Here's Chapter 7! I hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer: Beelzebub belongs to Ryuuhei Tamura, not me.

Chapter 7- Headquarters

When I arrive at the Headquarters, it's evening. I look at the building in surprise. It's a large castle with gothic architecture and various entrances. Hecadoth sees my look of surprise and chuckles.

"Like it?" he asks. "Yeah, it's pretty impressive, but not as grand as the castle of the Great Demon Lord. Come on." He heads towards the castle and I follow him.

"Training will start tomorrow early morning," Hecadoth says. "After breakfast, we'll go to one of the training rooms to start. Training will end when I say so."

I nod. "Okay," I say.

We eventually stop at a fairly large living quarter. In the room is a fairly big bed and a connecting bathroom. "These are the guest quarters," Hecadoth tells me. "If you need anything, then the Pillar General quarters are on the second floor, the Pillar Baron quarters are on the third floor, and both Behemoth's and Jabberwock's quarters are on the top floor." He then hands me a bundle of clothing, which is a black sleeveless top and some cargo pants with black fingerless gloves.

"These are your training clothes," he tells me. "Now get some rest," Hecadoth says. "You'll need it."

"Yes," I say. "Good night."

"Night," Hecadoth responds, leaving the room.

"Oi, Tanaka. Wake up." I slowly open my eyes and see Hecadoth standing over my bed. However, instead of his usual uniform, he's wearing a black sleeveless muscle shirt and cargo pants.

"It's time for training," he tells me as I slowly get out of bed. "Get up and get dressed, and then we'll go for breakfast." He exits the room, closing the door behind him.

As I put my top on, I realize that the top exposes my midriff and hugs my chest area. Then again, tighter clothing is best for training. I tie my hair into a ponytail, so that it doesn't get in my way during training today.

Upon arriving at the mess hall, I sit down at a table where Hecadoth is sitting at. Breakfast is uneventful for the most part. Although, I must say, the food isn't so bad.

"You know, it's kind of empty here," I comment.

"Well, some members are on missions and others are defending the Great Demon Lord's castle," Hecadoth says. "Anyways, we should get started now. Hurry up."

Once we finish breakfast, I follow Hecadoth to the training room. On the way to the training room, I decide to ask him a question that's been bothering me. "Hey, Hecadoth?" I ask. "You seem to have some sort of grudge against the Kagirinai Kumori. What's your history with them like?"

He stiffens up a bit. "I'll tell you some other time," he replies curtly. "Stay focused."

We finally reach the training room. "Okay, Tanaka," he begins. "To start off, you need to learn how to be calm. You need to learn how to relax and concentrate. Only then, it'll be easier to control your powers. Right now, your powers are being unleashed only when you're angry. Suppressing your powers and only unleashing them when angry is extremely lethal, for both your victim, and yourself."

I stare in surprise. "Myself? How?"

"Your powers will drain you of your energy when you unleash them all at once, and you'll die if it becomes too much," Hecadoth tells me. "However, if you unleash your powers in a controlled manner, with complete control of your emotions, then you'll be able to fight effectively."

I nod. "So, what are we going to do?" I ask.

"We're going to start off with some martial arts. I assume you know at least the basics, right Tanaka?" he asks.

"Yeah," I say. "I know past the basics."

"That's even better," he replies. "How about we see what you have? Prepare yourself."

Right then, without warning, Hecadoth lunges at me, giving me no time to react. "Whoa!" I yelp, narrowly avoiding a fist to the side of my head. "What the-?!" I do a quick roll out of his way before getting into a front stance, holding my hands up in a defensive block. I then deliver a kick at him, which he blocks effectively. In fact, he blocks most of my attacks very well, and I'm on the receiving end of his attacks.

Damn… I'd never underestimate a Pillar General, but this guy's crazy strong! I think to myself. Then again, Hecadoth would've probably gone through a lot of training to get to where he is right now, especially if he's a member of the 34 Pillar Division. By the end of the sparring session, I'm worn out and extremely exhausted. I bend down slightly, trying to catch my breath, when Hecadoth comes up to me.

"You have some pretty good skills," he tells me. "However, it seems like you need to work more on them. Now get up."

I slowly get up, wiping away some sweat on my forehead. Hecadoth turns to me. "Allow me to tell you what I noticed when you fight."

I nod. "What did you notice?"

"When you were fighting, I noticed that your movements were very graceful and smooth, not just rough. That's not a bad thing, but I could also see that you were rather stiff and tense in your movements as well. You need to be more relaxed and flowing in your movements, otherwise your attacks won't be strong enough or well-delivered. Grace and smoothness won't help if your movements are tense and choppy." He finishes explaining.

"Can you teach me?" I ask.

"Of course," he replies.

Hecadoth then starts to teach me how to do a correct stance, and how to keep my body relaxed. However, because of my ballet lessons, I have a habit of becoming stiff and rigid in my movements and in my posture, which is something that frustrates Hecadoth. "Why are your movements so stiff, Tanaka? I keep telling you to loosen your muscles," he tells me.

"Sorry, it's a habit," I say, smiling apologetically. "I used to do a form of dancing that requires strength in the legs, so I often kept my muscles rigid."

"There's a difference between strength and rigidness in muscles, Tanaka," Hecadoth explains. "If you're too tense when fighting, you'll injure yourself. Now, let's try again."

After a while, I loosen up and take a proper stance. Hecadoth then starts to teach me how to deliver my kicks properly, and during his teaching, I can't help but notice something. The way he's been taught is very different from the way I've been taught. Then again, he's a Pillar General, so he would've definitely gone through some intense training.

By the time I get to take a short break, my clothes are practically drenched in sweat and my body is aching all over. Hecadoth approaches me, but he's not alone. Standing next to him is a taller female demon with pink hair, green eyes, fin ears, and a Pillar Baron uniform. This demon looks a lot like Lamia, or a more older version of her.

"Tanaka, this is Pillar Baron Laymia," he introduces. "I informed her about our training, and she wishes to have a talk to you."

I look at him in disbelief. "I don't need a therapist," I tell him.

"No, it's not that," Laymia says, her voice gentle. "He told me that you're being targeted after you had exposed your powers. I want to know exactly what happened and how it can be improved." She looks at me. "Although, I'd say it's best that you go and clean up before we talk."

"Got that?" Hecadoth asks. "After training, you'll meet her and talk to her."

Sure enough, after training, Hecadoth and I go to meet Laymia, who is in one of the meeting halls. When I enter the room, she gestures for me to sit down next to her. "So, Tanaka-san, Hecadoth told me that you need to control your powers, correct?" she asks.

"Yeah," I say. "I… I had exposed them at my previous school and I was expelled from there as a result."

She nods. "Mind telling me what happened?" she asks.

I look down, my face burning as the memory comes to me. Hecadoth notices this discomfort. "Is it too sensitive to talk about?" he asks.

I nod slowly. "Kind of," I say. "Please, don't tell anyone about this?"

"Of course," Laymia agrees. Hecadoth nods in agreement as well.

I sigh. "It was just a normal day at first. School had ended for the day and I was walking outside with my friends. Then, I saw one of my classmates being beaten up by a group of mean girls who were wrongly accusing her of something she didn't do. I got annoyed and angered so I stepped in and defended the girl. I then scolded the mean girls afterwards."

"How come?"

A wry laugh escapes me. "I have a tendency to give a harsh scolding to people who are being stupid. My dad does the same as well. He was friends with delinquents and he now works as a cop, so he's seen his share of people who are acting up and he knows how the mind of a delinquent works," I reply. And it's true. "He also has very little patience for idiots acting like they're the best things in the world."

Laymia nods. "What happened after that?"

I frown. "Then, the ringleader made a snarky comment about my mom, and they know that I absolutely hate it when people mock my dead mom. When they made more cruel comments about my mom, I yelled at them even more for being trashy and insensitive and I told them to smarten up and swallow their pride. The ringleader then slapped me across the face and they kicked me to the ground before telling me to go back to Japan and tearing up a photo of my mother."

"What did you feel when they tore up that photo?" Laymia asks me.

"I snapped," I recall. "Sure, those girls were really petty and I never tolerated their nonsense. But when they tore up my mom's photo, that was the final straw. I suddenly felt this… pure rage take over me. I don't know what it was, but… I wasn't me anymore. I had beaten up those girls in front of all the students, and I even inflicted some of the same torture they had inflicted on me."

"Like what?"

I shake my head, feeling guilty about it. "I don't want to remember," I tell her.

"I see," she muses. "The rage that you felt was your inner demon. Because you are a Konketsuji, your powers come out when you're feeling a strong emotion and it's usually unadulterated anger that triggers it. However, there have been instances when demonic powers have been triggered by excitement, extreme melancholy and grief, pure joy, or terror."

Right then, I remember something. "Laymia-san, Hecadoth said that unleashing them like that is deadly. Is that true?" I ask.

She nods. "Unfortunately, yes," she replies. "When you unleash powers uncontrollably, especially when you're enraged and on a regular basis, the demonic energy poisons you. And because you're part human, your body won't be able to withstand the poisoning, so it will crumble from the inside. It's truly a horrible way to go."

My eyes widen in shock. That sounds awful! However, that incident was the only time I actually unleashed my powers, so I guess it's not too bad. Even then, I must control these powers if I don't want to die.

"Tomorrow, we'll try out using weapons," Hecadoth tells me. "How skilled are you with weapons?"

"The only weapon I have is a steel baton for self-defense," I confess. "I also know a bit of tessenjutsu, which is a martial arts involving the use of steel fans, but I haven't done that in a long time."

"I see," Hecadoth says. "Well, we'll see what we can do tomorrow. Now go get some rest."