As the final layer of bone was removed, a darker hollow space erged. From that space, dark blood slowly welled up again.
"These are the deep veins surrounding the spinal canal. They are thin and fragile," I inford her. "You need to stop the bleeding just as you did during the incision."
Without replying, she focused a wave of pressure into the hollow. The bleeding slowed imdiately. Where it persisted, she sealed the vessels one by one with precise touches of Soulforce. Soon, the space cleared.
Now we could see it.
A pale, faintly glistening mbrane stretched across the opening like a protective sheath. This thin layer wrapped around the spinal cord itself.
"Beyond this layer lies the true damage," I said. "You need to remove the dead tissue from the area between the veins."
U steadied her breathing.
Once she opened this final covering, there would be no room for error. The next movent would expose the severed spinal cord itself.
With a careful motion, she parted the delicate mbrane over the cord. It opened slowly, like silk drawn aside. Clear fluid shimred within, and she guided it away gently so it would not cloud her view.
And then, the spinal cord appeared.
It was not a single rope but a thick bundle of countless living filants bound together. At one level, those threads had been cleanly severed in two. Over ti, they had shrunk slightly and curled inward. Between them lay hardened scar tissue, pale and lifeless, blocking any possibility of connection.
Slowly, she began dissolving the dead tissue strand by strand. Each fragnt she removed revealed healthier fibers beneath. She trimd the damaged ends carefully, removing only what was truly necrotic while preserving everything that still lived.
Hours passed.
Her breathing remained steady, but sweat gathered at her temples, which I wiped away from ti to ti.
At last, the gap between the two ends was cleared, leaving only a small space between them.
"Each of these countless fibers is ant to carry specific signals of movent, sensation, and balance to the brain," I said. "I will show you which fibers need to connect to which. They must be matched correctly, or the brain will receive distorted signals."
A full day had passed by the ti we reached this stage. My eyes, which had not taken a mont of rest for the past month, were screaming for relief. The strain of maintaining Eyes of the Fallen sent sharp, stinging pain through my eyes and deep into my brain. However, rest was not a luxury I could afford.
Not yet.
With my guidance, U extended fine strands of Soulforce from the upper half toward the lower half, searching, aligning, and connecting.
There were thousands of them. So carried movent, so sensation, and others balance and reflex.
Hour after hour and day after day, she matched them with deliberate and painstaking precision.
By the end of the sixth day, a faint glow shimred between the two ends of the cord. An energy scaffold now held them in perfect alignnt.
"Warning. Eyes of the Fallen has been used excessively. Deactivation of the skill is recomnded, or the Host will lose eyesight."
I had been receiving this warning for the past two days. Most of my vision was already gone. I could see only blurred shapes. My Sea of Soulforce was nearly dry. The only reason I could still assist U in the operation was because the faint, differently colored fibers remained visible to . They were the only things my eyes needed to see.
For the past two days, blood had continuously flowed from my eyes, staining the floor below crimson.
"T-Taranis," U murmured in a low voice as she noticed my condition. She wanted to rest, but she also understood how essential my eyes were to this operation. She could not bring herself to say it.
"Continue the operation," I muttered between heavy breaths.
Taking a deep breath, she redirected her focus to the task. She knew that the only way I could rest was if this operation ended successfully.
Now that all the fibers had been connected, the only remaining step was their regeneration through Divine Soulforce.
The regular Soulforce of one cultivator acted like poison within another’s body. If remnants of another’s Soulforce remained after a battle, they would slow healing, cause persistent pain, and even lead to infection.
The remnants of Divine Soulforce were far more dangerous. Unlike regular Soulforce, they were not easily expelled if the attacker was of the sa realm. If the attacker stood at a higher realm, it was nearly impossible to remove those remnants unless the attacker withdrew them personally.
However, Divine Soulforce possessed not only destructive power but restorative power as well, which was why most Divine Beings possessed extraordinary regenerative abilities.
To heal another person, though, it required extre precision and a perfectly controlled flow of Divine Soulforce into the exact site of injury. That was why this operation had taken so long.
It took two hours for U’s Divine Soulforce to be fully absorbed into the fibers. The cuts vanished, and the strands beca whole again, as though they had never been severed.
"Vivi, test the patient’s condition," I murmured inwardly. "Tell in voice mode."
My vision was too blurred to read anything.
"Initializing Host’s request."
"Voice mode activated."
A gentle female voice echoed within my mind.
"The patient’s spinal cord is completely healed. The patient can now walk again."
"I could never get used to this seductive voice," I chuckled inwardly, relief washing over now that Mother was fully healed.
With my guidance, U closed the protective mbrane over the spinal cord, sealing it gently so it would shield the fragile new bridge. Ensuring that the fluid flowed normally again, she restored the surrounding space and carefully replaced the bone she had removed, reshaping it into position.
The muscle layers were guided back together, torn fibers fused, and the skin sealed cleanly.
Only after ensuring that Mother’s condition was completely stable did I deactivate Eyes of the Fallen and fall onto my back.
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