"Ruler of Blazing Flames," Izawa Shizue.
The moment she was summoned to another world, her fate was overturned, and from then on, she was able to grow faster than anyone else.
Not only because the masters born into her new fate were extraordinary, but because she herself longed to become stronger.
"...I want to be stronger."
To Shizu, her masters were figures of admiration and parental guardians, but at the same time, they were towering walls before her.
Walls so high and immense they seemed impossible to ever surpass.
As she grew stronger and stronger, she came to understand how the world saw them.
Humanity's greatest force, guardians of the West, the strongest [Hero], [Primordial Demons], and more...
Every one of her masters was a monster standing near the very peak.
There was no need to even mention their martial strength. Magic, intellect, honor—they had everything.
For three hundred years, they had been almost the only true [Hero Party], so perhaps that was only natural.
"...If I want to catch up to them, I have to become stronger."
By the time Shizu became an adult, the world had also come to acknowledge her as the fourth member of the [Hero Party], but she herself could not accept that evaluation.
Because she believed she was still far too lacking to be compared on equal footing with those three, who had protected the West for centuries.
"Master Adelio told me not to worry about it... but I can't do that."
She did not want to remain someone who was only protected.
Ever since the day he first saved her, she had thought it over in her heart again and again.
Rather than hiding quietly behind him, she wanted to move forward at the side of the one she loved, just as Chronoa and Ria did.
"Because... I'm Master's first disciple."
The driving force behind her abnormal rate of growth was very simple: love.
That was the reason, and that was everything.
Fwoooosh!!
"...Huh..."
After confirming the safety of the [Ogre] chieftain and Benimaru, I arrived at the battlefield where a massive blaze was surging skyward—and found a woman swinging her sword at the center of white flames.
Her face was hidden behind the [Conquering Mask], her black hair scattered like the night sky, her body wrapped in white fire.
She wielded her sword with a beauty worthy of the epithet [Sword Princess], trampling the [Orc]s as though she were dancing.
"...When did she grow that much...?"
Watching Shizu fight, I saw Chronoa from the past overlapping with her.
Chronoa from three hundred years ago, when she had single-handedly subdued Veldora in this great forest.
I could feel the back of that woman, famed as the strongest [Hero], in the Shizu before me now.
"She's still a [saint], but at this rate, she may already have surpassed even the [saint]s of the [Imperial Guard]..."
She probably could not beat the top-ranked Double-O Numbers yet, but the lower-ranked ones? She would likely defeat them without much difficulty.
"Maybe, later on..."
Fwaah...
"My, you look pretty shocked."
As I stayed absorbed in watching Shizu fight, Ria appeared beside me in a flash, wrapped in pure white magic power as she crossed through the white flames.
Judging by how naturally the flames meshed with her own magic power, that white fire really was the spell Ria had taught her.
"Other than the majin you fought, there were no signs of any other majin intruding. And I still can't detect any now, either."
Since Gelmud showed no sign of invading, it seemed she had simply set up a barrier and then come over to where Shizu was.
Even if Gelmud had tried to force his way in, there was no way a mere upper-ranking majin could break a [Devil Lord]'s barrier.
"...That spell—is it the one you've been teaching her for the last few years?"
"Hehe, correct. I modified the [Arts] I've been developing a little and taught it to her."
The [Arts] Ria had been developing: White Flare.
That supreme [Arts], completed by combining the Abyss Core with dark magic, was still unfinished—much like my Divine Break—because she did not yet possess an [Ultimate Skill].
Well, in the case of my Divine Break, it was not because of an [Ultimate Skill], but because after I passed part of the [Hero's Egg] to Shizu, the power of the [saint] had become a little unstable...
...Anyway.
"...She's become very strong. Later on... she might even stand shoulder to shoulder with Chronoa or me."
I did not say that lightly. I meant it.
I could clearly see enough potential in Shizu.
The potential for growth—growth that might one day reach [Catastrophe].
Shizu had that, and because of that, I did not regret passing the [Hero's Egg] on to her.
Because when the day came that the world learned I was a demon, she would be able to become the new guardian of the West in my place.
"Hehe, isn't it fascinating? Most humans eventually hit a wall once they've grown to a certain point, but a few, like that girl, possess the talent to surpass the limits of the human race itself. Even for us... [Primordial Demons], that's not something easily done."
Ria seemed to be thinking something similar to me. As she watched Shizu, she looked as if she were remembering someone else.
The shadow of Blanche—her first friend, and the imperial princess of the now-destroyed Kingdom of Silveria.
Both of them were hardworking, overflowing with talent, hated giving up, and saw her as both master and family, so it was not strange for Ria to be reminded of her.
"...Like you said, Shizu's growth is remarkable even compared to us."
Agreeing with Ria, I turned my gaze forward again.
Only a few minutes had passed since we started talking, but in that short time, the battle had already nearly reached its conclusion.
Fwaaaa...
The fierce flames that had been raging around Shizu gradually began to die down.
And in step with that, the presences of the [Orc]s were scattering away as well.
There was only one thing that could mean—
"Without our help, she defeated an army of two hundred thousand... all by herself."
—the victory of our disciple, Shizu.
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