Thirst Logic

"Thirst Logic" is the twenty-sixth chapter of the Seraph of the End: Vampire Reign manga series, written by Takaya Kagami and illustrated by Yamato Yamamoto.

Short Summary
Guren's three-member team easily defeats the entirety of Shinoa's squad. After the match, Guren tells the onlooking soldiers that three of them bear black demon weapons, and they are all 16 years old. They discuss what went wrong.

The squads commence their operation and head to Nagoya.

Mika, Lacus, and Rene gather humans to offer to the Nagoya nobles. Lacus accidentally kills a child while drinking her blood, and Mika refuses to drink. Krul's blood is no longer effective, and he attacks a human child before regaining control and letting her go. The chopper carries the human livestock away, and the three vampires head to Nagoya.

Long Summary
Narumi's squad watches as Shinoa's squad battle Guren, Mito, and Shinya. Yu holds his own against Guren, impressing the other soldiers. Guren attaches an explosion charm to Yu's head, and Shinoa makes to disenchant it. Mito stands on her scythe, disabling her movements. Yu charges Guren, and Shinya fires Byakkomaru at him. Guren takes the opening to slip past Yu and breach their lines. He tells Shinoa's squad that it is over, and all their friends are dead. He knocks out Mitsuba with his hand, and Shinoa frees her scythe to swing at Guren.

Guren scolds her. He says a squad leader should never face off against an opponent the leader cannot defeat. He knocks her scythe out of her hand, pointing his sword at her face.

He scolds Yoichi and Kimizuki for being too slow. He could have killed Shinoa with his first strike, and Mitsuba was already incapacitated. Since they lost their commander, the squad was already done for.

Guren asks them about their pathetic performance.

He introduces them to the other soldiers as 16-year-old rookies and states that three of them bear black demon weapons. Although impressed by the weaponry, the other soldiers complain that the rookies will be useless if they cannot work together. Narumi is ticked off that Yu lied to him about being twenty.

The combatants evaluate their performance. When Shinya used his special technique to shoot from behind, he turned Kimizuki and Yoichi's attention to their backs. Mito tells Shinoa she was utterly incompetent as a squad leader and says she should have withdrawn as soon as the formation broke.

Yu attempts to pick another fight with Narumi, and Mitsuba bashes him over the head. Shinoa apologizes for him. Shinoa's squad agrees that they desperately need to work on their teamwork, and the operation commences. The squads mobilize and head to Nagoya.

Elsewhere, Mika, Lacus, and Rene collect free human children living on the surface to send to Nagoya as a present for the Nagoya nobles. Lacus pins down a girl and samples her blood, accidentally killing her. He says nothing beats drinking human blood from the source, and it makes him feel so good that he forgets to stop before the the human dies. He says that one human does not matter, and he asks Mika if he will drink any since city guards like them only have the opportunity to drink from the source while they are outside. Mika claims he does not need any, and Lacus comments that he has a small appetite. Rene says it is fine as long as Mika just does his job.

Lacus talks to Mika again, warning him that they not be free to drink in Nagoya. Different nobles have different laws for their domains. Mika insists he has no interest in human blood, which Lacus cannot believe.

Mika craves blood so much that he is in great pain. He drinks a vial of Krul's vampire blood, dropping the vial. Her blood no longer has any effect on his need for human blood. He attacks a young girl, stopping just short of biting her. Another vampire tells him to hurry up, so they can deliver their quota to Nagoya. He releases her, and she runs to her brother. Mika insists once more that he does not need any blood, and the chopper leaves. The three city guards head to Nagoya.

Trivia

 * Keigo Atobe from "The Prince of Tennis" has a cameo appearance in this chapter.