Intruder

In the audience area, the big explosion surprised everyone.

"What's happening?"

"Earthquake?"

They knew that a loud explosion wasn't caused by Haru since his weapon was a scythe, nor it was Rin's cannon since it had been destroyed, which meant this explosion was coming something else which caused them to feel panic.

---

Monitor room.

"What? What's happening?" Cecilia was confused.

"Haru!"

*Ping!* *Ping!* *Ping!*

The alarm kept sounding through the monitor room telling them that something had happened in the arena.

"System damage. Something seems to have pierced the arena shield borders!" Maya reported.

Chifiyu took the commutation device and ordered Haru and Rin quickly

"The match was canceled! Kasugano, Fan, retreat at once!"

---

Everyone was in a panic when they realized that it wasn't an earthquake or the result of their fight rather it was an enemy who tried to attack the academy.

The protection mechanism around the arena started to be activated to protect everyone in location, closing the audience's location with a steel shield.

---

Haru and Rin received an announcement from their communication device.

'Heat source detected in the center of the stage; confirmed to be from IS of an unknown organization. You're locked.'

"W - What's happening?" Rin was confused.

"It's an enemy," Haru answered her calmly. He looked at her and said, "You should go back first, I'll handle this."

"Ha? Are you telling me that I can't handle this?!" Rin was mad once again.

"Alright, Rin, I'm too lazy to argue with you, but you don't have much shield energy left right? Your weapon has also been destroyed by me. It is better for you to go back first and I'll handle the rest. You should retreat and wait for the teachers to come, alright?"

Haru knew that in front of tsundere's character he needed to be patient, but in front of danger, he was too lazy to talk patiently.

Rin looked at Haru for a while with a complex feeling but nodded. She knew that Haru was very strong and in this place she would only be a burden for him, especially when she had lost her Impact Cannons.

"Be careful."

But when Rin was about to move, she was shot by a purple beam suddenly.

"Wha---?!"

The purple beam was about to hit her, but Haru appeared in front of her and cleaved down the purple beam, slashing it in half using his scythe.

"Can you move on your own or do you need me to carry to the dock?" Haru asked while looking at Rin, but he hadn't lost his focus on the unidentified IS since that beam was more powerful than Cecilia's IS which clearly surprised him.

"I - I can get back by myself!" Rin blushed before snorting at him since she felt that this guy kept looking down at her, however, when she was about to walk, the IS inside the big crater started to move and showed its appearance.

They didn't see the appearance of the user of IS since the design of this IS was similar to Haru which was full body armor so it was impossible to see the pilot's appearance. Though, this IS had two large hands and black armor.

This IS also seemed to be moving quite awkwardly as if it wasn't being controlled by a human.

Haru raised his eyebrow and used his "Kenbunshoku Haki". He realized that there wasn't anyone inside this IS.

Usually, it was impossible to control an IS without a pilot, and such a thing had never happened in the past.

However, it was happening in front of him. He thought that there was only one person who could do this in this world and he had just talked with this person before which made him speechless.

'Was it her?'

Haru was wondering why that person had attacked the academy, but at the same time, he had never seen this IS model before.

"Haruka-kun, Fan-san, get out of the arena right now! The teachers are going to suppress it in their IS." Maya communicated from the communication device.

"Sensei, this IS doesn't have anyone on it," Haru said.

"What?!"

Everyone who heard it was surprised since it was impossible for an IS to be moved by itself.

"Are you sure about Kasugano?" Chifuyu asked.

"Yeah. I'm sure of it. There's no one inside that IS."

"Hmm...." Chifuyu was in deep thinking when she heard it.

"If you want, I can destroy it, what do you think?" Haru asked.

"...."

Chifuyu was silent for a while and asked, "How many percent is your probability to win this battle?"

"99%"

Haru could win against this IS easy.

"You! Don't be so arrogant!" Rin, who was by Haru's side, complained.

"...."

Haru raised his eyebrow and asked, "You're still here?"

"Of course! Even if I might not be able to attack the IS, I still can be your support! I'll take care of your back!" Rin felt that it was too shameful for her as an IS Representative to run away in this situation.

"Don't be hot-headed, you should go back," Haru said.

"No!" Rin rejected Haru's proposal.

Haru decided to ignore her and continued to talk with Chifuyu.

"There's still a lot of students who haven't escaped from this place, what is your order Orimura-sensei?"

"....."

"Why 99%?" Chifuyu asked.

"Because 1% chance, this unidentified IS might have the ability to run away," Haru said.

Chifuyu made her decision and took a deep breath. "I'll leave this to you, Kasugano."

"Oh, leave it to me. Now, that you mention it, don't forget about your promise to help me."

"If you can defeat IS then let's go tomorrow or two days later," Chifuyu said with a sigh.

"Alright."

---

In the monitor room, Cecilia, Maya, Houki, and Ichika looked at Chifuyu with surprise expressions.

"What?" Chifuyu asked.

"..."

They didn't know what they were talking about, but it was very hard to ask about it when there was an intruder who had attacked the academy.

"Let's just drink a coffee and calm ourselves."

Chifuyu took a cup of coffee and put something inside.

"Sensei, that's salt."

"......"

Chifuyu blushed at this moment.

---

Haru checked the weapon on his Equalizer.

All IS comes with basic weaponry, called Preset, but it also has a number of expansion slots that could be used to field additional equipment, which comes in various forms, such as additional weaponry, thrusters, and augmented armor plates.

These Equalizers need to be installed into IS first, however, it isn't an easy feat to accomplish since every IS core is unique and each of them has its individuality (one might say personality), and it is possible for an IS to reject the installation of certain Equalizers.

His Preset is a scythe, but he also had various weapons and support devices inside his IS, though it wasn't much, but it was very useful.

Then suddenly something appeared on his back similar to an antenna. And when it appeared it caused a very annoying noise.

*Bzz!* *Bzz!* *Bzz!*

Then suddenly the camera and some connection to the observation room became very unstable.

---

"What's happening? Hacking?" Maya panicked.

"No. It's a jammer," Chifuyu answered.

"Jammer?!"

"From who?" Maya asked.

Their security was hacked then there was also a jammer which made it impossible for them to call the government for help.

"It's from Kasugano."

"..."

---

Inside a dark room with only a screen of the computer as the source of light, there was a person who was controlling the unidentified IS, but suddenly the camera of the IS turned weird and caused a lot of annoying noise.

"This....!"

This person smiled and said, "Interesting! Interesting! Interesting!"

---

"W - What is this sound?!" Rin knew that the source of this sound was coming from Haru, but when she was going to ask him, she saw him suddenly had vanished from her eyes.

"W - Where is he?!"

Rin was surprised and didn't know what had happened.

---

Haru suddenly appeared right behind the unidentified IS and the scythe on his hands suddenly blazed stronger. The energy on his IS kept decreasing at a very fast speed, but he didn't stop his attack cleaved the side of the unidentified IS in single slash.

*Slash!*

The unidentified IS was cleaved in half from the side and dropped to the ground.

"........"

Haru didn't see blood splurting from the body of IS since there was no one inside. He shook his head and made his scythe disappear summoning a hologram keyboard in front of him. He typed at a very fast speed showing his skill as a super hacker and caused the error which happened on the school returned at a very fast speed.

"This is Kasugano Haruka. I've defeated the enemy. Everyone, please calm down and walk slowly without pushing the person in front of you. You're all safe now. Please follow the instructions of the teachers!"

"...."

'Done?'

Everyone was surprised, but when they heard his voice, they started to calm down and walked back slowly since the door which had been locked was also opened.

Haru ended his announcement and flew to Rin who seemed to be stunned. He patted her shoulder and said, "Let's go back."

"....."

Rin nodded dumbly and looked at Haru with complex emotion.

'This guy....'

Rin understood this guy might be the strongest IS pilot out there.