Before this, the object on the skull man's chest was like an organ comprised of cancer cells, absorbing nourishment from the host's body, but now, when the host was dying, the cancer cells started to feed the nourishment they had previously absorbed back to the body.
Although this method could prolong the skull man's life, it nevertheless could not stop him from dying.
First of all, the cancer cell organ was not a perfect and powerful creature like the 'Stairway of the Sun'.
Secondly, Tom's injuries were so severe that they would have been extremely fatal even on the contestants, who had their bodies digitised by the Realms. No matter how much nourishment the parasitic organ had stored, it would run out eventually.
Surprisingly, upon seeing Sheyan, Tom struggled fiercely to try and sit up. He also seemed to be trying to say something. However, the weak state he was in caused everything he did to be in vain.