As Angels Fall

"You have a very powerful monster, Illeya." Shiho noted. "But Archangel Gabrius will fall before my Justiciar Dragon. Just his summon alone will place enough WATER-type monsters in the Graveyard via his effect."

Shiho: 3100 LP

"That is a good point, Shiho." Illeya replied. "But maybe I have a card lying in wait for your Justiciar Dragon."

Illeya: 5400 LP

"It's my turn, then. And I draw!" Shiho smirked. "I heard of some of the Angel monsters, you know. I know that while the few that there are have very powerful effects, they don't have everything. That's why I'll set this card facedown, and summon the Azurian Secretary in defense mode!"

"My turn, then! And I'll discard my Angel Lancer! This will give my Archangel Gabrius the effect of piercing battle damage this turn!" Illeya smirked. "Gabrius, attack the Azurian Secretary with Archangel Lance!"

Archangel Gabrius aimed its sword as it transformed into a mighty lance. It charged at the Secretary, who redirected the lance through a different portion of her desk that she was hiding under, and she was undestroyed. "What? That isn't possible!"

"Oh, yes it is! See, I used my facedown spell card, Plea Bargaining, which makes one monster I control unable to be destroyed in battle this turn!"

"That may be so, but you still take the battle damage!"

"I don't know why everyone tells me that. It's literally my deck, I know what happens."

Shiho: 3100 LP – 2300 LP

"But in any event, my monster stays on the field!"

"Very well. I'll end my turn!"

"My move, then!" Shiho looked at the card he just drew and scowled. No! This isn't the card I need! "I guess I'll have to summon the Azurian Clerk in defense mode! And with its special effect, when it is on the field in defense mode, I can add a spell card to my hand, so I'm choosing another Plea Bargaining! I'll use it on my Secretary, in order to defend her from battle!"

"My turn, then!" Illeya pulled another card from her hand. "I'll activate this spell card. Archangel's Vengeance! By sending three Angel cards from my deck to the grave, I can target one Archangel monster I control. This turn, instead of inflicting battle damage, I can banish a monster that it attacks from the game!"

"What?!"

"That's right! So by sending my Shining Angel, Angel Swordsman, and Shield Angel to the Graveyard in order to give my Archangel Gabrius the power to smite down anything!" Mateo's Duel Disk slid three cards out of Illeya's deck. She pulled them and discarded them to the Graveyard. "Archangel Gabrius! Archangel Sword! Smite that Secretary out of existence!"

Archangel Gabrius aimed its sword and blasted at the Secretary with its powerful wings. A blue glow coated its sword, and as soon as it touched the desk of the Secretary, the blue light surrounded her. She screamed before exploding in a blast of light. In a moment, the Azurian Secretary was no more. Shiho looked up at Archangel Gabrius, fear starting to trickle in. This is what she became as a member of the side of Light? Her deck is nearly perfect, so long as she controls that Archangel! How do I win? If I do win, it will have to take everything I've got!

"Well, Shiho Bengo?" Illeya asked. "What are you waiting for?"

"My turn!" Shiho drew a card. Yes! "I summon the Azurian Bailiff! So long as I control my Bailiff in attack mode, one monster you control cannot attack!"

"An interesting strategy. Freeze my monster so that you can summon monsters to summon Justiciar." Illeya replied as she drew a card from her deck. "But it is flawed. My turn!"

"We'll just see about that!"

"There are other ways for an Archangel to do things." Illeya replied. "When I've used Archangel Gabrius to discard Fairy-type monsters, I can summon one Fairy monster from my Graveyard. However, if this Angel monster is a level five or higher, I must banish other Angels in the Graveyard in order to summon it back to the field like I would a Tribute Summon!"

"You can what?!" Shiho opened his mouth in shock. Luna looked impressed.

This Illeya has taken this Duel by storm! She thought to herself. Mateo was willing to allow her to merge with him in order to use his form to Duel Shiho and right a wrong, and she seems to be making due on her promise. Perhaps she really can be trusted!

"So by banishing the Angel Lancer and the Shining Angel in my Graveyard, I summon back my Guardian Angel Joan that I discarded with my Archangel Gabrius!" Illeya's monster returned to the field, spreading her wings. "Attack Azurian Bailiff!"

"No!" Shiho looked to his Bailiff as Illeya's Guardian Angel Joan shot off a wave of white light that caused the Bailiff to explode.

Shiho: 2300 LP – 1100 LP

"And because my Guardian Angel Joan destroyed a monster in battle, I can gain that monster's original attack as Life Points!"

Illeya: 5400 LP – 7000 LP

"And now that your Bailiff is no longer on the field, Archangel Gabrius is free to make an attack!" Illeya called as her monster charged and sliced the Clerk in two, causing it to explode. "And now, you have no defense. However, there is a benefit for you. When my Archangel Gabrius special summons an Angel monster with its effect, it's banished in the End Phase. So this will be the last you're seeing of my Guardian Angel Joan, but she served me well in this Duel, and her sacrifice will not go unrewarded!"

Shiho watched as the Guardian Angel Joan vanished in a flash of light. He looked down at his trembling hands. So this is the power the Light has. Maybe Mateo was right… No! I can't start saying that now! I have to win this! "I draw!"

"Make whatever move you like. You will not win."

"I'll summon my Azurian Attorney in defense mode!"

"My turn, then. And your Attorney is vanquished." Shiho watched as Gabrius obliterated his monster.

"My turn, again, then! A-and I summon the Azurian Aide!" Once again, Illeya destroyed it. Shiho looked down at his cards. No useful monsters. He drew a card, and was met with a spell card. No! Without a monster… She can attack me directly!

"Shiho, you better win this!" Adachi shouted, but Sasuke shoved him aside.

"He doesn't need you berating him."

"I… I end my turn…" Shiho said, sadly. Luna looked shocked. Illeya had not only beaten Shiho, but easily! All she had to do was attack, and he would be defeated!

"You played a good game, but this is what is right, Shiho Bengo." Illeya drew her card. "Archangel Gabrius, attack Shiho Bengo directly with Archangel Sword!"

"I'm so sorry, guys…" Shiho closed his eyes, waiting for the attack. Gabrius flew at Shiho and brought its sword down, stopping moments before it would have struck him in the neck. He opened its eyes to see the blade an inch away, but unmoving. Everyone was shocked, as the hologram of Gabrius flickered. Illeya and Luna watched wide-eyed as the hologram of Archangel Gabrius slowly shattered, the shards flying away and vanishing, with the sword being left behind for a moment, before it, too, shattered.

"What?!" Luna asked. "Shiho didn't play anything! There's no way he did that!"

"It seems that there is a third party involved in all of this."

"Well, whatever!" Shiho drew a card from his deck. "I summon the Azurian Enforcer! And by changing his battle position twice with my two Right to an Attorney spell cards, I can special summon monsters from my hand! So I summon a second Azurian Bailiff, and my Azurian Juror!"

"Here it comes."

"Illeya, can't you do anything?"

"There is nothing I can do. Whoever erased Gabrius made it so I wouldn't be able to do anything to stop him."

"I tune my level one Enforcer to my level three Juror and level four Bailiff! Law. The defining force of our society. I summon forth a dragon who is Law Incarnate! All rise, for court is in session!" The one level star of the Enforcer flew out and created a glowing green Synchro ring around the other two monsters. The two monsters inside vanished, leaving behind their seven level stars. They aligned themselves in a straight line as a green light pierced through them and expanded to the innermost edge of the Synchro rings as Shiho drew his gavel and pounded it on the center of his Duel Disk. "Synchro Summon! The Supreme Judge, Justiciar Dragon!"

"There it is. His most powerful monster."

"My mighty dragon gains 500 attack for every WATER attribute monster in my graveyard! Since I have nine, that means my monster gains forty-five hundred attack points!"

Justiciar Dragon: 2600 ATK + 500*9 = 2600 ATK + 4500 ATK = 7100 ATK

"Justiciar Dragon! Attack Illeya directly with Justice Wave attack!" Justiciar Dragon roared, sending off a wave of energy. The warehouse where Illeya and Luna was standing began to rumble, and Mateo was blasted back, leaving Illeya behind, the merging shattered. Luna ran over to Mateo, who groaned as he sat up, looking at Illeya. "You lost, Illeya. And you were inside Mateo, and he is a Signer. Therefore, he becomes corrupted!"

"Not quite. I may have lost, but Mateo will be safe!" Illeya started disappearing, from her feet up, being replaced with a dark energy. "I give myself up willingly to protect Mateo's soul! While the darkness may cause me to disperse, you can count on the fact that I will return one day!"

Illeya vanished, and the light her body cast off was replaced with darkness. Shiho took a few steps forward, expecting Mateo to push Luna aside and join his ranks, but he didn't. Luna helped him up. "Expecting something, Shiho?"

"That's not possible! You lost! You should be corrupted by my dark miasma!"

"I'm not seeing any dark miasma, Shiho." Mateo replied. "But let me ask you this. After seeing the power the light has, do you have any second thoughts?"

"Of course not!"

"Then you are truly past the point of saving, aren't you?" Mateo looked down at the deck in his Deck zone. He drew out the Archangel Gabrius in his Duel Disk, the only card remaining after Illeya was dispersed. He looked down at it before looking back up to Shiho. "But I'll still try. Let's go, Luna."

Mateo and Luna turned and left, Shiho watching them go. After they were gone, he turned to Sasuke and Adachi. "Find who hacked the duel. We need to know who they are and why they helped me."

"I already have." Sasuke pulled out his phone and revealed that he tracked the hack. Part of what the Aeronauts gave me was the power to manipulate technology easily. We're looking for the hacker."

"Yes, obviously."

"No, I mean THE hacker." Sasuke explained. "We're looking for Hack Kuro."

"Hack helped us?" Adachi asked, surprised.

"Yup. And if I'm right, I know exactly where Hack will be."