User blog comment:Lambda1/"We Happy Few" - Discussion/@comment-34326521-20160520080842

The magic was just to break down Amara's supernatural protection a bit, opening the way for the Angel smiting, which, in turn, left way for the Demon attack. All this was just to weaken her. Finally, Lucifer was able to strike at her vessel with a physical attack - his spear. The bleeding was from her vessel. Amara herself (her true form, no vessel) bleeds darkness. And you'll note how it didn't work, since she was still able to overpower God and Lucifer afterward, so your complaint seems a little strange.

God only said Dean's attack failed because he didn't want it to work (they're bound, blah blah blah). He didn't say it'd actually do anything otherwise. I doubt it would have - Amara wasn't afraid of an Angel blade, and she didn't even twitch when Dean tried to stab her.

Yeah, she knew it was a trap. But it takes longer for her to send a wave of darkness into Heaven than it does for Heaven to smite her. The smiting came in two seconds flat. Her wave of darkness took a while to charge, send into, and spread throughout, Heaven.

Yes, time travel. Because that's not going to set off any alarm bells. Amara is definitely not going to sense that, thereby ruining the whole plan. She sensed when God healed a small town of a few dozen people, which isn't even that difficult, given that almost every supernatural creature can do it. But effortless time travel is reserved for full-power Angels, Archangels, and God.