3D POV :
Matt was sent flying into the wall breaking parts of it due to the absurd strength behind that kick.
A dust cloud covered the place where he had fallen, hidding his current state.
The spectators stayed silent, waiting for the results of this match to be confirmed.
Astrid on the other hand wanted to make sure that her hubby was okay, she knew that a strike from a strong demi-human in a berserk state like her could be deadly.
The smokescreen faded revealing… nothing.
There was nothing but rubble from the walls at that spot. Everyone was now looking around thinking that he must have somehow slipped away from sight like he often did during his fights but there was no sign of Matt anywhere in the arena.
Astrid started to have black thoughts and murmured "D-did I… just k-kill my hubby? Did he run away from me? Is he gone… forever? ₦Ø ₦Ø ₦Ø ₦Ø ₦Ø !"
Bloodlust could be felt by her friends standing nearby while the other bystanders just thought that she was simply exhausted from the fight.
Grimm was the first to notice the problem. Since he knew about the relationship between Astrid and Matt, and about a piece of information he heard from his friend Germul about Astrid's berserker training, he decided to activate a special function that was recently added to the small coliseum.
Pulling on a lever next to him made long sheets of cloth to cover the metallic dome and thus the arena below. It was originally made for combatants to fight under shade or in near darkness but it could also be used to hide his students' current situation.
"I am sorry to conclude this event in such an abrupt way but the winner of this year's tournament doesn't feel very well after her fight. Let's toast to her victory during tomorrow's party!
And don't forget that this year's batch of newborns will soon be brought to the village by elder Hilse. So let's prepare for their arrival !"
The spectators were a little bit disappointed by this anticlimactic ending but still decided that the fights had been worth it. Everyone left leaving only Grimm to hastily rush down into the arena and check on Astrid. But what he saw shocked even him.
The other youngsters were laying on the ground having probably fainted due to the bloodlust. Astrid was kneeling in the middle of the now dark arena, grasping the sand on the floor and breathing very roughly. The shocking part however was that her hands and forearm now looked more like claws covered in white silvery fur that seemed both smooth and sharp.
This fur strangely moved as if a breeze was flowing through it and slowly spread towards her shoulders… and her heart.
"How? How can she enter a complete stage with her spirit ? Even before her coming of age ceremony and having ever trained or learned about her spirit !?", Grimm was baffled by the turn of events, "This isn't what's important right now! I need to find a way to stop her from losing control."
"What will happen if she does?" a voice sounded out from next to him, but he was sure there was no one there.
"Who are… Wait that voice, Matt ? Where are you ?"
"This… I don't really know. I'm… invisible I guess ? I have had those weird scales on me since I came to myself on the ground and then I saw Astrid… That's not the priority here ! What will happen if Astrid loses control ?" Matt's panicked voice came from nowhere but right next to Grimm at the same time, it was a really strange feeling to him.
"She's undergoing a spirit bonding, this is an event that happens to warriors or sages that have transcended physically or mentally and are met with a very difficult situation. But this doesn't make sense her spirit is so strong that it is already consuming her, she's-she's-"
"I don't care about that ! How do we help her in that transcending bullshit !" Matt was furious, he had seen his teacher stay calm even after taking on his entire generation in a brawl but now that an urgent and outlandish incident happened he was completely hopeless.
"She needs to be calm. If she bonds with her spirit with such bloodlust she will turn into a monstrosity…
I don't think I will be useful for that, she would probably either get hurt if I restrain her or try to kill me if I approach her without seeing her as a threat. We can also get an elder to use sleeping dew on her but I am not sure if it'll work."
"I'll calm her down then. Go get an elder with that potion, NOW !" Matt's shouts were now filled with an oppressive aura that made Grimm, a stronger warrior, immediately follow his orders.
Now alone, Matt approached Astrid that was still murmuring and quietly laughing to herself maniacally.
"₥₳₮₮, ₥₳₮₮ ! ⱧłⱧłⱧłⱧ₳Ⱨ₳Ⱨ₳Ⱨ !"
He didn't know what to say so he just spoke his mind.
"I'm here now. Don't worry, didn't I promise you ? That I would never leave you… Never."
She lifted her eyes to look around "Hubby ? HUBBY !? " She kept looking around frantically but found no one around her.
"Shhhh, eveythings alright.", a strange blurr, luster and prisms of color appeared in mid air in front of her. This strange phenomenon continued until a face bordered by black purplish scales appeared, seemingly floating in mid air.
"I'm here and I will never, ever, leave you. Even if you cannot see me. "
Astrid was now crying, her fur had stopped spreading after having reached and covered her shoulder blades. Her bloodlust also disappeared making her now look like a cute cosplayer with her animal arms and small wolf ears on her head.
Matt's hands, which were slowly starting to appear like the rest of his body, held Astrids cheeks and pulled her in closer for a kiss. It seemed as if hours went by until they finally separated.
"Are you calm now ?"
"Mh, I'm alright... Thank you."
Grimm came back with an elder a little while after Astrid had calmed down.
Upon entering the arena he was able to witness the sight of a wolf girl being hugged by a man partially covered with dark scales and thin purple tentacles that resembled floating strings.
"Y-you… both underwent spirit bonding but-" Grimm seemed to have broken down because of the inconceivable odds of having two people reach something that was seen as impossible and had never happened in their clan's history.
The elder next to him sighed "So, everything seems to be okay. Two spirit masters at such a young age… this must be a sign from the gods… Anyways, don't worry you can rest now, we will wake you up for the ceremony." Hislast words were not directed at Grimm next to him but at Matt that was tightly hugging Astrid.
As if finally released of an invisible burden, both lovers quickly closed their eyes and collapsed on the floor, still tightly clinging to one another.
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Hey there, I'm not posting this in the chapters comment to make sure everyone that reads my story can understand where I am going.
I am going to give the previous chapters some more details, descriptions and changes to make the next part of the story more consistent and basicaly increase the writing quality.
I will also change Astrid's yandere obcession to just love but I am not giving up on making her obsessed with MC so she will progressively become a yandere.
The "dome training arc" will soon be over so you can expect more action and adventure going forward.
I currently have a lot of exams but you can expect me to post two chapters every week again soon.
Thanks for reading and see you next week :p