Ash seeped his way back to the basement vent. He exited into the room away from Casper, not to see. He could smell the cannabis from Casper's joint in the room, along with the sounds of what was heard to be porn from his phone.
Ash couldn't fathom how inconsiderate Casper was about everything. He had no feelings or conscience about what he did. Ash trembled with hate inside, his eyes bloodshot from the burning fury.
He was ready to put on his helmet before he noticed the spray paint cans in the room. If he was going to do revenge, he had to keep both his identity secret and make a grand entrance at the same time.
He looked and grabbed the can that had white chalk paint. He sprayed the front of his helmet, which had a dissolving skull with no lower jaw. Even his brand-new jacket, he sprayed a spinal bone design on the back, shoulder pads, and sleeves. He didn't care if it was perfect or the paint had small drips crawling down the coat; he wanted to look menacing to Casper. Thankfully, he had no distinct clothes besides the coat. He wore a black shirt, boots, and jeans that anyone could wear every day. Once the paint dried, he put everything on, readying the hatchet in his hand.
He was ready to sneak up on Casper, the voices of Amelia singing emerged, as if his conscience was trying to stop him from going too far. That was in vain, though, when he heard Casper say derogatory comments about Lita.
"Gotta admit, that goth bitch isn't bad looking. She's gotta decent rack and butt. Wonder how many she's banged besides that little Raven freak." He had been looking at Lita's social media posts, including the ones where she tried modeling for a Halloween boudoir shoot, showing off her tattoos and figure to earn money to pay her dad's rent after he lost his job for drinking too much.
Ash could feel the hedonism in Casper's tone from looking at Lita's photos. He couldn't take it anymore; any anchor that would have kept him grounded was gone. All he wanted to do now was kill Casper.
Ash dissipated into smoke again with Phantom Stride, creeping up on Casper. His slow movement to Casper gave the room a cold, eerie chill. Casper felt the change of tone in the room; he stopped smoking to stay sober enough to keep his guard up.
"Who's there. This ain't funny, man. Come out, or I'll blow you all away." Casper was nervous. He felt a shiver down his neck; even with his hands generating wind, they still trembled heavily. The black smoke surrounded the floor of the room. Casper was afraid, for the first time in his life, he felt afraid.
Ash slowly solidified behind Casper, raising the hatchet high, the single curved point aimed at the center of Casper's brain.
Casper turned around, feeling the horrible presence behind him. Nothing was there; it made him quiver harder. "Come out! Show yourself, you coward."
A fast swing sliced through the air, grazing Casper's cheek in the motion. Casper fell back, his body crashing on the boxes and junk behind him.
Ash manifested himself before Casper; the helmet's visor and spray paint hid the burning hatred in his eyes.
"Coward? Who's the real coward? You bully the weak, ruin people's lives, worst of all, you poisoned a horse who did more in its life than you ever have, and think it's funny." The grip Ash held on the hatchet tightened.
Ash swung the hatchet again, and Casper dodged before he could be struck. He blew his wind ability at Ash, but Ash wouldn't be fazed. He was stone-focused on getting back at Casper regardless of what the consequences were to his soul. Casper used his ability again to defend himself; he was doing everything he could to stop Ash from hitting him with that hatchet.
Casper tried to flee for the exit; he had to get away.
Ash grabbed the surrounding furniture and threw them to block Casper from getting out right away. Casper tried to blow the debris out of the doorway to escape, but Ash threw a few knives at Casper; they hit his leg, missing the vital organs by a few inches. Casper groaned in pain. He used more power to break the door open, struggling to run away.
Ash wasn't going to let him get away; both his personal vendetta and hunger wouldn't allow it. He walked to Casper since there was no point in running after a man who couldn't muster enough strength to do even a slight job.
Casper tried to scream for help, but unfortunately, he chose a part of the school farther from anyone who could hear him. His own hubris in picking a secluded area to smoke led to his downfall.
Whimpering and panicking, he tried to plead with Ash to stop, spare him if possible.
"Please, wait, what do you want. You want drugs? I can get some. Money, come on, what do you want?" He was pleading, holding up his bleeding hands in a surrender.
Ash stared him down. He remembered every deed, every insult, all the horrible things Casper did to him, the sound of his laugh, smile, all the evil he committed, swarming in his thoughts.
The worst was seeing Lita cry, the look on her face as she felt hopeless for her beloved horse.
"What do I want? I want my parents back. I want my sister back. I…..want my brother back!" The heavy footsteps of Ash were followed by the aura of bloodlust emanating from his body and soul. Casper could hear it in the voice clearer now that both his adrenaline from the pain and cannabis had started to wear off. He knew who it was now.
"What? Wait, are you?" He called out, shocked. Ash took off his helmet to show his face; he wanted to look Casper in the eyes. "You? What is wrong with you, you freak? Are you adding more to that Corpse Collector persona your brother made?"
"ENOUGH!!!" Ash yelled as the exploding aura around him started to suffocate Casper. "Why? Why do you always bash my brother? He was a damned hero. He didn't leave his men behind just to kill Kraegan for fun. He didn't abandon his post for a killing spree. So how dare you disrespect him?" Ash moved to Casper, not letting up his hate. "Three years, three fuckin years you bullied me! You beat the shit out of me any chance you got, you stole my clothes and burned them, trashed my bike, threw garbage at me, you made me at one point so depressed I almost wanted to kill myself." Ash wanted to do it. He wanted to slice Casper badly.
"How dare you, how dare you think my life is so beneath yours you could do all those things with no remorse."
Casper looked at him, and he could see the intent in those eyes. He couldn't resist; he wanted to make a quip to stall so he could launch a powerful wind attack on Ash.
"Why? Because...because it was fun. A weak level like you was just a Tuesday for me. You can't beat me; no one will take your side, no matter how pathetic you are. A weak, pathetic, little Raven." Casper launched the strongest wind attack he could at Ash's head. Ash was knocked to the ground, and he was unconscious for a minute from the attack.
Casper breathed a sigh of relief, thinking it was over. He tried to pull the knives out of his leg, crying in pain as the blades continued cutting his muscle and skin. He stopped when it became too painful to continue, then pulled out his phone to call his friends to pick him up. None would answer; they were disgusted with what he had done earlier. It sent out text messages, hoping that at least one would be read so they could look for him.
He dropped the phone when the blood on his hands made it hard to hold it. He tried to dial again, looking at the unconscious Ash on the ground.
Casper tried to wipe his hands off with his jacket to use the phone better, the wet stickiness of his blood making it harder to press the screen and call for help again.
He looked up to see Ash slowly getting up; he was recovering from the earlier attack. Casper frantically tried to muster up his power to fight back; he was still drained from firing the last one to knock Ash out earlier. Casper could only see Ash's back as he made himself stand up. As he tried to gather his strength, he thought maybe he was hallucinating, maybe it was the helmet he saw, but something resembling a human head was lying on the ground.
Ash continued getting up, reaching for the hatchet in the struggle. Casper looked helpless as the groggy Ash got up, then panicked in utter horror.
When Ash turned around, Casper didn't see his eyes staring him down; he didn't see anything at all. Because there was nothing there, Ash's head was gone, a headless body moving autonomously.
Casper couldn't believe what he was seeing. He would have thought he was still high from earlier, but he was sober right now. Ash was standing there, towering over Casper. Casper looked to see where the helmet he'd seen earlier was. That wasn't a helmet; it was Ash's detached head.
Casper puked when he saw the head on the ground; this was more than he was used to. Casper looked again; the head changed, morphing into a pumpkin right before his eyes. Casper looked to see Ash still walking his way. He didn't have a head anymore; a black mass of smoke used to do Phantom Stride formed a smooth, featureless head with only white, glowing eyes. Casper threw weak gusts of wind at Ash, but all it did was break up the smoke and reformed into a head again.
"Stay back, stay back, you freak. I'll leave you alone. I'll never bother you again. I'll turn myself in for the horse. Just let me go, take me in."
"Aaaaargh!" Ash roared as he slammed the hatchet deep into the collarbone of Casper, who choked on the blood gushing out of his mouth. The headless Ash spoke, his voice distorted and demonic. "Humans repent in prison. Monsters....GO TO HELL!!!" Ash pulled the hatchet out, and he then violently hacked at the neck of Casper.
He wouldn't stop; the memories of Casper tormenting him replayed in his soul with the pain of attending the funerals and morgue visits to the hospitals of his dead family. The howling of his voice filled the empty halls, letting out the rage he had held in his whole life.
After chopping through the meat and bone of Casper's neck, it hung by the skin, keeping it from falling completely off. Ash stopped hacking. He grabbed the head by its hair, using his bare strength to rip the head off as he screamed in victory.
As Ash held the dismembered bloody head, he heard the voice of the system call out.
{Congratulations. You have taken the first step in embracing your inheritance of the system. Information unlocked. Reintroducing the system name to the user. Welcome, Abraham 'Ash' Van Raven. Welcome to the Horseman System.}