Raijin stood calmly as the men proceeded to surround him hoping to box him in.  He was all too familiar with being surrounded from warding away the occasional bandits.  The only thing that caused him worry was how strong their suits and weapons appeared.  He ,Of course, also had a sword at his disposal bit it was in far worse condition and this made him a bit nervous.

    "I'll just have to beat them with as little use of the old girl as possible."  He thought to himself.

    "This is your last warning you hideous abomination!"  One of the mob shouted to him.  Raijin just reached for his sword.  This was a signal of hostility to the group forcing one to rush in at him.  He reacted by throwing his arms up in a cross to block the man's arm at the wrist. His ears twitched as he heard the battle cry of the man's comrade then he grabbed his previous attacker's arm and followed up with an acrobatic feat of leaping into the air using the side of his foot to strike under the helmet knocking it off with a cartwheel bending his hostage's arm behind his head pushing him toward the crowd upon landing.  The kick to the helmet caused a twinge of pain to surge through his foot making him cringe for a moment allowing another of the mob to blind side him with a punch knocking Raijin further of his balance.  This allowed an opening for the other men to begin their assault on the Lion. The girls stayed hidden inside the hut listening to the sounds of the blows being landed on the cat's body mixed with his cries of pain.  The numbers were just too much for him to handle alone.

    "I can't let this go on. I can't let him continue to suffer in for my sake."  The unknown girl said to Shura as she peaked at the beating.

    "I don't like it either but there is just to many..." Shura spoke softly "You wait here and if it gets too bad, run."  She walked over to a small table and lifted off the top picking up a fan held together by the same material as the men's suits.  Equipped with her fan she stepped from the hut and shouted to the men to gain their attention and kicked a near by rock into the closest head.

    "Who dares to aid this creature!?" The man she pelted with the rock turned to face her.  He traced over the back of his helmet feeling quite a dent.

    "Release my friend at once! You have no right to attack a man defending his home." She kicked another rock at the man who ducked it letting it fly into the one who's helmet was gone knocking him unconscious. This made all the men direct their attention to her.

    "What strength her legs hold..." One of them stated

    "You forget she's a beast just as this feline." another spoke out as he advanced toward Shura.

Incidentally this was just the leverage Raijin needed to power the other two men off of him.  He quickly scurried away to get to his feet and drew his sword that was badly worn from use as an everyday tool.

    "Ok...Kitty is pissed." Raijin growled ferociously at the intruders  barreling at the ones that held him down slamming his arms into their throats flipping them over.  The two men with their direct attention as Shura glanced at Raijin giving Shura the opportunity an slam her legs into one of their backs knocking him flat on his face.  His partner swung his blade at Shura's head who ducked him and backed away to meet with a thrust of the same blade.  Shura opened her fan letting the sword slip through an opening near the handle of the fan which she quickly closed, twisted and along with the turn she lept horizontally slamming her thighs into his skull so she sat on his head as they landed.  She made sure to keep his arm caught in the awkward position she had it locked in due to her fans grip on his sword.  Raijin now in a clash of blades with the other two men staved them off long enough to find a passage through their barrage and rolled under them causing the men to slam their blades into a tree.  The lion quickly took advantage by grabbing their helmets and crashing their heads into each others with all his strength.  Only one remained after picking himself up from the kick Shura gave him.  He looked around and noticed that all but he had been defeated.  He started to panic as Raijin stomped over to him and lifted him into the air.

    "See, you hurt me. Do you know what a wounded lion is capable of?" He snarled with each word.  The man lashed out in fear gripping one of Raijin's arms and digging the edge of his blade into the other forcing the cat to release him. The last intruder proceeded to run to the forest but suddenly stopped.  A loud clip-clop was heard slowly making its way to them until a much larger man on a dark brown stallion made his way to the scene of the battle.  He slowly turned his head scanning over the area then directed his attention to the last steel clad warrior.

    "Sir Andrew. Tell me, What's become of your fellow knights? Why do they lay before me defeated by these disgusting creations of nature?" The much larger man's voiced boomed over them.

    "Sir Verigan! These beast are exceptionally strong and skilled to be unintelligent beings." He spoke with much respect to what Shura had read from books she found on the merchant road to be the knights superior.

    "Well, Look at that.  You're a big fella ain't ya?" Raijin spoke out to Verigan.

    "Hold your tongue creature.  You are unfit to speak to me until i have spoken to you.  Now tell me why have you attacked my men? You can speak human tongue so you are not as stupid as you appear. You should have sense enough to know that any wild creature that attacks a human is put down without hesitation, But i am a noble man.  I will give you a chance to explain yourself to me."  Verigan's eyes held a cold stare filled with an evil aura.  The feeling they gave off sent a chill through both Raijin and Shura.

    "These men barged into our home. They threatened me and a visitor of ours when i asked them to leave. We did nothing to them." Raijin explained, "We have never attacked humans without it being for our own safety. We are not aggressive beings."

    "Sir Verigan that beast lies! He interfered with our mission to capture the escapee!" Andrew hurriedly stated.  This made Verigan glare at Raijin with maliciousness.

    "So you hide the only child of the great King Schaffer? How dare you make a hostage of royalty." Verigan grabbed his shield and axe from his steed and held them at a battle ready position.  "Raise your weapon and prepare for battle!"

    "Fine by me.  I'm getting sick of you anyway!" Raijin jumped high into the air and came crashing down hopping he could knock Verigan of his steed with one strike. Verigan thrusted his shield swiftly up into Raijin's sword making it shatter on the diamond hard surface, the shards ricocheting into his chest, arms and face some slicing through his flesh while other jabbed into him. Raijin stared in shock from the impact and the pain of Verigan's counter he didn't notice the lance heading straight for his heart...