[center][h2]Steven Yu[/h2][h3]??? — Dirt Road[/h3][/center]
Steven quietly nodded his head as Duncan instructed them—rather firmly—on how to proceed as the three of them approached the ongoing battle. There was a moment of silence as the young man took a deep breath before he moved to slowly unsheathe his blade.

One hand on the hilt, one on the scabbard. A slow, steady motion drawing the blade free from it's place at his side. The actions felt equal parts foreign and familiar to the kitsune as he readied the katana in front of himself, both hands firmly grasping at it as he watched the older man charge into the fray once they were finally noticed.

It had been one thing to see the carnage after the battle was well underway, though, and another entirely to see it play out in front of him. The brutality of the scene was difficult to look away from, and the whole thing looking like a scene out of a fantasy film or show made it difficult to stop.

Well, difficult until one of the other apparent bandits broke away after Duncan was very [i]visibly[/i] occupied by the melee in front of him to pursue them. It took a second for Steven to recognize the threat that was running towards them, and another still to ready himself for a fight.

"Damn, not even half a day and I've got to fight for my life. Would it have killed someone to drop us somewhere I could learn to swing a sword first?" he complained under his breath as the enemy—knife ready to stab him in the face—charged straight ahead.

If there was anything he had learned from his time playing fighting games, though, it was that distance was king in melee like then. Sure, it would be [i]more[/i] than an issue if the enemy got in close enough to stab him, but his katana more than made up for that so long as he could keep the enemy from getting closer. In theory, at least.

Without any sort of formalized stance or training, though, the best that Steven could do was mimic the way that people fought in those games. It was by no means a [i]practical[/i] way or fighting, but he would be damned either way if he didn't try to fight either way; that went double for flailing about with no sense on how to fight proper. If anything, that only meant that he'd be likely to die [i]faster[/i].

Though he had maintained his stance as the enemy approached, the bandit quickly found himself caught off-guard as Steven took a brief step forward and cleaved downwards with his blade. The speed at which he did so forced the man to parry with his dagger, and Steven's choice to follow through with the attack rather than pull back forced the bandit onto one knee before they successfully deflected the blow.

From one slash came another, though, and the young man wasted no time in rotating the blade around to allow for him to return with another slash. This one, the bandit attempted to simply dodge by ducking onto the ground.

Unfortunately for him, though, Steven had no intention of playing by any sort of "rules" of combat when there were lives on the line. Once the bandit found himself prone for a moment after dodging, the kitsune closed the distance ever so slightly and, with all the disrespect of a street brawler, kicked a bunch of dirt into the bandit's face.

Left bereft of sight, the bandit began to flail about, screaming profanities at Steven before the kitsune took a moment to circle around his opponent and raised his sword as he prepared to land a more decisive blow.

The thought of taking a life lingered a bit longer than he would have preferred, but ultimately the wish to survive took precedence over the desire for his hands to remain clean. After taking a deep breath, Steven drew back once again and before slashing clear through the body of the bandit, his sword leaving a gaping wound as it split flesh and bone in turn.

"...You okay back there?" he asked as he flicked the blood and entrails of the first life he had taken off of his sword. "By the looks of things, I don't think I need to jump in to help our knight errant over there, but..."

[@Raineh Daze][@Sir Lurksalot]