The next morning, Chris woke up and heard several people just outside of his tent talking. He sits up in his cot, stretches, slips his feet into a pair of sandals and heads out to see who was talking. It was early morning and the sun was just starting to come up over the horizon. Man, what a sight! It's beautiful out here in the mornings! Chris thought to himself. As he steps out, he finds Michael and Azazel talking to one another, "Good morning, Chris! Hope you slept well?" Azazel said.
"Yeah, not too bad. Overheard Issei having some kind of weird ass dream." Chris chuckled.
"Glad to hear you're in higher spirits. I would like to begin training soon this morning, we have a lot to cover and not a lot of time unfortunately." Michael stated ardently.
"Yeah ok. Let me get some stuff together and I'll head with you then?" Chris questions to Michael, who nods back at him.
Chris steps back into the tent and finds Kiba is awake now as well, "You heading out Chris?" Kiba said quietly.
"Yeah man, I guess I'm going to be doing some training with Michael. So I'll be back? I hope…" Chris said unsure of the plans.
"Well, just in case, take care and don't worry about us! We'll be training hard here as well!"
"I will and thank you!"
Chris throws his backpack over his shoulder and heads out to the main encampment area where he finds Rias, Akeno, Michael and Azazel were gathered and talking to Zeoticus. Michael sees Chris approach the group, "Are you ready to head out young man?"
"Sure? Why do I feel like this is not going to be a day trip?" Chris furrowed his brow.
"We are heading to the training grounds where we once trained all the paladins. After speaking to Azazel, we think this might make your paladin spirit more coalescent with your own spirit. However long that takes? Only time will tell. It may behoove you to say your goodbyes, it could be a while before you see anyone else."
"Well, damn… Ok."
Akeno walks up to Chris and wraps her arms around him. She whispers into his ear and puts her hand on the back of his head stroking his hair, "I'm going to miss you, train hard and come back to us, ok?" He wraps an arm around her lower back and nods, "I will." As she pulls away she kisses his cheek. He smiles at her and blushes. Rias approaches next and hugs him. "Please train as hard as you can, so that you can come back to us, all of us."
"You got it Rias." Chris raises a clenched fist and smiles at her.
Chris approaches Michael, "Alright big guy, I'm ready. Hey Rias, tell everyone else that I'll see them soon!"
"You got it, Chris! Go kick some ass!" Rias gave Chris a big thumbs up.
Michael smiles and puts a hand on Chris's shoulder as they quickly vanish. In a blink Chris finds himself in an arena that reminded him of the Roman coliseums. He looks around, "Where the hell are we?"
"This is the training arena in a null space, neither heaven nor hell."
"Dude, this world is fucking crazy man."
"Y-yes… well, let's get started shall we?" Michael stated.
"Uhhh… yeah, gotcha."
Chris sees several angels approach with the mutton-chopped guy that was with Odin, with them. They take Chris's backpack off his shoulder, "Are you ready for your training young man?" The mutton-shopped guy looked down at Chris.
"Yes, weren't you with Odin the other day?"
"Chris allow me to introduce the fallen angel, Baraqiel." Michael said.
"That's what it was! Baraqiel! I thought you were norse?"
Baraqiel scoffs and changes his posture, "You thought wrong. Now are you ready to begin training?"
"Y-yeah man, I guess."
"We will leave you to it then." Michael vanished along with the other angels leaving only Baraqiel and Chris in the arena.
"So… what are we training on?" Chris looked around confused.
"Quiet! The power you possess is immense and we will need to start with the basics. Far before the holy wars began, I was an angel and provided training for each of the paladins. You see, before the war, there were… the dragons. God feared the dragons' power and, worse, feared their power partnering with the devils. We spent years honing and developing humans that were battle-hardened warriors each with a particular trait that could act as a vanguard. With five paladins working together, the dragons would have never stood a chance. However, the war broke out and the paladins were needed across many of the front lines. These warriors were still formidable individually, however each fell as the war waged on. One of the paladins, however defected against God and destroyed anything and anyone during the war. He was thus named Oathbreaker. The spirit of these vanguards must have passed on to other recipients that met the same criterion, an unintended consequence of their training."
"Yeah, I remember Michael told us about that. Not in as great a detail though. How did one of the spirits completely transcend time and space to find me in a different world?" Chris looked confusingly at Baraqiel.
"That's not what's important with this training. What is important is that you link with the paladin spirit. By connecting with the paladin spirit, you'll be able to control the power rather than just being a passenger in your own body." Baraqiel said.
"Ok… How do you propose that I do that?" Chris looking annoyed with Baraqiel's answer.
"Meditation."
Chris starts laughing. Baraqiel continues looking at Chris, "I'm not sure why you are laughing. Meditation is a very effective way to understand ones mind and body and connecting those two together."
Chris coughs, "My bad, just tell me where and how. I'll give it a try."
"Follow me," Baraqiel motions to Chris to follow him deeper into the coliseum area. They walk to a heavy, wooden door that opens up to a small chamber with carvings covering the floor. In the center of the chamber was a large circle with a language that Chris did not understand or recognize. Baraqiel lights the torches along the walls, "Sit in the center," he points to the circle. Chris hesitantly sits down, "So... like this?"
"Get comfortable, this could take a while." Baraqiel finds a stool in the corner of the room. Chris crosses his legs and places his hand on top of his knees. He straightens his back and closes his eyes. His breathing is slow and controlled. He peeks an eye open and see Baraqiel still sitting in the stool, "Focus..." Baraqiel barks at Chris.
"Yeah, ok..." Chris says exasperated.
Chris continues to focus for what felt like ages. He begins to hear that voice in his head grow ever louder, chanting. Suddenly, Chris sees what look like memories. They were broken and fragmented, extremely hard to understand. Many of the images were of this place they were in, he can feel... pain, anger, hatred. Different images started flashing by faster and Chris felt as if he was falling. His eyes shoot open and he gasps. As he looked around in a panic, he notices that the letters around the circle were fading, as if they were lit up once before. He looks up at Baraqiel who was standing in front of Chris, "What the hell just happened?"
"It would appear that you were connecting to the paladins' spirit." Baraqiel said astounded.
"Oh man, my head is killing me." Chris rubs his temples.
"It's been a few hours, let's get some food and continue on with other training." Baraqiel motions to Chris to follow him.
Chris gets up and follows Baraqiel to a different room where they find a large spread of food. Chris rushes over to the table and starts grabbing food from the various plates and platters scattered across the large table, "You sure we're not back in Heaven? Cause this food is heavenly!" Chris shoots a quick look over at Baraqiel with food still hanging from his mouth, hoping he could get a laugh from his very serious instructor. Baraqiel slowly turns to look at Chris, "Hmm…" and returns to eating his own food.
"Come on man! That was a solid joke! Give me something…" Chris pleaded with Baraqiel.
"We're not here to have fun and tell jokes, we have a task to do and I intend to complete my task. Do you intend to complete yours?" Baraqiel said very seriously.
"Well yeah, but you've got to enjoy the journey as much as you do the destination, yah know?" Chris said jovially.
"Yes… well, finish eating so that we can work on hand-to-hand combat." Baraqiel said.
"Oh hell yeah! I get to learn some MMA shit! Dope!" Chris raises his fists in the air.
The pair wrap up eating and head out to the arena. Baraqiel walks Chris through various beginning hand-to-hand combat tactics and various submission moves. This interaction continued for several days. Baraqiel taught Chris from sun-up to sun-down everything he used to teach the paladins. He taught Chris how to manipulate his armor to fit the combat situation as well as generate his weapon of choice, in this case, two short swords that Chris was able to swing between standard and reverse grips very easily.
"I must ask, the world you came from, was it a technologically advanced world?" Baraqiel asked.
"Well, I mean we had technology not much different than what you have in this world. I used to play a lot of video games growing up though, why do you ask?" Chris said.
"Your armor is unlike anything I've seen. Certainly not like the armor that I see Michael or Sirzechs wear."
As Chris generated his armor, it was slightly different from before. The plating formed to his body and was flexible, "Yeah I don't know, I'm pretty sure I saw this armor in a game once." Chris shrugs his shoulders.
Baraqiel continues training Chris for a week and after several unsuccessful attempts with connecting with the paladin spirit, Chris grows extremely frustrated, "Gah! What the fuck! Why can't I do this." Chris shouts.
"Calm yourself, you will not be able to focus properly if you don't control your emotions." Baraqiel barked at Chris.
Chris takes another deep breath and makes a second attempt at it. This time felt… different. He found himself in blackness, a deep void of nothingness. He heard the voice growing louder, the same chant over and over as a figure began to form from the darkness. Once the figure came into focus, it spoke, "Rejoice, for you have been chosen!"
"Chosen for what?"
"I was Malek Ballador, the Oathbreaker. Before that, the paladin of redemption. You have been chosen as my successor."
Images of this Malek began to play like a movie in front of Chris. This Malek came from a time that reminded Chris of the medieval times from his world. Images flashed quickly but Chris was able to pick out several that told the story of Malek. He was a soldier with a family. He was killed during a skirmish but was reborn as a paladin. The training these paladins went through was brutal then, Chris feels the anger welling up within as the images continued. Malek was angry for leaving his family, he missed them, "I get it man, you didn't want to die, and you didn't want to be here. You wanted to be with your family."
"Yes, my wife Lilania and I had a son, Liam. My country was at war with another neighboring country over land. I fought for my home and country but was slain on the battlefield. However, rather than go to the afterlife I was reborn as a paladin to fight for God, the real God."
"That's deep man, damn."
"Our bodies, minds, and spirits were honed to become these vanguards. I had accepted my fate… for a time. However, when the war between Heaven and Hell broke out, I did not want to die yet again on another battlefield for a cause that I did not believe in, for leaders that had become disillusioned. We were trained to become dragon slayers only to be treated as common soldiers. I would not and could not accept this fate, so I broke my oath as a paladin and forged my own path to get back to my beloved family."
"Did it work? Were you able to see your family again?"
"I was not. This power was my ultimate downfall. I was killed before I could see my family again. This power we have possessed is intoxicating and immeasurable. Don't let this power keep you from what you love in this world. It's simply a tool, a fact I learned too late in my life."
"But why me?" Chris pleads.
"You were a soldier once, like me. You left behind no family, maybe life is giving you a chance this time? Why not you as the paladin of redemption?"
Chris paused and thought about what Malek said, "I think I get it, man. I will learn from your experience. I have people here that I care about very much and I don't want this power to hurt them. I've brought a lot of pain and suffering to my friends. It needs to stop."
"Now go! Forge your own path and control this power as I could not."
Malek's figure began to fade away as the void began to collapse. Chris was thrust back into the real world where he found Baraqiel shocked at what he had witnessed, "You've done it! You've connected!"
"Yeah, I met the previous paladin, Malek Ballador. What you guys did to those paladins, their training was brutal! What the hell?! Why would God do that?" Chris said becoming agitated.
"These people were selected because of the specific traits they possessed. They were honed and hardened to deal with the dragons." Baraqiel said.
"But you didn't think about them! When you took them from their lives, friends, and family! God used them like tools rather than humans!"
"God was desperate to quell the dragon threat. However, we did not plan on the war..." Baraqiel said somberly.
"Well, I will not let this power, nor this world overwhelm me. Malek did not want this power either, but it ended up controlling him anyways and he paid the ultimate price. I won't suffer that same fate." Chris said seriously, clenching his fists.
Nearly three weeks have passed, and Chris and Baraqiel meet Michael in the center of the arena, "Hello gentlemen, I hope the training was successful?" Michael said.
"Yeah, I'm all plugged in and ready to rock and roll!" Chris said excitedly.
Baraqiel shook his head as the trio was transported back to Issei's house. When they arrived, it appeared as though no one was home. Chris looked around and couldn't find anyone, "It's really quiet. I figured I'd hear the girls arguing over Issei..." Chris said mockingly, "Oh, Issei have babies with me."
"They left earlier today, everyone is at school." Azazel said coming out from a doorway, "You should go see them, I'm sure at least a few of them will be happy to see you!"
"Yeah, I'll do that." Chris rushes up to the room where he had been staying and changed as Azazel spoke to Baraqiel, "I hope training was successful?"
"The young man has a lot of heart, he was able to connect with the paladin spirit within himself. He was less than pleased with the information he'd received." Baraqiel said.
"That won't matter soon, I have a feeling that things are going to get interesting. He understands his power that much better now. The next few battles ought to be interesting." Azazel smiled.