Though he was still alive. Barely unconscious, but still breathing.
"Hahahahahahahahahah!"
Sebastian's laughter erupted, a maniacal cascade that echoed through the alley, unhinged and wild, like a scream unleashed from the very depths of a fractured mind.
It was a sound that chilled to the bone, the mirth of someone teetering on the brink of sanity.
His eyes sparkled with a crazed light, turning his laughter into a chilling testament to his madness, a symphony conducted by a conductor mad with power.
"Now, let's end the job, shall we?" It was at that moment that Sebastian took a knife from his pocket.
It was small, easily concealable. He then approached the almost unconscious young man and slashed his throat.
"4."
Blood dripped from the wound like a fountain, staining the alley's ground with a crimson hue as vivid as a sunset lighting the night sky.
The flow was relentless, a river of life ebbing away, whispering secrets of pain and desperation into the cold, indifferent stones beneath.
As Sebastian stood over the scene, he appeared like an artist before a macabre canvas, his work illuminated by the sinister glow of of the moon up in the sky.
Just then, Sebastian's ears caught something. It was neither a sound nor a smell.
It was a unique presence, that, though, Sebastian was familiar with.
"That's mana!"
Derrick had mana.
"But how is it possible? He shouldn't have turned into a Thespian, at least not when I did. How could he possess mana?"
In a move that would have been inconceivable to any, Sebastian shed his clothes with a sense of urgency, unveiling a demeanor as cold and calculated as the steel of his knife.
With precision that spoke of years honed in the unforgiving realms of Somnium, he sliced open the man's chest, an act as ritualistic as it was ruthless.
His eyes, sharp and searching, delved into the caverns of the body before him, seeking the mana cluster with the expertise of a seasoned hunter.
Yet, what he found—or rather, didn't find—left him confused. The expected mana cluster was missing.
No glowing orb of energy, no pulsating source of magic. The cavity was barren of the one thing he was certain to find.
"What is the meaning of this?" Sebastian's voice cut through the silence, laced with confusion and frustration.
The enigma deepened with the realization that Derrick, a man devoid of a mana cluster, a non-Thespian who had never undergone the awakening, was exuding mana.
How could mana be seeping from the body of an Auditor?
This anomaly challenged everything Sebastian knew about Thespians' and mana's nature.
Derrick's very existence, his body's inexplicable behavior, posed a question that defied logical explanation.
However, he realized something. Thespian hunted for Mana Clusters, as that was the only way they knew to gather it. But what if that wasn't true? What if there were other ways to do so?
What if everyone had mana, or what if it was in the very air itself? What if the Thespians simply didn't have the means to get it?
"This requires investigation."
However, a sound jolted him out of his reverie. One of the two goons started waking up.
"Fuck…" Sebastian didn't fear the two. He had already decided what to do with them a long time ago.
The problem lay elsewhere. "I don't have any numbers to count!"
He made a long sigh.
"Never mind, I'll just start all over." He grinned.
…
…
…
Sebastian left the alley, leaving behind the charred remains of three bodies.
The inferno he unleashed had rendered their faces beyond recognition, erasing any immediate concern about their identities being discovered soon.
Now back in the solitude of his home, Sebastian found himself deep in contemplation.
As he had extinguished the lives of Derrick's friends and goons, an unmistakable release of mana had occurred, just as it had with Derrick.
This discovery was both confusing and important and it suggested a truth he hadn't considered before.
Mana nested within everyone, at least in theory, not just within Thespians.
The implications of this discovery were vast, challenging the established understanding of mana and its origins.
Sebastian sat in the dim light of his room, the shadows casting long, thoughtful lines across his face.
The realization that every individual might harbor mana, however latent or hidden, opened up a myriad of possibilities and questions.
This prompted Sebastian to start questioning and conducting inquiries. It was a revelation that redefined his very understanding of power and opened for a chance for him to grow stronger without entering Somnium.
Sebastian thought it was only he that possessed mana, a perk of his father's pendant. However, that turned out to be false, as those three individuals also possessed it.
If this unexpected discovery held true, Sebastian found himself on the cusp of a groundbreaking way to gain mana—through the act of taking lives.
The dilemma, however, lay in the method needed to get that mana.
The system had a strict requirement stating that mana could only be gained through the absorption of mana clusters, leaving seemingly no space for this new and unexplored approach.
The truth was, Sebastian sensed a faint trace of mana in the air. It was so subtle and ephemeral that he doubted his own perception.
Was it merely his imagination, a trick of his mind fueled by expectation?
According to everything he knew, this faint sensation of mana shouldn't have been possible.
Yet, there it was, undeniable, altering the fabric of his understanding.
This revelation shifted the ground beneath him, challenging the foundations of his knowledge and opening up a realm of possibilities that no one had never considered before.