CHAPTER 25: SUMMONING THE GLOBAL HAWK

The two walked on a certain area of the base. This was the time Albert was thinking of summoning the Global Hawk drone which they’ll use to scout the position of the Demon King.

Since their base was vast that it could hold over a hundreds of aircrafts ranging from fighter aircrafts, bomber aircrafts, utility, and the likes. Adding one wouldn’t make the base cramp.

They stopped in an open field where he remembered from memories that a C-130 was parked here.

"Here is our testing ground," Albert said.

Ward shoved his hands into his pockets and looked around the field. "Hard to believe we’re about to do magic," he muttered.

"Yeah me too."

Ward kicked a rock. "So this thing—Global Hawk. That’s the drone with the wingspan of a private jet, right?"

"Thirty-nine point nine meters," Albert said automatically. "Service ceiling sixty thousand feet. Endurance over a day. SAR, EO/IR, SIGINT suites. High-altitude, long-endurance platform."

Ward blinked. "Right. The giant robot eagle of death."

"Close enough."

The first real test of whether the Goddess had given him something world-changing—or something that only sounded good on paper.

He opened the holographic system interface with a thought.

A glowing blue rectangle snapped into view before him.

He glanced at Ward. "Are you seeing this?"

"See what?"

"There is literally a floating interface before me and you are not seeing it?" Albert said.

"I don’t see anything," Ward said.

"So that means I’m the only one who can see this huh? Well this is an inconvenience. But well, let’s proceed to the process."

He navigated to the MILITARY HARDWARE tab, then to AIRCRAFT.

A list unfolded: C-17 Globemaster. F-22 Raptor. AH-64E Apache. C-130J Super Hercules. MQ-9 Reaper. And.

RQ-4D GLOBAL HAWK BLOCK 40

Price: $103,000,000

Under it, a description:

High Altitude Long Endurance (HALE) UAV. Capable of SAR/GMTI wide-area surveillance. Designed for strategic reconnaissance across entire continents.

Ward whistled low. "Hundred and three million. Jesus."

Albert checked the top corner of the screen. His balance glowed:

$500,000,000,000.00

Half a trillion dollars.

The Goddess was right, he was given 500 billion dollars and what’s left of it after the mission is their net pay.

He tapped on the Global Hawk option. A confirmation window appeared.

CONFIRM SUMMONING?

LOCATION: CURRENT FIELD

WARNING: LARGE UNIT. CLEAR AREA.

Albert exhaled.

"Ward," he said, "step back twenty meters."

Ward obeyed instantly. "Roger that. Don’t wanna get flattened by your giant sky-spy."

Albert cracked a faint smile, then steadied his hand.

Confirm.

He pressed the glowing button.

Instantly, the air changed.

A magic circle burst open beneath Albert’s boots.

Huge. Perfect. A glowing sigil ten meters wide, rotating clockwise with slow, thunderous weight. Bright white arcs snaked along its circumference like lightning trapped in a loop.

Ward shielded his eyes.

"Holy—! Okay yeah this is magic. I take back what I said. This is wizard shit!"

The humming deepened into a resonant thrum.

The circle widened.

Light rose upward like a beam.

And something massive began to form inside it.

First the silhouette of a nose cone. Then a long, sleek fuselage. Then wings—absurdly long wings—etched into existence like a sketch being filled in by a divine hand.

The Global Hawk emerged from the circle inch by inch, impossibly solidifying from light into metal. Its grey-blue skin gleamed under the morning sun. The AN/ZPY-2 radar bulge under its nose, the high V-tail, the broad wingspan stretching from one end of the field to the other.

Ward’s jaw dropped. "That’s—holy hell—it’s real. It’s actually real."

The magic circle pulsed once.

Then collapsed in a flash of bright light.

And standing, no, resting, before them was the fully assembled, fully functional RQ-4D Global Hawk.

Perfect. Pristine. Zero flight hours. Fresh from whatever cosmic factory the Goddess kept in her personal pocket dimension.

Albert stepped closer.

The drone was massive. Six tons of composite and avionics. A strategic asset that, back on Earth, required an entire Air Force wing to maintain.

Here, it belonged to him with nothing more than a tap.

Ward circled it slowly. "Boss... this thing can map the entire continent."

"That’s the idea."

"Then—fuck—it’s over. We’re actually going to find the demon race. We’re gonna see where they live. Their armies. Their fortresses. Everything. And once we do...we are going to rain fire on them."

Albert placed a hand on the hull. The metal was cool, humming faintly.

Finally. Something powerful enough to turn the unknown into information. The darkness into a map.

"If this works," Albert said quietly, "then the Demon King won’t get the chance to surprise us."

Ward nodded, awe still written across his face. "So what’s the plan? Launch it right now? If so, who will fly it?"

"Not yet," Albert finally answered Ward. "We need a route. A flight plan. Weather checks. Comms relays. The Global Hawk can fly itself, but it still needs a crew on the ground."

Ward smirked. "And I’m guessing you already know who’s going to be that crew."

Albert nodded once. "Predator One."

They started walking back toward the base, boots crunching on gravel. Behind them, ground crews were already approaching the drone, cautiously, reverently, as if afraid it would disappear if they blinked. The base buzzed now, talk, whispers, operators calling each other over to see the miracle that had just materialized in their backyard.

They arrived at the command center and searched for the person.

Predator One’s operator, Specialist Harker, was seated at the console, sipping bitter coffee and reviewing the last drone footage. He looked up sharply when he saw Albert.

"Sir!"

"At ease," Albert said, stepping beside him. "You’re off temple overwatch duty."

Harker blinked. "Copy, sir. New assignment?"

"I need you to take command of the Global Hawk."

Harker stared, as if processing the words twice.

"...Sir, did you just say Global Hawk?"

"Yeah," Ward added, grinning. "A big one. And it’s yours."

Albert folded his arms.

"This is the most important mission we’ve had so far. You’re our eyes. Find me the north. Find me whatever lives there."

"Do we even have one?"

"Yeah our boss here just magically summoned it."

"Ehh..."

"Well I think it’s a yes. So be prepared," Albert said.