A Conspiracy Linked

A Conspiracy Linked (連なる陰謀) is the eighteenth episode of The Rising of the Shield Hero anime.

Synopsis
Naofumi hears Fitoria's advice and sets out to talk to the other Heroes. However, waiting for him is Motoyasu, the Hero who is the least likely to listen to Naofumi's versiony. With there being no point in arguing, Motoyasu launches an attack. There seems to be a reason for this new murderous intent.

Will Nafoumi be able to get through Motoyasu? Or this is the end of the Heroes?

Plot
At the hidden underground archive inside the Three Heroes Church in Melromarc, the Pope, smiling ominously, tells his devouts that "the time has come" and their long-awaited wish will be finally granted. Meanwhile, Fitoria, visibly sad with the departure of Naofumi's party, teleports him, Raphtalia, Filo, and Melty - gifting them with a old wagon, much to the younger Filolial's delight - to the closest Hero she can sense, asking the Shield Hero to take good care of Filo and honor the promise of re-uniting the other Heroes.

As they rush back to Melromarc (with Filo overjoyed for pulling their wagon again), they arrive at a border wall heavily guarded by Melromarc Knights. Other routes are longer and time-consuming, according to Raphtalia, so Naofumi, recalling Fitoria's promise, decides to go to the checkpoint, hoping to talk to either Ren or Itsuki, or force his way through. Melty reminds him that there are still people like Idol Rabier wanting to kill him, even by summoning beasts. They try to cross the border anyways, but Motoyasu awaits in the path with an illegible facial expression. Naofumi tries to talk, but Motoyasu, visibly enraged and still believing the "brainwashing Devil Shield" nonsense, attacks. Blinded by fury, he also accuses Naofumi of Ren's and Itsuki's deaths. The Shield Hero remembers Fitoria's words about how fighting the Waves will be far more difficult without even one of the Cardinal Heores. Melty demands to know more about it while Naofumi tries to reason it out to be a lie (since nobody had found the Heroes's corpses or the like), but once again Malty steps in to reveal the credibility of the information which was revealed to them by the the agent of the church of three heroes.

The story fed to Motoyasu was that Naofumi unleashed  a Tyrant Dragon Rex and using the confusion to his advantage Nafoumi killed the Bow and Sword Heroes. This was all "confirmed" by the Church. Melty feels sad about what Malty is doing, to which Naofumi questions if Malty herself had killed them.

Malty creates a Lightning Cage force-field around them So that Shield and Spear Heroes can go against each other. Motoyasu still doesn't listen to reason and attacks Naofumi (who notices how much of a puppet in Malty's hands he actually is). The latter attempts the Shield Prison, but the former breaks through rather easily, showing how far more leveled-up he is now. Malty tries to kill them all with a Zweite Fire Squall, which is rapidly countered by Melty's Anti-Zweite Fire Squall. Filo springs into action and attacks Motoyasu, but is countered by a Zweite Air Shot from one of Malty's companions. Motoyasu, motivated to fight for Ren and Itsuki, tries to attack Filo, but Naofumi stops him. Malty and her other companions augment the Spear with combined fire and wind spells, forming the Air-Burst Flare Lance attack. More spells from both sides fly out, and Naofumi unlocks a kind of combo skill: by fusing Raphtalia's First Hiding with his own Air Strike Shield, Change Shield and Soul Eater Shield which stole Motoyas's Hp. Motoyasu is neutralized and Filo quickly kicks him away (in his crotch, once again) while Raphtalia stealthily strikes at Malty. Filo and Melty combine their respective wind and water spells to produce a Typhoon attack which defeats Motoyasu's side, finishing the battle. Naofumi explains that they were getting stronger and acquiring new abilities while Motoyasu was just "playing superhero", that's why he lost the duel. Even defeated, Motoyasu still refuses to listen to Naofumi. and begin to act his hero complex

Raphtalia suddenly notices that all the Knights are gone. Sensing something wrong, Filo brings the defeated enemies closer to the party and urges Naofumi to invoke the Shield of Rage to protect them from something. Naofumi combines Prison Shield, Air Strike Shield and Second Shield - all to protect against a massive beam of golden light coming down from the sky, powerful enough to open a massive crater on the ground. Naofumi and the others, though, are relatively unharmed.

Malty recognizes that power as Judgment, the High Priest Balamus's most powerful attack. And the man himself is up there, sarcastically complimenting the "devil shield" for surviving such power. He starts preaching about the Heroes' "sins" (their unintentional misdeeds that were later fixed by Naofumi) and they shall be "purified in God's name". Malty scolds him for such treachery, and he reveals that the Church intends to overthrow the Royal Family and rule Melromarc with its own agenda. According to the Pope, the current Heroes are "fakes" for causing harm everywhere and damaging the people's faith (though unintentionally), that's why Judgment fell upon them - a completely twisted and demented logic, as Melty points out. Motoyasu finally sees that Naofumi is innocent of the accusation of having killed Itsuki and Ren. Laughing maniacally, the Pope receives a golden sword, which greatly resembles Ren's Sword, ready to initiate the Holy Judgment with his countless followers. Melty recognizes the Pope's weapon with visible terror.

Trivia

 * This is the first time that Filo does not go berserk under Naofumi's Shield of Rage.
 * Malty begins to claim herself as the next queen.
 * First time usage of combo skill and Judgement.
 * First time display of Motoyasu's parties team work or other hero parties team work (except Nafoumi's party).
 * Third occurrence (after episodes 5 and 9) of "Filo kicking Motoyasu's crotch" running gag.