The Past - In the former Purple Tower, an elderly man with a wrinkled face and a man wearing a mask faced off against each other.

“To abduct people for experiments in illusion magic… The Tower has sunk to the dregs of disgrace.”

The old man, brimming with anger at the deteriorating state of the Tower, made no effort to hide his hostility, but the masked man simply brushed it off with a smug expression.

How could he feel threatened or anxious? There was only one thing worth saying to this foolish old man with neither strength nor insight. The man spoke calmly.

“Is there dignity in the pursuit of desire?”

“Of course there is, as there must be. We are human beings before we are magicians. The Tower Lord was a fool, light in the head, but at least he maintained a human sense of decency. Was this your doing?”

“How could I presume to alter a man’s true nature? I only persuaded him—to raise the Purple Tower to heights unmatched by any other, to etch his name into history.”