Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari (The Rising of the Shield Hero)

You've put on quite the amusing farce, but enough.

For the false Spear Hero

and for the Devil of the Shield,

clinging so desperately to life, like a cockroach,

the purification of Holy Judgment.

And...

For this country, righteous order!

Watch out, Naofumi!

That sword is...

What power!

The impact's making my arms go numb!

For a devil, you are pretty tough.

That'll be enough trial shots.

Now face the real thing.

Wh-What?

I-Is that...

The Rising of the Shield Hero

The Four Cardinal Heroes

H-Hey! That sword turned into a spear!

There's no mistaking it.

That's a replica of the Cardinal Weapons!

A... replica?

In the past,

an attempt was made to duplicate the four weapons of the legendary heroes.

To make the ultimate weapon,

which could change forms and use each weapon's skills.

I was taught that it was lost many centuries ago.

That's not fair!

Say, Myne. Is it true?

H-How would I know?

It's so famous, anyone dabbling in Melromarc's

and the Church's history would know of it.

Finding it should've been huge news.

But the Three Heroes Church kept it hidden.

Maybe its loss was a lie made up by the Church, too.

Why'd you summon the heroes if you had a weapon like that?

That weapon is mighty, but it consumes a massive amount of mana.

Just that one swing earlier must've drained dozens of magicians of their mana.

No wonder you're first in line for the throne, Melty-sama.

You have educated yourself well.

Completely unlike your sister, who was too busy conspiring to study.

The mana this legendary weapon requires

will be provided by all the believers here.

My brethren, this is a battle between our lord and the Devil of the Shield.

It is a holy crusade in the name of God.

Offer your prayers to the legendary weapon imbued with divine power.

And we shall purge this world of the fake Spear Hero and the Devil of the Shield.

That'll be a pain to fight.

Melty! Can't you take those believers out of the equation?

Put them to sleep or something!

I haven't learned any magics that affect the mind.

And also...

Such a large mana pool will also give them high resistance.

Putting them all to sleep will be impossible.

There has to be something we can do.

I shan't stand for this!

You manipulate us for your own selfish goals,

and want to get rid of us as soon as you're done?

That's evil, through and through!

As a hero, I cannot overlook it!

Everything he says is hollow.

Spear guy's annoying.

Pope, I will defeat you

and avenge Itsuki and Ren!

Lightning Spear!

What? A barrier?

No fair!

We can't even scratch the pope unless we break through that force field.

Melty's right.

We need to cut off the mana supply first.

If I can't do it alone...

Naofumi!

Huh?

Now is the time for us to work together.

Let's go!

You will pay for the sin of turning against the next queen with your life.

As source of thy power, I order thee.

As source of thy power and the next queen, I order thee.

Decipher the laws of nature and burn my target down!

Sister...

Both spear guy and his party are annoying.

Zweit Fire!

A combo skill?

This is the end!

Burst...

Flare Lance!

Did we get him?

Nah.

How deplorable.

Instead of gracefully accepting God's mercy,

you pointlessly continue to resist.

But, of course, there will be no mercy for a devil.

We'll see how pointless it is!

Meteor Thrust!

Even Meteor Thrust didn't work?

This magical barrier is impregnable.

It is no devil's shield, that is for sure.

Is that the believers' power, too?

They're using the massive pool of mana to construct a powerful magical barrier.

It is my turn to attack now.

What do you say?

All this power, with a simple wave of my hand!

Using that weapon is cheating!

Fight us fair and square!

This power can even annihilate a devil.

I don't know if I can block a full-power attack from that thing.

Not to mention, they have an almost limitless pool of mana.

If he unleashes a volley of attacks, we're finished.

What can we do?

The time has come to bestow God's mercy on our foes!

Hundred Swords!

Meteor Shot!

Pope!

Those skills...

Looks like we made it in the nick of time.

Itsuki-sama!

Ren-sama!

You came back to life?

Don't just assume we're dead.

Hundred Swords!

Have half our magicians focus on generating the barrier.

Are you sure?

It'll cause a long delay in the mana supply to the weapon.

They'll need time, too.

Time to understand their sins

and realize they must pray for the mercy of God.

As you say, Your Excellency.

That's annoying.

H-Hey, how are you guys here?

We did nearly get killed.

But their attempt failed.

That's all.

"That's all"?

Itsuki and I didn't trust the Three Heroes Church.

so we began investigating them in secret.

One of our party members found a secret file in the Cathedral's archive.

It mentioned the existence of a replica of the Cardinal Weapons,

so we decided to check out the place where it was hidden.

They must have not taken kindly to that.

The Three Heroes Church lured us to a fake shrine

and tried to assassinate us.

We barely escaped with our lives

thanks to a squad that called themselves "Shadows" and said they served the Queen.

Those women were also keeping tabs on Itsuki and Ren?

I think the Three Heroes Church were the ones who stole my reward.

You were framed, Naofumi-san.

"Framed"?

You're the one who misunderstood and came at me!

You were framed, huh?

You really have zero luck.

You were trying to kill me on a false charge a moment ago, too!

Let's do this, Ren-san.

Yeah.

Meteor Shot!

Meteor Slash!

That consumed too much mana!

The pope's weapon!

Will he be all right?

The queen's punitive force will be here soon.

The queen?

Mother's coming here?!

Yes. A Shadow tipped us off.