A few minutes after the announcement, every country was in uproar. Some people say it’s an alien threat while others call it the apocalypse. News and social media lost their collective minds with wild theories. Not a single soul had a clue where that mysterious voice came from, or what it actually wanted.

Except for that rare 1%. The hardcore anime and fantasy nerds. They came out of their dark dens, eyes shining with the madness of too many midnight Chapter sprees. Years of anime, novels, and comics pumped through their veins. They posted online like mad scientists right before their discoveries.

Some of these fans started tossing around guesses that the whole situation felt like it came right out of a global lord novel. But there was some difference. The voice didn’t say anything about territories or land. Nope, it said towers.

The 20-to-45 crowd was losing their shit the most. Homes, families, businesses, everything they’d spent their lives building could be gone in minutes if this turned out to be real.

Everyone was freaked out. Their minds spun with questions: What the hell would happen to their families? Would they ever see them again? Is this a dream?

Meanwhile, William, one of those nerds, was practically bouncing in his chair as he chatted with his friends. It was like his wildest dream had come true. With his massive collection, the guy could have earned a PhD in fantasy lore.

Now he was enthusiastically explaining every weird detail to his clueless friends, who hadn’t wasted half their lives obsessing over this stuff like he had.

"So, let me get this straight. We get thrown into another world, handed some weird-ass army and random superpowers, play king, then monsters show up that can actually kill us? That about right?" Dante said, still trying to wrap his head around this fucked-up situation.

"Man, you make it sound so damn boring. But that’s the gist. There’s a twist, though, the announcement said towers. What I know, towers are giant vertical buildings like the Khalifa. Each floor’s a death trap stuffed with monsters. So maybe we’ll be building towers, or some other crazy shit like that."

"Aaaaahhhhh..." Archie yelled, slamming his fist on the table. "Fuck all this bullshit! Things were finally going great with my girlfriend, and I even introduced her to my folks! Now we’re getting dragged off to some other world where we could die? Hell no! Fuck, my parents are calling. I’m out!" With that, Archie left the chat.

"Okay, take care! See you in the next world!" William laughed. Honestly, he was enjoying this all. A few minutes ago, it was just his life that was fucked, now the whole world was screwed.

Dante hung up too, his phone blowing up with calls from his parents. Turns out, his mom was 45, so she’d be joining us on this wild ride.

William, on the other hand, had no one to worry about. Grinning widely, he strolled to the tiny fridge in his room, grabbed a can of beer, and cracked it open. "Fifteen minutes since the announcement, any minute now, I’ll be a king! AHAHAHA, cough... this is so damn cooooooool...!"

He took a sip and raised his can in a toast. "Cheeeeeeers to the new life! If any other lord gets in my way, I’ll shove them back from where they were born. Just give me some badass troops, elementals for magic, angels for holy firepower, hell, even undead. At least they work nonstop and don’t eat."

Beer still in hand, William grabbed a stack of novels from his shelf and started flipping through them. Fifteen minutes slipped by before, out of nowhere, that OG blue translucent system panel flashed right in front of his eyes, snapping him out of his reading.

[Greetings, tower lords. In 60 seconds, you will be transported to your personal tower within the Tower Expanse. Brace yourselves.]

A countdown started right under the message, each second making William’s heartbeat thump louder. He smirked and muttered, "Fuck, it’s actually happening."

His eyes locked on the panel. He reached out and passed his hand through the glowing screen, it pixelated around his fingers, then snapped back to normal. "One down from the fantasy bucket list," he chuckled.

As the timer ticked down, the world grew quieter. Everyone held the things closest to them. Some held their parent, some held their wives and kids. While a few rich bastards grabbed their stash of money thinking they could take them along.

Everything froze, like the whole world was holding its breath.

No one had a clue what would happen to the rest left behind after more than 40% of humanity just vanished.

The timer didn’t stop. When it hit zero, three bells rang, echoing everywhere, just like the announcement. Suddenly, everyone aged 20 to 45 vanished. No flashy portals, no glowing gates, just gone.

High above Earth in the God realm, two figures stood side by side.

One was the god of transportation, the legend Truck-kun himself, tasked with shuttling participants to the Tower Expanse. Next to him was another being, fiddling with a strange cube that morphed into a new instrument every second. At the moment, it had become a set of ancient bells.

Truck-kun shot him a look. "Why are you even here?"

The other god rolled his eyes, the expression screaming, ’Are you serious?’ But he replied flatly, "I’m just doing my job." After all, he was the God of Dramatic Effects.

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[A/N]: Please consider supporting by sending some Power Stones and Golden tickets. Your support means a lot and really helps me continue writing.