Hades' Cursed Luna novel Chapter 513

Chapter 513: Cannonfire

Frostfang

"I know, I know, just—DELTA!"

They came running.

Three of them. Faces pale. Exhausted. They’d been healing for over a day straight.

The lead Delta—dropped to her knees beside Maera, hands already glowing, and her face went white.

"Oh gods—"

"SAVE HER!" Silas screamed.

The Delta’s hands moved over Maera’s body, golden light pouring into the ruined flesh. The other two Deltas joined her, their hands glowing, working frantically.

"Massive trauma to the lumbar spine," one of them said, voice tight. "The cauda equina is—it’s gone. Shredded."

"Bleeding out," another Delta said. "We need to stop the hemorrhaging first or she’s dead in minutes."

"Do it!" Delta snapped.

Their hands pressed against Maera’s lower body, light blazing brighter. The bleeding began to slow—vessels sealing, tissue knitting together.

But her legs—

Her legs lay at wrong angles, unmoving.

"Silas," The Delta said, not looking up. "You need to step back. Give us room."

"I’m not leaving—"

"Step back."

Silas stumbled backward, hands slick with Maera’s blood, watching helplessly as the Deltas worked.

Around them, the battle still raged—but distant now, muffled, like it was happening in another world.

All that existed was Maera.

Dying in the snow.

---

The Delta’s face was tight with concentration, sweat beading on her forehead despite the cold.

"She’s stabilizing," one of the other Deltas said. "Bleeding’s stopped. But the nerve damage—"

"I see it," She said grimly.

She pulled her hands back, staring at the ruined base of Maera’s spine.

"What?" Silas demanded. "What is it?"

She looked up at him, and her eyes were filled with exhaustion and grief.

"The cauda equina," she said quietly. "It’s a bundle of nerves at the base of the spine. Controls everything below the waist—legs, bladder, bowels, sensation, movement. It’s one of the most complex nerve networks in the body."

"Can you fix it?" Silas’s voice was desperate.

She hesitated. "In theory? Yes. But it would take hours. Maybe longer. Nerve regeneration is delicate work. Precision. Every connection has to be perfect or it doesn’t work at all."

"Then do it."

"We can’t." The Delta beside the lead delta—a younger man, barely holding himself upright—spoke up. "We’ve been healing for over twenty-six hours. We’re running on fumes. We can save her life—rebuild the tissue, stop the bleeding, keep her alive. Or we can try to regenerate the nerves perfectly and risk lkilling her if we run out of energy halfway through."

Silas stared. "You’re saying—"

"We have to choose," she said, her voice breaking. "Her life. Or her legs."

"That’s not a choice!" Silas roared. "You save both!"

"We can’t!" The delta’s voice cracked. "I’m sorry, Silas, but we can’t! We don’t have enough left! If we try to do both and fail, she dies. Is that what you want?"

Silas opened his mouth. Closed it.

Looked down at Maera.

Her eyes were open. Staring at him. Tears streaming down her face.

She’d heard everything.

"Maera—" Silas dropped to his knees beside her.

"Do it," Maera whispered. Her voice was so faint he could barely hear it. "Save... my life."

"Maera—"

"Please." Her hand twitched, found his. Squeezed weakly. "I don’t... want to die."

Silas’s throat closed. He looked up at the lead delta.

"Save her," he said hoarsely. "Do whatever you have to do. Just—save her."

She nodded, tears streaming down her face.

"We’ll create basic autonomic pathways," she said, hands already glowing again. "Enough to keep the tissue alive. Maintain circulation. But the motor nerves, the sensory nerves—we won’t be able to regenerate those. Not properly. She’ll—" She stopped. Swallowed. "Her legs will heal. But she won’t be able to move them. Won’t be able to feel them."

Maera sobbed—a broken, wrenching sound.

"I’m sorry," she whispered. "I’m so, so sorry."

Then she and the other Deltas bent over Maera, hands blazing with golden light, pouring everything they had left into keeping her alive.

---

Across the battlefield, James stood frozen.

The cannon had fallen from his hands.

He was staring at his mother.

At the blood.

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