Battle of Good and Evil

Battle of Good and Evil (聖邪決戦) is the twentieth episode of The Rising of the Shield Hero anime.

Synopsis
Naofumi and gang stay on the attack despite being trapped in the Pope's Great Cathedral, but its sacred subspace nullifies his Curse Shield, leaving them one step short. Naofumi turns to another, newly unlocked Curse Shield, but the dragon's wrath threatens to swallow his mind whole. (crunchyroll)

Plot
At her military camp, Queen Mirellia dons her royal armor in preparation to defeat the traitorous Biscas T. Balmus and orders her knights to move where Naofumi and Melty are currently battling, hoping they survive long enough for her to arrive.

Meanwhile, the Legendary Heroes continue to fruitlessly attack the pope, Ren and Itsuki attack with Thunderbolt Slash and Thunder Shot respectively. Naofumi orders Raphtalia and Filo to do their respective attacks against the Pope, who is being continuously healed by Zweite Heal.

Naofumi and Motoyasu then charge, while mounted on Filo, towards the Pope while Melty and Malty repel the ranged attacks. Naofumi asks Motoyasu to attack him once they get near the target while having the Shield morphed into the Wrath Shield, but Pope easily dispels the flames that spew from the Shield. He then explains that curses are useless inside the Cathedral due to its Holy nature. The Pope then fires a wind-based shot against the Heroes and tells his bishop to invoke more prayers from the devotees. With a word of warning, the bishop says the devotees may die due to running out of mana which is quickly refuted by the Pope, proclaiming that dying as martyrs in a holy battle against the "Devil Shield" is the greatest honor for a disciple of the Church.

The parties are disgusted at the Pope's utter lack of sympathy towards his own followers as he keeps building up mana towards the top of the cathedral, which Melty states would have disastrous consequences if it completes. Motoyasu then asks Naofumi if his Shield can handle the attack, though the other Heroes aren't still making better use of their own weapons. Detecting Naofumi’s slight irritation, the Wrath Shield's dark influence tries to tempt Naofumi, remembering Fitoria's advice of not using it anymore, but Naofumi activates the Wrath Shield as a last desperate measure. In response to the Wrath Shield’s activation once more, the Zombie Dragon tries to consume Naofumi’s consciousness, assaulting him with images of all injustice and humiliation Naofumi had been facing since his arrival. Consumed by his hatred, Naofumi is then enveloped by the Dragon's vengeful cursed flames, much to the horror of everyone.

Driven by hate, Naofumi vows to burn everything down, but Raphtalia, Filo, and Melty work together to remind Naofumi of the positive things that have happened since his betrayal, and the depths of their relationship. Vowing to stand by him, Naofumi was able to escape the Dragon’s influence. Realizing the situation, Naofumi requests aid from the other Heroes in order to stop the pending attack, much to their surprise.

With the assistance of the other heroes and their parties as well as his own, Naofumi manages to block the Pope's most powerful attack and lectures the Pope for excessively draining mana from his devotees and jeopardizing their lives. The heroes then launch their counter-attack; Raphtalia distracts the Pope so Ren can strike with a stealthy Meteor Sword blow. Malty powers up Motoyasu, who is unhappy for obeying Naofumi's orders, attacks with the Air Strike Javelin, piercing through the Pope's defenses. As Naofumi charges with Filo, the Pope launches a「Phoenix Blade」attack intending to "cleanse" them, but the newly-created Wrath Fire technique absorbs and reflects the attack back. Motoyasu fires a Chaos Spear, but the Pope's「State of Emptiness」— an advanced skill from the Legendary Spear, reflects the attack as well as Ren, who had attacked at the same time. The Pope's weapon then transforms into a fake Legendary Bow, and fires a golden arrow to the Cathedral's "ceiling," causing golden arrows to rain onto the battlefield. These arrows are just illusions, but the Pope prepares to fire real ones, intending to terminate them once and for all.

Queen Mirellia arrives at the nick of time, casting「All Dritte Fall: Icicle Prison」to trap the Pope and nullify the Cathedral. Naofumi once again activates the Wrath Shield and uses a new spell:「Blood Sacrifice」. Much to his party's horror, he starts bleeding profusely, the blood seeping into the ground. The Pope turns the Bow back into Spear but from the ground sprouts a huge skeleton-serpent strongly resembling the Zombie Dragon, whose massive mouth crushes the Pope's golden weapon and traps him between its jaws, ultimately devouring him. The Cathedral dispels completely as Queen Mirellia orders the shocked devotees to surrender. Naofumi is passed out, gravely wounded, having lost so much blood, much to his party's despair and sadness, but the Queen promises to heal him and save his life. She finally presents herself formally as the Queen Mirellia of Melromarc to a barely-alive Naofumi and his companions.

Trivia

 * This is the second episode which didn't begin with the opening theme.
 * The Pope's full name is revealed as Biscas T. Balmus.
 * The Queen reveals to have an affinity for ice magic.
 * The Queen's full name is revealed as Mirellia Q Melromarc.
 * The episode shows Naofumi and the Queen meeting each other face to face for the first time.

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