New York, on a sunny morning. It wasn't even 7 o'clock yet, but the streets of Manhattan were already bustling with activity. Wall Street elites in their suits, reports in hand, walked around spewing professional jargon into their phones. The coffee shop owner was struggling to move the magazine rack to the entrance. The fast-food drive-thrus were starting to form lines, with the myriad of vehicles queued up like assembly line parts. The sun reflected off rearview mirrors and the glass curtain walls of skyscrapers, casting a dazzling display of light.
Summer was almost at its end, yet iced coffee never went out of season. In front of the elder care home located on the corner of the street, a crowd of young people sipped coffee while reading magazines. Shiller leaned against the lamp post in front of the hospital entrance, a cup of coffee in one hand, a phone pressed to his ear with the other.
"...Yes, I did forget, but as the Dean, you can't just ban me from the hospital, can you?"
"What kind of important matter could you possibly have? Didn't you finish wrapping up your resignation from the Elders Council Hospital a while ago? It has been several months now. What else could you possibly be busy with, apart from the hospital?"
"You became a special consultant to the Elders Council Hospital? Hey, how could you get a part-time job without my approval as the Dean?... You couldn't reach me? Does that make you right? It clearly states in the contract…"
"Alright, alright, I know you're an ambitious person. Don't worry about all that, just hurry and bring me my keys…"
"A crazy intruder came looking for you? Like me? I am not… Why didn't you call the police? Don't you know the phone number for 911?"
"Who? A bald guy in yellow clothes? Oh, then it's all good. Take the day off. Goodbye!"
"Oh, one last thing, it's best to be polite to her. Come to work alive tomorrow!"
Upon finishing his sentence, Shiller hastily hung up. He took a sip of his coffee, feeling quite pleased with himself. What great news to receive just after arriving back in Marvel - things were off to a promising start.
At this moment, in Strange's apartment, The Ancient One waved her hand, and countless star-like lights surrounded her, as if enshrouded by an endless cosmos.
Strange watched, shocked. In an instant, the magical brilliance disappeared, making it seem as if nothing had happened at all, save for the faint rustling of The Ancient One's robes. The Ancient One looked at Strange, asking him, "How do you feel?"
Strange opened his mouth, too stunned to respond. Though he had seen Shiller use magic before, Shiller could only levitate a ballpoint pen at most. How could that compare to these scenes of cosmic intrusion?
Little did Strange know, even The Ancient One was taken aback, the situation having exceeded her expectations.
This matter harks back to the time the so-called Bat God arrived.
The so-called guardian of the Bat God, who the Morlun family had summoned, was actually an unscrupulous stowaway, no different from a rat scurrying through holes.
Not just anyone could set foot on Odin and The Ancient One's turf, Earth. Odin would spare no being, including the God of Symbiotic Body, when prompted. The same could be said about The Ancient One. She spent most of her time either collecting debts or on her way to collect debts.
Those Demon Gods who attacked openly, or simply walked through the front door, were certainly decimated. The ones that slinked in through the side door were bashed into an even finer paste. The majority of the rest wised up, avoiding action despite their intense desires for Earth.
With the front and side doors all sealed off, some were forced to opt for dirtier, more covert options.
Throughout the extensive history of Earth, rituals to summon evil gods have long been present.
In an era where the Supreme Magician role didn't yet exist and humans were just starting to form tribes, emerging from their primitive lifestyles to build civilizations, many tribes had wizards and priests that employed witchcraft to commune with the cosmos.
Most of this was for psychological comfort, but a small handful were successful in reaching the true rulers of the cosmos.
Back then, tribal wizards would use various rituals to summon portions of evil gods' powers to Earth, employing live sacrifices to obtain their malevolent forces and subsequently attack other tribes.
During this period, some evil gods left their marks and dediacted channels behind, allowing their faithful to summon them easily.
Once The Ancient One assumed her role as Supreme Magician, she wasted no effort investigating and resolving such historical issues. Those evil gods that dared to act were severely reprimanded and used as fuel for Earth's defense system.
Though The Ancient One eradicated the majority of those careless evil gods, some sly ones were able to hide their channels effectively. Despite several cleanup attempts by The Ancient One, a few always managed to slip through the cracks.
The channel that the vampires used was left by one of these elusive gods.
This race had a long lifespan, always managing to amass a collection of strange and unusual things. In some ancient spell-books, they found a way to communicate with the cosmos.
The fearless know nothing, or so they say. The vampires directly emitted signals into the deep cosmic abyss, and a member of the Morlun family who was hunting in this part of the cosmos, drawn like a hound to blood, quickly honed in on the signal.
He silently arrived on Earth through this stowaway channel, planning to ambush and kill Spider Man in the ensuing confusion.
The story seemed normal up until the huge Venom Bat rose into the air. After communicating with some more mysterious and higher-level energy, The Ancient One discovered that a new Beast Totem was being born.
As you'd expect, she became very busy. If a new Beast Totem was to be born into this cosmos, then, of course, Earth's Supreme Magician, The Ancient One, had lots to prepare for - things like debt collection, hunting down the spirits of the damned, and a new round of witch hunts.