A portal opened in Astral Space, and Dr. Strange stepped on through, only a little perturbed that Morgan had an easier time opening a passage here than he did. He stepped out into the void, a timeless place without air or water, yet want for either would affect nobody in the place. It was a transitory realm, existing mainly as a place to shuffle souls to the Hereafter.

There was a glowing orb colored black hovering at the site, only the tiniest sliver of white left upon it. The Doctor looked around, seeing nobody else was there but him, Morgan, and the FF stepping through, the three not in their normal uniforms at the moment, but something more befitting modern Elemental Sorcerers... albeit still treated with unstable molecules because of their powers.

“Are the others coming?” he asked archly. Morgan hadn’t told him exactly who would be coming.

Morgan just held up a finger for him to wait, her smile promising a pleasant surprise. Dr. Strange was disgruntled for a moment, as wasn’t the Sorcerer Supreme supposed to be the one with the hidden tricks?

He sighed and let it go. He’d known from the moment she’d become his ‘apprentice’ that she wasn’t. She was terrifyingly powerful in her own right, at least his equal in other paths of magic, and likely his superior. Just how powerful, he didn’t know, although there’d been hints and allusions to it.

The last strip of white vanished, and power swirled as all the Principalities who’d been called back materialized together, exactly on time. A member of the Faltine, the members of the shining Seraphim, hulking crimson Cytorrak, regal Raggadorr, mysterious Mistress Munnopor, insectile Ikonn, vaporous serpentine Valtorr, windy Watoomb, the new crackling flame and dark lightning of burning Balthakk, and of course the three lofty faces of the mighty Vishanti: the Omnipotent Oshtur, Hoary Hoggoth, and All-Seeing Agamotto.

Of course, there were only five people visible, although they instantly noted Reed and Sue were Conjoined. “IS THIS ALL?” Oshtur’s abstract face asked, clearly a bit provoked.

“Of course not, Most Omnipotent!” Morgan smiled reassuringly, snapping her fingers.

Portals swirled up, all of them slightly different. Dr. Strange turned to look at them all, watching keenly, and realized instantly that this was a real demonstration of power, as every single one of those Portals meant a different Caster, each at least at the level of an Arch-sorcerer.

A swirling vortex of winds and lightning crackled, and through it strode the magnificent figure of Ororo Munroe, the Queen of Wakanda, looking quite resplendent, and totally capturing Oshtur’s attention with her overpowering Aura of control over the weather and sympathetic Bloodline.

There was a swirl of stars, and he was astonished to see Dynamo glide through from what looked like outer space. Scarlet and shadows flashed, and the Black Cat was on hand, sliding into place there like coalescing smoke. Waters and metal swirled together as Circe stepped through her Portal, looking like a more conservative yet purple-haired sister of Ororo, her magic very different in feel and display. A singing Circle of Runes opened up, and Nimue, the Ouilette working with the High Guard on LaGrange, stepped through from her chambers there.

Dr. Strange blinked at the array of very powerful women all around him, and despite their very obvious differences in magic, there was definitely the signature of two different Bloodlines split between them.

Two last arrivals came in, one through a circle of hard Light so solid and bright he found it difficult to look at, and one was just a swirl of a passing trick of the eye. Sunstone of the Euroforce and Fedora, his favorite magical investigator, were now standing out in the Astral void, as well!

He felt his hackles rise. He could sense a massive amount of magical power represented among these women. By the expression on the faces of the Entities around him, so could they, and they seemed quite eager to see what was going to come of this.

“And of course,” Morgan continued, and suddenly there was a hum all around, coming from half a dozen throats, and all the magic danced to hear it, “By the Flame of the Faltine, which burns through time and space, reach forth to find a Dark Realm, and bring us a familiar face!”

Morgan’s voice RANG in the firmament here, and the Flames of the Faltine blazed hotter and brighter than Dr. Strange had ever seen them, the Faltine representative itself lurching to feel the power moving through it at the Invocation.

A Portal of Fire burned through the meaningless distance in its path, and a white-haired figure stepped through it instantly to join them there.

“Clea!” Stephen smiled in greeting, promptly drifting up to greet her and clasp her hands. Her delighted smile made all of this heavy-handedness worthwhile, and he even momentarily forgot all those Entities were around them.

“Stephen!” she returned, although they eschewed deeper contact before the eyes of the Entities watching.

“Elders of the Principalities, with your approval, we can begin?” Morgan spoke up calmly.

“Two descendants of the Rain Queens,” murmured the approving Oshtur. “Your ancestor was one of my most favored servants...”

“It would be my honor to serve my ancestor’s Patron in her stead!” Storm instantly sang out, and a hurricane promptly materialized around the whole circle in astral space, brought forwards with literally a moment of effort and will on her part, drawing the impressed attention of the Principalities gathered there despite themselves. Even the lightning seemed to be beating to a drumbeat and hymn as she did so.

“I will accept this!” Oshtur claimed her quickly, glancing at Circe curiously.

“I have a debt of service to pay to the Mistress of the Winding Way,” Circe bowed low to the mighty Oshtur before turning and repeating the gesture. “If the Manyfold Munnopor would accept this one’s humble service...”

The hurricane swirled and was gone, replaced by a thousand moons floating in the space around them, glimpses and phases from a hundred realms and worlds and more.

“Yes!” the purple Mistress agreed instantly, a little shocked at finding such an incredible talent to serve her in the Seven Spheres War, especially one she had no prior knowledge of.

“If Hoary Hoggoth has no objections to my service,” Morgan spoke up, waving her hand. Silver winds shot through with cerise swirled and washed the moons away, restoring the astral space to as it was.

“Chaos Magic,” the oldest of the Vishanti murmured. “You are the new Scarlet Witch...” Morgan said nothing, merely bowing to the white tiger head that represented Hoggoth. “Yes, yes, I will accept you as my Champion,” Hoggoth murmured thoughtfully. “This should be most interesting...”

“By the power of the Heavens, who bring all into the Light, let fly the Spear of the Seraphim, may the Darkness feel its Might!”

“By the Seven Shades and Circles, Binding to never yield, let the Sapphire Rings of Raggadorr, draw forth an Eternal Shield!”

The two Invocations rang out together, rocking the space with the underlying Song, and their Invoked Principals rocked with them.

A gigantic Lance of hard light, an attack spell sufficient to threaten a god, came streaking in from the infinite distance, like a solid sunbeam thrown from Heaven.

Seven Rings of Raggadorr, spun from fairest azure to deepest indigo, rose up, space crystallizing around them as the Enruned circles met together precisely in front of that plunging point.

The impact was ear-shattering. The Seven Rings shattered like glass, but the pulse of feedback from them destroyed the Seraphimic Spear in turn, and thus both incredibly powerful spells were completely neutralized.

Sunstone turned and bowed to the Seraphim, and Fedora to the regal Raggadorr, saying nothing more.

“I will accept your service!” the half-dragon sorcerer-god agreed hastily, his eyes gleaming at the display before him. He had never seen his own magicks used in such a manner!

“The Seraphim agree to this Champion!” the semi-angelic trio exclaimed excitedly in turn. They were acclaimed for their Shields and Spheres, not a Spear!

Dr. Strange had a very lopsided smile on his face. They were totally showing off in front of him, as he’d never woven an Invocation like either of those things. Seven interlocked Rings of Raggadorr, a Seraphamic SPEAR, of all things...

Fedora and Sunstone definitely had the approval of their Patrons!

“Hey, Cyttorak,” Ben Grimm grumbled, cocking his arm back. The crimson-armored sponsor of the Juggernaut turned his attention on the mortal calling out to him, and had just about enough time to blink when an earthen fist the size of a bus, fires blazing in its cracks and about it in a whirlwind inferno, stretching out on a whipping arm over a hundred feet long, slammed right into him.

The demon god was smashed back into the floating earthberg he was standing on, and the second fist came down like a waterfall, smashing him further back into the stone. Six more blows followed in rubbery rebounds, three from each massive fist, pounding him completely through the stone and out the other side, splitting the floating astral earthberg right in half.

Ben retrieved his arms, his orange hide almost black under his earth-toned outfit, limned in silver at the glowing cracks in his hide, and took out a stogie, lighting it off his hide. “I hear ya need someone who knows how t’ fight.”

The demon god shook off the impacts that had pounded him through the stoneberg, staring at the Earth Avatar displaying the signs of a full Elemental Circle on him. Valtorr, Watoomb, and Balthakk joined him as the trio of the FF, all lit up in overlapping Elemental Signs, displayed their power.

Without saying a word, LJ, hair completely on fire, cracked obsidian armor around her and swirling winds coaxing her flames to the maximum, unloaded on Balthakk.

“Arrrrghhhh!” the Principal of the Burning Realm of Balthakk shouted, as Cosmic-juiced Primal flame blew over him in a casual holocaust. Then she was abruptly right on top of him, moving at tremendous speed, and it looked like a small sun smacked the flaming dark figure backwards into the void like a toy.

“They call me Firetop!” she declared aloofly. “I was told the four of you would like to hire me and my family!”

The Richards’ arms lashed out, fast as whips, girt in gleaming stony armor and trailing flames. They wrapped around the windy and vaporous forms of the last two members of the quartet of Principals, and double walls of solid wind promptly drove the Principals together irresistibly, then swirled them up together for good measure as the arms whipped back and away, spinning them like merged tops.

There was a massive spluttering display as the two Principals sought to disengage from one another, finding it difficult with their similar natures and how mixed they’d abruptly become.

Reed and Sue extended their hands out into the mess of the mixed and thrashing Principals again, expanding their grips to colossal size, water swirling around one hand, winds about the other. The extended fingers sank into the mess of the two Principals, and a blast of fire and hum of earth shot through the mass as the Richards flexed.

The two Principals were torn instantly apart, and deposited very separately, looking a bit shaken at how easily they’d been incapacitated.

“So’s, the four of youz wants to employ the four of us?” Ben Grimm asked nonchalantly, tapping his stogie, his arms crossed with the others.

The Octessence Lords looked at one another. If the Four hadn’t put out a monstrous display of magic, they had displayed an extraordinary level of combat ability that certainly wasn’t going to hurt them in the fighting to come. If they could maintain the Elemental Circle, an alliance would be required between the four of them, but that was not a bad thing, either...

“A Circle of Four is a fine choice for champions,” Valtorr’s whispery, sibilant voice sounded, not displeased at all.

“Concuuuuured,” Watoomb agreed breathily.

“Let us see if your talent for destruction rivals that of my Juggernaut, mortal!” Cyttorak rumbled, also not displeased with this state of affairs.

“They have spirit and non-magical powers to accentuate their Circle,” laughed the popping, crackling voice of Balthakk. “I will support this!”