Strongest Noble's Daughter Uses Water Magic

Feral Crossbreed in the Frost

Many years ago, before crossbreeds were eventually seen as equals to humans, they were seen as monsters, quite like purebreds were today. There were several reasons for such belief. Some say it was because of their animal characteristics. Some say it was because they were physically stronger than humans. Some say it was because of their non-pure elemental magic. While such things were true, there was one big reason as to why crossbreeds were deemed as monsters way back when. 

Feral State. A f*******n mode exclusive to crossbreeds. If at any point, a crossbreed experiences an overwhelming wave of negative emotions, their beast blood will react and boost their strengths by five times their usual amount. In the process, however, it also plagues their mind, turning the crossbreeds into mindless beasts, whose only purpose is to kill those that caused such negative emotions. Any who got caught in the crossfire will be met the same fate.

While this mode was one that crossbreeds rarely get into, just the fact that they have such a dangerous mode was enough to label them as monsters back then.

Never did I ever think I would witness a Feral Crossbreed before me, especially on school grounds. For him to resort to such a mode, I could only imagine what sort of pain the i***t nobles had put him through.

"Hey, it's okay. There's nothing to be afraid of now," I tried to assure him.

Unfortunately, as stated in books about their mentality, the crossbreed did not seem to register what I said, and instead pounced at me once more. 

"Water Barrier!" A magic circle appeared on my hand, and I summoned more water in front of me, enough to form a bubble, and caught the guy in it. Thankfully, due to the cold, I hardly feel the mana flowing through my body, thus will not be getting a panic attack.

With the caught crossbreed, he struggled to free himself from the watery prison, as it slowly froze from the cold air around us. As he struggled, I noticed the storm slowly starting to die down. Whether I should be relieved or not is up in the air, for once the cold leaves, the mana feel will return, and I...

"Calm down!" I shouted. "It's okay now! Nothing and no one is going to hurt you. Just calm down! You can hear me, right?"

Rather than even stopping for a moment, the crossbreed let out growls and snarls, struggling around in the water to escape. Watching him do so, however, I started seeing something else in him, started seeing my past self struggling in the waters. My arms may be cold, but seeing him struggle as I had in my last moments... I felt my magic starting to go out of control. I panicked at this and tried to get it under control. Unfortunately, as I kept staring at the crossbreed, I kept seeing my past self, and it was making it that much harder for me to concentrate.

What came next, though, was the real surprise. Something that should've been impossible for crossbreeds to do, especially in their Feral State. No... Even if they were not in that state, it should've been impossible for them anyway, for a light blue magic circle appeared on the crossbreed's claws, and he swiped forward, freezing a part of the Water Barrier. The sight of this broke me out of my panic, as the crossbreed swung a fist at the newly made ice, and broke out of the hold.

I hastily moved away from the crossbreed's path, as he landed on the floor behind me once more. The moment he landed, a light blue magic circle appeared under him, and a powerful blizzard blew, blinding me, as well as created another snow storm in the training field.

I lowered my arms and tried to locate the crossbreed in the storm, all while wondering how he was able to use an elemental magic. Normally, crossbreeds are incapable of using elemental magic. Sure, they could use support magic and neutral types of magic, but this crossbreed used Ice Magic. More so, he used it while he was in his Feral State. 

 As I searched around, I heard more screams of terror around me, and realized the crossbreed had resumed his assault on the people who terrorized him. No matter what these nobles did to him, however egotistical and arrogant they may be, they did not deserve to die such a petty death.

I closed my eyes and concentrated on their mana. I may not be able to see in this blizzard, but I could still sense their mana. At least... that was what I had thought, when I overlooked one thing. The blizzard was casted by magic; as such, it was filled with mana, and thus made it hard to detect the other students, especially the feral crossbreed. The only reason why I was able to sense him before was because the storm had already gone on for quite a while, and thus the amount of mana used had dispersed from the storm. 

I shivered when I felt the cold suddenly get to me, and rubbed my arms to gather some warmth. I could use Water Barrier to protect myself from the cold and from the feral crossbreed's attacks, but in doing so, with this raging storm, the water will freeze, and I would end up trapped in my own spell. Still, I should at least cover my blind spot.

"Water Barrier!" Upon summoning a blue magic circle, I had summoned forth a wall of water behind me, and had it curved to cover my sides. 

Just as I did so, not only did the cold freeze the water, but something struck newly formed ice wall. I turned and saw that it was the feral crossbreed who struck it with a s***h, before hastily moving away from the wall and out of my sight. My eyes then widened at the action, until I heard more screams in the storm, prompting my legs to move in an attempt to chase after the crossbreed, when I heard another scream from elsewhere within and stopped in my tracks. 

I knew running around will lead me nowhere, not when the feral crossbreed was constantly on the move. Likewise, however, same could be said for standing around. I tried getting a sense of the crossbreed’s mana, hoping that I got a better sense of where he was this time. Thankfully, the mana in the storm was starting to dissipate, making it somewhat easier to sense where the other students were, especially the moving crossbreed. 

With the target now in my sight, I prepared a Water Bullet to at least immobilize him, I sensed him suddenly rushing towards me. I quickly tumbled to the side, narrowly avoiding his pounce, as he landed before me. I cautiously looked up, and noticed the feral crossbreed was looking around with a low growl. Rather than saying he was searching for his prey, it seemed more like he was being cautious. No… More than just being cautious. The way he was acting? I recognized it years ago, back when Mindy started to live with me. Following it up with my memory of the condition in a crossbreed going into their Feral State, I finally realized what was really happening. 

He was scared. Scared of the bullies who tormented him to that mode. His beast blood acted on that fear, causing him to go into that form as a defense mechanism. As for the storm? With how it was coated in mana, I imagine it was not just a spell that hides anyone’s mana signature, but also helps him locate any he deems a threat, especially if they dare use a spell within his domain. 

Now that I realized the truth behind his actions, I slowly got up and used my magic to cloak my body in water, which slowly turned to ice from the cold. As expected, the feral crossbreed turned my way and came at me with his claws. Unlike before, I stood still and took the full force of his claw attack. 

I held back a scream in pain. While I did have the ice armor on me, a crossbreed in his Feral State was still ridiculously strong, especially when he broke through my armor and dug his claws into my shoulder. I didn’t turn away, though; I couldn't turn away. Instead, I reached out to the crossbreed, and placed a gentle hand on his head. 

“It’s okay, now,” I spoke, swallowing down some blood that tried to rise up in my throat. “It’s fine. The bad guys are all down. You don’t have to be scared anymore. Everything is okay now. That’s why… Come back to your senses.” 

The crossbreed widened his eyes as I spoke, his slit, beastly pupils slowly turning into that of a human’s rounded one. The snarling expression on his face slowly relaxed somewhat, his fangs slowly changing into that of normal teeth, and I saw the claws on his free hand slowly turning back to normal nails.

As his humanity slowly returned to him, the crossbreed seemed to have realized what he had done, as tears started to form in his eyes, filled with grief and regret.

“I-I’m sorry… I’m so sorry… I didn’t mean to…” he stuttered out.

His broken voice with his saddened expression reminded me so much of Mindy when she was still shy around me. I only gentle rubbed his head in comfort. “It’s fine. You were just scared, that’s all. Fear makes you do that,” I said, as the storm started to fade away.