I pointed at my throat. “I inherited something similar after going to a future alternity. So, Invocations I set up are VERY LOUD.”

She glanced around as the entire building trembled around us, despite my voice not really being any louder. The Voice of Thunder could interact with Voice of a Mage in interesting ways.

“I have to speak using kiai-jitsu, or I’d wipe the city.”

Clea’s eyebrows shot up. “That would be the equivalent of half a planet screaming for the attention of the Principals...”

“And a corresponding increase in potential power granted.” I shrugged. “My own in-built Master Ritual of Yelling For Thine Help.”

“The potential amount of power you command is terrifying, Dynamo,” she judged calmly. “You are certainly worthy of wearing the Cloak!”

“Well, yeah, I wasn’t going to let Levy down. He’s got a rep to uphold.” I held out my hand, the Cloak swatted it, and I gave it some skin back. “Morgan will do just fine. I’ve got a lot of brute power, yeah, but she has me in terms of versatility, and that’s often more important, while not lacking in the Caster Level department.”

“You Ouilettes definitely do not have any weaknesses in that area!” Clea agreed firmly.

“Well, then, what I’m going to do is formally cede the Title of Sorcerer Supreme back to you, as I promised I would hold onto it until Dr. Strange returned.” Her grey eye glimmered as she smiled slightly. “You can officially pass it on to Morgan tomorrow when she wakes up, and we’ll organize the group-share at that time.”

Levy and the Amulet drifted forwards again, and Dr. Clea Strange sighed as they swept eagerly around her, triumphantly swathing her in comfortable scarlet and gold once more, and the acknowledgement of the Vishanti that came with them. “I did miss you, you know,” she told the Cloak fondly, rubbing it softly, and it embraced her once. “Dynamo,” she interrupted me as I started to set down my feet, ready to leave. “If we could... Could we Meditate with you? It has been... ages...”

I looked into her dual glowing eyes with that wistful smile, and sighed. “Of course. A valiant warrior returning from a battle should always have a warm welcome, should they not?”

She took another deep breath. “And... we have come to an agreement. We would like to accept a Mark, as well...”

---

A short time later, a gentle Chord arose in the Sanctum Sanctorum. The Wards upon the building glimmered and shimmered with power to those who could see, daring any to breach them, while inside, magic glowed and glinted on every surface, and the Artifacts stored within its chambers shone resplendently as they reverberated with the power on display.

For the first time in a thousand years, Dr. Clea Strange enjoyed a night of serenity and peace. If they ended up in my arms wrapped up in Levy, with magic swirling around them and making sure nothing could threaten them for a time, letting their cares drift away, that was all fine...

-------

The top of the Baxter Building, late the next day...

Even Storm popped in, dragging her husband along, for the welcome home party. It wasn’t huge in number, all things considered, but the Euroforce was there with Sunny, a bunch of the Dupes from both sides stopped in, Baxter Buddies current and ex showed, and as always the food and drinks were totally worth it.

“...so Stretch invokes the Crimson Slingshot of Cyttorak and shoots him into the side of a mountain. The chucklehead thinks we’re all done, and Suzy brings down the Crimson Sirocco of Cyttorak onto his little minions, sending them screaming all over the place all tied up sticky-like. Then Firetop unleashes the Crimson Starswarm of Cyttorak and literally is raining down plasma grenades and stuff, turns the whole battlefield of demons an’ stuff into a firepit. Chucklehead is trying to pull up some sort of big nasty beasty, so I winds up my fist and hits him...” Ben paused for emphasis, “with the Crimson Supplex of Cyttorak, an’ smashes him headfirst into the stone, endin’ the fight.”

There were groans of disbelief all around as the holo played out, displaying the customized Invocations of Cyttorak and how they’d manifested. Cyttorak’s known spells, for which he was justifiably famous, were the Crimson Strands, a Binding spell of great power, and the Crimson Sphere, a nigh-impenetrable defense or cage, depending on how it was manifested.

Well, they had some new additions, on top of those Ben had mentioned.

The Crimson Catapult. The Crimson Cannon. The Crimson Curse. The Crimson Cord. The Crimson Crabs. The Crimson Storm. The Crimson Swarm. The Crimson Curtain. The Crimson Crush(er). The Crimson Clobberin’. The Crimson Columns. The Crimson Cross. The Crimson Crystal. The Crimson Colossus. The Crimson Compass. The Crimson Seal. The Crimson Sigil. The Crimson Sign. The Crimson Symbol. The Crimson Clouds. The Crimson Sun...

Cyttorak had a trope, and Reed and Sue had blithely jumped right on top of it. Yeah, Ben hadn’t had any problem being a destroyer on those battlefields. Cyttorak had kind of stared in disbelief at all the ways His power was being used.

Reed hadn’t stopped there, of course. The Bolts of Balthakk now came in Bursts, Blasts, Bombs, Blows, the Bow, Bubbles, and must amusingly, the Butterflies of Balthakk, along with Brilliant, Blinding, Burning, Blasting, Booming, Bumping, Bestial, Bodacious, Bombastic, Blinking, Battering, Bouncing, Bedazzling, Breaking, and Blazing varieties.

I was told Balthakk nearly went crazy when He saw how many ways His proud custom battle magic, exalted for so many years, had been modified. The Bouncing Bombastic Butterflies of Balthakk were at once hilarious and extremely effective against swarms of stuff... and the Bedazzling Bubbles could halt an army in their tracks, then blow them apart when they finally popped.

Frankie had a whole arsenal of moves she could put out now... along with a full Nine+ Nova Core, but the whole crew of them could put the spells out as needed if their Circle was going. A thousand years was a LOT of time to practice.

Valtorr had the unfortunate circumstance of being harder to alliterate, so his Vapors and Veils had some initial limitations with Venomous, Virulent, Voluminous, Voracious, Vaunted, Visible, Veiling, Vivacious, Vital, Voided, Vigorous, Visual, Valiant, Verminous, and Vocal varieties, but he also had Talons now, which came in Terrible, Tenacious, Tearing, Tempered, Tentacled, Thorned, Tracking, Tiny, Titanic, Timely, and Terrifying varieties, among others.

Watoomb had his Winds, Whirlwinds, and Wisps, to which were added Wheels and Whips, which ended up with Wintry, Wasting, Watery, Wondrous, Wafting, Whispering, Wandering, Wrathful, Woven, and Withering varieties.

Dealer had informed me that the reputation of the Four was resounding throughout The Mess, and all sorts of proud Principals were falling all over themselves, wanting to obtain the services of the Four, and/or happily grant them the right to Invoke their Names...

Well, that was a thousand years of Reed Richards throwing science to the back of his head, and just going with the flow. His amenable resolutions to hundreds of fights had turned the fairly brutal nature of the War of the Seven Spheres toward enlightened discourses on the nature of magic and those who held it on its ear, further elevating the status of their Patrons... much to Cyttorak’s astonishment, among others.

Ben himself had gained a massive reputation as a philosophical pugilist among the warlords of the War, while Firetop’s enthusiastic wahoo-ness had won countless admirers despite themselves, and Sue’s status as the most powerful and queenly of the Four hadn’t suffered in the slightest.

But naturally enough, the other ladies weren’t going to be outdone, and they also had a thousand years to play around, share notes, and experiment with the power of their Patrons.

Also, they had the Sublime Chord.

The Odes to Oshtur, the Harmonies of Hoggoth, and the Anthems of Agamotto had rung across the battlefields of the War with power overt and sublime, turning battles into ballrooms, death-duels into debates, and ready catastrophe into rowdy celebrations.

When pure power was needed, the new Overwhelming Orbs and Ominous Onus of Omnipotent Oshtur, the Heavy Hand and Harrowing Host of Hoary Hoggoth, and the Endless Insights and Erudite Inscriptions of All-Seeing Agamotto had carried the day in clear battle. Ororo, Morgan, and Nimue were definitely in the Vishanti’s good graces.

I personally liked the All-Encompassing Aerie of Agamotto, the Heavenly Hunting Horns of Hoggoth, and the Overawing Occulus of Oshtur...

The Vishanti had been placed in the unusual position of having many new spells calling upon them, which they had neither devised nor granted to Sorcerers before, and as such were not in the Book of the Vishanti, nor limited to the Sorcerer Supreme.

Felicia had come up with all sorts of uses for the Images, Illusions, Insights, Invisibility, Investitures, Infusions, Inscriptions, Incantations, and Invocations of Ikonn. I believe the Invioble Island of Ikonn rapidly became His favorite insta-maze spell.

Sunny didn’t do any worse with the Seraphim, and was personally on their Most Exalted Mortals list right now. The Shields and Spheres of the Seraphim were protective spells known throughout the Sorcerous community. To them she had added the Sacred Spear, the Saintly Sword, the Serene Song, the Sublime Seal, the Searing Sigil, the Seven Signs, the Sublime Scriptures, the Sincere Soul, the Simple Sight, the Sworn Servant, the Surcease of Suffering, the Soaring Salute, and the Sacred Somnolence of the Seraphim.

The spells were woven of Light and Seraphimic might, but if the person invoking them was a true believer in Truth, Hope, and Valor, their might was increased incredibly. Even most of the Seraphim themselves couldn’t tap into the full Sublime Chord power of the reworked spells, although they could feel the potential there.

What Circe had done for the Moons of Munopoor was no less profound, although she tossed around a lot of Magical, Mystic, Mysterious, Mighty, Marvelous, and Musical designations on her Manifold Manifestations of the Many Moons. She also had some Wondrous, Woven, Weft, Winsome, Witchy, and Weird spells for the Winding Way, mostly as larks, but no less substantial in subtle ways.

The Rings of Raggadorr received a fully prismatic makeover, the Rings, Rain, and Ribbons blazing from white and clear to deepest black in their range of hues. Regal, Reigning, Renowned, Razored, Rampart, Rampant, Random, Roving, Racing, Revealing, Rending, Reaching, Robust, Radiant, Reaping, Ruby, Rainbow, Reborn, Renewing, Reinforced, Wrathful, Rime, Rippling, Raging, Raucous, Reveling, and Redoubt all made showings for Fedora’s work.

Clearly, she’d had a lot of time on her hands, and was having fun with them.

The Ruby Redoubt of Raggadorr, run ‘round with Radiant Rings,

And Raucous Ribbons Raising, a Rousing Ruckus made for kings...

I believe it became Raggadorr’s favorite method of traveling around and announcing Himself.

The Flames of the Faltine were more of a power source than an application of the spells, so Clea Strange hadn’t been held to anything like those expectations, and had also performed above and beyond expectations... helped in no small part by regular contact with the Four and gaining a lot of new spells to use. Balthakk’s spells used with Flames of the Faltine were particularly impressive...

------

“How long will they be at this, Dynamo?” T’Challa asked me. The participants in the Seven Spheres War had gathered in a circle late, late at night, after the party was over. Complex multifaceted jewels swirled in between them all, a dozen participants in the thing, flashing, flickering, and flaring with colors subtle and overt.

I was sitting back and watching the whole thing. I didn’t need to participate, as the next time I updated I’d get everything, anyways. “They’re pooling their intellects to make the allocations and understanding more efficient for everyone, given the wide spread of mental talents and personalities among them, what to leave in and what to leave out. Once that is done, they’ll just make copies of their shared experiences and insert them in appropriately. Everyone there has a form of Timeless Thoughts going on them, so there’s no issue with adding another ten thousand years of experiences.

“Given the sheer amount of brainpower at work, I imagine they will finish up around dawn.”

“Should I be... worried about changes to my wife, Dynamo?” he asked shortly, looking at me with a peculiar expression.

“I am aware she told you, you know,” I looked back at him and smiled, tilting my head slightly.