Jinwoo decided making breakfast would be an excellent start to helping out Joan and Jun, and whichever sister in particular was there to take care of the rambunctious redhead in the future. Which meant he had to get over his morning freakout and the ticking clock that had appeared in the of his head. Not that he had time to freak out about it anyway.
Or rather, he did, but since the inevitable conclusion of the issue was going to happen whether he wanted it to or not, and time spent freaking out could instead be spent getting close to his sisters and setting himself up to not be lynched. That would be ideal.
In fact, so far things had gone fairly well. He'd introduced a single shadow soldier, one of the knights from his class-selection dungeon when he very first gained the ability to store and raise shadow warriors. Jun and Joan had been receptive to it and accepted it fairly quickly, not that they really had a choice. What were they going to do, accuse him of lying and actually being the inheritor of an ancient beings power that was able to summon the dead? Right.
He'd also laid the groundwork for them accepting his future summons. Jinwoo had explained to them he could feel more, but only wanted to try the one and that he would explore it more over the coming days. Of course, he would then proceed to illustrate his ability to summon more and more shadow soldiers, followed (one at a time) by his commanders and more unique choices.
Imagining the chaos raising even a single giant would cause was amusing, but probably not worth the trouble. Igris would be a great start, the crimson knight was big but leaned more towards 'peak of human development' than 'bigger than a motherfucking building'.
The others were all either too big, too intimidating… or were Beru, the talking ant superweapon… He was going to have to make sure Beru was off on independent missions with no opportunity to talk to anyone. Ever.
Every single one of Jinwoo's nieces and nephews would chortle and bow to him, saying 'My liege, how grateful I am you've blessed us with your presence' the moment they saw him. All because of that damned insect. Jinwoo had left him to watch over his sister, and later his mother when she awakened from the Eternal Slumber. As a being who didn't need to sleep, Beru would stay awake and watch period dramas featuring ancient samurai or knights who all worshiped their king, their 'liege', and raised him onto an untouchable pedestal and insisted everyone else treat him the same.
Beru had literally conscripted his knights and ants from the Jeju colony raid to build him an entire castle on the island they'd taken over without him even noticing.
His oddities aside, Beru was also an adaptive killing machine that was the only one of his shadow soldiers that could heal people. If only Min Byung-Gyu had been willing to stick around… While Jinwoo was many things, he was not an soulless monster, however, so forcing the weary spirit of the S-Rank healer to stay would have been far more cruel than he ever wanted to be. It would have been in especially bad taste, since his good friend and fellow S-Rank guildmaster was standing right next to him, begging him to let him rest.
Although… Now that he thought about it, he'd never actually needed to heal anybody when Beru wasn't around to do it. He'd also literally gained thousands of new shadow soldiers that he hadn't taken the time… ever… to properly sort through. Sure, while it was a pleasant surprise when the colossal gate over Korea actually spewed out reinforcements in the entirety of the 1st Shadow Monarch's shadow army, he was always too busy to personally see exactly what those forces entailed.
Leaving Bellion, the Grand-Marshal grade shadow who'd been leading the shadow army for far longer than Jinwoo had been alive, in charge was far more expedient.
Maybe he should actually ask him if they had more healers… That seemed like important information. It wasn't like his army could actually use them since they just regenerated from his mana, so they wouldn't have been a priority in his 27 year long crusade against the other Monarchs.
Well, that was certainly something to look into later.
The main point being, Beru was going to stay away from anyone who could possibly hear him speak unless absolutely necessary. The knights were already corrupted and bad enough…
Enough about the antics of his 'loyal' shadow army however, there was breakfast to be made. Even when he was the world's weakest hunter, he could cook. He'd been supporting Jinah and himself and she certainly wasn't going to cook. In fact, thinking about it, the only thing he remembered her actually learning to make was hot wings, the fiend. It was a good thing her husband was actually competent in the kitchen or their entire family would have had to subside on wings and takeout. Probably consisting of more wings.
[Family Matters]
Jinwoo was fairly confident he was the first one awake, because any normal human who decided to wake up at the hour he was up was somebody he didn't want to know. His current body needed some sleep, but since the spiritual conversion appeared to have already started that likely wouldn't be the case for long.
A quick checkthrough of the kitchen yielded plenty of results. All the usual suspects were present, such as eggs, bacon, orange juice, and toastable bread. Unfortunately it was so early he didn't think cooking everything right now was a good idea. It wasn't a school day, not that he knew when Jun started school anyway, and he didn't know their normal habits. Instead, he opted to have his shadow soldier's notify him when one or the other started stirring so he could begin.
Jinwoo spent some time familiarizing himself with the house and its layout before heading out to the backyard. With time to spare and little else to do, he decided it was time for his soldiers to begin exploring and learning everything they could about the world. He'd gotten access to a map and it seemed so small. The populated areas of the world were… So small. The Grimm were a more serious threat (to everyone else) than he'd originally thought.
As he'd done a million times before, Jinwoo reached into the abyss within and pulled.
.
.
.
"Arise."
.
.
.
They emerged from the ground in a torrent of inky blackness, his champions of darkness. He'd chosen to call many of his varying types of shadows that weren't obscenely large for this task - he had no doubts they would all be up to the task of slaughtering Grimm, but some would likely be better than others. He also needed to see how his weakest units fared against strong Grimm so he could get a more accurate read on their individual power levels.
The ground was no longer visible, instead turned into an ocean of blue and purple shadows. He didn't particularly feel like getting discovered on his first day, so he was swift to give them their task. "Go forth and explore. Fight the Grimm, and report to me what you've learned. Find the other continents and do the same. Protect humanity when you can. I look forward to hearing back from you."
The colossal army that had appeared from the nothing bowed in unison before vanishing into their shadow forms and rapidly traversing away from him in all directions, like an endless tide of darkness spreading itself to cover the world in its protective clutches. Which sounded a lot more ominous if one didn't know what they were doing…
Oh well. It's not like he was letting Beru roam free yet, what was the worst that could happen?
[Family Matters]
One thing Jinwoo had become curious about upon learning the fact that Grimm just… dissolve when killed, is whether he can do anything to raise one into his service. Truth be told, they didn't really seem strong enough to be worth it, and already acted like an extremely discounted version of his own power, just uncontrolled across the continents instead of focused on one person. Was there reconstitution based on mana? Or something different?
He was in an entirely new world. Maybe they had something new and never before seen (by him at least).
He was also immensely curious as to whether or not he could even have an aura. Monarchs like him (now the only one) took over their host's body in its entirety, essentially using it to tie themselves to the mortal plain and wreak havoc. In their cases, doing so also gave them the ability to die for good, which Jinwoo been grateful for when he murdered them all. He'd read enough stories about enemies that when killed just returned to their place of origin and kept on respawning and he did not want to deal with that.
Granted, he could also find them in such a place since he was one of them and murderize them there too, so it wouldn't have actually been too much of a problem but he liked to keep things simple whenever possible.
That said, if the size of one's spirit or 'soul' correlated to how much aura one has, and the difficulty in awakening it, Jinwoo was fairly confident his 'aura' either already counted as being 'activated' or was simply impossible to do so. He didn't feel like he was missing out, he was just really curious what his semblance would be if it could be awakened.
After letting his idle curiosity run away from him for a bit, the Shadow Monarch finally pulled his attention back to the present when the first of his sister's began to stir. He cracked his knuckles in preparation. "Time to get to work."
[Family Matters]
"Breakfast was so good Oppa! Where did you learn how to do that?" Joan was looking at him expectantly as well.
"Well it turns out it's really not that hard when you have a perfectly obedient second pair of hands. Shadow Knight was able to check on things and make sure nothing burned while I was handling other parts of breakfast, so I wouldn't say I'm good, I just have an unfair advantage in the kitchen." Hopefully they would buy that. Jinwoo didn't exactly try to make a Michelin star status meal but it was undoubtedly of a higher quality than Jaune would ever have been able to make.
He simply never had the need to, and was bratty enough he never offered to help his sisters. For Jinwoo, this was simply the first and easiest step in alleviating some of the burden of responsibility from his sister's shoulders. Jun obviously didn't really worry about such things, but for Joan at the moment, and whoever came to take over for her, it would be a boon. Whether they used the extra time in the mornings to just sleep, relax, or hang out with him didn't really matter, so long as they weren't working and got to decide what to do for themselves.
After all, at least one week of time was carved out of their lives to dedicate to watching a precocious little 12 year old. Sure, they were nearly young enough to leave alone, but in a world where the grim merely existed that wasn't particularly safe. Jinwoo had done some reading, and though the Grim tended to merely exist, and place pressure on anywhere that didn't have frequent cullings and hunters/huntresses watching over them, they also sometimes made moves, implying they weren't just simple beasts. At least, some of their activities seemed just pointed enough to push the edge of his disbelief.
Perhaps he was simply reading into things. He had no evidence that any sort of guiding intelligence presided over the Grimm, but after his own experiences with unending hordes of monsters and their seeming lack of leadership he'd learned things like that weren't always obvious.
He had a veritable armada of shadow soldiers scouring the land now so maybe he would learn in time.
Either way, his curiosity wouldn't be sated until he found the source of the Grimm, if only to further ensure the safety of his sisters. Even if he put them out of work. Not that he expected his soldiers to find anything soon - fast as they were, exploring multiple continents is a time consuming task. If only it turned out there was a primary controller of all the Grimm who lived in an evil castle in the middle of a barren wasteland just to stand out as much as possible…
But he didn't live in fantasyland, so he'd wait for more details before assuming the solution would be easy to come by.
That was the long term plan Jinwoo was implementing to help out his sisters, to make sure they didn't have to live in a world under siege. Short term was much simpler, as seen by the breakfast making plan.
Joan simply looked pleased at having a good lie-in. Although he had gotten the stink-eye because he'd made her scream first thing in the morning. Apparently being notified by a shadow knight appearing in her room she'd just met the day before that breakfast was ready was rather alarming. Who knew?
Jinwoo could hardly pretend to be innocent since that was exactly the reaction he was hoping for… He definitely didn't do the exact same thing to Jinah's at-the-time new date and eventual husband. It turned into a running joke that still got laughs many years later, but that first reaction was utterly priceless.
His nieces and nephews' dates were all also subjected to the same scare-tactics, much to his great amusement. Although one of them in particular never forgave him because he let Beru do the scaring… That wasn't going to happen ever again.
"I agree with Jun, brother. Even with a second pair of hands you've outdone yourself." He merely grinned at her in response.
"Speaking of outdoing oneself, would you mind telling me how exactly I supposedly got into Beacon Academy? Before I woke up with some actual combat potential?" Joan flushed and chuckled in embarrassment.
"You see, you might not remember this but you really, really wanted to become a hunter just like the rest of your sisters, and that was totally fair! Just because we weren't allowed to train you or do anything doesn't mean I wanted you to give up on your dream. Even Jun is in Signal, at least, and is preparing herself for Beacon someday, though we're trying to make sure she doesn't get snagged up early so she actually has a chance to make some friends." She ruffled the littlest sister's hair affectionately, to which she grumbled and pretended to be affronted but actually was just trying to hide the fact she was leaning into Joan's hand.
"So I may or may not have… Kind of sort of gotten your transcripts forged? And submitted them for you? And what do you know, we got an acceptance letter while you were in the hospital! Kind of funny… The timing on that." She didn't look all too pleased at it, which made sense.
After all, she'd been doing the best she could under the restrictions and idiocy of their parents, and had finally done something Jaune would have been ecstatic about. Instead of him being around to celebrate in their circumvention of the parents' rules, however, he ran out and got himself killed. To top it all off, while he was in the hospital, allowing the system to upgrade his body to withstand his full presence, Joan had received the letter. It would have been like a smack in the face, at that point.
"Allow me to thank you for doing your best to fulfill my dreams, in that case. Though I don't share that dream in the same way anymore it still fills my heart with joy to know you went to such lengths for me. I won't let you down, sis." What he wasn't saying was that he still intended to be home each and every single day. It had been a long time since Shadow Exchange had forced him to wait hours in between each swap.
Mainly, however, a hunter school would be the best place to learn about the Grimm. If his access as a student didn't reveal anything, then he would simply plunder as much knowledge as he could gather with his shadows and leave. He would explain to Joan that it simply wasn't for him and he'd changed - graduating and becoming a hunter simply wasn't his dream anymore.
On a superficial level, Jaune's dream was to become a hunter to earn the respect and love of his parents, if Jinwoo was to guess, and to be a hero. Everyone wanted to be a hero until they actually became one and learned the truth. Underneath that veneer of shallow reasons was truth, if one wanted to dig deep enough. Jaune wanted to help people - He wanted to find people who weren't as lucky as him, and lift them up.
Jinwoo knew this on a fundamental level. Jaune's dying plea was filled with far more than words; his emotions and feelings were intertwined with the last gasp of a dying boy, and as the acceptor of his request, Jinwoo had gained a fundamental understanding of the regrets the boy had held and realized in his final moments.
Though Jaune might have been a bit of an ass it seemed, deep down he'd loved his family and simply wanted the power to help people. Constantly stymied by his parents and the others' inability to help him, he'd grown more and more frustrated and upset as time had passed.
The final culmination of the frustration resulted in his death. But Jinwoo was here now, and he would make sure that his death was not in vain.
Joan gave him a warm smile of appreciation. "Of course Jaune, anything for our little brother. Besides school, what are you planning on doing? You've got about a month before it starts so Jun and I would be happy to train with you and try and help you get your semblance fully figured out, do limit testing things like that. Maybe see how strong your shadows are exactly? Or we can just hang out. I wouldn't mind having a movie night with the three of us cuddled up on the couch."
Jinwoo pondered the question carefully. He knew what his goal in general was, much like how 'making sure the Grimm don't make my sisters sad' was a goal and a project he started but had no idea how long it would take to actually accomplish. Another objective was to help his sisters, which meant things like taking care of Jun, picking her up from school, making breakfast for everyone, and probably cleaning up around the house. Unfortunately for them, his shadow knights were his best 'manual laborers' including mining crystals, being cannon fodder, dusting, doing dishes, and other menial tasks his other shadows were either too large to accomplish or simply didn't have the hands to pull off.
As amusing as it would be to watch Tusk try and do such pedestrian chores, Jinwoo imagined it would only end with him getting upset and 'Hymn of the Fire Dragon'ing the house down, so he wasn't even going to go there.
He decided on his path and answered. "Why not both? I can work out with Jun outside while you do whatever you want, you can watch us or relax, anything at all, and tonight we can all watch something. We've got all day, don't we?"
Joan nodded in agreement, a pleased smile on her face. "And what about you, Jun? Does that sound fun to you?"
The littlest redheaded sister was, once again, practically vibrating in place. "Practice with Oppa and Onee-sama? And a movie? I love it! I can't wait! Let's get started right away!" She leapt away from the table, leaving her dirty dishes at the table. Joan and Jinwoo shared an amused look before he began to pull all the dirtied plates and glasses towards himself.
"Go on and get started with her, I'll only be a second Joan. Don't want her to knock herself out because she ran face-first into a tree or something. Wouldn't surprise me in the slightest with what I just saw." She snorted in agreement.
"Having you around and… present and accepting of her is perhaps the greatest thing in the world she could have imagined. I'm not sure if you quite figured it out from her declaration of her intent to marry you the other day, but she kind of looks up to and likes you. Only a little bit though."
Jinwoo rolled his eyes, still amused and only partially worried about said declaration. "I'm sure. What did she see in me anyway? From what both you and her have indicated I was kind of a butthead before… You know. Why did she like me so much?"
Joan took a moment to think, her fingers beginning to drum the table as she prepared her thoughts. "Well, for starters, she's spent a significant amount of time with you, probably more than any of the other sisters because you two were the closest in age. I think, even though she's young, she saw the difference in how you were treated and saw your never ending attempts at getting what you wanted as something to look up to. Not only that, but even though you were a brat, you still loved your sisters. And this is weird talking about you as though you're… Like two different people."
He cocked an eyebrow at her. "That is the correct way of thinking about it, Joan. I am two very different people. Mainly because I have no idea what Jaune was like before. I feel differently, and though I have some things that I feel are intrinsically us, both me and Jaune of before, they are more… generalities. I love my family. I want to protect my family. Things like that. The hows and the whys of how that's shown and done are going to be irreversibly different however, because the other Jaune? He doesn't exist anymore. It's hard, I know, but it's better to know the truth than hope for something that simply can't be."
Joan's eyes were misty and her shoulders had tensed up by the time he was done speaking. Undoubtedly, this topic would never be easy, but it was important for him to drive home that point. It would make what happened later easier to accept. The Shadow Monarch approached his sister, much like in his previous life, and wrapped her in his arms to offer her comfort and protection from the evils of the world. One such evil being the sudden loss of her brother. Even though 'he' was still here.
He didn't say anything, however. There was a time and place for more words, but now was not that time. He would offer her what comfort he could, in whatever way he could. In time this wound would heal. It might scar, but that was an unavoidable fact of life - and that was that life fucking hurts. It's impossible to go through the time on earth allotted to humans and escape completely unscathed. Maybe a friend dies, maybe someone gets ruthlessly shoved down and abused in any number of ways, maybe someone grows up an orphan. So many things that can happen.
Luckily for the Arc family, 'Jaune' was still here. He might be different now… But he was here to help.
Joan clutched his arms around her where he'd hugged her from behind, and leaned her head against his chest before seeming to just… Deflate. They sat that way for a minute, basking in the comfort and warmth being offered between the pair. Jinwoo did his best to project happy, uplifting thoughts. His words were never the best. After all, he hadn't needed them to climb the impossible tower to godhood, but comforting his sister was something he knew how to do even if he didn't speak.
It was something he had practiced in and it was something he enjoyed doing thanks to his time spent being the sole caretaker of Jinah for several years. It was a miracle that he'd been allowed custody of her - he was still in school at the time it had occurred. It was purely due to his status as an adventurer - even one as poor as he was then - that allowed him to keep her from the clutches of the government systems.
That, and the empathy of their social worker. At the time, he was relatively close to graduating and being of a proper age to care for his younger sibling since she wasn't a young child and could reasonably take care of herself if left alone for a day or two. All that compounded to allow him to keep her home and safe with him, something he was eternally grateful for.
After a few minutes of deriving comfort from one another's arms, Jinwoo and Joan separated. "I know you might not be the same person anymore, Jaune… But you'll always be my little brother, and I'll always care for you and protect you." She hesitated and took a breath before adding. "I love you."
Jinwoo smiled down at her and gently wiped away a tear that had escaped her eye and traced its way down her cheek. Even having known her for no time at all, he still returned the feelings she'd offered to him. The want, the desire, the need to take care of his family burned like an unquenchable fire deep within him. Even before he was powerful, before he held all the card, he'd given his all for his sister. Maybe it was the leftover impression of Jaune that had been passed on to him, but he was able to respond with ease.
"And I love you, Joan. I'll be there for you too, anytime you need me. Now scram, Jun's been waiting for you and I have no doubt she'll come bursting through that door again if she doesn't see you soon!" That got a slightly watery laugh from his eldest sister, but she agreed and stole a quick yet powerful hug from him before escaping outside, leaving a trio of plates and cups for him to deal with.
Humming an old, forgotten tune he finished collecting all the dishes and made quick work of the aftermath of breakfast.
[Family Matters]
Jinwoo spent time observing the training measures Joan put Jun through. Occasionally he would get an explanation for some terminology or reasonings behind why they did something - for example, though she didn't yet have one, Jun would someday wield a sword capable of channeling her aura through. Not just her aura, however, but specifically her semblance.
As it turned out, though the process was virtually the same (at least, according to Jun's best explanation) aura metal reacted slightly differently when she used her semblance instead of aura. This led to fluctuations in the stream of energy, causing hiccups and other issues where her sword would suddenly stop being empowered.
This was rather important because Hunter and Huntress weapons, even when made with incredibly high quality and durable materials, simply wouldn't stand up to day to day usage and would likely snap or break in some terrible fashion, if not for the fact they could enhance it further by empowering it themselves.
According to Joan, Signal (where Jun attended) had been working with them to help create a new blend of metals that would properly accept her semblance enhancement without the sudden drops in coverage she was currently experiencing. They were nearly done, too, it seemed. Joan had opened up a box to reveal a sphere of dark gray metal that fit perfectly into Jun's little palm. From there she tried to channel first her aura through it, then her semblance.
The feisty red-head did both for upwards of 15 minutes to ensure there wasn't a single issue with either method of empowering her soon-to-be weapon, as she didn't always want to just use her semblance for empowerment, but lacking the option to do so would have limited her true potential.
Jinwoo was happy to hear her school was supporting her as thoroughly as possible, because his family was much larger than it had once been and hunting down incompetent administrators (or lazy ones) would have been a waste of time, and he would have done it regardless for the sake of his little sister.
Once their testing was concluded with satisfactory results, they moved onto sparring and drills. That was when Jinwoo was given his second shock of the day.
From a young age, it was clear Jinwoo would be rather small for his age and rather unlikely to become a muscle bound hunk, even if he exercised every single day and had perfect nutrition intake. Gaining the System had changed all that, in preparation for his body to accept the full power of the Shadow Monarch. But before that, his size generally meant he leaned away from sports and physical activities due to his disadvantages, and thus had more time to spend towards furthering his academic career. In his limited downtime, mainly before his Awakening and the E-Rank Hunter, he had found few hobbies he could truly get into.
Before his Mother fell into the Eternal Slumber, he'd mainly spent time with his family, knowing how hard the loss of their Father was, even six years after the fact. After she'd been taken by that cursed sleep, him and Jinah had to save every bit of money they had to make sure they kept their childhood apartment. Jinah had offered to get a job, and later on had threatened to drop out of school just to help him support the pair if he ever got so seriously injured again after going into a dungeon.
Of course, that particular incident was when he'd gained the System, and things had rapidly changed after that.
But until then, they'd had to find cheap ways to distract themselves. So sharing things like books and second-hand manhwas or mangas had been fairly common. They were easy to set down in case of emergency and could be read together or separately, and discussed later for further involvement.
One such story they'd taken a shining to was an older piece of work titled 'Fate/Stay Night'.
It was derived from an even older Visual Novel of the same name. In particular, the series had a dedicated set of volumes for each route that had been possible in the original VN. The series hadn't been as popular as it could have been, suffering from the same thing any super-powered series did - the fact the superpowers actually existed. Their world had become 'supernatural' the moment the first gate had opened, and the first Awakened realized their power.
Still, the series held a special place in his sister's and his hearts. The world it described was different than the one they lived in and had different rules, and though it was filled with callous and uncaring monsters, in equal measure there existed heroes who stood against the darkness. It held tales of the weak standing against impossible odds, and not only surviving but overcoming their opposition. It gave them hope in a world where Jinah's older brother was forced to risk his life and limb every single day just to support them.
It was one ability, or legendary shield, that was of particular interest to Jinwoo at this particular moment. Because Joan began to use her semblance to give Jun obstacles to either dash around, spring off of, or otherwise evade.
The problem was, its resemblance was identical to that of one he'd seen illustrated before - Rho Aias, the shield of Ajax. The shield was originally bronze and layered with oxhide, specifically seven layers. Per the story, it had entered into legend and became Rho Aias, a shield composed of a central core and seven flowering petals that looked very much like a flower.
Its appearance was certainly a shock to him, though this one appeared to have a different function than that of the one he knew. It still held seven 'petals' and a central disc in the center. Everything else was different, however. Though they had started out connected, all 8 pieces of the shield had separated into individual pieces and began floating on their own independent paths and trajectories, and even changed in size.
Its maneuverability was what allowed Joan to use it as a training tool, as she effectively had 8 different barriers or walls to throw up in Jun's direction, and based on how hard the little red-head slammed into one they were quite durable. Jinwoo got the impression that Joan was quite a talented Huntress, with many years of experience and power to back it up, and her current multitasking of the separate pieces and the advice she was throwing out to Jun seemed to reinforce that idea.
Eventually the shield pieces took on a more aggressive role, attempting to bat Jun out of the air when she springboarded off of another one to bypass the shimmering pink barrier in her original path. Jun took quite a few tumbles from their swipes, but was also successfully pulling off difficult aerial maneuvers that spoke of long practice and effort.
Joan explained to him the reasoning behind their training before he even had to ask, seemingly content to let Jun have a breather after a while. "Training the ability to move around in the air and not be utterly defenseless is an incredibly important tactic for Hunters and Huntresses - while there are mainly nevermore as the only aerial threat posed by the Grimm, learning to fall and actually land from compromised positions is also a very important skill. Not only that, but nevermore not only appear in large flocks but also vary in size by quite a large margin. Most are the size you'd expect, but they can become nearly as large as a bus."
The Shadow Monarch nodded. "I can see how that would be vital to know and learn. It's good that your semblance is so helpful in that regard, as well! I can only imagine how much harder it would be to properly teach someone these tricks and skills without some rather advanced equipment. Even then, I doubt anything is quite as dynamic as your shields - short of throwing someone into a flock of nevermore and hoping they learn fast, anyway."
Joan laughed at that idea. "We are quite lucky in that regard, dear brother. What about you? Do you want to have a try? I'll go easy on you for your first time."
He briefly contemplated his options, before deciding that he wasn't that good of a liar and to simply evade. "I would say yes, but I'm still getting used to these changes. Give me some time and I'll do some exercises and take time to get used to my body again, then I'll see about your offer." Jinwoo gave her a smile of thanks.
"Makes sense. I only have a couple more days of staying here before work draws me back in, so maybe after you get to meet another of your sisters we can try again. Likely next weekend, I wind up working pretty late and rarely have the energy to do much of anything once I get home, though you'll still see me each night." Being a huntress must be hard work when one's enemies were eternal and her energy was not. Hopefully the hunting trip his shadows were currently embarked on would be fruitful.
"Works for me. In the meantime, if you want to try using them as a teaching aid, my shadows could help act like a pack of Grimm? Just more focused on stabbing than biting. Also they're not really in any danger of being hurt because they just kinda regenerate when they get hurt."
Joan gave him a look with one eyebrow arched. "Just how many of them can you summon? And what were you doing with them to find out what happens when they get hurt?" Jinwoo could only chuckle awkwardly in response and make up a believable fib on the spot.
"Well, it turns out to be quite a few. There are more than just knights I can call forth as well, and uh, I kinda wanted to know what they could do so I had them attack a tree. The tree's resistance was… meager. So I had them fight each other! Safely at first, then one of them got an arm lopped off and it just kinda regrew. It was pretty cool, honestly."
Hopefully that makes enough sense that she believes the time he'd been awake in the morning had been used 'productively'. Which, it was, just not in the way he was implying. "Would you like to see?"
Joan nodded her head, and Jun, the little red-headed human missile, was abruptly in front of both of them. "They're soooo cool Oppa! Show us all the shadow soldiers you can!" The merry cheer and excitement that lit up her face couldn't be met with anything other than a smile.
"Of course Jun, anything for you! How could I possibly resist such a cute little face!" Jinwoo promptly began tugging on her cheeks, which dimpled and got his hands smacked away in indignation.
She huffed and turned away, but kept stealing glances towards the yard where the shadows were supposed to appear, a hopeful glint in her eye. Jinwoo couldn't help but laugh and ruffle her hair. "Alright, alright. I'm on it, one army of shadows coming right up."
He gestured with a hand, as though raising something into the air from the nothingness around it. "Arise."
Immediately, numerous knights and their mage counterparts formed into existence, the once normal shadows that dotted the ground elongating and transforming into new, deadly creations before reverting back to their original shape.
To keep things both impressive yet not totally ridiculous, he started with 20 knights, and 3 mages. Jun immediately let out a yell of excitement and ran over to begin poking and prodding them, trying to see if the shadows forming wisps and trailing off their forms could be caught with her hands. They were mostly black, with the indicator that they were his being the glowing blue visor where their helmet's once were worn, in addition to a flickering blue flames of the same shade that emerged from their shoulders. Before he'd fully become one with the Shadow Monarch's power, those flames hadn't existed, but the now overflowing strength their connection to him provided them formed the blaze, as an indicator of their new strength.
Of course, he also didn't want people to realize just how scary even one of his shadows could be, so they were silently ordered to act more like they did when he very first summoned them.
"Why don't you attack one, Jun? Just so we can see what it looks like when they regenerate. Maybe use an aura sword, though. You don't have to worry about being safe with them." Jun, the little hellion, was quick to scamper off and come back armed and dangerous. Without using her semblance, she should be able to cut through the weakest of his shadow's durability.
It's not like the armor they wore actually did anything - their 'body' and 'armor' was made of the exact same material. They were as durable on their head as they were on their armored chest, or even their pinky toe. Regardless, Jun should be able to punch through them with a large amount of effort. "Just swing as hard as you can Jun, I'm not sure exactly how strong you are but I know that they're definitely not weak. Think of them like an Ursa, I think. Gotta hit'em hard to get through."
Jun merely nodded, focusing on her target. One of the shadow knights stepped forward as the sacrificial lamb. The red aura of her semblance surrounding her, Jun took off at an incredibly fast (for her age) speed and with her aura-charged sword and a perfect swing, carved into the armored knight. The blade stopped about halfway through the shadow, looking quite odd since said knight wasn't swayed at all by having a sword poking through him and out his back. At least, to those who hadn't interacted with and known Jinwoo's shadows inside and out for many years.
"See? He's totally fine. Now Jun, take the sword out and you'll see how their regeneration works!" A swift yoink later and Jun's sword popped free. The light surrounding the damaged knight seemed to darken the moment the sword was freed as the shadows coalesced. Several wisps appeared around the knight and rapidly streamed towards the damaged area before combining and leaving the area unblemished, as though nothing had happened.
"Wow! Oppa that's crazy! What happens if he gets an entire leg chopped off? What about his head? What if he gets totally obliterated!?" The last sentence got its own visual effects as Jun mimed an explosion. Joan nodded in agreement, content to watch him and wait for his response.
"Well, from what I've seen that same regeneration you saw is applicable to literally any wound or level of 'death' as it were. Limbs can be regenerated easily, and one of the mages was able to completely blow up one of the knights and he came back the exact same way. Just, you know, the process looked more shadowy because it had more to fill back in." Joan glanced back and forth between the knights and him, looking rather impressed.
"Does it cost you aura to regenerate them, I assume? How draining is it? For example, how many soldiers could be completely destroyed and revived, you think, before you were drained?" Jinwoo wasn't surprised Joan could see the tactical implications of the bare minimum bit of his 'semblance' he was showing. Having a tireless foe meant having a tireless army to fight them back was an excellent counter, and could save many lives if applied correctly. Time to spread some more technical truths sprinkled with small lies for flavor, he thought.
"I can tell there is a small drain taking place, but for these knights and mages I feel like I could go on for a very long time even if they were getting destroyed frequently. Not only that, but I think… I think there is a leader of the knights. I can feel more shadows, but I'm just trying to work on this slowly while I get a feel for this power. One stands out above the rest, though, and is markedly different to my senses. I want to try bringing him out in a day or two, but… Messing around with these guys is enough for me for now." And hopefully his bullshit spewing would continue to go undetected because the level his 'power' was currently operating at what was the equivalent, to him at least, of dipping just the end of a fingernail into the well of untapped energy inside of him.
If Joan only knew what he was capable of… He wasn't sure what she'd think. Or do.
While he was willing to live with his abilities 'limited' to a certain extent, this was way to much. He'd introduce her to Igris soon, and she'd see how cool he was. Then he'd move on to Tank and Iron, and maybe Beru if the damned ant was lucky…
The other variants of shadow creatures he controlled would also come out in waves before the named shadows. Hopefully it would seem like his 'semblance' was growing and becoming more powerful as he understood it further. They might comment on how absurd it was but… He was trying to dance the delicate line between his power being believable, and being strong enough to openly protect his family without repercussions.
Having the shadows suddenly appear would be terrible and likely cause a significant number of problems, but if he could slowly introduce them to the whole family, use them at the Hunter school he was supposed to attend… Then everyone would know what he could do, and acknowledge him as 'normal' if maybe incredibly gifted.
That was fine. Attention on him was no big deal. He'd lived with it for parts of his previous life in the extreme - he doubted it could possibly be worse here.
The eldest Arc sister smiled broadly at him. "Well little brother, you seem to have lucked out on the power you've gained. If the starting point is already this strong, I can't wait to see what the ending will look like!" Oh, Joan, dearest sister, you have no idea.
With his newest increase in semblance power introduced, Jun began training in earnest with the shadows. They were able to emulate a pack of Grimm fairly well, with their ability to take what would be suicidal risks to anyone else as well as display pack tactics and strategies to take down their prey.
Jun had the time of her life, though she wasn't quite strong enough to 'kill' them without a direct decapitation yet, she was having the time of her life just letting loose while dodging strikes and dancing past her enemies.
Jinwoo could help but smile at the sight - there truly was a difference between beating back thinking, intelligent enemies than there was beating on a dummy or something otherwise unthinking. The rush one got when they won, when they conquered their foe, it was like no other. It was also not something one could get easily without access to either the Grimm, something like the monsters from the dungeons of his old world, or something like his shadows, without devolving to murder and other heinous acts.
He also learned that Joan's Rho Aias was an absolute terror in combat. The moment it separated again into its 8 composite pieces and became whirling blades of mono-molecular death to his shadow soldiers is when he upped her threat rating in his head and could no longer rightly call her semblance a mere 'shield'.
And though he could hardly shatter one to see just how strong it was (since that would give away the game) he assumed they were quite durable.
Jinwoo spent the rest of the training session laughing with Joan at Jun's antics, in addition to the shadow soldier's occasionally funny moment. They spent a couple hours with rest breaks in between, and he successfully escaped from having to try and fake a less-than-competent level of physical conditioning and talent.
For now.
[Family Matters]
Later that night, after showers and lunch were had, and the sun that had beaten down upon them was slowly eaten by the horizon, they settled down to watch a couple movies. Some of the names sounded familiar, but Jinwoo could never quite place them.
They popped popcorn and got some finger-food and plopped onto the couches in the living room to prepare to watch the chosen films. Jun, always having been close with Jinah, didn't consider it odd when Jun plopped into his lap and wiggled into place, leaning her head back once to meet his eyes and smile at him before looking back at the TV.
He also didn't find it odd that Joan sat as close as physically possible to him and wrapped both her arms around his and gently leaned her head onto his shoulder. Even if he had been able to pointedly ignore the fact before, Joan was a beautiful woman, only made more so by the fact she was competent and strong - all hard muscle and soft curves, driven home by the copious amounts of skin contact he had with her arms, and the unavoidable (and noticeably large) swell of her chest that was currently also pressing into his arm.
But none of that mattered, because Joan was his sister, who he would love and protect till her dying day, just as Jaune had requested. If that sounded oddly like marriage, he ignored that too.
Just like he ignored the fact that Jun was almost 13, not the eight that she appeared to be. And that she was, if not already well into, beginning puberty and had declared her intention to marry him. And was sitting directly on his lap. And had grabbed his remaining arm and snaked it across her belly, accidentally touching the exposed skin of her stomach as she forced him to hold her tightly against him.
This is just like when Jinah was younger and we would cuddle up to watch movies together. Absolutely nothing is wrong.
Jinwoo, by sheer force of will, banished all thoughts except for those of the movies they were currently watching from his head, and mentally categorized this experience as 'family bonding and reparation'. After all, Jaune had been an ass and basically died, so they needed to be close for comfort that he was safe, back with them, and loved them all.
Satisfied with his conclusion, Jinwoo allowed himself to fully focus on the movie and enjoy the action flick that had been chosen. Was that Bruce Willis? Huh, he'd have to read the credits to see what their name was. How curious.
The popcorn and finger-foods went sadly forgotten and untouched through the rest of the afternoon.
[Family Matters]
The next morning Jinwoo found two more black hairs in his otherwise golden-blond strands. "Well fuck."
As more and more of his power leaked through the connection, finalizing this body as the Shadow Monarch, and the rate continued to double… Doing math with hair was likely to be inaccurate, but based on the average number of hairs humans had and an increased flow of conversion… He had half a month at worst, and depending on factors he couldn't really determine, might have as long as a month.
"Here's to hoping I meet all the sisters first… Otherwise things are gonna be real awkward when we first meet."
