A Saga of Tanya the Evil/The Irregular at Magic High School crossover.

I do not in any way, shape, or form lay claim to either of these works.

This is just a work of admiration from one fan, to those others that share the same interest.

The only characters or places I lay claim to are those solely of my own creation

Chapter 31, The Seven Schools Competition: The Beast rears her head, and her roar deafens the masses.

Thursday, August 5th, 2094 8:00 A.M. Newcomer Speed Shooting.

Tanya grinned as she stretched, as she made sure she was as relaxed and supple as possible. A fast and fluid body was always a necessity when you were shooting. It was a shame that she did not often find the time and place for a good stretch before battle, but one had to do with what was available, after all. And it gave her a chance to observe the other contestants without being obvious about it. She had to admit, the yoga classes that Dr. Nishina had recommended were paying off. It made putting up with that Oni both easier and even worse. If she knew how beneficial Tanya found them, she would truly be insufferable. The fact that Visha got along so well with the old witch only proved what a saint her former adjutant really was.

Tanya let her thoughts drift for just a moment before she shook her head and focused them back on the task at hand, namely matching the dossiers she had to the students at hand. A little reconnaissance never hurt, after all. One must always be prepared. Of those present, she only really was worried about a few of them.

There was Emilia Weint, a tall blue-eyed blonde with a commanding air about her. She had excellent marks, and Tanya had to admit that from what she had seen in practice, passable skills. Her research suggested that she was using vibration-based magic to create resonance fields to tear the targets apart. Effective, and subtle. Right up Tanya's own path, if the option was available.

The next was the dark of hair and eye Leisel Gerhardt. She was stocky and rounded, but moved with a fluid grace. She hadn't been able to get details on the magic she was going to be using, but she came from a family with a long history of military service, so Tanya expected that her marksmanship was probably at least adequate.

The final one was Rayna Von Richten, the young scion of a family with roots that went back to the old aristocracy. Pale blonde hair, and light blue eyes, she seemed more like a creature out of some germanic fairy tale told in the winter than a person. Her demeanor was as cold as her appearance, and she was rumored to be a strong user of interference type magic.

Even though these three were the most capable, Tanya felt fairly confident in her chances. Still, better to err on the side of caution, and put some real effort in. She didn't want to disappoint Visha, after all. Plus, she did have the other students to think about.

Yes, it would seem it was time to put forth some real effort. The grin that turned her elfin, some would even say angelic, features into something far more sinister made a passing official hurry along. Tanya didn't notice, as she chewed on her thumb as she decided how to best ensure her success.

All of the magic she was going to use had to be submitted beforehand, so she couldn't dip into her newest bag of tricks. The combination of enhancement magic that she had decided on was close to what she would have used in combat. Perhaps loading in the seeking spells they had worked out, as well? Just a bit of an ace in the hole, as it were. And it was, after all, an outgrowth of spells that existed, just a bit of a different path from what most of those formulas seemed to use.

She would use the variation that Visha had written, it pushed the limits a bit less, and it would showcase the talents of her former adjutant. A good superior always sought to advance the career possibilities of those beneath them. Yes, that was the best way to advance this.

Tanya put thought into action as she loaded the sequence, and walked over to present the adjusted CAD to an official to have it examined and out on record. Of course, she made sure that she cited Visha as the creator of the spell she had added. It was the right thing to do, to help her better find her own place, and earn the accolades she deserved.

That taken care of, Tanya returned to her warm up exercises, feeling rather good about herself. She failed to notice the slight turmoil she had caused, or the looks that she continued to receive from one official in particular. An official who, once they were out of sight, quickly updated his superiors in the United States on this latest development regarding Viktoria Serebryakov's latest move.

It was brazen, submitting what was a new variation on a spell, and one that seemed so odd, as well. The composition was unusual, the glyph sequences seemed almost haphazard in some ways, but also eloquent. In the end, it didn't matter what he thought of it. All that mattered was what his superiors and handler thought of this information, and how much it was worth in the end.

He had to admit, he felt a bit bad for the young girl who was clearly being used as a pawn by Serebryakov in whatever scheme she had hatched. Even if miss Degurecheff did give him an odd feeling, it didn't matter. She was clearly just a tool being manipulated, or so said his handler. It was in the young girls best interest to expose the mastermind, after all. He just prayed that God would see fit to protect the lost little lamb.

Unaware of the gears she had put into motion with her impulsive action, Tanya grinned to herself, still feeling rather good about the whole situation. Even if someone did try to make use of the sequence, without the training that both Visha and her had, it would be mostly useless. Tanya nodded to herself as she finished her stretches and gathered her gear to wait for her chance to compete.

She just hoped that Visha appreciated what was about to start. For the good of the team, after all. Not that she would ever want to impress a girl that she had a crush on, that would be horribly illogical, after al. And Tanya would never do something for suchan irrational reason, after all. Perhaps some recognition would settle her resident battle maniac, without actual combat to keep her content. Yes, it was most certainly all being done for the sake of Visha.

Tanya nodded and finished her preparations in time to watch the first contestant of the day, one of the girls she had already dismissed as a potential challenger, and smiled grimly as her expectations and assessment were proved correct.

Two more of the other girls competed before the first of the girls she considered competent stepped up. Emelia Weint stood in a relaxed, almost regal pose as she waited for them to begin. She placed her ear plugs in, then assumed her firing stance. Once they started, each target was met with a quick, precise burst of ultra-high frequency sound waves.

Showy, and with practical combat usefulness, but in competition there were definitely much more effective and simplistic measures that could have been employed, but Tanya had to cede the fact that it made an impact. Even if the execution left certain factors in doubt, like it's viability when they moved to matched shooting.

After another couple of girls that Tanya had already dismissed from consideration, it was time for Lesiel Gerhardt. She seemed almost impatient as she stood at the ready, the CAD held at parade rest as she waited for the first target. She seemed a little slow getting it into position when the target flew, leaving her little time to actually engage her target. Her reactions were adequate, but her impatient nature seemed to get the better of her, leaving her out of position at times and only her speed really enabled her to engage the targets efficiently. Yes, her marksmanship was good, and the speed of activation on her spells was excellent, but her bad habits were sure to get her in trouble down the line. Honestly, setting her straight now would be doing her and the country a service.

Tanya nodded to herself as she looked at the list of competitors and noted that she was up after another of the girls she had dismissed after watching her in practice. Decent spell activation, but a bit hesitant in her execution. Potential, but without someone to properly take her under their wing and educate her on exactly what she was doing wrong, she would continue to lag behind. Once again, Tanya found herself feeling nostalgic over the days of training that first batch of recruits for the 203rd. Those were the days, the abject terror and fear of the recruits, seeing them grow into competent mages, people hse would eventually be able to trust her life to.

Maybe she was a bit overly nostalgic, maybe even a bit homesick. She never thought she would feel that way about the hell that was her last world, but it did have its good points.. The fact that she had dragged one of the best points of that second life with her was a definite bonus.

She pulled herself out of her ruminations and back to the present as she watched the previous contestant leave the field, and then she marched herself out onto the field. Tanya quickly checked over everything that she had already checked before, but good habits are meant to be kept, after all. She took a slow, steady breath before she nodded to the official overseeing the event and mentally prepared the sequences she would be using.

The first was a simple reaction enhancer, hardly needed but best to pad the results in her favor, after all. The second was another fairly simple spell, the air bullet. Simple, precise, and accurate. She would not need the third sequence for this, and quite possibly not during the matched shooting, but best to be prepared.

As the event started, she executed the first array, and saw the world noticeably slow around her. A rudimentary effect, compared to what she was capable of now, but best to not let anyone know about the non-systemic entropic control she had up her sleeve. Still, the CAD did make the execution so much easier than it had been with the computation gem.

Tanya quickly centered herself, her aim sitting in a midpoint as she let her training and peripheral perception handle target acquisition. As the first targets started to fly, she engaged with the barest minimum of movement, destroying each of them as they entered her kill zone.

Tanya is unaware of the silence that fell over the stadium, those that understand what they are seeing by their silent appreciation quieting the others. One after another the targets are destroyed in a near perfect display of speed shooting.

The crowd is silent for a moment as Tanya finished and stood there before she removed her shooting glasses. When her schoolmates roared out 'The Beast!' Tanya just smirked and shook her head before saluting them and marching off the field.

The final girl of the preliminary round was Rayna Van Richten, and her demeanor was as cold as her appearance. Tanya had to admit that she appreciated the cool demeanor of the other girl. She was focused and professional, the kind of person that Tanya would have appreciated having as a coworker in her first life. The spell sequence she chose to execute was a work of art, as far as Tanya was concerned. A two-layer wrapped sphere of variable interference types, one creating a field of intense heat, and the core being a zone of freezing cold. The use of thermal shock to destroy any of the targets that passed through the layered sphere was well done, expertly executed, and elegant.

Tanya was unsure of why the crowd did not react more exuberantly, perhaps they were in shock of the simple elegance of the young lady's choice? It made sense, and cemented the idea that this young lady was certainly the one to watch out for.

Tanya nodded to herself as she waited for the matched shooting rounds to start. She watched each of the matches with a critical eye, as she dismantled the positive and negative elements of each girl's performance. Her own early matches go by with little problem for her, without need for her to pull out her trump card. The speed and efficiency of her engagement leaves the lesser competitors in the dust, and eases her up the rankings.

Of those that she was watching, Emilia and Rayna faced off in the match after Tanya's last win. The two germanic beauties sized each other up, then calmly engaged each other in a nearly textbook match. Each had their little moments, but in the end it was Rayna who managed to prevail in a close match against her opponent. As Rayna walked off, she smirked at Tanya and nodded pleasantly. "I will see you in the finals, if you can beat Lesiel. Honestly, it doesn't really matter to me, I know I will be the one standing on the podium at the end of the day, after all. An upstart like you can't beat out old blood and good breeding, after all."

With that said, she walked off to the applause of the crowd. Tanya, for her part, didn't rise to the bait. Such petty teenage drama was below her, after all. It was always better to prove yourself with actions over words. The grin that crossed her delicate lips would have sent any recruit of the 203rd scrambling for cover, because they surely knew what was coming.

Tanya nodded to herself as she entered the field, and gave a slight nod of acknowledgement to Lesiel as she impatiently took her own place. "Good luck." Tanya said in way of acknowledgement as her opponent looked down at the slightly shorter girl.

"You too. Now, don't get upset when I win, hrm?" Lesiel said as she promptly ignored Tanya, and shifted about impatiently.

Tanya settled into her ready posture, relaxed and stone cold. She had already decided that she was not going to need her little trump card against this opponent, and would just win like she had the previous rounds, through speed, marksmanship and a better tactical understanding of the field.

Once both girls were ready, the competition started. As each target flew, Tanya engaged and destroyed them with minimal effort, and maximum efficiency. Lesiel, on the other hand, wasted a lot of energy and movement with her quick, almost jerky movements. As the counters went up, it was clear that Lesiel had become more and more impatient and anxious, as targets started to slip by out of the scoring zone.

By the end of the match, Tanya had scored a perfect run while her opponent lagged considerably behind her. Tanya smiled that cold, polite smile at Lesiel. "I hope that next year we can have another good match like this one." She said before she walked off, leaving her upset competitor to just stare at the tallies before leaving the field as well.

Tanya's and Visha's eyes met as she walked off the field, and for a long moment it seemed like the world stopped before each looked away a bit redder than they were a moment ago. Tanya took a moment to shake her head, as she looked at her opponent for the last round. Perhaps it was time to pull out her trump card, and show the world just how talented Visha was, hrm?

Tanya smirked as she bit her thumb in anticipation, unaware of the shiver that runs through those that see her angelic features as they twisted into something much darker.

Tanya nodded to herself as she mentally prepared herself for the match ahead, she was sure that this would be quite educational for all involved.

Elsewhere, in an office in the headquarters of a certain nation's intelligence agency, a mid-level official was in a mild state of panic. It was late at night for them, and he had just recieved notification from an asset of Viktoriya Ivanovna Serebryakov's latest move. It was brazen, bold, and demanded almost immediate action. It was time to sanction her, before she became any more of a problem. He nodded as he quickly sent the orders to the team in the area. It was a stroke of almost divine providence that he had caught onto her in the first place, one of those sudden epiphanies that changed a person's life and career in an instant.

He just prayed to God that they had acted in time to stop her from becoming a true threat.

It was, after all, God's will that they succeeded.

*A/N*

Sorry for not getting to the good part! The chapter ran a lot longer than anticipated, and I decided to split it up. Next time we WILL see Tanya and Rayna square off, the repercussions of actions taken and plans made, and why no one should ever mess with Visha….