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 someone.

Better check out that tower....

It's another tower, nothing special, except that every story has a central room with no floor. Like the one near Tanbel, there's a second exit, but it's blocked off.

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. To open either closed door, put the pot on the corresponding button, then walk 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:

Nothing to add, except that the Hook allows access to a few more places in earlier dungeons, including a Dragon Egg in the Cave to Sandeltan. Unsurprisingly, there are a number of pillar-Hook puzzles in the rest of the tower, but nothing too difficult.

One room on the fifth floor has a puzzle where you have to Bomb 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. Apparently, they didn't want to "offend" anyone by having a Christian cross. 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.

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.

He seems impressed by their "waves", and certainly isn't supposed to be saying anything about unfamiliar "energy patterns".

Though わ is usually a feminine sentence ending, it's also used to express strong feelings, such as surprise, admiration, or disgust.

That's with a short 'a', so it sounds something like "gah days".

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 (Destruction Wave) strikes the entire party at once, and can easily kill Tia and Selena in one hit at lowish levels, with only their higher HP totals sparing Maxim and Guy. Even the background music is more menacing than usual (but, let's admit it, awesome), with 2-9 "Battle #3" instead of the usual boss music.

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

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

Actually, it is possible for a high-level party to win this battle. The key seems to be healing every round and boosting Tia's speed higher than his so she can heal more effectively. Once you can stay alive, it's just a matter of patience. You get Gades's Sword as a prize, but Gades throws a hissy fit...

...and lightning falls from above, leaving the party flat on the ground regardless. Gades leaves to go sulk or something.

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 at Tia as he says:

With the crisis over, Selena is back to formal speech again.

Iris begins to leave.

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 rather quite useful.

On the way back to Parselyte, the people of Gordovan express relief that Gades is no longer in the area, but have little else to say.