Page 334 of Mercy Written in Blood

"I know."

He pulled on a new pair. Not because he required sterility. Because the ritual mattered. Because he would not touch Haruki again with the work of killing still on him.

The theatre door bowed inward. Renji walked towards it. Mori stepped into his path.

"You cannot fight inside a hospital."

"I do not intend to."

"What do you call what you are about to do?"

"Triage."

Mori's expression tightened.

"These are people."

"Yes."

"Some may surrender."

"They will live."

"And those who do not?"

Renji looked through the small window in the door. A man raised a weapon towards the lock. Renji felt the artery beneath his trigger finger. The carotid in his neck. The rhythm in his heart. Every possible intervention arranged itself from least to most final.

"Will be treated according to necessity."

The gun fired. The lock shattered. The door opened inward. The first attacker entered wearing a white band around his arm and a respirator across his face.

Renji lifted one hand. The man collapsed. Not dead. Both legs deprived of movement. His weapon slid across the floor. Thesecond attacker stepped over him. Renji stopped his heart. One precise interruption. No rupture. No blood. The man fell before he could pull the trigger. The third saw what happened and froze.

Renji looked at him.

"Leave."

The man's pulse raced. He dropped the weapon. Renji allowed him to run. Mori stood behind him. The Commander said nothing. There was nothing left to explain.

Renji stepped into the corridor. Red emergency lights turned the white walls dark. Smoke drifted near the ceiling. Two nurses crouched behind a medication cart. One had been shot through the arm. Renji felt the bleeding. He closed the vessel as he passed. The nurse gasped and grabbed the wound.

"It has stopped," Renji said. "Remain here."

Three Unveiled members rounded the corner. Renji identified them before they raised their weapons. One heart carried fear without intent. One carried stimulant-driven aggression. The third had no hesitation at all. Renji disabled the first man's hands. The weapon fell. He ruptured a small vessel behind the second man's knee. The leg collapsed. The third fired. Renji moved the blood from his shoulder before the bullet struck. The impact tore flesh. No artery. No significant loss. He closed the shooter's coronary circulation. The man died before Renji reached him.

Renji continued walking. No haste. No visible anger. Every action exact. A threat was not punished for existing. It was prevented from completing harm. Those who surrendered retained circulation. Those who attempted to fire lost the muscles required. Those who aimed towards patients died. The distinction remained absolute.

Mori followed at a distance. So did the surviving Accord officer. Neither attempted to direct him.

At the junction, four bodies lay across the floor. Two Unveiled. One hospital security guard. One Accord agent. The security guard still lived. Femoral wound. Rapid loss. Renji knelt for less than three seconds. He redirected pressure, closed the artery temporarily and looked towards Mori.

"Tourniquet. Surgery within twenty minutes."

Mori crouched beside the guard.

"You are leaving?"

"Yes."