The Rising of the Shield Hero's second season has greatly expanded the story's scope in comparison to Season 1. With the stakes higher than ever, protagonist Iwatani Naofumi can't afford to be picky about the allies he fights with. He's now in a second isekai adventure, and friends mean the difference between survival and obliteration.
Naofumi was mistrustful of most people in earlier story arcs, but now he's more open to the idea of recruiting allies, including the meek wizard Rishia Ivyred. At this rate, Naofumi and his friends just might embrace L'Arc Berg, Therese Alexandrite and Glass as formal allies against their true enemies. Most of the groundwork for this has already been laid down.
The Common Ground Between Naofumi & L'Arc Berg
On one hand, it's true that Naofumi and L'Arc the Scythe Vassal Hero hail from different worlds, and those worlds are in fact on a collision course -- possibly literally. Even so, Naofumi and L'Arc are in a roughly similar position: specialized heroes tasked with protecting millions of people at the risk of their own life in battle. This means that on a basic level, they understand one another, and more importantly, L'Arc is more open to negotiation than his ally Glass is. L'Arc has been personally fond of Naofumi ever since they met up at the Cal Mira archipelago in Season 1, and Naofumi can't bring himself to dislike L'Arc either. They did clash during a naval battle, but they have gotten along more often than not.
In L'Arc's world, where the nations of Mikakage and Raybul are found, Naofumi's tanuki ally Raphtalia crossed paths with L'Arc's group and temporarily joined them. He knows Raphtalia is an extension of Naofumi, but even so, L'Arc, Therese and Glass gladly accepted Raphtalia and even supported her when she, against all odds, became the Katana Vassal Hero.
It's possible that Raphtalia can act as a mediator between Naofumi's and L'Arc's groups, which are enemies in theory. Given Raphtalia's kind and charming personality, she just might broker peace or even a formal alliance between these two groups of Heroes, and it won't be a moment too late. It's possible that only by forming a united front that Naofumi, L'Arc and their teams can survive what is to come.
The Ultimate Stakes Facing Naofumi & L'Arc in Shield Hero
Shield Hero hasn't yet clarified why exactly the Melromarc kingdom's world and L'Arc's world are both in peril -- perhaps they are running out of resources or magic, or the two planets are about to collide and one must be destroyed to spare the other. It's also not entirely clear why fighting off Wave monsters or foreign Heroes will save a given world, but seeing how Naofumi is expanding his adventures, he is likely to find some answers; and he'll find them even faster if he has L'Arc's team on his side. A new solution to this world collision problem just might present itself.
It's possible that if Naofumi's and L'Arc's teams set aside their differences, they can pool their talents and confront whoever, or whatever, is putting the worlds in such peril. If a villainous party is responsible, then a united team could take them on and stand a real chance for victory to save both worlds. If the catastrophe is a natural occurrence instead, Naofumi and L'Arc still stand a better chance if they pool their teams' resources and ideas to find a solution.
Naofumi and L'Arc are not the kind of people who will just callously destroy someone else's entire world to save their own, even if their duty demands it. Instead, given recent events in Season 2 of Shield Hero, these good-hearted heroes can -- and absolutely should -- save both worlds and get to the true root of all this chaos and destruction. That is the shonen way.