"And so you stand alone," said Lunar Princess Hyra. "Your friends -"

And then the flash powder under your feet ignites and even as you blink she's crashing down on you from above, blade in hand. 

You've never seen Hyra [i]fight[/i] before. She's trained, she's schemed, she's shown off, she's revealed endless tricks from the sleeves of her kimono - but sometimes the most tricky move a trickster can pull is fight fair. After that explosive opening sets you off balance you're on guard against every snap of fingers, every sway and false sign, but what confronts you in moment after moment is simply devastatingly good conventional swordplay. She darts to the left so fast that you half believe she might become a wolf and sweep you from your feet but she arrests her momentum and turns it into a direct thrust. She slashes her free hand and silver powder spills from it, but as you brace for the flash her true move is to swing with so much raw strength into your parry that it threatens to knock your blade from your hand. This! And then this! And finishing like this! [i]Again![/i]

And then she's past you, back turned, wolfish tail wagging beneath the moonlight and continuing her monologue like she never stopped. "- have fallen to my conquering army already, and there is far worse still to come. I will send my armada to the isle of the foxes and release all those imprisoned there. The land will -" she tenses again, like she's intending to interrupt her monologue for another shock offensive, but then lets the moment pass. "- tremble before its new fluffy overlords, and in a landscape of chaos mine shall be the only law."

She turns to raise her blade and - shnk! From behind you another! Cyanis stands with foxish wickedness, blade drawn, encircling you. Behind her the Pyre has slumped, staring into the hypnotic candle - the same that was used to control Rose from the River in months past. 

Left and right, front and backwards, wicked tails twist and sway. And who are you, Princess Chen, to stop them?