[Manhattan] The Monkey, the Sorcerer and the Sanctum

Sun Nao opened his mouth but did not have time to object before the room started to refract and bend; he watched as the whole place folded in on itself; he could never get used to how trippy it looked, and it made him question if he had been given some drug every single time it happened. Some Inception level weirdness and he was still awake.

"You know I would love nothing more than to go all out in this place, but you forget one thing, Doc."

The Monkey Prince glared at Doctor Strange with what could only be described as a "passive" expression before slowly raising his hand, showing the tiny marmoset still clinging to his finger, nervously looking around at all the shattered mirror shards.

"It might not affect the other world, but it might hurt her. Give me a moment..." Sun Nao gently detached the tiny monkey from his finger and made a few soft noises at her before raising a finger and staring to swirl it in a circle. A very small sigil of golden light took shape in the air, twisting until a portal formed in its centre. It was possible to notice what looked like cloth on the other side as Sun Nao lifted the marmoset through the portal and placed her on the pillow, not forgetting to put the small bowl of fruit next to her.

"There," he said after pulling back his hand, letting the portal close, "I just told her to chill on my bed and to eat more fruit... she is eating for two after all."

With that out of the way, Sun Nao raised both hands and gave himself a few hard slaps on the cheeks before returning his attention to Doctor Strange and Madam Moon. "Okay, I'm ready... let's do this, Doc. Let's give the lady a show." And the Monkey Prince jumped, taking air until he had reached the equivalent of several stories up, and before he began to fall, he trusted his hands downwards towards Strange, firing a pillar of magic energy in a golden hue towards his teacher.

This had to have been what Strange meant... right?

Their current display was more or less what she had expected. The trademark glistening gold that permeated throughout their spells. Conjuration through sigils was what it typically presented itself as. A fairly simple, streamlined form of magic in Prudence's eyes. Which wasn't to say that it wasn't powerful. After all, that form of magic had been around for much longer than she and her ilk. Then again, it lacked a certain... grit, at times, she found. But magic came in more forms than one could think. It's what made the arcane so deeply enchanting, pun intended. A magician could never truly know what their opponent had in store. Would it be a golden disk, ejecting the desired effect or a more grounded ritual that took its time before revealing itself in a majestic manner? Few could really tell. It was why magic was still so unknowable. Not that different from science, actually. Which, in many ways, was a kind of magic itself. The two intertwined more than most expected. It was simply the natural order of things. In a world such as theirs, those wonders tended to blend together at times.

Prudence did indeed notice a glimmer in Strange's eyes. She knew he had been having trouble with adjusting to a post-Enchantress world, if that was the right way to phrase it. Or perhaps, it was rather that his general duties were merely too mundane for a wizard of his caliber. Prue could mostly relate to the feeling, but she related more to the feeling of having a pupil to teach. Someone to bestow your knowledge upon. To see how they manage to surpass you. It was an exhilarating sensation. She took a mental note of having him visit the Academy and teach her students about his way of magic.

As her two compatriots clashed, Prudence stood from her comfortable seating, it then disintegrating and blending into the dimension's surroundings. She tidied her outfit with care, making sure no unnecessary wrinkles were present. Shortly after, she removed her gloves, transporting them back to the Sanctum with the flick of a finger, right onto the table they were all sitting at just before. Prue unsheathed her vape, taking a few puffs of it with closed eyes to enhance the flavours, before it disappeared from their current realm as the gloves did. She then opened her eyes, looking at where each gentlemen was positioned and released a pleased sigh.

A moment after, Prudence appeared a few meters behind Sun Nao. It was the moment she had been waiting for. Her combat magic was rusty, yet that was a tiny obstacle for a witch of her status. What better way to see what a new recruit was capable of and to teach them, than to face against them directly. The incantation that followed her sudden appearance confirmed her intentions.

"No loquaris mini quaper."

The incantation was one for an immobilization spell. But it wasn't aimed at Sun Nao. Instead the spell would, if successful, bind Strange in place. Making him a surefire target for the Prince's projectiles. Prudence was no fool, however. She knew it would affect the Sorcerer Supreme in a miniscule way. The element of surprise was on her side though. This didn't signal the end of her surprise assault, mind you. She deliberately appeared behind Sun Nao, because her next trick was aimed squarely at him.

"Eradico."

In an instant, a sphere of energy, with a tint of orange would appear around the Prince. He would notice it beginning to build up energy, the sound making it just as evident as its increasing brightness. The end result would be a contained explosion within, lest Sun Nao manage to find a way out of it. The sphere was by no means indestructible, deliberately so. While it seemed that Prudence was coming at the two in force, she was channeling enough magic to ensure no real harm would come to them. It was all a test, at least to her. But the newcomer had to learn and show his magic in occasions where one decision could cost him his life.

"My days of a scintillating ménage à trois are far behind me, but this? I will gladly make an exception for."

Prudence's magic was less ancient than the one Strange wielded, but it was by no means less dangerous or old in its own way. Granted, some of the spells she used came from other sources, other tomes. Yet she saw that as a boon, as magic was always unpredictable. Particularly when it came from a less familiar source.

Due largely to his intensive battle training, Sun Nao quickly noticed that Prudence appeared behind him... a wild card had just joined the battle.

Still, it seemed her first move was to immobilise Doctor Strange, or at least that was the impression he got from the wording. Sadly, it did not seem like his own spell did more than destroy a mirror image. He also had little time to react to it before Prudence turned her follow-up move against him.

"Oh, mā de"

He looked around as the energy sphere appeared around him, and his eyes narrowed. His eyes could see the buildup of magic energy, and he was not keen to discover what might happen if he let it build up too much. The young demigod raised his hand when inspiration struck... Prudence had just given him a perfect opportunity to test something else! Being an opportunist was vital in the battle; this was something Sun Wukong had been quick to teach his son during their lessons. Be it an opportunity from the actions of an ally, opponent, or random events outside of control.

Instead of casting another spell, Sun Nao... waited. As the walls of the orb became brighter, he vanished from outside view and raised a hand to his tail... plucking six strands of hair. Moments later, cracks spread around the sphere, and there was increasing movement inside and then.

Crash!

The sphere shattered and out spilt no less than... seven Sun Nao. Each quickly scattered in random directions on clouds, using the chaos from the sphere in order to make it difficult to know for certain which Sun Nao was the original. The strength of Sun Nao's ability to do this was that it was not illusions; they were clones, so in essence and spirit, each one was a perfect replica of the original, with the downside being that they lacked his durability. 

"It's so nice." "That you are." "So worried about me." "Doc." Said the different Sun Naos, zipping around on the clouds and avoiding the gnarled roots. "Let's." "Heat things." "Up!" Three different Sun Nao raised their hands, summoning circles of magic; moments later, portals opened and unleashed a combination of fire and heated air, with the aim being to set ablaze the attacking roots.

Strange nodded with pride as Sun Nao broke free from his temporary prison. His clone technique was impressive, even amongst his other naturally magical arsenal. The two of them were taking to the roots with flame, and the whole wooden structure seemed to groan in pain, creaking and cracking as it began to retreat burning limbs. However, a few that they had missed in their first assault split and splintered apart, becoming thinner vines. They lashed out far quicker than their larger counterparts, aiming to take hold of whichever Sun Nao clones were nearby, threatening to lash them around the wrists and ankles if they weren't quick enough.

The Sorcerer Supreme wasn't surprised that Pru was taking aim at him. She could never resist a friendly magical duel, always keen to keep him on his toes. As the golden missiles honed in, Strange whirled around, his cloak swirling in a crimson barricade. They hit the weave one after another, explosions pushing both wizard and cloak backwards. Smoke rose in billowing clouds as the enchanted object fell back down behind Strange. He coughed in the smoke.

"You okay, buddy? Thanks for the save, that could have been..."

He looked down at Pru, grinning.

"...potentially pretty painful. Are you really trying to raise the bar, Madame Pru? If that's the case, then I can't refuse."

Strange, still floating horizontally in the air above them, seemed to slip sideways, falling feet first into the air. it refracted and moved about him as he vanished into the mirrors. Eyes appeared and passed by invisible surfaces, reflecting something inside as Strange aimed to confuse and disorientate. The whole room seemed to shift again, refracting into shards, kaleidoscoping about the other two. A thousand mouths smirked, a thousand eyes winking at Pru. Strange surrounded them in shards of mirror and glass as the vines and roots still struck out where they weren't on fire.

"It's a dangerous thing, to challenge the mighty Sorcerer Supreme. Are you sure you're still up to the challenge?"

"The Sorcerer Supreme living up to his title,"

is what Prudence would've thought or said were their battle one that actually required the wizard's full capabilities. Even so, she wasn't exactly going too easy on him, which was a testament to his skill. It had been a while since the two exchanged friendly blows and although Strange was the more active of the elder sorcerers, Prue's memory of her abilities was as fresh as when it was when she was at her veritable prime. Not that she'd audibly admit to any of the aforementioned. Besides, Stephen couldn't credit all of his success to his own mettle alone. That sentient cloak of his was a notable boon. Such objects weren't the witch's favourite. Primarily because of their temperament. Too much... wrangling involved.

She couldn't help but smirk at Strange's initial comment, his acknowledgement of her last strike leading him to display his mastery of the dimension they were in. Simultaneously, she took note of Sun Nao and his composure still being as it was at the start of the battle.

Good.

Madame Moon could only hope that his demeanor and discipline only grew under Stephen's tutelage. And hopefully the young Prince's ego would not grow to match that of his mentor's, as per the fellow elder wizard's following comment.

"If that was a gauche comment at my unknowable age, it was a poor one, Stephen."

She knew it wasn't what he meant, but Prue would be a fool to not use the moment for another jab.

"Besides, I don't look a day over 43!"

Barely able to finish her mischievous exclamation, Prudence's attention was drawn to the Prince. He had a plan, asking for a distraction. Living up to her wildcard status in this scuffle, a pleased and sly smirk adorned her face.

"How marvelous! A mysterious, hopefully daring, idea!"

Her tone carried wondrous energy, a trademark of her being, she liked to think. Able to switch between utter professionalism, banter, and whimsy in s millisecond. Her answer was enough to let Sun Nao know that she was, indeed, willing to play along. Prue then turned her attention to the many mirrors surrounding them, along with the flora that was still adamant in reaching both her and the Prince. If it was a distraction that was needed, Sun Nao was going to get one.

"Est litatio mihi."

While the incantation itself yielded no visible emerging energies, a moment later, dozens of markings (X-shaped) portrayed with pink energy appeared in the vicinities of the mirrors and vines. There weren't enough to mark everything, but enough to at least cripple Strange's omniscience and omnipresence around them with Prue's following spell.

"Tormentum."

Immediately after the word was uttered, crackling missiles of similar pink-laden coloured energy emerged from the markings. The number became too large to count, as each marking released a flurry on everything in the missiles' path. Now, Prudence wasn't typically one for explosions, but in an environment like this? She was reveling in the chance to let loose without worry. If Stephen truly wanted to up the ante, she was more than pleased to oblige. And the feeling was mutual, it seemed. But even this assault didn't mark the end of Prudence's distraction.

"Dispolodo!"

The simplest of ignition/trigger spells. The purpose of this was to provide an array of further subsequent explosions after the missiles hit their target. If successful, it would mean a continuous series of chained bursts from each missile and marking that surrounded her and Sun Nao. All determined to deter Stephen's continued assault and perhaps hinder his precious dimension just a little. Whether or not it worked fully, it still would prove the elder witch's raw power with simple incantations. At least Prue felt like Stephen needed a reminder.