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
Although Naofumi and the others are trapped inside the Pope's cathedral, they are still fighting. However, the heroes' enchantments are not working within the sacred territory and their hits don't reach the target.

Naofumi is about to use his new Curse Shield, but the dragon's anger gnaws at Naofumi's heart. Will he be able to resist much malevolent influence and defeat the diabolical Pope?

Plot
At her military camp, Queen Mirellia herself gets clad in royal armor, getting ready to solve the world-threatening crisis caused by the Church of the Three Heroes and defeat the traitorous Biscas T. Balmus. She orders her Knights to march towards Naofumi and Melty, hoping they survive long enough for her to arrive. As the parties are encircled in the Pope's Cathedral spell, Ren and Itsuki attack with Thunderbolt Slash and Thunder Shot respectively, again to no avail. Naofumi orders Raphtalia and Filo to perform a teamwork against the Pope, who is healed via Zweite Heal by the devotes.

Naofumi, Filo and Motoyasu charge towards the Pope, while Melty and Malty repel the enemy's ranged attacks. Naofumi asks Motoyasu to attack him once they get near the target, which produces a burst of flames from the Shield morphed into Wrath Shield, but the Pope easily dispels it saying that curses are useless inside the Cathedral. Balmus fires a wind-based shot against the Heroes and tells his Bishop to invoke more prayers from the devotes - the Bishop says the devotes may die due to running out of mana, but the Pope doesn't care, saying that dying as martyrs in a holy battle against the "Devil Shield" is the greatest honor for a disciple of the Church. Everyone gets disgusted at the Pope's utterly lack of sympathy towards his own followers, as he keeps building up mana. Melty notes that, if the light mana reaches the top of the Cathedral, something terrible will happen. Motoyasu asks Naofumi if his Shield can't handle it, though the other Heroes aren't still making better use of their own weapons. Suddenly, the Wrath Shield's dark influence starts to affect Naofumi, remembering Fitoria's advice of not using it anymore. It's a risky gamble, but Naofumi activates the Wrath Shield nonetheless. The Zombie Dragon tries to consume Naofumi, but the Hero resists bravely. The painful images of all injustice and humiliation Naofumi had been facing since his arrival start to come forward, as the Dragon keeps tempting Naofumi. The Shield Hero finally gives in to his hatred, being enveloped by the Dragon's vengeful cursed flames, much to the horror of everyone.

A hatred-driven Naofumi vows to burn everything down, but Raphtalia, Filo and Melty make him remember his past good deeds and the depths of their relationship, thus vowing to stand by him and managing to snap him out of the Dragon's dark influence. Along with own party, Naofumi pleads help from the other Heroes, much to their surprise. Naofumi manages to block the Pope's most powerful attack, and scolds the Pope for draining holy mana from his devotes without any consideration for them. They all charge with multiple attacks, and at a crucial moment, Raphtalia distracts the Pope so Ren can strike with a stealthy Meteor Sword blow, effectively slashing the target. Malty powers up Motoyasu (who is unhappy for obeying Naofumi's orders), who attacks with the Air Strike Javelin, piercing through the Pope's defenses and striking him as well. 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 throws the Phoenix Blade back. Motoyasu fires a Chaos Spear, but the Pope's State of Emptiness deflects it back. Ren strikes physically, but this is repelled too. Looks like the Pope's weapon can replicate even the advanced skills, and this confirms as the Pope's weapon now turns into Itsuki's Bow, which he uses to fire 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 an All Dritte Fall: Icicle Prison spell which traps the Pope and nullifies 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-like creature strongly resembling the Zombie Dragon, whose massive mouth crushes the Pope's golden weapon and traps him between its jaws, ultimately killing him in a gruesome way. The Cathedral dispels completely as Queen Mirellia orders the remaining devotes (who still cannot believe the Pope has been defeated and destroyed) 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

 * The episode didn't begin with the OP theme.
 * The Pope's full name is revealed as Biscas T. Balmus.
 * The Queen reveals to have 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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