Chapter 164: Learning about the Iron Claw

It was late at night and Joshua was still sitting quietly in the living room of the house. Amy had already gone to her room to attempt to get some sleep before their big day tomorrow while their mother had gone up to their parents shared room to go through a few documents dealing with the hospital before getting some rest. Joshua however decided to stay up and wait for his father to finally make his way home. It somewhat felt like he was waiting for his father after he had done something stupid, but Joshua already had a fairly good idea on why his father was avoiding his two children at the moment. In the past he'd done similar things whenever they had a big match coming up, but the fact that the tournament had been going on for a week made this situation a bit more awkward than usual.

It wasn't till ten-thirty at night that his father opened the door and made his way into the house. He still seemed a bit sweaty even though he had changed out of his gym close, but Joshua could tell he had spent most of the night working hard at the dojo. It wouldn't be all that surprising that some of his father's new students had made it deep into the tournament outside of his children. Joshua silently watched his father head into the kitchen to grab some leftovers and stayed quiet until his father awkwardly noticed him sitting near the large screen in the living room. His eyes widened for a second, but he eventually nodded towards his son before walking over and taking a seat.

His father started to quietly eat while looking at the television that was still on, but had the volume turned down low. At the moment it was showing some sort of play that Joshua's mother had left on before going upstairs to her room to rest for the night. Both of them ignored the show as Joshua decided to be the one to talk first and break the ice. "So, I know you've been standoffish as usual with the tournament going on, but there's been something I've been meaning to ask you about these last few days."

"Knowing you it has nothing to do with how I think you two have done in the tournament so far. That means it's most likely about Dmitry." Joshua's father said after taking a bite of the hamburger he had made from the leftovers his wife had set up for him in the fridge.

"Dmitry?" Joshua asked a bit confused.

"The dumbass that's going by the name of Iron Claw like he's in some sort of staged fight." Joshua's father managed to grumble out angrily. It was clear that he still had quite the rivalry with the guy. "His name's Dmitry Malakhov and he's the toughest opponent I've ever fought."

Joshua was a bit surprised that his father was so easily talking about it, but he nodded in understanding since he remembered his father talking about fighting such a strong opponent in the past. From the name alone Joshua could tell the man was Russian which wasn't all that surprising by the guy's looks. Outside of being the same height as Joshua if not a bit more bulky frame wise. His hair was blond, but it was kept extremely short, he was clean shaven which allowed you to see some of the small scars on his face from his previous career, and he seemed to have this perpetual scowl on his face except when he was enjoying a good fight.

"Anything I should know about the guy before I run into him. The way he performed I wouldn't be surprised if he makes it far into the tournament." Joshua said a bit more relieved that his father was acting a bit more normal instead of being overly reclusive like he had been for the entire week.

"He's a man that gets incredibly fixated on enjoying a good fight to the point where it can get unnerving. The stronger his opponent the happier he is. I get that I can get lost in a fight, but there's something just creepy about it whenever he does it." Joshua's father said with a far off look as he thought back on the man that he knew. Joshua however shook his head at the notion that his dad thought it was odd that someone could get lost in their enjoyment of a match. Joshua was the least likely member of the family to get lost in the fun of combat, but even he sometimes found himself taking too much enjoyment in a challenge.

"That can't be all you've got to say about him. As far as I know he was the only person to ever beat you in a match." Joshua said trying to steer his father away from ranting about the wrong thing. If Joshua was going to listen to his father rant then he wanted to at least listen to him rant about things that would be useful to know about. Guiding him towards talking about Dmitry in a fighting sense instead of purely based off of his attitude seemed like the right way to go.

Joshua's father took one more bite out of his burger before sitting his plate down and laying back in his chair. He let out a satisfied hum after swallowing the food and then turned to Joshua with a thoughtful look. "The first thing you should realize if you end up fighting against him is that it will probably be the first time you've ever been in a match with another person where you aren't the one with the greater brute strength. I don't know if your aura will help balance that out, but I know for a fact that Dmitry was always the physically strongest fighter that I have ever gone up against."

"Well then you should know since we've fought against each other several times in the past." Joshua said while nodding at what his father said. If there was anyone in the world that could accurately judge Joshua's strength it was definitely his father.

"He's not the fastest man in the world which was what I tried my best to take advantage of whenever I was in a match with him, but he's got good reflexes and amazing instincts in close quarters combat. " Joshua's father continued to explain. "Although he is brutal with his elbows and knees the biggest thing you have to worry about in a fight against him would be getting grabbed by him. He's the best fighter I've ever seen when it comes to grappling."

"Is that why he goes out of his way to strangle all of his opponents instead of just knocking them out right away?"

"Partially. I'm sure it's for enjoyment as well. The man's always had a screw loose whenever it comes to combat, but his grip is like being caught in the jaws of an alligator. The moment he gets his hands on you the match is already in his favor. Allowing him to get any other more complex holds on you might as well be the end of the match." Joshua's father said with a shrug before picking his burger up and taking a bite out of it.

Joshua sat there thinking about what his father said for a few minutes while the man enjoyed his dinner. Everything that his father had said seemed to line up with what Joshua had seen in all of the short matches he had watched of Iron Claw in the battle arena. The man did seem rather stoic before matches, but whenever he got into a fight and got a hold of his opponent a bone chilling grin would always end up spreading across his face. That said enough about his personality on the battlefield, the fact that his father didn't seem to hate him, but instead just seemed annoyed by their past rivalry probably meant the man wasn't a bad person out of the arena. If that were the case then his father would be a bit more derogatory about his past rival.

Knowing the man didn't just have grappling to fall back on in a fight was also a big thing. Now Joshua knew to look out for elbows and knees when fighting the man as if he was up against a punisher instead of a technician or brawler. Even with the information he was able to get from his father he still had no clue about what Dmitry's unique job was. It was clear that he had one and wasn't just a martial artist. Martial artist had the capability of using aura in the smallest of amounts when they attacked, but whenever Joshua saw Dmitry attack he didn't see any signs of aura from him. What he did see was the aura or the mana of his opponents getting drained away whenever they were caught by him. Joshua wasn't sure if that was because he was choking them out, or for another reason.

"Have you been watching his matches throughout the tournament?" Joshua asked getting a nod from his father in return. "If that's the case have you noticed anything different about the way he fights from when you used to have to go up against him? Any little thing could help me figure out what his unique job might be based around, which would be a huge help."

His father seemed to think about things for a minute before deciding to respond. "Now that you bring it up there is one thing that I've noticed that he's been doing a little differently during these matches." His father said with a look of realization on his face. "Like I've told you before the man is a grappler and is amazing at that. Even in my time he was able to strangle his opponents or force them to give up before he could break their arms or legs. The one time I lost to him was because I was careless and let him get a good grip on my arm while I was in a bad position. Soon enough it was either give up or he'd break my arm. That match had me heated for a month, I couldn't…"

"Let's not get side tracked here dad." Joshua said getting his dad to stop before he could go off on a tangent.

"Right. The main thing I've noticed about his fights in this tournament is that he is taking a lot longer than usual to strangle his opponents. In the past if he got a hold of you then the match would always be over within seconds. Now he's literally been holding up people in the air and choking them out for a minute, when he could just as easily snap their neck. Seems to me like he's doing that for a reason other than to just show off." Joshua's father said before getting up and taking his plate to the sink. Soon enough Joshua could hear his father heading upstairs signaling an end to the conversation.

After a few minutes of thinking over what his father had said Joshua decided to head to his room and get some rest before the true harsh part of the tournament begins.