Here's Chapter 10! Hope you enjoy!

Note: I've changed the reason for Hecadoth's grudge against Azazel. Instead of it being the death of his father, I've changed it to how Laymia was nearly killed by Azazel. Hecadoth has a grudge because Laymia was his mentor and is like family to him. I've changed that in Chapter 4 as well.

Disclaimer: Beelzebub belongs to Ryuuhei Tamura, not me.

Chapter 10- Intruders

"Tanaka," Hecadoth asks when we take a short break in the arena. "What kind of demon did Azazel say your mother was again?"

I think for a moment. "A Demon Maidservant," I reply.

Hecadoth frowns slightly. "No wonder," he muses. "Demon Maidservants are seen as ideal brides and wives. Your mother, Elsa, was clearly sought after as a bride for many demons. However, when she fell in love with your father, who was her contract holder, it seemed to have caused a large scandal in the Demon World."

"Why do you want to know this?" I ask.

"I'm trying to make sense of the situation," he tells me. "To see why exactly they're targeting you." He wipes his forehead with his hand. "But despite this scandal, Elsa moved into the Human World and remained there for a few years. During that time, she married her contract holder and had you. However, four years later, she was probably called back to the Demon World as a trap."

"So then, what's this got to do with me?" I ask.

Hecadoth opens his mouth to answer but then he suddenly stiffens up. Right then, his spear appears in his hands. "H-Hecadoth?" I ask. Right then, I hear the sound of an alarm going off.

"Someone's entered here," he says. "Stay on your guard."

I nod, moving closer to him as the alarm continues ringing. Suddenly, I'm pushed down to the ground. "Get down!" Hecadoth shouts as he gets down as well. I look up just in time to see two streams of demonic energy shoot above us.

Right then, the energy materializes into two figures in front of us. There's one male and one female. The male has long brown hair, cruel onyx eyes, and he wears a dark green tunic with black pants, brown boots, and a deep green cape. The female has long curly black hair, malicious gray eyes, and she wears a skin-tight blue jumpsuit with a black cape.

The woman grins. "I was right," she declares. "The Konketsuji really is here."

"Not only that, but the Pillar General!" the man exclaims, sneering cruelly. "Our lucky day."

"Who are they?" I ask, my heart beating faster.

"This is Samael and Lavinia," Hecadoth says, glaring at the two. "They're brother and sister, and both are members of the Kagirinai Kumori."

"That's right!" Lavinia says haughtily. "After Azazel's failure in killing the girl, we were sent out to find you. And look here. Looks like you're too worn out to even put up a proper fight. This makes killing you easier."

I glare at them. "So you plan on killing us without even letting us put up a fight?" I ask.

What're we going to do? I think helplessly to myself. I look at Hecadoth and he has a look of determination on his face.

Right then, Samael unsheathes his sword and lunges at us. However, we never feel the pain. I slowly open my eyes and I see a tall male demon with black hair, fin ears, and the Pillar General uniform, as well as a shorter blue-haired male demon standing in front of us with the fin ears, wearing the Pillar Baron uniform, and a ball of demonic energy in front of his palms.

"Graphel! Naga!" Hecadoth exclaims in surprise.

"Getting past our defenses, huh?" Naga muses coldly. "Let's take them on together."

Right then, Samael and Lavinia immediately attack us. Suddenly, as if on instinct, I deliver a roundhouse kick at Lavinia before striking her in the jaw. Unfortunately, she suddenly grabs my arms, nearly crushing my wrists with her tight grip. However, I quickly bite her hands and knee her in the gut while she's distracted. She recovers quickly and lunges at me, snarling in anger. I quickly roll over to the side and trip her with my leg, causing her to fall to the ground.

While Naga and Graphel continue to fight her, I go and help out Hecadoth, who's losing against Samael. Right then, I distract him by throwing a stone at him. Hecadoth uses the distraction to his advantage by delivering a roundhouse kick, knocking him down to the ground. Knowing that defeating us is pointless, they quickly start to materialize into demonic energy.

"This isn't the end, Konketsuji," Lavinia snarls at me as she and her brother materialize into demonic energy. "Mark my words!"

They disappear right then, and Hecadoth and Naga look around the arena. "We're going to have to increase the security," Naga says.

"But it's a good thing that the alarms have been modified to detect hostile energy," Graphel muses.

"Yes," Naga agrees. "But training will have to be increased, Hecadoth."

"I know," Hecadoth says.

"We'll report this to Laymia for now," Naga says as he and Graphel leave the arena.

At dinner tonight, Hecadoth and I eat in a comfortable silence. Hecadoth is the first one to break it, however. "You're improving," he tells me. "I saw when you were fighting against Lavinia."

"Really?" I ask, surprised.

He nods. "You're becoming a lot stronger," he says. "I think we can get to controlling demonic energy tomorrow. So get some rest, okay?"

I nod. Right then, I ask him something that has been bothering me for a while now. "Hecadoth, did something happen between you and the Kagirinai Kumori?" I ask.

Hecadoth looks down reluctantly, clearly hesitant to tell me. However, he concedes. "Well, it was two years ago," he starts. "The Kagirinai Kumori had attacked us just as we had finished up our training." A frown crosses his face. "They took advantage of the fact that we had just finished training to attack us, since we were rather exhausted."

I nod slowly as he continues. "I especially have a grudge against Azazel because he had tried to kill Laymia. She had been my mentor when I had joined the Pillar Division and she's like family to me now. He tried to kill her, but I took the stab meant for her. As a result, I was promoted to Pillar General." He glares at the table. "Since I healed from that stab, I always swore that I would bring down Azazel one day."

"I see," I muse. Right then, he gets up.

"Well, it's been a long day today and it'll be a long day tomorrow, so you should go to bed, Tanaka," he tells me.

I nod. "Yumi," I suddenly murmur to myself.

He looks at me. "Did you say something?"

I give him a warm smile. "From now on, Hecadoth, you can call me Yumi," I tell him.

He returns the smile. "Sure thing… Yumi."