Island with No People

As Ren pulled into the dock with his ship, he felt immediately that something was weird with the island.

"Why is everything so quiet?" Muttered Ren as he observed his surroundings with a pensive gaze.

Usually, a medium-sized island like this would have a somewhat busy port yet for some reason, Ren couldn't find a single person selling their wares or chattering at the port.

Once he finished docking his ship, Ren jumped down to the dock and looked around with a serious look.

"Was this island abandoned? But I see signs of life everywhere…"

"Is something the matter?" Asked Artoria as she also jumped down from the boat and also looked around.

Ren picked up a doll that was in relatively good condition and started analyzing it.

"No Port on any active island is this quiet. Something must've happened here."

"What do you suspect?"

"I'm guessing that the people on this island abandoned the island or are hiding somewhere on the island. If you look at this doll, it has virtually no wear and tear which means it hasn't been a long time since the people left."

"Why would people leave a perfectly good island?" Asked Artoria with a subtle frown.

"This perfectly good island probably has a problem with it," answered Ren as he put the doll down and slowly unsheathed his sword. "Weapons out, Artoria."

Artoria held her wooden longsword and the two of them started to advance through the island while maintaining a wary posture.

As they cleared house after house that was empty with no life to be seen, things got even weirder and weirder.

Rein dipped his finger into a bowl of cold soup and tasted it before spitting it out.

"The soup is still good to eat. I don't know for sure if it's poisoned but I'm nearly positive that it's safe. It hasn't been long since it's been made."

"So where are the people then?" Asked Artoria as she poked a bed with her sword to see if anyone was hiding under the bed.

"I don't know, maybe they are further inland-"

Ren paused as his eyes widened before he disappeared in a flash. An instant later, a small blue fireball hit the wall causing a small explosion to destroy the wall.

Artoria let out a grunt as she used her wooden sword to cover herself from the debris caused by the explosion before rolling out of the house.

"Ren! Are you ok?"

Ren appeared next to Artoria with a flicker before letting out a frown. "I'm fine. Something was in the house it seems. I can't believe I missed it."

"There was something in the house!?"

Ren let out a grim nod. "Indeed. More specifically, it was under the bed."

The smoke in the house started to clear up as Ren and Artoria were given a clear view of the interior of the house.

From underneath the bed that Artoria was poking, came out a creature with two tails.

Its face was triangular with pointy ears and a sharp nose. Sharp white teeth were able to be seen from its jaw as it barred its teeth at Ren and Artoria. Its two tails started to swish back and forth as it intimidatingly glared at the two of them.

"It's a Kitsune," muttered Ren as he took on a combat stance.

"A Kitsune?" Asked Artoria with a confused look. "What is a Kitsune?"

"A monster fox that can shoot out fire from its mouth and tails. Very tricky to deal with," said Ren as he prepared to lunge forward. "You try to catch his attention while I'll do my best to stop its fireballs."

"Alright."

Ren flickered towards the Kitsune with his katana and tried to stab into its skin but the Kitsune snarled and simply used its tail to block the katana thrust. Using the force from the tail to propel himself up, Ren let go of his katana, letting it spin in the air, before pulling out two guns from within his black cloak.

Several bullets started spraying down from the sky forcing the Kitsune to cover its body with its tail.

Just as the rain of bullets came to a stop, the Kitsune prepared to launch itself toward Ren when a wooden longsword came out of nowhere and smacked it in the head.

The Kitsune let out a yelp of pain before turning its gaze towards Artoria who had slammed the edge of her longsword into the Kitsune. The Kitsune let out a snarl as it lunged out with its claw attempting to tear into Artoria's body.

However, Artoria got her sword into a defensive position in time causing the Kitsune's claws to clash against her wooden sword, pushing her back from the incredible force.

Artoria clenched her teeth before readying her stance once more. Seeing this, the kitsune breathed in before letting out a huge blue fireball toward Artoria.

Seeing the fireball, Artoria couldn't help but let out a wry smile. Blocking the fireball seemed to be a little bit too much for her.

Just as the fireball was about to reach Artoria, a figure flickered in front of her before reaching his hand up to the sky to grab something spinning before slashing down to cut the fireball in half.

Ren smiled at the Kitsune.

"That warm-up was pretty nice. How about we go for round two?"

The Kitsune glared at Ren and Artoria before letting out a growl. It then turned around and ran away out of the village and into the forest.