Just as the reports said, the place is in ruins. "Despair" plays instead of the usual town music. Oddly, even though the buildings have all been destroyed, none of the inhabitants seem to have been harmed. Maxim tries talking to some of them.

Though one little girl has a more damning take on that.

That makes at least two reasons to go check out that tower...

It's another tower, nothing special, except that every story has a central room with no floor. As in the tower near Tanbel, a second exit is blocked off for now.

There's a block and switch puzzle on the second floor, and recovery tiles on the third. Also on the third floor is a little puzzle with a pot and two buttons. Opening either closed door involves putting the pot on the corresponding button, then walking along the gray floor tiles to the door. A bit odd, but simple enough. The fourth floor has the Hook tool, and a sign describing how to use it:

The Hook also does everything the Arrow does, if with slightly less range. Additionally, it allows access to a few more places in earlier dungeons, including a Dragon Egg in the Cave to Sandeltan. Unsurprisingly, the rest of the tower has a number of pillar-hook puzzles, though nothing fancy just yet.

One room on the fifth floor has a puzzle that involves bombing a crate that sits on a button.

There's a platform in the central room on the fifth floor that can move between floors (an elevator!) and reach some additional areas. One newly reachable area has a zombie encounter blocking the door. They keep reappearing no matter how many times they're beaten, but there are several blocks scattered around, and a cross-shaped outline on the floor. If it's not already obvious what to do, there's also a sign explaining it.

In the US version, the puzzle is changed to seeing seven crystals flash in a specific order, then hitting them in that order, and the sign changes to reflect this. The Christian cross apparently offended NoA's sensibilities. Odd, considering that the cross patterns on the floor in the topmost room remain, and that there are far more (at least nominal) Christians in America than Japan, which is primarily Shinto and Buddhist.

This line appears to be using a rare definition of 切る (kiru), listed as meaning つくる (tsukuru, to make), in the last of 22 entires on the Japanese-Japanese dictionary on goo.ne.jp. It appears to derive from the concept of cutting down trees, presumably as a source of materials to build with. Further investigation has revealed that 十字を切る is a common translation of the Catholic practice of making the sign of the cross, so perhaps that explains the phrasing.

Finishing the task zaps the zombie and lets the party continue to find a chest:

With the key, the party can reach the roof. Or maybe "attic" is more like it, since it seems to be indoors. Either way, "Shudder" plays here. There's a flash and a crackling sound as they approach the inner room.

She's speaking informally again, as she tends to do when there's a crisis looming. Which makes sense, since it's a briefer and more natural form of speech.

There's one of those monster-warping-in thingies, but fancier than usual, and a huge man wearing blue plate mail appears.

Maxim's line feels like a non sequitur in the NA text. In the Japanese, it's clear that the stranger mentioned destroying the town first.

Though often feminine as a sentence ending, わ (wa) also serves to express strong feelings, such as surprise, admiration, or disgust.

That's with short vowels, so it sounds something like "gah dehs". Even so, I have trouble reading Gades as anything but "gay dees".

And the party battles with Gades. However, he's ridiculously powerful (for this point in the game), so unless the party is also ridiculously powerful, they fall within a few rounds at most. His deadliest attack, 破壊の波動 (hakai no hadou, roughly "Waves of Destruction", though 波動 refers more specifically to the motion of a wave than to the wave itself) strikes the entire party at once, and can easily kill Tia and Selena in one hit at lowish levels, with only their higher defense and HP totals sparing Maxim and Guy (Tia and Selena should still take less damage if they're in the back row since the attack is physical). Even the background music is more menacing (though awesome) than usual, with 2-9 "Battle #3" playing instead of the standard boss music.

I'm not sure how to handle the distinction between 波 (wave) and 波動 (wave motion). Both would normally be "wave" in English, I think. As best I can tell, the proper physics jargon for 波動 would be "undulation". Unfortunately, I find that it would sound overly awkward and cheesy if used in dialog. "Such impressive undulations, but they're no match for mine!" ...yeah. I think I'm going to go ahead and just use "waves" regardless, and if the distinction ever seems to make a difference, I'll worry about it then.

Before long, the party falls. The music stops after the battle ends.

And after adding insult to injury (literally!), Gades leaves.

It is, however, possible for a strong enough party to win this battle. The key seems to be healing every round and boosting Tia's speed above his so she can heal more effectively. Use every buff and debuff you have. Once you can stay alive, it's just a matter of patience. Give Guy the Undead Ring to make things go more quickly, since it adds the Holy element to attacks, and Gades has a weakness against that. You get Gades's Sword as a prize—not to mention an obscene 50,000 experience and 50,000 gold—but Gades throws a hissy fit...

...and lightning falls from above, leaving the party flat on the ground regardless. Gades still leaves after that, maybe to go sulk.

Either way, the party is left sprawled out on the floor, Maxim at center, Selena nearby, Guy up front, and Tia behind and off to the side. "Prophet" begins playing, which can only mean one thing, and sure enough, Iris soon enters. She heals Maxim, Selena, Guy, and Tia in turn, and they get up.

The party regroups. Maxim looks, perhaps rather pointedly, at Tia as he says:

He turns toward Iris.

With the crisis over, Selena reverts to formal speech again.

Iris begins to walk away.

And upon giving that reply only after a lengthy hesitation, yet still not really answering the question, she leaves.

Maxim, Selena, and Guy start to leave, but Tia doesn't move.

It doesn't hurt to loot the room behind where Gades appeared before leaving, netting a Scimitar and Protection Shield. In fact, it's really quite useful.

What happened to that kidnapped woman traveler, though? Or was Iris her? She didn't look very kidnapped...

On the way back to Parcelyte, the people of Gordovan express relief that Gades has left the area, but have little else to say.