Laura Bodewig

Looking at four people in the arena, everyone waited for this match with anticipation, especially with the one who was fighting in this match were both Laura and Haru.

Unlike Haru's fight with Rin, who was an IS Representative from China. Laura was more popular around the world, especially with her IS which was known for being able to defend herself from anything.

Haru's attack was very well known as the strongest since his scythe was able to pass through the barrier defense. It might be the strongest attack after Orimura Chifuyu who was the first winner of Mondo Grosso.

In their mind, it would be a fight between the strongest attack and strongest defense. It was also because of that they were really anticipating this battle.

For both Houki and Charlotte, the attention that was put on both of them was very low since one of them didn't even have a personal IS and the other one only used the 2nd Generation IS. Even if one was known as the little sister of Shinonono Tabane and the other one was the third male IS pilot, without strong IS, they couldn't do much in this battle.

"Ugh.. when the battle is going to start." Rin was very impatient.

"Calm down, it is going to start soon," Cecilia said.

"Don't lose to that bitch, Kasugano!" Rin screamed.

"Yeah! Defeat her, Haru!" Cecilia shouted.

---

Hearing the cheer from Rin and Cecilia, Haru only smiled helplessly.

"You sure are very popular, Haru," Charlotte said. She could hear a lot of girls screaming his name.

"You are also very popular, Char," Haru said.

"Are you teasing me now?" Charlotte puffed her cheek. Even if the public knew that she was a guy, Haru knew that her gender was female; which was why she was a bit annoyed when he teased her.

"Sorry, sorry..."

Both of them talked to each other disregarding Laura who kept staring at Haru and couldn't help but chew him down.

Houki was standing beside Laura equipped herself with Mass-Produced IS - Uchigane. She didn't have a personal IS and it was the only thing that she could use in the tournament. She looked at Laura who didn't even talk or look at her, but she also didn't have an intention to talk with her either.

Laura and Houki only had one plan in their minds.

Mind their own business and win the match.

It was a very simple plan, but it was working for both Houki and Laura.

Houki looked at Haru and Charlotte who talked to each other and frowned. It might be her imagination, but it seemed that their relationship was closer than a mere friend.

'Is he...?'

Houki shook her head and thought such a thing was impossible. But when she looked at how cute Charlotte was, she thought that it was possible for them to have that kind of relationship which made her grit her teeth.

---

Haru didn't know what Houki was thinking, and even if he knew he could do nothing since he needed to keep Charlotte's gender a secret. He took out his scythe which caused a loud exclaim from the surroundings.

"Deathscythe..."

Squinting her eyes, Laura looked at the famous scythe on Haru's IS. She had heard about that scythe, but seeing it for the first time it really gave a very powerful feeling.

Charlotte was also the same since it was her first time seeing Haru's scythe since he usually used a long-range weapon to train and very rarely took out his scythe.

The organizer saw that they were ready and started the countdown of the battle.

"3..."

"2..."

"Haru..."

"Hmm?" Haru looked at Char.

"I'll support you."

Haru smiled and said, "Yeah."

Looking at Haru's smile, Charlotte felt that they wouldn't lose this battle.

"3..."

"Start!"

The moment the battle started, Haru's scythe released a red sharp crescent blade beam. In that process, he moved very fast right in front of Laura dragging his scythe which cleaved the ground. He spun his scythe in a single movement and cleaved it down at Laura.

'Fast!'

Laura was in shock and saw him suddenly appear in front of her. But she hurriedly raised her palm activated Active Inertia Canceller creating an invisible barrier in front of her. Her mouth turned into a curve when Haru's attack stopped.

"Your attack is useless to me.."

Haru looked at the invisible barrier in front of him. He felt that his scythe couldn't move no matter how much he pressed it.

"Well, your barrier is interesting, but can you also handle this?"

Haru took out a Gatling gun on his left hand and started to shoot at Laura.

*Bang!* *Bang!* *Bang!*

Bullet after bullet hit Laura's IS and it caused her energy to decrease. 'Damn!' She wanted to create another barrier to block Haru's bullets, but if she did that the barrier which stopped his scythe would be broken.

Laura didn't expect that she would be in such a situation which made her frustrated and feel humiliated.

"HAAAAA!!!!"

---

Houki who saw Laura being attacked by Haru charged toward Haru, but she was stopped by Charlotte.

*Bang!* *Bang!* *Bang!*

Shooting her gun, Charlotte aimed it at Houki's body and said, "Sorry, I can't let you disrupt their battle."

"You....!"

Houki, who was a close combat fighter, wasn't good at handling long-range fighters, especially when Charlotte's IS was better than her.

Even though both Houki and Charlotte were using the 2nd Generation IS, the quality between the two of them was different since Charlotte's IS was obviously better than Houki's mass-produced IS which was being borrowed from the school.

Charlotte's IS had various weapons inside and she could change each of them very fast without trouble.

"D - Dammit!"

Houki didn't expect that she would be this helpless against Charlotte.

It didn't take long before Houki was defeated and her energy emptied being attacked by Charlotte continuously without being able to fight back.

"Fuh...." Charlotte sighed in relief and turned to see the battle of Haru and Laura, but it seemed that they were about to end soon.

---

Laura erased the negative thoughts on her mind and continued to fight. She covered her entire body with a barrier that blocked Haru's attack.

"You won't be able to defeat me!"

Laura's railgun was aimed at Haru, she looked at him with a smug smile and said, "And you'll lose soon!"

"I see..."

Haru didn't say too much and activated the skill on his scythe which was able to nullify any barrier and threatened his attack.

*Shatter!*

The sound of breaking glass could be heard and Haru's scythe pierced Laura's barrier destroying it into pieces. His scythe cleaved her down along with destroying her railgun.

*Boom!"

"Arghhh!!!!!"

The railgun on her side had exploded, but that wasn't over.

*Bang!* *Bang!* *Bang!*

Haru kept shooting at her while slashing his scythe at Laura. He was doing a dual attack with both a Gatling gun and a scythe which gave a quite interesting scene for everyone.

In front of him, Laura could do nothing.

Laura's energy kept depleting, but she wouldn't give up that easily. She shot out a wire from her IS, but it was easily dodged by Haru.

"It's not over yet!"

The moment Haru's attack stopped, Laura created two beam sabers which she generated from both of her hands ready to slash him down.

However...

*Baam!*

Laura was smashed by the blunt side of the scythe and thrown into the wall of the arena.

"............"

Everyone was silently looking at how strong Haru was.

"Is it over?" Charlotte asked.

"Soon..."

Haru changed his Gatling gun into a grenade launcher ready to end the battle, but suddenly something unexpected happened.

Laura, who was laying on the ground after being thrown, suddenly screamed loudly as if she was in pain.

Haru noticed something strange about Laura's IS and he was right since soon there was a black mass which suddenly appeared around Laura's IS which enveloped her turning her into something.

"Well...?"