Attack of the Deathrider!

"First question." Captain Chambers leaned back on the desk, crossing her arms. "Did you kill the soldiers?" 

"No." Zane answered confidently, since it was Gunther who killed them.

"That was a warm up question. Do you have any relatives?"

"Not that I know of." So far, he didn't encounter any trouble in answering the questions.

"Do you know any Dark Mages?" 

Zane was about to say no, but realized he couldn't say it. The mental block appeared, and was stopping him from denying the question.

'I need a loophole!' Zane rushed to think before his silence became suspicious. 'Since I'm a Dark Mage, I don't count, and those cultists haven't learned any spells yet, meaning they aren't actual Dark Mages yet!'

"N-Not really…" Zane was able to squeeze that out before the mental block strengthened twofold.

"Does the phrase 'Blood of Syne' mean anything to you?" 

Now Zane was caught. He had no loopholes to deny it, but he quickly thought of a way around it.

"Yes." As Zane confirmed it, Captain Chambers raised an eyebrow, and even the interest of the rest of the room was piqued.

"What is it then?"

Zane took a breath before replying.

"It's what runs through my veins." He confidently said. A vein appeared on Captain Chambers' forehead.

"Zane, this is no time for jokes." The Headmaster sternly warned Zane, who proceeded to apologize.

"Next question." Captain Chambers cleared her throat. "Let's get serious. Have you ever killed anyone?"

The question stumped Zane a little. He looked at the Headmaster. "Is this question really necessary?" 

Alas, the Headmaster only shrugged at him. 

'That tracks. Who'd want to help the son of Dark Mages, after all?' Zane thought bitterly, thinking up a loophole.

"I don't know. Growing up begging on the streets, you get in some fights, and in the fights you win, you don't stick around to check on the guy you beat up." 

Zane answered with a frown, looking the unbothered Captain in the eyes. As she thought of another question to ask, Zane decided to grab his amulet nervously.

'Amulet, what questions are she gonna ask that could possibly screw me over?' He asked his trusty old artifact.

[She is about to ask you if you know who killed the soldiers, then her final question will be if you are a Dark Mage. You'll have to find a way out of the situation before you have to answer those.]

With an instant reply from the amulet, Zane began to plan. 

'Gunther, when I give the signal, I need you to appear behind them all and try to attack me.'

[...Okay.]

Letting go of his amulet, the Captain was ready to continue.

"Do you know who killed the soldiers?" 

"N-?" 

Launching his plan, Zane visibly tried to deny it, the truth serum stopping him. As confusion filled his face, Captain Chambers' smile grew. 

"I-I don't understand, I can't say no…" 

"That means you know something." The Captain leaned forward, hands on her knees. 

"But I've never been there, I didn't see it happen…" Choosing the right words to say, Zane feigned confusion. "How do I know who did it?"

"Maybe you met the perpetrator at some point in your life without knowing they would go and kill a platoon of soldiers?" Captain Bridges stepped in to defend Zane, hand on his chin.'

"I-I guess that's possible…" Looking down, Zane decided it was time to escalate things so that he doesn't get asked the last question.

'Gunther, now!'

"I don't buy it…" Captain Chambers began to say, but the room suddenly grew darker. "What's going on?" 

As shadows began building on the walls, something began to emerge from the ground behind the Headmaster, a shadowy creature rising. Once he was fully in the room, Gunther released his aura, making his presence known.

All the adults in the room sensed the surge of malevolent energy behind them, alarm filling their faces as they could feel the strength radiating off the creature of darkness.

[RAAAAH!] Gunther roared, striking fear into their hearts. He pulled a massive greatsword out of a shadow in the ground, the darkness in the room beginning to climb the walls and turn into spiky surfaces.

"I-It's him!" Zane called out, showing fear on his face as he pointed a finger at Gunther. "The Deathrider!"

Gunther lunged forward, making the Headmaster and the Captains immediately cast defensive spells. However, Gunther simply passed by them, his target being Zane. 

"Shit!" Captain Chambers cursed as she assumed that the creature was there to attack one of them, not the kid!

"Aah! Noooooo!" Zane screamed and fell backwards as Gunther arrived in front of him, sword pulled back to stab him.

'You're doing great!' He told Gunther telepathically.

On the floor, Zane put a hand up to block the oncoming shadow blade, which never arrived. 

"Argh!"

A hand held the tip of the greatsword, a sizzling sound being heard as the flesh began to melt from being in contact with the shadow. Zane saw that the man who was leaning against the wall the whole time had jumped in front of him, catching Gunther's sword.

The man swatted the sword away, the inside of his long coat beginning to glow white, revealing spell diagrams written into the fabric. His uninjured hand began to gather a white energy that he threw at Gunther.

The white energy exploded, filling the room with blinding light. Gunther hissed in pain as all the shadows from the room disappeared, hands covering his face. The man put his hands together as a sword made of the white energy appeared, gripping it by the handle. Gunther readied his sword as the man went for an overhead swing.

'Gunther, you can go now.' 

Before the man's light sword met Gunther's shadow greatsword, Gunther disappeared in a puff of black smoke, causing the light sword to tear into the wall and ground instead, leaving a deep gash.

As light returned to the room, the man huffed as the rest caught their breaths. Zane slowly stood up, pretending to be shaken by the event.

[How was I?] Having returned to Zane's shadow unnoticed, Gunther asked for feedback. Zane could sense a little happiness in his tone. Gunther had enjoyed himself.

'Stellar performance, Gunther.'