It is possible to get r9 even though it is not legal. I don't know who has it now, but I remember that a few months ago a sin was screenshoted with r9 dags. As far as I Know medals are somehow obtained via the trials.
Must reach level 200 to get R9.
hax
Yep it was an ex GM, but the dags were real r9. And that he was an ex GM does not mean he could hax the game (I hope so). Here is the pic taken by Vookie months ago, real r9 dags http://oi43.tinypic.com/34s0b3q.jpg
But if r9 was worse than r8r - there would be no point in adding it. There is already dragon gear with fixed stats and it's just only a bit weaker than good r8r.