Chapter 26: The Strongest

Chapter 26:

"___" - Speech

(___) - Thoughts

{___} - Internal Voice(s)

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"Why am I back here?" Jin queried, eyeing up the Gremory household with a tinge of discontent in his voice. 

"The Gremory's have been kind enough to offer up their training grounds for use, and since they've yet to decommission the room they prepared for you, I thought it convenient." 

"Couldn't we have used Grigori's training grounds instead?" 

"We could've." He replied as a faint smile crept up his face. 

"But?" 

"But, even though you didn't technically do anything wrong last time you were here, I couldn't help but feel that things were still rocky between you and the Gremory's. Am I wrong?" 

Jin groaned as he found that Azazel had his signature look of stubbornness on his face. "Not exactly." 

"Moreover, I don't want Raon to have to spend another minute in Grigori for a while, the Gremory's have plenty of open space and woodlands for the two of you to explore." 

"Halfling, what is he talking about?" Raon's face hovered right in front of Jin's as the latter tried to avert his meaty breath. 

"I'm going to be training for the time-being, and we'll be using this place as our residence. So try not to eat anyone once we're inside alright?" 

"Hmph, as long as they know their place." Jin groaned as he withheld the urge to facepalm. 

"Jin." Azazel called sternly. "You remember what you need to achieve during these 20 days, correct?" 

"Of course, and even though I think it's complete bogus I'll try nonetheless." 

"You'll manage, trust me. Also you aren't the only one who I've given that assignment to." The front door of the Gremory household opened up as the entirety of Rias Gremory's peerage walked through. 

"I see, they're quite flush with Sacred Gear users. You think they'll be able to achieve it as well?" 

"Time will tell, for now just worry about yourself." 

It didn't take long for Jin to become an attention magnet as each of them became awestriken by the curious little creature perched on his shoulders. Issei in particular found it especially hard to shift his attention elsewhere. 

"Jin? What are you doing here?" He questioned. 

"Training, the same as you." Obviously, Jin picked up on the stares Raon was receiving. Slightly unnerved by the amount of attention headed his way, Raon hid his head behind Jin's neck. "If you somehow haven't already figured it out, this little guy is a Dragon I picked up at Grigori." He announced. 

"A…Dragon?" Issei repeated. 

"Mhm." Jin affirmed, resulting in the rest of the peerage approaching Raon with sparkles in their eyes. "You might want to keep your distance though, he's not really the sociable type." Feeling somewhat claustrophobic under their gazes, Raon flared his teeth at them as sparks conducted around his body. 

"Indeed, though small a Dragon is still a Dragon at the end of the day." A voice boomed, the sound of gargantuan-sized wings flapping in the distance caught everyone by surprise as a large creature descended upon them. "Azazel, I see you've placed him under the care of the young Silver. For once I actually commend your decision." 

"It's you!" Raon roared, albeit still hesitant to bear his fangs at a former Dragon King. 

"It looks like you still remember me hatchling." Tannin's voice returned to its original draconic state leaving most in the crowd confused, save for three individuals, four if you included Ddraig. "I understand that there is likely much you wish to ask me, but I'm afraid now is not the time." 

"You're the one who threw me out, I at least deserve to know why." The fact that Raon refused to take up his usual haughty attitude with Tannin spoke volumes to Jin. "Why didn't you just take me back to my parents?" Tannin's eyelids shut momentarily as he almost turned his head from the young Dragon. 

"As I said, now is not the time. But should we meet again, you have my word that I will tell you all I know. For now there is another Dragon I must attend to." The Meteor Dragon's claw reached out to Issei as he swiftly picked him up by the collar of his shirt. "Even for me the chance to train Ddraig's host is rather surreal." 

"Eh?" Sweat condensed around Issei's palm as in but a mere moment, he had been suspended hundreds of feet in the air by the towering beast. "B-Buchou! Help me!" 

"Issei." Rias called. 

"Yes?" 

"Pull it together!" With tears running down his face, Issei was carried off into the distance by the former Dragon King. 

(I don't envy him.) 

"As long as he stays alive he's bound to get results." Azazel commented eerily. "Now then, it's about time for you to meet your mentor at long last. I imagine the two of you will get along quite nicely." 

"That's not very reassuring coming from you of all people."

------------

Impressive, that was the only word Jin could find to describe the Gremory's training facility. The fact that there was enough space for an entire football stadium aside, the amount of machinery and contraptions present were enough for it to qualify as a "super-gym". 

"A little overboard don't you think?" Jin inquired. 

"Trust me, you'll need it." Something about the way the Governor said it made it appear rather ominous, but in all fairness the same applied to everything that came out of his mouth. 

"So, where is this mentor of mine?" 

"Right here."

"JESUS CHRIST." Jin almost jumped out of his skin as a voice snuck up on him out of nowhere. Even Roan's eyes were wide-open as he stared at the figure with shock. 

Jin turned around as he took in the sight of a handsome young man with spiky onyx hair and violet eyes, he sported a both tall and extremely muscular build likely built over the course of elongated, rigorous training. 

(Woah, that frame would put even Arnold to shame.) 

"Haha, sorry about that, I didn't mean to scare you. I'm Sairaorg, nice to meet you." He offered his hand as Jin responded in kind. "I see you have quite the interesting fellow by your side." 

"Uh, yeah. This here is Raon, and I'm Jin but I'm guessing he already told you that." 

"The Governor has told me quite a bit about you, I must say that I look forward to having you as my student." He smiled. 

(We're basically the same height but I feel like a complete pipsqueak in front of him, I wonder if I'll ever be able to get that built?) 

"Likewise." Jin replied. 

"Sairaorg, I suppose you two will be just fine on your own?" 

"Of course Governor, but I hope you'll keep your word in exchange for this favor?" 

"Naturally. Oron's probably waiting for me so I best head off, good luck!" In the blink of an eye, Azazel vanished in order to rain torment upon his assistant's assistant. 

(Let's hope Oron's still sane after Azazel's done with him.) 

"I don't know the specifics, but I'm led to believe that during your time as a human you practiced some sort of martial art?" 

"If you know that much, then I'm pretty sure Azazel's let you in on the specifics." Sairaorg shrugged innocently as Jin's brow furrowed. "But you are correct, I took boxing classes for a few years." 

"Took? Why'd you stop?" 

"Well, a few responsibilities fell onto my shoulders without warning, and before I knew it my days had become simply too occupied to continue. It's not as if I stopped completely, but the frequency of which I trained took a pretty hefty hit." 

"And now you have even more responsibilities on top of that, must be stressful." The Bael spared a quick glance to the Dragon staring at him from atop Jin's frame.

"Such is life." He groaned. 

"I'll be honest, I'm no miracle-worker, and honestly I'm not sure why the Governor believes me to be a better fit as your mentor than him, but I hope at the very least I'll be able to give you a few tools here and there to help you later on down the road." 

"I appreciate it, but you are aware of what Azazel wants me to achieve during this camp right?" Sairaorg dipped his head in understanding as he shot a look of pity Jin's way. "Thought so."

"[Balance Breaker], believe me I share your sentiment. Though I don't think it's impossible, it won't be easy by any stretch of the imagination. However, there is a shred of good news regarding your chances." Jin's face lit up ever so slightly as he tilted his head. 

"From what he's told me, you had some sort of device that allowed you to enter that state the first time around. The thing about [Balance Breaker] is, the first time is always the hardest. Once you conquer that hurdle, your odds improve drastically." The revelation brought a hint of relief to his pessimistic mind. 

"You seem to be pretty knowledgeable on the subject, do you have a Sacred Gear of your own by any chance?" At first glance Jin was confident Sairaorg was a full fledged Devil, but with the [Evil Pieces] existing he thought it possible for him to be wrong.

"It's rather complicated, but for simplicity sake let's say I do." 

(Strange, but alright.) 

"Oh, I don't really get it but the Governor told me to relay a message to you. 'You are forbidden from using your other half throughout the duration of our training', not really sure what that's supposed to mean but he said you'd understand." Jin scoffed as Azazel's intent was clear as day to him. 

(Damn, I guess he really did plan this out. Oh well, orders are orders.) 

"Got it." He affirmed. 

"Great, I'd love to get to know you better and all, but we're on a time constraint here so I think it's best we just get straight to it." Sairaorg performed a few warm-up stretches before assuming a battle stance. "Spar me." 

"Sure." 

"Raon, would you mind sitting over there whilst we train?" 

"Interesting, is that how Dragons communicate?" 

"The ones that don't know how to talk like us, yes."

"Don't take too long, I have deemed your shoulders an important commodity." 

(Something's off, I'm unable to sense his aura, and I doubt Azazel would have me train with a complete weakling. I could take a peak with Adaloth's help, but that would defeat the point.) 

"And by the way, sorry in advance." Before Jin had the opportunity to question him, Sairaorg flickered right in front of him in an instant, delivering a thunderous blow to his gut as Jin felt his ribs crack under the Bael's might. "But if I hold back, there's no way you'll ever become first-rate let alone achieve [Balance Breaker]." 

Still experiencing the aftershock of Sairaorg's fist, Jin stumbled backwards as he tried to force the air to return to his lungs, already scraping for breath after only one attack. 

(What just happened? It feels like I just got hit by a wrecking ball.) 

"It hurts doesn't it? That's because your body is weak, though I can tell it has a lot of potential you've yet to draw out any of it. Normally I'd use conditioning to temper your muscles, but again, we don't have time for that." Jin's instincts led him to summon [Twice Critical], but before he could even double-up a ruthless kick connected with his chin, almost knocking him out on the spot. "Get up, you can't afford to falter already." 

(Azazel, just what kind of monster have you paired me up with.)