"What do you mean came back from the dead?" Kaiser demanded, his voice caught between disbelief and outrage.
The woman tilted her head slightly, her piercing blue eyes calm, almost amused. "Exactly what it sounds like," she said. "The guy with the water — Isamuel — left you under for a good while. He sort of… forgot you were still in there."
Kaiser stared at her. "He forgot? That psycho tried to drown me!"
"Technically, he succeeded," the woman replied with a faint smirk. "But you can thank Jade — the other Saint with him. He was the one who pulled you out."
"That bastard," Kaiser muttered, his fists tightening. "Then why didn't Jade save me sooner?"
"Because he thought Isamuel already had you," she explained, leaning back in her chair. "By the time he realized you were still at the bottom of the pool, you'd already stopped breathing. He had to use his Light Spell to bring you back."
Kaiser froze, his mind spinning.
He'd actually… died?
He pressed a trembling hand against his chest. His heart was beating. He could feel it. But something in that rhythm felt wrong — too heavy, too slow, too real.
"..." He stayed silent for a moment, eyes fixed on the table. Then he finally asked, "Who are you… and what's going to happen to me now?"
The woman smiled faintly, resting her chin on her hands. "Divah Lawson," she said. "Saint of the Holy Order. And as for you, Kaiser… you have two choices."
Kaiser frowned. "Two choices?"
She nodded. "Option one: you enroll at the Saint's Academy, train under our supervision, and officially become part of the Holy Order."
"And option two?"
"Option two," she said sweetly, "you refuse… and spend the next four hundred and sixty-seven years in a sealed containment cell. No internet, no sunlight, no snacks."
Kaiser blinked. "You've got to be kidding me."
"I'm really not."
He leaned back, sighing loudly. "Of course. I either become a divine soldier or a fossil. Great choices."
Divah chuckled softly. "I'd suggest you pick the first. At least it comes with food and a bed."
"But I can't even use my power properly," Kaiser protested. "It burns me every time. It's a curse, not a gift!"
"Ah, yes," she said, tapping her pen on the table. "Isamuel mentioned that. Which is why he volunteered to oversee your training personally."
Kaiser's head snapped up. "What?! The same guy who drowned me is supposed to teach me?!"
"That's his way of apologizing," Divah said matter-of-factly.
"Oh, well that's touching," Kaiser muttered. "Maybe next time he'll 'apologize' by setting me on fire."
Divah didn't bother hiding her amusement. "Don't worry. He won't kill you again. Probably."
"Probably?" Kaiser echoed in horror.
Her blue eyes sparkled mischievously. "You seem like the kind of student who could survive just about anything. Even death."
He groaned, dragging his hands through his hair. "This is insane… I just wanted to make money, keep my head down, and maybe bring my mom back from her coma. How did I end up here?"
Divah stood and straightened her coat. "Fate has a sense of humor, I suppose." She gestured toward the door. "So, Kaiser, what'll it be?"
Kaiser hesitated, staring at the table. The word Academy echoed in his head like a threat. Saints. Training. Isamuel. Pain. Fire.
But the image of his mother's hospital bed came back, soft and quiet. If he refused, he'd never get the chance to see her awake again.
He exhaled slowly and stood up. "Fine. I'll go."
Divah's smile widened — calm, elegant, but with a glint of something almost predatory. "Excellent. I'll have your paperwork processed immediately."
"Wait, you guys have paperwork for this?"
"Of course," she said, already walking toward the door. "Even divine organizations have bureaucracy."
Kaiser groaned. "This is going to be hell, isn't it?"
Divah looked over her shoulder, her expression unreadable.
"Oh, no," she said. "Hell would be kinder."
Divah stepped out of the interrogation room, the door clicking shut behind her. She exhaled, rubbing her temple. For a boy who had technically died an hour ago, Kaiser had handled things better than most adults she'd met.
Her phone vibrated. She answered it with a faint sigh.
"Yeah, Jade?"
A warm male voice came through the line. "Hey, Divah. We're done here."
"Already?" she said, leaning against the cold corridor wall. "That was fast."
"Well, there weren't that many left," Jade replied casually. "Though Isamuel nearly flooded the entire block again."
"Nearly?" she echoed, rolling her eyes. "That means he did."
A chuckle came from the other end. "Maybe a little."
Divah laughed softly. "You two really need hobbies. Anyway, you'd better take a long shower before you come back. You probably smell like roasted vampire."
"Yeah, probably," Jade said. "So… the kid? Did he agree?"
"Yep," Divah said with a sly grin. "He'll be heading to the Academy in two days. You should've seen his face when I told him how Isamuel killed him."
There was a pause on the line. Then a different voice — sharper, annoyed — broke in.
"YOU TOLD HIM WHAT?!"
Divah winced and pulled the phone slightly away from her ear. "Oh, hey, Isamuel. Didn't realize you were there."
Jade's laughter exploded in the background. "I told you she'd do it!"
"Divah!" Isamuel's voice thundered through the speaker. "You were supposed to keep that quiet!"
"Oh, please," she said, smirking. "You drowned a teenager and forgot about him. I think he deserved to know."
"That was an accident!" Isamuel shouted. "Do you have any idea how awkward this is going to be when I start training him?"
"Extremely," she said cheerfully. "Serves you right."
Jade was practically wheezing with laughter now. "Man, you should've seen her face when she said it, too. So calm. So professional."
Divah smiled. "Anyway, I've got things to prepare. Enjoy the storm, boys."
"Yeah, yeah," Jade replied. "See you soon."
She hung up, tucking her phone into her coat pocket, her smile fading slightly as she glanced down the hall. The Holy Order was already moving faster than usual — sending recruits, enforcing the Saint Academy's new policies. Things were changing again… and not necessarily for the better.
---
Thunder rolled across the city.
Rain poured in relentless sheets, flooding the streets and washing away the traces of another brutal night. Under the gray glow of flickering streetlights, corpses of vampires lay scattered across the wet asphalt — pale, twisted, and slowly dissolving into ash.
Two figures walked calmly through the carnage, black umbrellas shielding them from the storm.
"Lovely weather," Jade said with a crooked grin.
"Yeah," Isamuel muttered, stepping over a vampire's severed arm. "Perfect for a massacre."
Their footsteps splashed through puddles tinted faintly red. The rain hissed as it met the faint steam rising from the corpses — remnants of holy energy still burning through undead flesh.
"Still can't believe Divah told him," Isamuel grumbled, pushing his wet hair back. "She just had to say it like that."
Jade shrugged. "You did kill him, technically."
"By accident!"
"Yeah, but she's not wrong."
Isamuel groaned. "He's never going to trust me now."
Jade smirked. "Maybe you shouldn't drown your students, then."
"Ha. Ha."
Lightning flashed above them, lighting the city in a brief, blinding white. For a moment, both Saints stopped, their eyes scanning the rooftops.
More movement.
From the shadows, a few surviving vampires hissed weakly, crawling from alleyways with glowing red eyes.
Isamuel sighed. "Persistent little bastards."
He extended his right hand, water spiraling around his fingers in an elegant, deadly dance. Jade reached for his sword, the silver blade shimmering faintly with light.
It took less than a minute.
When the thunder cracked again, the street was silent.
The vampires were gone — nothing left but ashes swirling in the wind.
Jade slid his sword back into its sheath and tilted his head toward his partner. "You know what? I don't know why, but I suddenly want some orange juice."
Isamuel blinked, lowering his umbrella. "...What?"
"Yeah," Jade said, walking away casually. "Don't know why. Guess all this blood made me thirsty for something fresh."
Isamuel stared at him for a long moment, then sighed. "You're insane."
"Maybe," Jade said over his shoulder. "But at least I didn't kill a kid this week."
Isamuel groaned loudly, dragging a hand down his face. "I hate you."
"You love me," Jade said with a grin, disappearing into the rain.
The storm continued to rage, thunder echoing across the city — and beneath it all, a whisper of unease.
Something was changing in the balance between Saints and Vampires.
And somewhere out there, Kaiser had just stepped onto the battlefield.