Y/N POV
The sound of a loud bang down the corridor suddenly got both mine and King's attention. He growled out "It came from the locker room where I last saw Marduk." He broke out into a run towards one of the doors. I stated "I'm coming too." And followed after him, wanting to know what the hell was going on.
We came to one door in particular and King flung it open before entering. I went in shortly after and I'll be honest, what I saw caught me off guard at first. Sure enough, it was Marduk, the brute I saw at the sign-up event.
However he was pinned up against one of the lockers, probably the source of the bang. I also recognized the figure who was attacking him. But I found it hard to believe it was him at first. It was like seeing a ghost.
I knew the King who entered the first two King of Iron Fist tournaments was different from the one I'd just fought who was stood next to me now. It was common knowledge one of the orphans he'd looked after took over the mantle after the original had been slain by Ogre.
But in those tournaments, there were reports of another wrestler, one who kept his private life to himself and avoided the public eye outside of tournaments. A wrestler who went by the name Armor King!
Much like King, I'd heard Armor King met his end in a bar brawl-gone bad, slain by none other than Marduk. And yet, stood before us, pinning the very man responsible for his supposed death, was the second Jaguar-themed wrestler Armor King!
Image of Armor King:
Marduk tried to escape the raging wrestler's grasp however this Armor King lookalike wasn't letting go. That was of course until King rushed forward growling loudly "Let him go!" Grabbing onto Armor King's back, he managed to pull him from his friend and throw him back.
Not quite to the ground as this Armor King managed to remain on his feet. Marduk groaned and slumped down onto one of the benches, hand cupping his left ear. Me and King both stared at the figure before us.
Armor King said nothing. Even as King asked "Who the hell are you?!" Armor King's red and green eyes moved slowly, between King and myself. As if he was assessing the situation. He stared at me for a moment before King snapped "Answer the question!"
Again, nothing, his attention turned to Marduk and I could feel the hatred irradiating from him. A similar hatred to the sort I'd felt in my fight with Lee in the last tournament. Looking at King, for the first time, the new Armor King spoke.
"So, it is true. You have forgiven him. Pathetic!" This caused me and King to both lower our guard in confusion. Armor King got into a stance as well "You have betrayed his loyalty, everything he did for you. And you spit in his face! For that you will share Marduk's fate!"
Who was he? The original Armor King? Before I got an answer, Armor King rushed forward in an effort to strike King. I chose now to intervene. As Armor King fist flew forward, I stepped in front of King and caught the attack.
This effort shocked everyone, even Armor King seemed to be surprised even though I couldn't properly make-out his expression under his mask. It didn't take him long to return to his senses though as he raised his fist for another punch.
As his other fist flew forwards, I ducked out of the way and landed a kick to the back of Armor King's knee, one of the few parts not covered in metal plating. And it's because of this, the adversary dropped down to one knee.
I quickly followed up by elbowing him in the back of the head however just as I was about to do this, he twisted his torso and catch my attack and gave my arm a twist making me groan in pain and retract myself from him.
This allowed Armor King to get back to his feet. He went for a kick however I dodged and went for a punch, again, blocked. I will admit, this Armor King wasn't what I expected, I was faster true, but he had the power and reflexes to match.
We wound up standing opposite one another, just staring for a moment. I couldn't read his expression due to the mask he wore. But I noticed he slowly shifted his head to once again glare at the wrestler duo King and Marduk, a low growl escaped from the mask that I made out as something along the lines of. "We'll settle this later."
Then, to my surprise, he just turned and walked towards one of the doors, opening it and walking out before closing it behind him. King bolted to his feet and snapped "Get back here!" He was about to follow but I raised my hand.
"Stay here with your friend. I'll head after Armor King." King at first interjected "Not a chance! I want to know just who the hell this guy is!" I decided to reason with him "If I find him, I'll bring him back to explain everything."
It was a long shot, and King did take a while to think about it. However eventually, he gave a reply by nodding and said "Okay." Marduk added, still sounding somewhat pained as he cupped his ear. "You'd better succeed! Or you're next!"
I didn't reply, choosing to ignore the failed threat. I left the locker room and went back out into the corridor. Armor King had covered decent ground, I saw him running quite a distance away now. But either way I gave pursuit.
Even as I seemed to be gaining on him, he managed to keep a constant distance ahead of me. I continued my chase. Following him through the corridors and out of this isolated arena, back into the main city of Tokyo itself.
And that's when the unbelievable happened. Like the ghost he seemed to be, he vanished. Once out in the city he was gone. No sign of him! And you'd think an armoured wrestler wearing a Jaguar mask would stand out. And yet, there was nothing.
It honestly did seem like he was a ghost. I knew this wasn't true. But given how a warrior I believed died, was right there. He managed to counter my attacks then escaped and vanished without a trace. There was another puzzle here, one completely unrelated to my mission, but one that I knew would likely come up again. I had a feeling this Armor King doppelganger would return.
It also seemed I was going from one adversary to the next outside of this tournament. I continued my search before I heard a voice suddenly yelling. "I've found you, you thought you could escape me SISTER?!"
I turned to see a cascade of kunai hurtling towards me...
Author's Note: And that's it for this chapter. Yes, Armor King will be another of Y/N's rival characters though he won't have as big a presence as Jin or Lee. We will get an official battle between the two later in this segment. I really hope you enjoyed the chapter and as always, thank you for reading.