Duo Lon

Duo Lon (Hánzi: 堕瓏; Pinyin: Duò Lóng; Japanese: ) is a video game character in The King of Fighters series, who made his first appearance in The King of Fighters 2003 as a member of the year's Hero Team. His official nickname is The Silent Assassin.

Development
He is the first male character from The Flying Brigands to resemble a handsome man, and the first to sport an ornate design. His overall look was based on the title character from the anime Vampire Hunter D. A subtly embroidered dragon is depicted on his back; according to supervising designer Falcoon, it is a detailed character that follows the steady work of traditional craftsmen with the scales drawn one at a time, but is impossible to discern in prints.

Story
He is a member of the assassin group, the Hizoku clan, and the half-brother to Xiao Lon. As the son of the clan's leader, he is known as a "prince" and is the eldest of Ron's sons. Like his brothers, he left the village in his youth to train and perfect his art.

After Ron's betrayal, his reputation with the remaining members declined as he was labeled "that traitor's son". Hoping to hunt down the clan's traitor, he partakes in several jobs as an assassin. As he does so, Ash Crimson mysteriously appears before him and makes his acquaintance. Through Ash, Duo Lon also meets Shen Woo. Liking their company enough to be friendly with them, he agrees to enter the 2003 tournament with them, but disappears when he senses Ron's presence. After discovering Ash's true objectives, he teams up with Elisabeth Blanctorche and Benimaru Nikaido to punish his former teammate.

Although he is still dedicated in his mission to hunt Ron, he is curious about Ash's intentions and respectfully parts ways with Benimaru. He meets up with Shen Woo to try to discover anything regarding their former teammate's whereabouts. At a dead end with his search, he remembers that Elisabeth had some connection with Ash and they work together to find her. In their team's ending, both he and Shen Woo respectively give Elisabeth time to mourn over Ash's "death".

Personality
In spite of being a Hizoku assassin, Duo Lon is calm and has a good heart. He also has a strict sense of justice, as shown when he turned on Ash and by his mission to kill his own father. He feels estranged from his father and often does not address him as his parent, preferring to call him "that man" or "Ron". Although he considers Luan his good friend from childhood, their relationship became strained with Ron's betrayal.

Abilities

 * Necromancy - Duo Lon has powers related to death.
 * Necromantic Teleportation - Duo Lon can decompose his own body and recompose it somewhere else.
 * Necromantic Limb Teleportation - Duo Lon can pierce the ground with his legs and make them appear somewhere else.
 * Summon Spirit - Duo Lon can summon spirits from the netherworld.
 * Spirit Bomb - Duo Lon can create a big conglomeration of spirits and hurl it at the enemy.
 * Shadow - Duo Lon can create a shadow of himself out of a fragment of his soul, which repeats every movement he does with physical consequences.
 * Stretch limbs - Duo Lon can stretch his arms and legs to unknown lengths.
 * Translocation - Duo Lon can move quickly to somewhere nearby.

Fighting style
His fighting style is probably a different Kung Fu style, mostly likely the Snake style, which can be seen in his Sutemi Juuryuu (Self-Discard Following Dragon) technique. It also emphasizes his necromantic abilities in moves like his Juon Shikon (Cursed Grudge Dead Soul), and Duo Lon like Lin also uses the Benpatsuken (Pigtail Fist) technique. It is unknown if his foot can actually phase through surfaces, or if it is just an apparition.

In The King of Fighters XII and XIII, his moveset is drastically reduced, consisting mostly of limb stretching abilities and teleporting. The inputs for most of his special moves are also unorthodox for KOF. He is the only member of the KOF 2003 Hero Team to not retain his LDM.

Music

 * Splendid Evil - The King of Fighters 2003
 * Queen - The King of Fighters XI, The King of Fighters XIII (when the music is set to "Type B", console version only)
 * Each Promise - The King of Fighters XIII

Voice actors

 * Tsunehito Maruo - The King of Fighters 2003~present
 * Josh Keller - The King of Fighters XII (English voice)

Trivia

 * Elisabeth, Benimaru and Duo Lon were the winners of The King of Fighters XI tournament. This was confirmed in Ash Crimson's Team Story in The King of Fighters XIII.