OW: Lilin Tournament Round 4 - Prologue

Lilin sighed with relief as she looked at the list to see who she was going to fight next. It wasn't Alexei. Thankfully, it wasn't him. Instead, she was going to fight a student named Cressida. The devil was sure she had see her previous battles once or twice. If she remembered correctly, Cressida was using potions to fight, which so far had been used as bombs to attack her opponents with elements. For a tiny moment, there was the thought of "That shouldn't be so hard", but Lilin immediately pushed it aside before it could settle in her mind. Arrogance was not going to help her win. Her older sister Asoth and a lot of the surprising outcomes throughout the tournament were proof enough. Everyone who had made the fatal mistake of underestimating even a single aspect of their opponents, had lost.
Also, it was quite possible that Cressida would change her tactic against an elementalism student. Lilin didn't know enough about potions to predict the changes the witch could make. But the possibilities were numerous, she was sure about that. Maybe she should stop focusing only on one class, but she could still worry about her academic progress after the tournament was over.

"Oh, how boring", someone commented behind her and Lilin really wanted to turn around and land a punch in that certain someone's face. Neither survival instincts or manner held her back. It was only cold calculation. If she started a fight with her sister now, she would be in no shape to make it through the upcoming battle.
"I should have a talk with the one responsible for the matches. It's always entertaining seeing two friends murdering each other, don't you agree?"
Lilin clenched her fists until the knuckles turned white beneath the gloves.
"Go away!", she hissed, but unfortunately, Asoth was not granting her this favour. Instead, the barely dressed devil walked around Lilin and lifted her sister's chin with her hands, the long, almost claw-like nails scratching the skin.
"How are your eyes doing, nestling?"; she asked while Lilin tried to look away. Still, the older devil must have seen enough, since she released her sister and stepped back.
"It's a pity, you looked a lot less ugly with those burning eyes, you know?"
"Since when do you care about me not lying dead-alive on the ground", Lilin grumbled and turned away.
"You get me all wrong, nestling. I only want to help you", Asoth claimed.
"Sure, because you simply are that selfless", Lilin remarked, not turning back. She quickly learned why this still was a bad idea, even though last battle Asoth had not cheered for her opponent. Something painfully hit Lilin's back, forcing her to fall over. It felt like Asoth just had hurled a boulder and it surprised Lilin her back wasn't broken by the impact. As she turned around, she could see used the projectile was in fact a large part of the floor, now floating in the air.
"You should know better than to turn your back on me, nestling", Asoth announced happily, letting the tile dance up and down. Slowly, Lilin got up and was glad she had the cane for support. Somehow, she managed to swallow all the anger and suddenly, she felt a sting. Immediately after that, it was as if a lever inside of her was turned. A strange cold feeling flooded her, quickly followed by a feeling of infinite weariness.
"Is it a fight you want?", Lilin asked weakly. She wasn't challenging anyone. The tone of her voice sounded a lot more as if Asoth was asking to copy her homework for the hundredth time today.
"You are not an opponent, nestling. You're a punch bag. It's more challenging when your blue friend is around."
With a wave of her hand, Asoth caused the tile to knock Lilin over again and then let it fall down on her sister. The student gasped, but tried hard not to make a sound.
"See? You're not even trying! Why aren't you even trying?", Asoth asked, her voice becoming angrier with every syllable. Lilin reached out for the tile and let it burst into small pieces.
"You know what? You're right. I'm no match for you, so we can just end this war. I give up",she answered.
"You're lying!", Asoth hissed.
"You know very well I can't. Hell, I wish I could. It would make life so much easier. But I can't!", Lilin gave back. Both devils successfully ignored the other students stopping by to see what the fuss was all about. Even though the tournament was on, fights were never boring.
"You can't surrender like that!", Asoth shouted.
"I just did. You're the winner, you're the superior devil. Isn't tat what you always wanted me to say?", Lilin replied, her voice filled with tiredness. A mischievous grin appeared on Asoth face.
"I broke you"; she stated and burst into a maniac laughter.
"Oh hell, this is delightful! Splendid! Out of all the people who were trying so hard, it was me! Ahahahahahaha!"
Still laughing, the devil disappeared in a smoke pillar. Lilin waited until the stench of sulfur had dissolved before leaving the place. Little did both devil's know, that Cressida had shot one of her poisonous darts at Lilin, intending to make her give up the fight before it even started. The witch was delighted to see the used potion was working this fast. Even if the effect wore off before the battle starts, it would be easy to make her opponent surrender.

Lilin returned to her room, where already a crackling fire awaited her. As soon as the door closed behind her, Asoth's voice filled the room.
"You cheating bastard! I don't know how, but you lied to me!"
"I have no idea what you are talking about", Lilin muttered and dismissed the fire. It flared up right afterwards.
"Don't you dare cutting me off! I swear, as soon as I got back, you pay for this!"
Lilin sighed.
"I told you give up. What else do you want to hear?"
There was silence, not even the burning wood dared to crackle. Moments later, there was a knock on the door.
"Let me in, nestling!", Asoth demanded. The student knew there was no point in trying to ignore her and opened. The older devil rushed inside and quite forcefully tilted Lilin's head aside to examine her neck, before she could put up any resistance.
"I knew it!", Asoth exclaimed triumphantly after the painful examination was done.
"You idiot of a nestling! You let yourself get drugged or something like that. Whoever did that, they are much more skilled than you, that's for sure."
Lilin rubbed her aching neck. It was a miracle her sister had not accidentally broken it.
"What are you talking about?"; she asked wearily. Normally the insults would work and upset her, but she couldn't care less about them right now.
"Go look for yourself", the older devil demanded and hoping she would leave once she was satisfied, Lilin began to examine her neck. Near the trim of her collar, there was in fact a small red dot, looking like the sting from a large insect. The bright colour revealed that it wasn't old yet.
"I was home to collect the prize. You know, for being the one who broke you", Asoth explained casually. Lilin knew what her sister meant. The contest was as old as she was and had created two fractions among the participants: those who tried to make her snap and go berserk and those who wanted to break her. But only few of her siblings were as eager to win as Asoth, mostly because there were plenty of similar bets and competitions going on.
"You can imagine my surprise when it turned out your capitulation didn't count. So I came back."
"You're wasting your time"; Lilin muttered, causing her sister to burst into laughter.
"Most certainly not. I will find out who spoiled my fun and if it's necessary, I'll force you to stay in the tournament", she announced happily.
"Why?`", Lilin sighed. She was not looking forward to keep fighting at all. All she wanted was peace and quiet.
"Because nothing is more entertaining to see you getting stabbed, bruised and beaten while you scream in pain. Also, if you drop out, there is no chance you get to fight against your sylph friend. That will be the best fight of them all, there is no way I let you spoil this fun!"
Lilin turned away and stared out of the small window. Anger and worry flared up inside of her, but she didn't want her sister to notice.
"Don't you feel at least a tiny bit insulted by the fact that someone used such a cheap method of winning against you? That someone used the spare time between the fights to get an advantage over you?"
"My opponent apparently needs to rely on such tricks", Lilin said.
"Well, I say if they don't wait for your battle to start, why should I", Asoth announced and got up. Even if her suspicion was right and Cressida's action was not exactly fair, Lilin didn't want her opponent to have to deal with Asoth. 
"Don't worry, I'll fight the next round", she promised and her sister showed a wicked grin.
"Can you promise not to surrender as well?", she asked greedily. Lilin decided to to think of possible consequences if she refused. It was never a good thing to give the older devil an excuse to expand her list of possible victims. It was already bad enough that Alexei had caught her attention. There was no need to involve Cressida, who didn't even know the devil and just had had some bad luck with the tournament pairing.
"I promise not to surrender in my next battle if you don't hurt any student until then", she answered.
Asoth made a face.
"Very well, but woe is you if the fight is not bloody enough", she replied and left the room.