As the call ended—
The live footage on the TV swiftly switched from the studio to an outdoor scene, thanks to the satellite feed from space.
Staring at the screen, the young man—who had just been laughing wildly—froze, his pupils shrinking slightly.
He recognized those buildings.
They were indeed some of the iconic landmarks of New York.
'What the hell? That camera cut was way too fast... And could this actually be real?'
With a restless heart, he waited a few more minutes. When no further movement came, he finally let out a faint sigh of relief.
Then, he prepared to throw out another snarky remark.
But before the words left his mouth, small dots suddenly began appearing on the screen.
He squinted for a closer look—only to realize those dots were ships… and fish.
Ships and various sea creatures... flying through the sky.
"...What?"
Before he could fully process what was happening—
BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM~~~
The sound of heavy impacts and violent explosions roared in from outside the window.
Panic-stricken, he rushed over and looked out.
And there they were—several ships had crashed straight into the building across from his apartment.
Countless fish, octopuses, crabs, and other sea creatures were raining down from above.
With every ship that exploded, the building they struck burst into flames.
Meanwhile, the sky was still full of falling debris—including people in diving suits.
Instinctively, he looked in the direction from which all this had come.
It was the coastline—beach and harbor.
And now, in the far distance, a pure white line on the horizon was racing inland at terrifying speed.
As it drew closer, he finally saw it clearly.
It was a colossal tsunami—so massive its length stretched far beyond the horizon, and its height was at least several hundred meters.
Everything that had been falling from the sky had been flung there by the tsunami's monstrous waves.
High above, he could faintly make out the silhouettes of submarines, destroyers, and aircraft carriers.
These were the fleets once stationed nearby.
Now, thanks to the tsunami, they had gone from being naval forces to one-time aerial units.
And beyond his vision—
Within the heart of a raging storm, dozens of enormous tornadoes—each one so wide their diameters had to be measured in kilometers—were slowly forming on the outskirts of New York.
Under Orsaga's will, they were infused with blinding lightning and hailstones that weighed hundreds of kilograms each. One by one, they began advancing toward the heart of the city.
On their path—whether it was animals, plants, or buildings—everything was torn apart.
In front of these tornadoes, even towering skyscrapers over a hundred meters tall collapsed like sandcastles, shattered into countless high-velocity fragments.
———
An hour later.
The waves finally receded.
After enduring a tsunami, tornadoes, lightning, and hail, New York had become a vast waterlogged ruin. There wasn't a single structure left standing taller than five meters.
And yet, the storm above still hadn't stopped.
Amid the howling blizzard, the temperature kept dropping—plummeting past minus 40 degrees Celsius, and still falling.
Soon, ice began to form.
Two hours later.
What remained of New York had been fully consumed by the extreme cold, transformed into a vast, snow-white frozen wasteland.
Even polar bears and penguins wouldn't survive here—they'd freeze to death on arrival.
"Continue in 24 hours."
"And by the way, any country that surrenders voluntarily can be excluded from the lottery."
With Orsaga's calm voice, the live broadcast abruptly cut off.
And then, worldwide communication systems slowly came back online.
"…That was some seriously good production. No way it was real, right?"
"No way! I mean, come on—New York always handles stuff like this in the movies!"
Around the globe, civilians were engaged in heated discussion.
Only the leaders of various nations and the executives of major global corporations sat in stunned silence, watching New York's icy remains via satellite feed.
Casually tossing aside the microphone, Orsaga gave an order to the wizards:
"Begin constructing the Tower of Temptation."
"Yes, sir!"
With a chorus of responses, dozens of wizards got to work near the TV station, using [Transfiguration Spells] to conjure up specialized components.
All the technical specifications were directly transmitted to them by Orsaga.
Each wizard had a different section to handle.
They were only tasked with the simpler foundational parts. The more complex components were manufactured directly by Orsaga himself.
As for the numerous employees of the TV station, they were casually dismissed and sent home after the live feed ended.
They were utterly useless.
Not even worth keeping as hostages—Orsaga considered them a waste of space.
To put it bluntly, human hostages of that caliber had zero value in the current global situation.
Besides, Orsaga had never relied on hostages to get things done.
While the wizards busily prepared the Tower of Temptation—
All the world's major powers, now that communication was restored, began convening remote online meetings.
The agenda was simple: What do we do now?
Unsurprisingly, opinions were all over the place.
Most small nations voted to surrender. After all, a new global ruler didn't really affect them—it wasn't like they were in charge of anything.
Middle-tier countries wanted to wait and gather more information. They were the "sit tight and see" faction.
After all, when the sky falls, taller nations get crushed first.
No rush. Stay calm. Let's see what happens.
As for the only two true superpowers left on Earth—they had opposing views.
The United States, having just lost a major city and a huge chunk of its military, prepared for retaliation. Their global dominance could not be challenged.
The Soviet Union, on the other hand, was more defeated than anyone. With domestic chaos nearing critical levels and local governments ignoring central orders, they were on the brink of collapse.
If nothing changed, they'd disband in two or three months.
So really, who had time to care about external threats?
Forget terrorists taking over Earth—even if aliens arrived in flying saucers, the Soviets wouldn't bat an eye.
Thus, three main factions emerged from the talks:
1. The helpless group—sit and wait.
2. The opportunists—ready to follow whoever wins.
3. The resistance—preparing to strike back.
Of course, nobody said it that bluntly.
But the meaning was obvious.
There was one more thing that haunted all of them—
Where exactly had Orsaga and his people come from?
According to expert estimates, the power to forcibly control every communications device on Earth put their tech at least ten generations ahead of anything Earth had.
And that weather-based assault? It was like something out of theory—nothing in human science could counter it.
No way to block it.
No way to stop it.
Faced with this reality, many world leaders furrowed their brows.
It was like primitive humans waving sticks at a stealth bomber.
Just then—
Someone approached the Prime Minister of the British Empire with urgent news.
After hearing the report, the Prime Minister frowned deeply.
After a moment of thought, he turned to the other leaders and said:
"Gentlemen. That unknown group has begun building something in London. Whatever it is, I have a bad feeling about it."
He looked helpless as he spoke.
London had been their point of arrival. And ever since then, they hadn't moved an inch.
So now, a significant portion of the world's attention was laser-focused on London.
If anything went wrong, it could become the next battleground.
As the Prime Minister spoke, satellite footage was shared across the network.
Watching the scene—wizards wearing long robes and using [Transfiguration Spells]—one leader commented with confusion:
"…Why do those people look like wizards casting magic?"
Another leader replied, "You've had too much vodka. That's clearly alien tech."
_____
T/N:
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