Squad Formation

"What the hell just attacked us!?" Captain Chambers put a hand to her chest.

"Fortunately, I had asked Vincent the Lightbearer to join us." The Headmaster nodded at the man in the long coat. "I am glad I made the correct choice."

Saying nothing, Vincent walked over to Zane, who was fixing the chair he had fallen over, and looked him in the eyes. Zane noticed that Vincent had blue hair, blue eyes, and some stubble around his face. 

"When you saw the creature, you called it the Deathrider. How did you know that?" Vincent spoke for the first time, his voice cold and smooth.

Zane, who had successfully diverted their attention away from the question he didn't want asked, began to put on a show.

"I-It told me…" Zane shivered as if recalling a bad memory.

"You knew that thing?" Captain Chambers glared at him while the Headmaster watched him with a serious look.

Vincent held up a hand to stop her before turning back to Zane. "How do you know it?"

"I-I see it everyday. It's always there, watching me, sometimes it talks to me." Zane chose his words carefully. "I always thought it was a figment of my imagination until now."

"Do you know why this creature follows you? Do you know how powerful it is?" 

"No, and also no." Zane shook his head. He wasn't lying, as he knew neither why Gunther chose to contract with him or how strong the shadow creature truly was. It was a good thing he never asked. "This was the first time it ever attacked me like that. What if it tries to kill me again?!"

Zane raised his voice, pretending to panic. Captain Bridges went to his side and rubbed his shoulder to calm him down. 

"Zane, I'm sure your Headmaster won't leave you to that creature's mercy." He glanced at the Headmaster, his gaze turning cold. "Isn't that right?"

The Headmaster was slightly taken aback by the hostility in the Captain's gaze, as he was the weaker Mage between them, but he didn't reprimand the Captain. "Of course." He nodded.

"You know what? Last question." Captain Chambers gave Zane an indifferent look. "Did the Deathrider kill those soldiers?"

Zane opened his mouth to speak before blinking a few times. He looked at them, confused. "...I can't say no." 

The Captain sighed. "I was worried that would be the case." 

She pulled out another vial and handed it to Zane. "This will stop the effects of the truth serum. Thank you for complying."

Zane accepted it politely and immediately drank the vial, feeling the mental block disappearing. Just then, the door opened, Lanius and Lisa peeking inside.

"Excuse us, the lady told us to enter now?" Lanius asked as he was surprised by the amount of people in the room. 

"Yes, please, stand next to Zane here." The Headmaster instructed.

As soon as all 3 were arranged and listening, albeit confused, the Headmaster began to explain.

"Due to… unique and special circumstances, we have called over you three today to inform you that you will be a part of Mage Squad 6, with Vincent over here acting as your master."

Hearing the news, the three were shocked.

"We get the special kid?" Lisa complained.

"I get the idiots?" Zane squinted his eyes.

"Due to each of your individual circumstances, we have determined this to be the optimal squad formation for each of you. Lisa, you cannot be separated from Lanius, the strongest Mage among your batch thus far, meaning you two would always be grouped together. As for Zane, due to his history, and recent events… he cannot be placed in any squad not led by Vincent, who would not be able to lead a squad that does not have Lanius in it."

Hearing the explanation, Zane begrudgingly accepted it. "So I guess we call you 'Master' now?" He looked at Vincent, who nodded.

"Now that you have been put into a squad, you will begin following your master's orders and complete missions as a squad until you become more experienced Mages." The Headmaster looked at Vincent, who quickly instructed the trio.

"The three of you are free to leave, just be at the training field tomorrow morning, and be complete."

Looking at each other before shrugging, the three 'Novice' Mages left the office, going their separate ways to do their own things for the rest of the day. With the kids out of the room, the air around the adults grew heavier.

"This meeting just gave us more questions than answers." Captain Bridges buried his face in his hands. "We still don't know who or what the Blood of Syne is, and now there's a Deathrider - whatever that is - hiding out there trying to kill a kid. I don't get how it's connected."

"Well, if there's one thing we can deduce, it's that that Deathrider creature is the one who killed the soldiers, we just don't know its relevance to the Syne family, or why it wants to kill the son. Maybe it was created to hunt their bloodline, and only acted now for unknown reasons?" Captain Chambers pondered.

"I'm afraid that still doesn't explain why it wiped out an entire platoon." The Headmaster sighed.

"Well, maybe it has to do with the Children of Namek? Those soldiers were on a mission to find one of their bases when they were killed, after all." Captain Bridges scratched his head.

"Well, looks like all we can do for now is continue to observe the Children of Namek and wait for any other incidents related to the Blood of Syne. Bridges, let's go back and report to the Major." Captain Chambers began to pull out a device.

"One second." Captain Bridges turned to the Headmaster. "Will Zane be alright with that creature after him? I don't want an innocent kid to die because of negligence."

"You have no need to worry, we all saw how effective Vincent was against the creature, and he will be closely monitoring Zane from now on." The Headmaster soothed the Captain's worries.

Accepting the answer, Captain Bridges returned to Captain Chambers before the two disappeared using the device. Now alone, the Headmaster asked Vincent an important question.

"How powerful was that Deathrider?"

"..." Vincent paused before sighing and looking at the ceiling. "If it came down to it, I'm not sure I could win."

The Headmaster rested his chin on his fingers, thinking deeply. 

"If that's the case, you must pay careful attention to the Syne boy. I'm not saying throw away your personal biases, I have them too, but we cannot stand by and let a student die. He said the creature appears daily, so watch out that it doesn't appear during training. I expect you to do your best, especially in training Lanius. You're one of the best we have. Is that clear, Vincent?"

Hearing the Headmaster's speech, Vincent crossed his arms, a spark appearing in his eyes. "Yes, Headmaster."