And yet he did not. He did not even feel him.
"Argh!"
There was a sudden welt of pain. Francis reached for his side with his hand. It came away bloodless, without injury. Even the skin did not betray any sign of hurt. And yet where did the pain come from? He glanced around him, on an impossible line of inquiry, and he saw it: a doorway as tall as a castle gate had been cut into the blackened barrier.
With his cutting, there came an affliction to Francis' body itself. He'd melded himself with the barrier, in more ways than one, so that he might both increase the efficiency of his absorption of the sacrificial material, and also strengthen the barrier against any who might interfere with his task.
