The Demon's Nightmare

The Demon's Nightmare is the twentieth chapter of the manga series, Owari no Seraph.

Short Summary
Shinoa's squad watches over Yu, and Shinoa explains that Yu is talking to his demon. The unconscious Yu begins shaking, and Kimizuki takes care of some nearby horsemen.

Yu meets with Asuramaru, who is high from his blood. Asuramaru explains that all vampires become demons in the end. He explains how to loosen the curse in order to gain more power with an increasing risk of Asuramaru taking over. They fight, and Asuramaru fills Yu with illusions of his Hyakuya orphanage family and his biological family. Yu regains control by thinking of Mika. Yu stops fighting and coaxes Asuramaru to join him. He says he will love him, and eventually Asuramaru gives in.

Long Summary
Shinoa's squad surrounds a campfire while they watch Yu. Since the night is chilly, Kimizuki covers Yu with his jacket. Shinoa and Mitsuba tease him about it.

It has been longer than the anticipated 20 hours. Shinoa explains that he is talking with his demon inside of his heart. By establishing a bond, the human will loosen the curse constraining the demon and may access more of the demon's power. Yu's body suddenly starts shaking, indicating that he made a serious connection with his demon.

Horsemen arrive, and Kimizuki goes to intercept them. The remaining three soldiers guard Yu and hold him down.

Asuramaru breathes heavily, giggles, and blushes as he savors Yu's blood. Asuramaru begs for more and explains that all vampires turn into demons in the end. When Asuramaru attacks Yu to possess and defile him, chains from the curse immobilize him. Although the binding is not painful, it holds Asuramaru prisoner.

Asuramaru explains how to increase Yu's power. The first step is to let demon drink the human's blood in order to loosen the strength of the curse. The second step is for the demon to explain what is going on, which will then remove the chains. He says humans developed these things and delve into forbidden arts. He laughs that the despicable humans even keep Yu's memories of being a monster from him, but Asuramaru will give no information about it since it does not concern him. The demon and human fight. Every blow saps the mental strength of the other. Once the human no longer has enough willpower, the demon takes over. The chance to take over the body is the only reason the demons cooperate at all. In order to win, the human must slice the demon into submission.

Since he has explained the rules, the chains break free, and Asuramaru attacks. Before Yu has any opportunity to counterattack, Asuramaru unleashes a nightmare on Yu. Images of his dead Hyakuya family flood his mind while Mika and Akane blame him for everything that happened.

Yu breaks free for a moment when Asuramaru sinks his fangs into Yu's neck, digging into his deepest buried memories.

A very young Yu stands in a room surrounded by spilled pens and papers and overturned furniture. He is younger than he was when he was sent to the orphanage. He looks at his parents. His mother is sitting on the ground in the kitchen, facing away from him. His father stands necks to her, calling human demon spawn and saying that they must kill the seraph of the end or else the world will be ruined. Yu's father says killing Yu is for the greater good, and he chases Yu with a large knife. Illusions of a 12-year-old Mika and Akane blame Yu for turning Mika into a vampire, and they say Yu should have died there. Yu's father stabs him from behind.

Yu says Mika will not lose over something like that. He recalls that Mika was the first person who ever said he needed Yu, and Yu uses the strength of those feelings to return to his fight against Asuramaru.

Yu refuses to cut Asuramaru with his blade since he would also have those awful nightmares. Yu claims he does not hurt his friends and asks Asuramaru to help him rescue Mika. In exchange for helping him, Yu says he will be Asuramaru's friend and says that not being loved by anyone sucks After a moment, Asuramaru agrees.

Yu wakes up, much to his team's relief.