The Pope proves to be more than a match for the Heroes and soon imprisons them all in a magical barrier. Even with the help of the Queen and her army, it's up to Naofumi and his Cursed Rage Shield.
Tropes for this episode include:
- Attack Reflector: With Filo's help, Naofumi was able to throw the Pope's own Phoenix spell back at him.
- Bad Boss: When the Bishop warns the Pope that finishing the Cathedral spell will kill many of their followers, the Pope deems the sacrifice necessary, reasoning that those who die fighting against "the Devil" will be honored as a martyr.
- Blood Magic: "Blood Sacrifice" is a particularly powerful technique of Naofumi's Rage Shield. While it completely decimates his body, his blood shooting like fountains through his armor, it summons a monstrous bear trap-like creature that reduces the Pope into bloody viscera.
- Death by Irony: If it were not for the church's hatred for the Shield Hero, the pope could have survived Naofumi's Blood Sacrifice had he used the Legendary Weapon Replica's shield form.
- Field Power Effect: The Cathedral the Pope traps them all in is a field spell that nullifies curses, rendering Naofumi's trump-card the Rage Shield useless. When the roof of the Cathedral spell finishes forming, the Pope is able to create hundred of reflections of himself like a kaleidoscope, all of whom capable of attacking. It also seems to be able to mess with his opponent's minds, disrupting Naofumi's ability to see his stats.
- An Ice Person: The Queen was able to give the heroes an edge by encasing the Pope in ice with a spell.
- Logical Weakness: By the time Naofumi manages to collect himself after being Blinded by Rage, the Pope had already wasted most of his mana attacking, defending and charging his Cathedral.
- Theme Music Power-Up: RISE Plays as The Three Heroes and Naofumi unites to fight back against the Pope.
- Unblockable Attack: With a supercharge from Melty, Motoyasu's spear was able to pierce three of the Pope's otherwise unbreakable barrier spells with a single thrust.
- Upgrade vs. Prototype Fight: What the fight between The Four Cardinal Heroes against the Pope can be seen as: due to the Popes' Replica Weapon being seen as an "Upgrade" due to it being able to shift between all four forms at will instead of being just limited to one type like the "Prototype" Cardinal Weapons. Unfortunately, the Replica has a high-yield Mana cost to use it's abilities that it requires multiple casters continuously feeding it their Magic, along with the Replica only having 1/4th the total power of the individual weapons, along with the fact that the Pope refused to use the Shield Form of the weapon out of pride and to not look like a Hypocrite to their Religion.
- You Are Not Alone: At the expense of getting burned, Raphtalia, Filo and Melty were able to snap Naofumi out of his Unstoppable Rage so that he can use his new shield against the Pope.
