Arc 2 Chapter 18: The Breaking Point
"Some men aren't looking for anything logical, like money. They can't be bought, bullied, reasoned, or negotiated with. Some men just want to watch the world burn."
—Alfred, The Dark Knight
---
Lily had never felt powerless before.
Not truly.
Not even when she had first awakened in this strange world, stripped of identity, stripped of memory. She had always known that, beneath everything, she was something more.
Something vast. Something unknowable.
But now—
Now, as she knelt on Vatra's broken ground, **her body immobile, her power useless, her voice silent—**she felt it for the first time.
True, unyielding, suffocating helplessness.
And she did not know how to process it.
---
The Scholar stood before her, calm, pleased, as if admiring a long-awaited experiment reaching its final stage.
Behind him, Zane lay crumpled on the ground, struggling to move, to breathe. The weight of the Eridian's power pressed down on him like an unseen force.
Lily wanted to reach for him.
She could not.
She was bound, **not by chains, not by any visible restraint—**but by something deeper. Something beyond comprehension.
The Scholar's voice was almost gentle.
"You do not understand yet, do you?"
Lily did not answer. She couldn't.
He exhaled, almost pitying.
"Infants are so fragile. So predictable."
His gaze flickered to Zane.
"Shall we see what happens when I remove the last thing tethering you to this existence?"
And just like that—he lifted Zane into the air, as effortlessly as one might lift a doll.
---
Panic.
It was a foreign thing, crawling into her chest, wrapping around her ribs like an iron grip.
Something deep inside her recoiled.
No.
Not this.
Not him.
Zane gasped, limbs spasming, suspended by an invisible force.
The Scholar tilted his head, watching her closely.
"Interesting."
Lily's fingers twitched. She tried to move, tried to stand.
She couldn't.
She had never been unable to move before.
Something was wrong.
Something was deeply, deeply wrong.
And then—
A tear rolled down her cheek.
A single, silent tear.
The Scholar stilled.
His gaze snapped to her face.
And in that moment, the world itself seemed to pause.
---
He dropped Zane.
Just let him go—like he no longer mattered.
Zane collapsed to the ground, choking, coughing, his body shuddering from the sudden lack of pressure.
The Scholar didn't even look at him.
His focus was entirely on Lily.
He stepped forward.
Slowly.
As if approaching something sacred.
"Fascinating," he murmured.
Lily said nothing.
Could say nothing.
He crouched before her, head tilting like a curious predator.
"A tear." His voice was almost reverent. "How extraordinary."
He reached out, a single gloved finger tracing the damp trail down her cheek.
And then—
He smiled.
---
"So you are capable of suffering."
His fingers lingered against her skin.
"I wonder..."
His touch drifted lower. To her throat.
A pause.
A heartbeat.
And then—
He took.
---
Lily did not move.
Not at first.
Not when his fingers pressed against her jaw, tilting her face upward.
Not when his grip tightened, firm, unyielding.
Not even when his lips brushed against hers—**not in desire, not in affection—**but in ownership.
Something inside her twisted.
Tore.
Split apart like frayed threads unraveling in slow, agonizing increments.
And still—she did not move.
Not even as his breath ghosted over her skin.
Not even as the weight of him pressed down, suffocating.
Not even as his voice murmured, soft and pleased—
"Yes... this will do."
---
Something beneath her skin stirred.
Something vast. Something incomprehensible.
Something that had been waiting.
Waiting for this.
Waiting for the final, necessary push.
Lily exhaled.
And the universe screamed.
---
The ground cracked.
The air ignited.
Reality itself seemed to shudder, the very fabric of existence fraying at the edges.
The Scholar pulled back slightly, just enough to observe, to see what was happening.
And for the first time—his expression flickered.
Not in amusement.
Not in intrigue.
But in recognition.
In understanding.
"Ah."
A whisper.
A revelation.
He stepped back.
But it was already too late.
---
Lilith had awakened.