Arthur watched as the two prepared to attack however his eyes looked at the one behind them, he could see that they were planning something and that the two were merely a distraction, he couldn't guess what they were planning however he did not plan to let it succeed.
Gus and Leo lunged at him, both at the same time. However, Leo was the first to reach him, and the thief started off with a forward thrust using his right hand dagger.
Arthur was going to dodge just as he did before. However, he noticed that Leo was moving faster than before. His dagger had reached his neck quicker, and instead of dodging, it forced him to parry the attack.
He used his sheathed blade to parry the attack by striking the hand that held the dagger to side, however while his attention was on Leo, Gus had made it to his right flank and threw a powerful punch aiming for the ribs.
He saw the oncoming attack from Gus. However, Leo had also launched his own follow-up slash right after his thrust was parried.
Dodging to the left to avoid Gus's punch would put him in the path of Leo's slash, coming from the left.
Of course, he could step back and dodge both. However, that would mean he gave them ground and that he was backed into a corner.
This meant that they'll push forward, forcing him to dodge back till he reached the door of his house, and that would mean they cornered him, thus making it difficult to evade their attacks
Not only that but Esme was in the house, he would rather she not get startled by his back hitting the door and scare her, he also did not want his opponents to get so close to his home anymore than they already have.
That last part was mostly about his pride. He wasn't about to be pushed back into a corner by lowly grunts, who don't even qualify as henchmen.
Seeing the coming attacks, Arthur raised his leg, and let Gus, strike the hard part of his knee, he noted the incredible force of the punch however he took it and then kicked Gus on the chest and sent him tumbling
While doing that, he also blocked the oncoming slash from Leo using his sheathed sword before letting go of the blade and punching Leo on the face, sending him stumbling back dazed.
Arthur then quickly caught his sword by the sheathed blade before it landed on the ground, he then took a glance at their third member, the one that had yet to join the fight and saw that he had disappeared.
'What!! Where did he go?!'
Darren had disappeared from his sight, Gus and Leo had served a decent enough distraction and allowed their comrade to slip into the darkness of the night and vanish.
'Shit! Gotta finish this'
He rushed towards Gus. He figured he was their power house. The power behind Gus's earlier punch told Arthur that much. So he quickly lunged at him, aiming to knock him out in a second before the dazed Leo could recover
SHIINK!
The sound of a sword being unsheathed reached Arthur's ears, except it wasn't him unsheathing his blade but someone else doing that for him.
Arthur had made the mistake of holding his katana by its sheathed blade when he caught it earlier, meaning that someone could tug on its pommel just slightly and cause it to slip out and that was exactly what Darren had done.
His earings of silence made it so his movement was silent, and with his boots of wind, he could leap high and run like the wind. Those to two items made him fast and silent
Just as when Gus and Leo were engaging, he moved as well, and he hid on the side of the house and when the opportunity of Arthur who had turned his back at Leo presented itself.
Darren ran full sprint towards him and grabbed the hilt of his sword, pulled it, and it slid off its sheath without resistance.
Arthur turned as soon as he heard his sword unsheathed; however, using the [boots of wind], Darren leaped back several meters with the sword in hand, successfully removing the sword from the swordsman.
Arthur stopped in his tracks and looked at his now empty sheath.
"Clever"
He praised, mildly impressed by their strategy. He even had a small impressed smile on his face.
"What's a swordsman without his sword? a man"
Leo uttered as he wiped off saliva from his chin. The punch from Arthur caused some fluids to spill out his mouth.
"A man is still a dangerous creature, you know"
Arthur responded, if they thought he was defenseless without his weapon, then they had another thing coming.
"If that's true, then three men are more dangerous than one"
Darren countered before he tossed the sword at Leo, who sheathed his daggers and caught the katana and spun it around by its hilt.
"Oooh its singled edged. That's something you don't see everyday"
Leo praised while looking over the sword. He felt its light weight, looked at its sharp edge, and traced its bend with his finger. While he was proficient in wielding daggers, he was also decent at wielding the sword, making him the most suitable amongst the three to wield it.
"Now that we have your sword, the advantage is on us. Is it wise to continue this?"
Gus spoke, an attempt at making Arthur see reason and stop fighting against them, and his words were true. By all accounts, they have the numbers advantage and have a weapon with greater reach, the longer the fight goes on the more Arthur will be backed into a corner, it would be better to just give up and surrender.
"I have a wife to protect, and besides, it's not like yall are like that for real"
Arthur said, once again slipping into his old way of speaking, one could say that way of speaking ensured his sense of self, a subconscious desire to not forget his old world
While the three were confused by his verbiage, he moved. His speed went beyond what the naked eye could perceive.
The first he reached was Gus, Arthur had moved so fast that Gus had little time to react, only being able to look in surprise before he suffered a devastating punch to his gut.
BAM!!
Arthur's powerful fist sunk into his stomach, with such devastating force, Gus spewed out wads of saliva and what followed was another punch this time to the jaw, one that rattled his brain and caused everything to go dark.
Thud!
Like a sack of potatoes, Gus dropped to the floor, unconscious. However, Leo had already moved, already going for a sword slash at Arthur.
Unfortunately the young man was not fast enough, or rather, Arthur was too fast for him, his speed gave him enough leeway to turn and to face Leo before raising his arm almost to block the sword.
The oncoming slash was a typical sword swing, with its path and trajectory being diagonal, if Arthur hadn't turned or wasn't fast enough the blade would have cut his right shoulder blade and went down to the left side of his waist.
Luckily, Arthur was fast enough, and thus, he managed to do something, something that many would consider stupid and dangerous. Using his bare hands, he grabbed the blade, stopping the swing mid-air.
CLINK!
The air became still, and everyone stopped moving, Leo opened his eyes wide in disbelief, and Darren let out an intelligible gabble of noise that told he too was in disbelief at what he saw.
Arthur had just stopped a sword swing with his bare hands, shocking the two men and stunning them into silence.
Under normal circumstances, the Katana would cut straight through his arm and split it in half, however Arthur was an Explorer, and that made him an exceptional human being with skin hard enough to easily withstand attacks from bladed weapons.
Of course this entirely depends on the strength used to swing that bladed weapon, if it was another Explorer, he would get his arms cut off if he attempted to grab the blade without using one of his magic skills, like he did just now.
However, low-level thugs did not have the strength necessary to swing a blade with enough strength to harm him. Essentially, this entire fight had been a farce, they never had a chance harming him at all. Of course, if they had a powerful item with them, then perhaps it would have been possible, but they did not have such items.
"Wha–"
Leo could only get half a word in before he was pulled forward by Arthur tugging on the sword he held. Arthur then grabbed him by the collar and delivered a mean headbutt to the forehead, and instantly knocked his opponent out.
"Sleepy night night"
He said as Leo dropped to the floor in a similar fashion to Gus, Arthur then took the sword off the thief's hands and picked up his sheathe that he had dropped before he sheathed his weapon
"If your boss wants to intimidate me, he'll have to do better than this"
He said to the only opponent left. However, Arthur had no plan to fight him. Instead, he grabbed both Leo and Gus before tossing them out his yard like bags of garbage