A brief scene occurs on the airship deck the first time the party decides to enter the tower.

Celes looks worried and walks over to the opposite railing.

Edgar walks over to her.

Celes looks worried.

They look aft, where Tina stands if present. That's troubling, to be sure, but not as troubling as continuing to let Cefca run wild.

As in the Phoenix Cave, the game requires multiple parties here that have to work together to progress, this time three rather than two. Make sure all are capable of fighting off the enemies (or use Mog and Moruru's Charm to keep one safe), and keep in mind that groups can swap equipment as needed thanks to shared inventory. Grab on to the dangling hook that cycles past each of the entry points to leave—presumably the airship is circling around the area—or (preferably) cast Teleport or use a Teleport Stone, both of which work here, unlike in the cave.

Naturally, being the final dungeon, this place is huge. Some of the areas may look familiar as the ruins of Vector. Feel free to sightsee, but do mind the monsters, of which there are also a comparatively large variety across different zones. Predictably, 3-13 "Last Dungeon" plays throughout.

However, despite the variety, nothing in the entire dungeon will drop an amount of gil that changes the ones digit, unless you somehow hit the maximum. This means that Level ? Holy will have predictable targeting the whole time.

This team starts in a sort of a clearing. Head left and down the conveyor, get the Hypno Crown in the chest, then enter the door and pass another ruined area to find part of the old imperial palace. Take the Fixed Dice before going back outside and into another palace section, a dead end until the center team stands on the button across the room.

Once the way is open, continue through the tube room from the old research lab, then outside to find the way blocked again, until the east team extends the bridge.

Once the path extends, continue on to find a chest with a Kazaguruma, then inside to find a large door that does not open until both other teams stand on the buttons at the ends of their routes.

This team doesn't really have much to do in the outer areas except waiting for the other two.

Head down the unmoving conveyor belt, enter a junk cave, get a Minerva Bustier from the chest, then head down. Check behind the north door for a Kazaguruma and go through the south one to find what's left of the Empire's prison. Confront the monster in Cefca's old cell for an optional battle with Ultima Burster.

Ultima Burster has a variety of attacks. The initial pattern includes Figa, Blizzaga, Thundaga, Northern Cross, and Southern Cross. After losing 22,360 of 55,000 HP, that switches to a mix of Figa, Meteor, Quake, Flare Star, and Great Tidal Wave. Repeated attacks will also provoke a charge-up...

...and Ultima Burster then glows a few times over several turns before finally casting Ultima.

More concretely, the charge sequence begins after you attack it twelve times, with this count resetting after it uses Ultima. Fortunately, it doesn't hurt nearly as much as when the Magic Master uses it, and you get plenty of advance warning, AND you can use Magicseal Sword here, too.

Ultima Burster is vulernable to the 'slow' and 'slip' status effects, but absorbs Water, Wind, Earth, Poison, and Holy damage. However, this leaves the three most common attack traits working just fine. Using Reflect Rings to let it kill itself off could potentially work, too.

Like Ultima Weapon before it, Ultima Burster dies if it runs out of MP, so you could also use Raspir and Aspir for offense, but don't expect that 19,000 MP to run out quickly. And since those count as attacks, you'll stil have to worry about Ultima.

Steal for a Blood Sword (common) or Crystal Orb (rare). Beyond that, all winning really nets is a save point, but at least it's something.

The following line appears to be unused:

Anyway, continue on, falling into another room. Up the stairs is a room with two tubes; take the left one to continue or the right one to go back. Grab the Force Shield in a chest outside, then head down and go left into the door to find a Ribbon and the button that lets the west team continue. Back outside, find a Force Armor in a chest in the bottom left of the area. Head to the right again and through a passage to find a fancier room with the Yellow Dragon.

Like most of the Eight Dragons, this one's laughably predictable. Normally, all it uses are Thunder-based attacks, and it's easy to absorb them. But watch out, since four uses of the Battle command will annoy it.

On second thought, don't bother worrying. All it ends up doing is casting Thundaga after a delay. Using 'reflect' status makes things slightly more interesting, since that leads to the dragon casting Reflect, bouncing spells off itself, and even using some physical attacks. Terrifying, right? In case you weren't underwhelmed enough already, 'poison' and 'berserk' also work on the Yellow Dragon. It predictably absorbs Thunder but is weak against Water.

Running out of MP kills it too. 4,000 MP combined with its constant spellcasting isn't all that much, but you shouldn't need to go to the trouble.

Win for a Crystal Orb; nothing to steal. Oh well, that's one more dragon down.

Unused combat text for this dragon:

Continue for a few more screens to find a dead end with another button to stand on. Wait for the other parties here. The door in the middle will open for the west team when the center and east teams each stand on their buttons.

Start by more conveyor belts. Head down and open the chest for a Red Cap, then go in the door nearby to find a Nutsin Suit and Gauntlet indoors in more chests. Back outside, go down, into another door, and ignore the solid wall that looks like it ought to have a door in it, instead continuing to the left to find a Brave Ring in a chest. This same room also has a maze of invisible passages at the bottom leading to an Aegis Shield. Hunt around, or disable layer 2 if using an emulator.

Head up the conveyor belt and save. You can return below by jumping in the nearby pipe. Otherwise, head left and prepare to get ambushed by Inferno at the top of the stairs (it can be seen, lurking in the girders above, ahead of time from the save point).

Inferno is a nastier rehash of Number 128. Its two arms, Rahu and Ketu, can each grow back after a delay as needed, so Stop helps more against them than violence. All targets are also vulnerable to 'slow', so take advantage of that too. Anyway, other than the Flame-based Atomic Ray, most of Inferno's attacks are Thunder, which also happens to be its weakness. Focus electroshocks on the main body, watch out for fairly powerful physical counterattacks, and this shouldn't take very long.

Inferno can use Meteor when missing either arm, and will use Sorcery Barrier if it loses both, so that's just more reason not to kill them off. Metal Cutter from Ketu is the only interesting thing they do anyway. They also have different elemental defenses—Rahu absorbs Thunder and is weak against Ice, while Ketu absorbs Ice and is weak against Flame, and Inferno absorbs Flame in addition to having that Thunder weakness already noted.

Try stealing an Ice Shield (rare) from Inferno and a Flame Shield (rare) from each arm if you like, since that's all this battle gives in the way of items.

With that obstacle dealt with, continue on to find a Last Elixir in a chest outside, then head southwest and examine the chest with the red sparkle to open the way for the west team. Unfortunately, although leaving the dungeon and later returning resets the bridge, the sparkle never comes back, so don't forget about that switch if you leave. Go up to find the Rainbow Brush, then head inside the door next to the switch chest to find a fancier room with the Skull Dragon.

The Skull Dragon is more of a status attacker than anything else, so equip Ribbons and Safety Bits. That makes it pretty much harmless, so wale away at its twin weaknesses to Flame and Holy, but note that it absorbs Poison. No meaningful status vulnerabilities.

Also, despite its name, weaknesses, attacks, appearance... pretty much everything, to be honest... the Skull Dragon is not actually undead, so don't try to heal or revive it. On the other hand, it will die it it runs out of MP, and its 1,999 total is fairly sad.

Nothing to steal, but win for a Muscle Belt and...

That gives access to Melton and makes Meteor easy to learn. Not bad.

Unused combat text for this dragon:

And since it seems likely that the unused Kaiser Dragon would have appeared after breaking the seal, here's the unused text from that unused battle as well:

The Kaiser Dragon's speech is probably the most famous unused text in the game, and the Kaiser Dragon likewise the most famous unused monster.

Continue to find a dead end with another button to stand on. Wait for the other parties here. The door in the middle will open for the west team when the center and east teams each stand on their buttons.

Once the door opens, head through, then to either side and down to find a weight placed over the button on that side. Push it over the edge to...

...never mind. Move the other team out of the way first, and then push the weight onto the button to allow the team on that side to enter the middle door and repeat the same thing on the other side. This ends up moving the original west team to either of the two sides, the team that had stood on that button to the opposite side, and the team that had been over there into the middle. Take all three teams north to stand on the buttons there, which opens up paths north and south for the new center team. First go south to open up doors outside for the two new side teams, then go back up and through the door there.

The new center team will now have to face Guardian. Fortunately, it's no longer utterly impervious to everything, but it will attack on its own this time.

As its name suggests, the basic program is fairly standard for a mechanical opponent, consisting of Battle / Sorcery Laser / Missile followed by Atomic Ray / Missile / Sorcery Laser. What makes things interesting is that Guardian changes behavior after these two rounds.

This lasts for four turns of tentacles, ink splatters, and maybe a Stoning. The fourth and final turn will always be Entwine, and then Guardian reverts to its basic program for two turns. Then...

This one's a bit more impressive. After two turns of boring attacks or Shockwave, Guardian will Throw a Mithril Knife or Asura, heal with three items (each is randomly either a Potion or a High Potion), and use Sorcery Barrier before returning to its basic pattern for two turns. Next...

This consists of three turns of Sorcery Lasers, Diffusion Lasers, and Launchers, followed by...

The countdown is a lie; that whole thing and the Wave Cannon itself all happen in a single turn. Guardian then reverts to its basic program for two turns before...

Expect three turns of Flare and (enemy) Meteor, possibly with some boring physical attacks mixed in for whatever reason. Then...

...and it pulses a few times and uses Flare Star, all in one turn, but at least doesn't get the positive status effects the real Ultima Weapon did. At this point, Guardian loops back to two turns of basic program, then Orthros, and so on.

Bring Flame and Thunder protection to shield against many of these attacks. Guardian is vulnerable to 'slow', and has the typical robotic weaknesses to Thunder and Water, regardless of which program is active, so offense shouldn't be a problem, though it make take a little while to work through its 60,000 HP. Try to finish it off before the more dangerous battle programs load.

Also, this is one of the rare battles that makes Sketch useful, since it will usually result in Mighty Guard. A little extra damage reduction never hurts.

This line appears with some of the others Guardian has, and seems to fit the theme, but goes unused:

This one never makes an appearance either:

Steal for a Force Armor (common) or Ribbon (rare). The common steal is probably preferable, for a change. Either way, winning yields a save point.

Continuing on, the center team will encounter one of the Statues briefly seen earlier before the world was torn apart. Godbrute (the Japanese term, 鬼神 (kishin), refers to a violent and fearsome god) is unsurprisingly not feeling friendly, and so an epic battle begins.

Godbrute's attacks are primarily based in Flame, including a random Figa counterattack, but the basic combat script consists of normal attacks, Tyrfing (double damage), Metal Cutter, and Stop. Anyone affected with 'stop' will be the target of a fatal Blaster, which will hit thanks to the 'stop' status, unless immune to instant death. After losing 25,360 of 58,000 HP, the initial attacks are replaced with Flare Star, Southern Cross, Aeroga, and (enemy) Meteor. Godbrute additionally uses Wave Cannon every eight times he's attacked, making for a considerable variety of attacks to worry about.

Despite all that, a glaring vulnerability to 'stop' status helps make Godbrute the easiest of the three. Exploit that to make things much easier, though innate 'haste' status means it will wear off more quickly than usual. Godbrute absorbs Flame and Wind, but is weak against Poison. However, innate 'protect' status on top of high defense makes physical attacks relatively poor, and Bio isn't terribly strong, so the weakness may not be worth bothering with, unless Throwing some Poison Rods. Godbrute also has innate 'levitate' status, so don't waste any effort on earthshaking attacks.

Steal for a Red Jacket (rare). Godbrute will always drop a Glow Lance, the strongest but not necessarily most useful spear, as a reward for victory.

Though no proper names are given in-game for any of the triad, the original concept art for each does name them. This one is dubbed Zurvan.

Ahead is a save point and a hole to jump down to find a button to stand on. Wait here for the other teams.

After advancing through a few short rooms, the team now on the left will face another of the statues, Godfiend (the Japanese term, 魔神 (majin), refers to a god that causes distasters).

The first phase of the battle is all about Ice attacks. Godfiend will use Blizzaga, Absolute Zero, and Northern Cross, so a few Ice Shields will go a long way. But after he falls to 30,360 of 63,000 HP—which is the highest total of any enemy ever actually faced—things suddenly change.

In addition to gaining 'decoy', 'reflect', and 'haste' status at this point (so cast Dispel or Ripple), Godfiend completely changes behavior. Gone are the spells, replaced with a mix of his respectably powerful normal attack and Wrath of Godfiend, an unblockable special that hits four times as hard but only appears after using Targeting the previous turn. Additionally, Force Field will activate every twenty seconds or so, nullifying elemental attacks, one randomly chosen trait at a time. Bring Stragus, since no other enemy ever uses it.

Godfiend tends to hit back when attacked, and will also use Reverse Polarity to swap your rows every eight times he's attacked, for what little that's worth. As for elements, Ice and Poison will be absorbed, while Holy will inflict double damage, though of course none will have any effect if they've been nullified. Godfiend is vulnerable to 'slow', which helps a bit. Remember to recast after 'haste' is applied.

Gau or Mog with a Snow Muffler and 255 defense is unstoppable in this battle. For Rages, one that casts Holy may be tempting, but remember that it could be nullified later in the battle. Stick with something neutral, like Rockfall from Purusha (Prussian), which also ignores defense and is unreflectable.

Sketching any of the trio results in the usual boring Battle/Special, but since Godfiend has a decent attack power, relatively poor defense, and Wrath of Godfiend for a special attack, it might actually be worthwhile... maybe... sort of.

Steal for a Safety Bit (rare). Godfiend will always drop a Mutsunokami, the strongest but still unremarkable katana, as a reward for victory.

The concept art names this one Sefirot (well, "Sefilos", actually, but Engrish).

Use the save point if you like, then continue on to find a button to stand on. Wait here for the other teams.

After advancing a short distance, the team now on the right will face the remaining statue, Goddess (the Japanese term, 女神 (megami), simply refers to a female god, but may tend to be associated with Izanami-no-Mikoto, a Shinto goddess of creation and death).

Despite having the least health of the trio, Goddess is the most dangerous opponent, thanks not to her Thunder specialty but to the undefendable Quasar spell and a nasty assortment of rare status ailments. Lullaby is nothing special, but Love Sentence, Temptation, and Cloudy Heaven are much more sadistic.

Love Sentence occurs as a random counter against normal attacks, so avoid using those. The skill is unblockable, the status is unpreventable, and the victim will end up taking hits for her. Temptation is worse, inflicting the dreaded 'charm' status, but at least this skill can be blocked. Additionally, each caster can only charm a single opponent, so once it hits a character, it cannot work on any of the others. The unique Cloudy Heaven skill occurs as a counter every eight times you attack Goddess. It inflicts 'death sentence' in addition to an invisible, unpreventable, incurable special status effect that causes 'zombie' status to replace 'incapacitated' for the rest of the battle, whether by HP loss or by the countdown expiring. When 'zombie' is inflicted in this way, it cannot be prevented, though thankfully Cloudy Heaven itself will miss targets that are immune to instant death. Bring your Safety Bits and Memento Rings, and do not use 'zombie' immunity, as this will make the 'zombie' status incurable once inflicted. Given that zombies act randomly and count as dead, this is quite problematic indeed.

Goddess's standard attack pattern has a mix of normal attacks, Thundara, Thundaga, and an occasional Lullaby or Temptation. After losing 11,360 of 44,000 HP, she switches to a mix of Thundaga, Flash Rain, and Quasar. Though Temptation has left the rotation, the damage is already done if it hit anyone (though you could always kill them off), and the new attacks are trickier than they have any right to be. Flash Rain, in what appears to be a mistake, is an Ice/Water attack with no Thunder in the damage despite its appearance, while Quasar inflicts unavoidable and undefendable damage. Finally, in addition to the special Love Sentence and Cloudy Heaven counters described above, Goddess may also counterattack with Thundara at any stage of the battle.

Goddess absorbs both Thunder and Holy, and has neither any weaknesses nor any meaningful status vulnerabilities. She also has innate 'haste' and 'shell', combined with fairly high magic defense, but surprisingly low physical defense. However, the Love Sentence counter makes normal attacks a poor choice, so special attacks and defense-ignoring magic are the way to go.

Don't bring Umaro; he's much too susceptible to Love Sentence, and worse, it seems to work against all of his physical attacks. On the other hand, it's amusing to occasionally see him throw other characters at himself somehow...

A Rager with the proper setup can particularly shine in this battle. One choice combines Dribover Ekans (ChickenLip) with 'levitate' status and a Thundergod's Shield, giving you Quake for solid offense whether affected with 'charm' or not, combined with immunity to both 'sleep' and instant death. Another useful choice, Daedalus (Didalos), grants immunity to 'sleep', just gets healed by the timer from Cloudy Heaven thanks to being undead, and attacks with the more powerful Melton (which you'll of course have to defend against appropriately). Throw on the Hero's Shield, plus a Medal and Flame or Ice Rod to turn self-targeted attacks into healing, and Gau can readily solo this battle as long as he can handle Quasar.

Steal for a Minerva Bustier (rare). Goddess will always drop the Excalibur, a powerful Holy sword, as a reward for victory.

And she was concieved as Sophia, or so the concept art says.

Feel free to use the save point, then continue on to find a button to stand on. Wait here for the other teams.

So that's all three of them destroyed, and nothing much happens. But weren't they the very source of magic?

When all three teams stand on the buttons at the end of their paths, the final confrontation begins...