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Second Spell: Spear the Angel!
Limbo: Magik slices her Soulsword through the N’Garai demon who was about to attack her and her friend, Kitty Pryde. Kitty could not be more confused, for the young woman who stands before her appears to be her dearest friend, former New Mutant Illyana Rasputin, but Illyana has been long dead. Kitty asks Magik how it is possible for her to be here, but Magik replies they will worry about that later, as she is more concerned about her, and asks Kitty how she is feeling. The mutant sometimes called Shadowcat tells Magik that despite having her soul literally torn from her body, she has felt worse.
Magik tells Kitty that she had hoped to get to her before Belasco had, and asks her to forgive her. Kitty asks Magik if she is kidding, and tells her that all she is concerned about is why Belasco did this to her, and why her called her his "Catspaw." Her face hidden behind the hood of her cloak, to conceal her true self, Magik tells Kitty that she fears it goes back to the X-Men’s first encounter with Belasco, when the X-Men came to Limbo in search of six-year-old Illyana, and instead fell victim to Belasco’s arcane powers. After encasing Kitty in an eldritch crystal, he magically removed her skeleton. This required the alternate elderly Storm who loved in Limbo to use her own magical skills to reintegrate Kitty’s skin and bone. What Belasco did not reveal was that the crystal was etched with a Spell of Dominion, which bonded with Kitty’s skeletal frame upon her restoration, and it was that spell which Belasco used to bring her to Limbo.
Shadowcat looks shocked at what Magik just revealed to her an asks her if what she is saying is that all Belasco had to do was snap his fingers and she would be back in Limbo? Kitty is upset and asks what that monster has done to her.
Magik tries to comfort Kitty by telling her that it is not only she, as they both are servants of forces far beyond their control. Magik tells Kitty that while the N’Garai seek to conquer Earth, Belasco’s ultimate goal is to seize Limbo, the portal to all creation, and use the realm as his base from which to dominate the entire Omniverse.
Magik says that Belasco has to be stopped, and Kitty agrees. She asks when they start, but Magik tells her that it is not as simple as that, and reminds Kitty that Belasco has her soul, so she can no longer exist on Earth. Magik explains that the longer Kitty stays in Limbo, the more she will fall under Belasco’s sway. Kitty asks Magik if what she is telling her is that she is "in deep" basically. Magik tells her that there is one chance, but with it comes a risk. Kitty listens to the sorceress as she tells her that her corporeal form can be absorbed into the Soulsword, until her soul can be returned to her. Kitty asks what the downside is, and Magik tells her that she could remain trapped in the sword for all eternity.
Magik holds onto Kitty Pryde as she asks if it will hurt. Magik tells her she has suffered enough, and as Kitty fades from sight, Magik tells her to sleep well, and swears by her own soul that she will not fail her. Magik turns suddenly as Belasco makes his presence known and mocks how melodramatic she is. He tells her that she cannot have learned that while his apprentice, as he would have taught her better. Before he can continue, Magik slices him with the Soulsword. He screams and she tells him to ‘stop talking and die already.’
Belasco tells her she struck well, and had it been his true form rather than a projection, she might have done some damage. Magik goads ‘Ever the coward, eh, Belasco?’ and he tells her he is being prudent, as his new allies possess power beyond comprehension, and that once the five bloodstones have been forged from the souls of the X-Men, no power in existence can prevent the N’Garai from sweeping through Limbo and onto Earth. Belasco’s image begins to fade away and tells Magik to behold the shape of the world to come, and that she should try to resist, as the fiercer the fight, the sweeter the triumph!
Magik stands on top of the mountain of skulls in front of the mansion as the universe shimmers then recreates itself, it takes on the visage of a nightmare, a world awash with carnage, a monument to madness. It seems like eternity that the powerful sorceress known as Magik stands on the mountain of skulls, surveying the unholy devastation around her. With a howl like the protest of a planet, the young woman raises her enchanted weapon, and strikes back in humanity’s name. A blinding light of mystic luminescence, the world is swept clean again, but the blood chilling memory remains. Magik cries out to Belasco that if he wants a real fight, he has got one – and it is a mistake he will not live to regret.
Hong Kong, while much has changed since the Chinese Repatriation, some things, like the squalor, the misery and crime, never change. A detective complains about another non-working elevator, and Colonel Wei tells him the exercise is good. He asks a police officer where the crime scene is, to which the officer shows him the room. Upon entering, the detective sees all the blood splattered around the room, and shocked, asks what sort of monster is loose in the city, and tells the Colonel that with the bodies in this room, the total dead now sits and one hundred and sixty-nine.
The colonel tells the detective that the number is the same as thirteen times thirteen, the number of a Grand Coven, used only for the most powerful of arcane rites, or in this case the most foul. The detective tells the colonel that he doesn’t understand, and standing next to a cairn in the middle of the room, the colonel tells him that he did only what he had to do – to open the way for his brothers. The shadow of Colonel Wei begins to change, and the detective cries in horror. Transforming, the creature tells the detective he is not colonel Wei, but merely a Pilgrimm. The detective turns around and sees the demon before it tells him that he and the others outside will carry this secret to their graves….
Back in Limbo, Magik levitates in the center of a pentegram of fire, and thinks that while it took all of her arcane energies, she has learned what Belasco’s possessed catspaws are after – five members of the original X-Men! The N’Garai within Colossus and Nightcrawler pursue Phoenix and Beast, who are in Rome, the possessed Storm tracks Archangel who is somewhere over the Berkshires, and in Genosha, the possessed Banshee and Sunfire seek Polaris and Iceman.
Magik thinks that only two of the „New X-Men" are not involved the long-dead original Thunderbird, and Wolverine, whom Belasco is not mad enough to try and mess with. Magik digresses that she may not be able to save all the X-Men, if any, but what matters most is stopping the N’Garai, and for that she knows who she needs…
In the sky, over the Berkshires in Connecticut, Archangel, one of the original X-Men,
soars the sky in search of his quarry…the couple in the Ferrari Daytona speeding on the road below. The driver is Neal Sharra, a.k.a. the new Thunderbird, and also the newest member of the X-Men, in the passenger seat of the car is the British mutant, Betsy Braddock, sometimes known as Psylocke.
The car speeds past Radiance Luminology, and while the signpost stands clear on the road, the building itself is hidden, well away from the casual observer – which is probably quite fortunate considering the sinister secret it hides.
Inside Radiance Luminology, two security personnel are monitoring view screens. One of them complains about wasting their time doing it, especially since the creature they are monitoring has not moved since it was brought in by Black Ops.
This is very true, but the interdimensional creature known as the Ru’tai has had no reason to move – until now, when an N’Garai cairn simply comes into existence, and at once the Ru’tai abruptly goes wild. It hisses at the camera before slashing it to bits. It says that it no longer has to sit and endure such indignity as the moment has come to strike back.
One of the security personal shouts to others that they have a "code red" and they are going into maximum lockdown.
Without hesitation, the Ru’tai hurls itself onto the cairn, impaling itself, and unleashing the chaos.
A blinding green light spreads throughout the compound, blinding the guards. When they enter the Ru’tai’s cell, they do not see it, but are puzzled by the person who is in the cell. He has the form of Colonel Wei, but when asked who he is and how he got in, he only tells them he is called Pilgrimmm, which is the last thing they will learn, as despite unleashing gunfire upon him, Pilgrimm manages to wipe all the guards out.
Now several miles away from where carnage has just taken place, Betsy and Neal are lost in the thrill of the ride, when suddenly, Neal spots danger, and reacting without thinking he cuts the wheel hard, as Archangel swoops down onto them. Warren calls out to him that he made a nice move, but that he is still way out of his league.
Thunderbird jumps out of the car, and tells Warren that he doesn’t know what he did to offend him, but that there is no way he is letting him touch him before he finds out, and unleashes a plasma shield, which Warren hits hard as he tries to fly down to Neal. Warren tells him that his shield is ‘cute’ and that he is a quick learner.
Betsy enters the fray now, and asking Warren what is wrong with him tells him to stop what he is doing, and Betsy hits him with a psi-blast. Warren loses control of his flight, and as he falls to the ground, Thunderbird jumps in and grabs him, telling Betsy he has got him. Psylocke asks Neal if she asked for his help and runs over to where the two men have engaged in a fist fight. She asks them to "Stuff a sock in it" and warns them about making her come over there.
Thunderbird tells her he did not start it, but will be glad to finish it. Warren flies out of the gully and up to the same level as Betsy, telling Neal that it is not about him, but between he and Betsy. Betsy asks Warren what he is talking about, and he starts to get mad. He tells her he thought they had something special, but as soon as he turns his back, he tells her that she is off hitting every hot spot in town with the newbie.
Betsy raises her voice to match his, and tells her boyfriend that she does not appreciate the adolescent jealousy, and that she thought she would have at least earned his trust by now, but before she can continue, Thunderbird makes his way up the ridge, and starts to interrupt. Betsy and Warren both turn to him and tell him to shut up. Neal turns away and tells the squabbling lovers he thought they might be interested to know he heard some gunshots – suddenly, a bright light marks the appearance of Magik, who entering Earth through one of the Stepping Disks which she controls, tells everyone to take cover before it is too late.
Which it is, as a possessed Storm arrives on the scene. Crying ‘it is found, it is ours!’ the N’Garai has full access to all of the X-Men’s leader’s powers and even under the best of circumstances she is an opponent to be wary of – but these are not the best of circumstances. The N’Garai strikes the ground with lightening, separating Warren and Betsy from each other.
Thunderbird asks her if she has gone mad, but he does not know she is possessed. Not answering, as her actions speak louder than words, and sends another bolt of lightening to the ground. Thunderbird is sent careening into Magik, while Betsy is knocked completely out of the game. Archangel managed to avoid the assault though, but only for a moment, as she sends forth a windstorm, which Warren knows he cannot resist, so he thinks he should let it work for him, and it carries him further into the forest.
It is an old forest, with lots of heavy growth, meaning plenty of coverage, Warren thinks that the foliage is too dense for Storm to get a decent shot at him, but she makes for an easy target herself.
On the ground and slightly dazed from Storm’s assault, Magik regrets that she was too late again, and tells herself she has to learn to control the Stepping Disks better. A few meters away from Magik, Thunderbird is also on the ground, and tells the hooded blonde girl that he doesn’t know what she did to Storm, but knows it is her fault. Neal tells Magik that he is giving her three seconds to return Storm to normal before he takes her apart. Magik starts to ask him what he is talking about, and suddenly cries ‘Fool! Did you truly think you could catch me unaware?’
Magik starts to ready a magickal assault, but Thunderbird dives into her and grabbing her at the waist, Neal tells Magik he will catch her anyway she can. He pins her to the ground and tells her to change Storm back to normal. Magik tells Thunderbird he is an idiot, and that she wasn’t aiming at him. He asks whom, but as a hand knocks him of the sorceress and into a tree, he gets his answer. Magik tells him it was the monster behind him. That „monster" tells Magik she is wrong, for he is not a monster, but Pilgrimmm. It moves closer to Magik and Neal and Neal tells it that it can call itself what it wants, but that it is not taking them down without a fight.
Pilgrimm leaps over Magik and Thunderbird, telling him he misunderstands, that it will not fight them, telling them it has not interest in them. Neal is surprised that it jumped over them and ignored them. Magik realizes that one of the others must be a target, and opening a Stepping Disc, she grabs Thunderbird by the arm and pulls him through, praying that she is not too late this time.
Meanwhile, the possessed Storm flies over the forest, still searching for Archangel, she calls to him telling him that he cannot evade „us" forever. Startled by a movement, Storm sends a lightening bolt crashing to the ground, but seeing it is just a deer only aggravates her more, and she says ‘Fah! Merely some mindless beast’. She calls to Archangel, telling him to reveal himself, to accept his fate and be done with it.
Higher up in the sky, Warren stays behind the possessed Storm, out of her sight. While he doesn’t know what is wrong with Ororo, he thinks she moves as if her body and powers were all new to her, and decides it means one of two things – she is an impostor, or possessed. Storm cries out to Archangel telling him that while he may think himself well hidden, the winds will prove otherwise, and as the N’Garai within Storm uses her control over the elements to part the trees, it becomes instantly shocked and somewhat afraid at who the trees reveal – A Ru’tai! Seemingly stuck in the air, unable to move, "Storm" lets the demon come for her…
Archangel dives in between the two, knocking the Ru’tai back, fearing that if the body does really belong to Storm, then it cannot be harmed. The demon lands hard on the ground below. Suddenly, the N’Garai inhabiting Storm’s body uses her powers to make Warren fall to the ground also, telling him that even he cannot remain aloft without sufficient lift. As Archangel’s wings beat against nothing he plummets to the ground, and lands, lying deadly still.
"Storm" leaves the air and heads for the ground, as she tells Warren that he was worthy prey, Storm’s face disappears, revealing that of the N’Garai in her. The demon walks over to the still Archangel and tells him it is the N’Garai who will triumph, and it is sent flying back by a quick whip from one of Warren’s wings, challenging the demon, he tells it that whoever it is it is not Storm, as she would never have fallen for that old „playing possum" gag.
Suddenly, the Ru’tai gets up and runs over to Archangel, telling him that it is a N’Garai wearing his friends body, and tells Warren that very soon the N’Garai will be nothing. Using Storm’s power to create lightening bolts, the N’Garai fires one at the Ru’tai, and reminds the Ru’tai that the N’Garai once enslaved its race, and next time they will destroy it. „Storm" summons forth a monsoon rain and the Ru’tai becomes unable to fight back as the ground turns to muck, it cannot maintain its footing. The N’Garai tells the other demon that it will deal with him shortly, as first "they" will finish what they started with Archangel, but when the N’Garai turn to Warren, he is no longer there.
Seeing that he is not in the sky, the N’Garai wonders where its "prey" has gone too, when it sees something move in the underbrush it is startled, but cannot get a fix on what it is, it thinks that it is Archangel, and tells him to show himself. Warren emerges from the underbrush, and says to "Storm" ‘Since you ask so sweetly’, before knocking the demon into the mud it created from the monsoon.
The Ru’tai gets up and the N’Garai asks it if it thinks it can take advantage of her momentary weakness. The Ru’tai tells the N’Garai that that is unnecessary against the likes of it, before Warren flies low by them and knocks them both over, telling them he is sick of listening to them, and that they should both lay down and stay down.
The evil N’Garai says that ‘between the Ru’tai and the prey this takes too long, time there was an end to it’, and drawing on the weather manipulating powers of the body it inhabits, the demon spreads the monsoon rains to cover the entire area, before abruptly dropping the temperature to sub-zero levels, creating a veritable ice storm. In an instant, frost encrusts the surrounding area making the foliage gleam like diamonds, and the entire crest of the ridge is flash-frozen, as are the N’Garai’s opponents.
Archangel’s wings are encased in a sheet of ice, and he falls to the earth again, once more lying stunned and unmoving. This time, the smirking N’Garai does not think the X-Man is lying. Warren looks up from his „prison" and tells the N’Garai that while he doesn’t know what it wants with him, he won’t go down easy. The N’Garai holds up the unconscious body of Psylocke and tells Warren that he will, or Betsy will suffer in his place. Warren calls to Betsy, but she does not answer.
The N’Garai tells Warren to surrender, but before it can continue it is struck from behind, and thrown back by the Ru’tai, who tells the N’Garai to be thankful he does not have any more time to waste, or it would put a permanent end to him. Still unable to move, Warren tells the Ru’tai he should probably be thankful for the help. The Ru’tai, calling Warren "Meat" tells him it is inappropriate, as he offers him the same trade the N’Garai did – the life of Psylocke’s for his own, the demons large mouth hovers above Betsy’s neck, and the demon tells Warren to choose, and at the same moment the demon is struck down by a plasma blast from Thunderbird, telling the demon he chooses ‘none of the above’.
Free from his ice prison, Warren flies Betsy out of harms way, congratulating Thunderbird, and telling him to take the Ru’tai out. As the Ru’tai smacks Warren and Betsy out of the air, it tells them all that they have no idea what they are up against, and he has no time left to teach them, that the battle appears lost. As the demon teleports out, it tells everyone that he only needs to win one of the remaining battles to win the war.
Thunderbird seems shocked at the disappearance of the Ru’tai, but Magik warns him that they still have to deal with "Storm" – but they soon see that they are too late, as the N’Garai kneels over Warren’s broken body, and chanting a spell, a purple glow surrounds them both, and by summoning the power of the Corrupt One, the soul of Archangel is gone. The N’Garai is pleased with itself as it teleports out, claiming the first of the five Bloodstones for the N’Garai. While its image is still visible, Magik leaps to it, but is too late, for once the N’Garai says ‘…with us goes all hope for your pitiful world’ all that remains is the echo of its cruel laugh.
Magik digresses that she failed again, while Thunderbird tends to Warren. He tells Magik that Warren is hardly breathing, and that resurrection is out of his league. He asks Magik if there is anything she can do for him. She tells him that there is only one chance, and that it is extremely dangerous, but given the circumstances, she tells Thunderbird there is not other choice. Magik holds her Soulsword over Warren, and as she softly whispers incantations that were old when the world was young, the glow around them grows stronger, so bright that Thunderbird can barely witness it, and must look away.
When the light fades, Thunderbird looks confused and asks Magik what she did with Archangel. Magik replies that she only did what was necessary of her, and tells Thunderbird that before it is all ended, she is likely to have to do much worse!


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Third Spell: Bare the Claws!
A cairn appears in front of what appears to be the Xavier Institute for the Gifted. Out of it crawls a N’Garai, a demon bent on the death of Earth and all its inhabitants. This is no ordinary N’Garai, but one evolved a light-year from now along some grotesque evolutionary highway, its essence is murder, and it is looking for prey, and it has found some – in the forms of the mysterious young woman calling herself Magik, and Neal Shaara, the newest Thunderbird. But instead, it is the N’Garai who becomes the prey… As a blinding beam of raw plasma pierces the demon’s armored torso.
The raw power of the plasma blast sends the N’Garai back through the cairn, which closes as suddenly as it had opened. Thunderbird asks Magik, who is holding the unconscious Psylocke, if she saw what he did. Magik tells him that what she sees is the cairn itself remains unscathed. Neal asks the mysterious young woman if she cannot even allow him one moment of triumph. Magik tells him to savor it quickly, as it may be all he gets, and tells him that Betsy is their concern now.
Thunderbird agrees, and reminds Magik that she got hurt bad when Storm attacked her. Magik tells Thunderbird that it was not Storm, but a N’Garai wearing her body. Thunderbird asks Magik why he gets the feeling that the mansion behind them is not the real mansion at all. Magik explains that he is right, and tells him that they are still in Limbo, of which she is the putative protector.
Thunderbird mentions that the X-Men told him she was dead. Joking he tells her he will let it slide, and asks her if she knows how the cairn got on „their front lawn." Carrying Betsy inside, Magik tells Neal that the creature he slew was the vanguard of an invading demon-horde from another dimension, and they are bent on the conquest of Earth. She adds that the details of her „death" are her concern only.
Inside, Neal looks out the window and says ‘Fair enough, on the other hand, why should I believe you?’. As Magik lays Betsy on a couch, Thunderbird tells Magik that he has never seen her before, or the demons that she is talking about, or Limbo he adds. He asks her how she ‘pulled that trick’ where she sucked Archangel into her sword.
Magik offers no response, and when Neal prompts her, the young woman who once carried much importance for the X-Men tells him she never imagined her identity or credentials would be doubted. ‘On the other hand’ Magik says ‘what should I expect form the newest X-Man?’ Thunderbird tells her he is waiting for her to convince him.
Magik looks cross and points a finger at Thunderbird and tells him she won’t convince him, but show him!
Around the powerful sorceress, time and space turns white, and images appear to show the story that Magik is about to tell. She asks Thunderbird if one of the X-Men had ever mentioned to him about how the late Cyclops accidentally blasted the top off another cairn, which freed the Demonlord Keirrok, who was the first of the N’Garai to encounter the X-Men, and though Storm destroyed his cairn, he would not be the last N’Garai to appear.
Magik continues, telling Thunderbird that the demon responsible for the N’Garai’s current plan is an ancient sorcerer known as Belasco, and that over time he and the N’Garai had come to view the X-Men as the primary obstacle in the achievement of their goal. Magik continues, telling Neal that the restoration of the primeval arcane order on Earth, where the N’Garai rule and humanity exists solely to be their prey, and that the hatred Belasco and the N’Garai have for mutants, specifically the X-Men, stems from that belief.
Thunderbird storms out of the room and into another asking what he got himself into when he joined the team. Magik asks him what he is doing, and he tells her that he is cutting loose with his powers at the cairn. Magik tells him to save his energy as the cairn, unlike the N’Garai he slew the cairn can only be harmed by magic. Neal looks quite dismayed when he sees that his powers did nothing against it, and asks Magik why she does nothing against it. She tells him that her powers are needed to battle Belasco, ands that he has found a way to open this portal between worlds, utilizing the souls of his enemies, in that he hopes to achieve both revenge and the N’Garai restoration. She continues, telling Neal that Belasco’s targets are the original X-Men, and his so-called „catspaws" are those who replaced them – the „New X-Men.„
Thunderbird asks Magik if she means originals like Archangel, to which the sorceress tells him yes, and that the only way to save him was to pull him into her Soulsword. Magik continues with her story, telling Thunderbird that the key to Belasco’s plan is the generation of five mystic bloodstones, from the souls of the five original X-Men. Magik tells him that her job is to foil Belasco’s plan, while he is to hold the N’Garai at bay. With that, Magik leaves Thunderbird alone via a Stepping Disk, before he can ask her if she can take Betsy to safety. Though Neal knows what Magik would have said: „if the X-Men succeed, Psylocke’s safety is assured. If they don’t, it won’t matter where she is, on Limbo or on Earth."
 Hammer Bay, capital of the island nation of Genosha. The civil war is all but over, and reconstruction is well underway. Not only a physical reality, but also the way the ministry of information spins that reality for the international community. Spinning that information now is Dr. Alda Huxley a woman who had a hand to play, albeit a bad hand, in getting Genosha to where it is today.
It is the middle of a press conference and Huxley is publicly speaking. She says that it is the truth that the political situation in Genosha has stabilized, and social order has once more been restored – Huxley lifts her arm up indicating a huge wall painting of the man responsible for it, the man who now benevolently rules over them – Magneto!
Huxley tells those who are listening to look around them at the structures going up over Genosha, taller and lovelier than those that fell before them during the recent unpleasantness. She mentions now, the mutant Acolytes who patrol the city day and night to keep the peace, and reveals that the UN Observer Corps has certified that Genosha has become again a safe place to visit.
Towards the back of the crowd, slightly obscured by the remains of an old building, Wolverine tells his companion that Huxley makes him feel warm all over, and then brings up the pun of talking to Iceman and being „warm all over." Logan tells Bobby that they have to move out. Bobby hesitates and Logan asks him what the matter is. Bobby Drake asks Logan how he can be so ‘pardon the pun- cool about all this’. Bobby reminds Logan that Magneto was the first enemy the X-Men ever battled, and that he was the youngest. Bobby continues, telling Logan that he will never forget how scared he was during that battle, or the nightmares he had for weeks afterwards.
Bobby tells Logan that the state of Genosha now is a nightmare come to life, and that it is as if everything the X-Men have ever stood and fought for means nothing. Wolverine tells Iceman that he should tell that to Professor Xavier, as he is the man who let the UN give Magneto Genosha. Iceman reminds his companion that the situation was not that simple, and tells him that he thought Xavier and he had buried that hatchet. Logan snarls to Bobby that he and the Professor did, but it doesn’t mean he has to like, or agree with what Charles did, and reminds Bobby that Genosha was a country whose society was built on the enslavement of mutants, and that one should not replace hate with hate.
Bobby tells Logan that that is why they are here isn’t it – to make sure that does not happen. He says that they need to ascertain of what the status of humans is here and then get out quickly. Wolverine says that he may stay behind and finish what Charles Xavier will not. Bobby tells Logan that that is not smart, and Wolverine turns around to the younger man and tells him that sometimes you have to throw out what is smart for what is right. Iceman tells Wolverine that there is more at stake in Genosha than just his sense of morality, and that Magneto will know he is coming from a mile away. Bobby hesitates slightly before telling Logan that he doesn’t need him telling him what Magneto does to things made of metal.
Wolverine tells Bobby that he does not care, to which Iceman tells him does, and tells him to think of Quicksilver…Bobby’s voice trails off a bit, before adding ‘and Lorna’ and tells Wolverine that they cannot endanger them.
Suddenly, Wolverine unsheathes his claws, Bobby asks him what he is doing and Logan tells him that he smelled a scent that should not be here, and they have visitors! Pointing up to the sky, two flying figures can be scarcely made out.
Bobby quickly turns to ice-form and tells Logan that they have to outflank the other two, get into Magneto’s citadel and find Polaris, but adds that the locals may see this as an attack, and respond in kind.
Iceman and Wolverine begin traveling on one of Bobby’s ice-slides and Logan tells him they will burn that bridge when they come to it. Iceman tells him not to say „burn" while on the ice slide, and when Wolverine asks if it is bad luck, as if on cue, the bridge is burnt by a solar blast from a possessed Sunfire! Who is accompanied by an equally possessed Banshee, who asks „Shiro" why he continues to hurl fire at the „meat" when they have fallen. The N’Garai within Sunfire tells his companion that they are more than meat, they are enemies, and they must see their blackened carcasses to make sure that they are dead.
Meanwhile, falling into the city below, Iceman asks Wolverine if their two former teammates sounded a little different to him also. Logan tells Bobby they will discuss it after he saves him. Bobby complies by creating an „ice toboggan", though Wolverine asks him how that is going to stand the fire blasts from Sunfire any better than the slide did. Iceman tells him that it won’t, but the point is to get them to the ground before he can shoot at them again. The two mutants land, and when Bobby suggests they get their defenses up, Logan asks them what kind of defenses they can mount…against the wail of Banshee?
Banshee lets out an extremely powerful sonic scream and in the war between free-will mutant, and N’Garai-possessed mutants there are no noncombatants. Sean Cassidy’s shriek rips through the ears and mind of every person in the city – rendering them unconscious. Due to his genetically enhanced hearing, Wolverine is especially vulnerable to this sonic assault, and Iceman does not fall long after him.
While Sunfire goes to the fallen mutants, Banshee flies towards the citadel, which looms over the city, and meets no resistance as all guards have fallen thanks to his sonic scream. Banshee unleashes a smaller scale cry and shatters a window, entering Magneto’s throne room. But the mutant master of magnetism is not who the possessed Banshee seeks. It is his companion, the former X-Man known as Polaris – Lorna Dane!
Magneto lies sprawled out on the floor, Lorna beside him. The N’Garai possessed Banshee decides that while he has come primarily for Polaris, Magneto is an enemy who must not be allowed to live. The N’Garai will relish in the killing more, if he is in his natural form, and Banshee’s image melts away as the N’Garai bares his teeth and claws over Magneto. As his claws dwindle over Magneto’s helmet the N’Garai thinks to himself what he will do to the brain inside – until someone – or something – whacks the N’Garai from behind – and throws him across the throne room.
The demon steps into view - it is Pilgrimm! „Banshee" asks if a Ru’tai has come to the rescue of Magneto, and Pilgrimm tells him that he has come to kill Magneto, Polaris, him, or all of them! While the N’Garai uses Banshee’s sonic scream against him, the Ru’tai tells the N’Garai that his goal is to disrupt Belasco’s spell by any means possible, thus preventing the N’Garai resurgence. The N’Garai is somewhat surprised that Banshee’s sonic scream does not work against him, but before the Ru’tai can act further, he finds himself trapped – encased in every piece of metal in the chamber.
Polaris has awakened- and she is more than mad. She tells Pilgrimm that from what she saw when she was coming around, she best dispose of the other demon before she plays with him – and in a rush of magnetic energy sends the N’Garai possessed Banshee through the roof of the citadel and into the skies over the city.
On the street below, the N’Garai possessed Sunfire sees this, and wonders what entity could treat a N’Garai like that. Standing nearby, Iceman realizes what they are up against – N’Garai in mutants clothing, and sneaks up behind the possessed Sunfire and encases him in a prison of ice. The N’Garai admits that it was a mistake to turn his back from the fallen „meat" but that is a mistake he can easily fix, and using Sunfire’s power over heat, melts the ice surrounding him.
He decides to deal with Iceman before he tends to his fallen N’Garai, and turning around unleashes a solar flame against Iceman, though it is too late before he realizes that he has been tricked. The flame bounces off scores of reflecting surfaces, all resembling Iceman, as in the moments „Sunfire" was encased within the block of ice, Bobby surrounded him with a larger many-faceted globe of ice. Firing at the carved Iceman, the N’Garai heats up that surrounding globe, and in the space of a heartbeat, he is swept away in a monstrous flash flood.
Meanwhile, the real Bobby Drake, after deciding there is no time to bring Wolverine around, has gone in search of Lorna Dane! Before he gets very far though, metal javelins suddenly appear around him in rapid fire, trapping him in a cage. From above him, someone says ‘What are you doing here, Bobby?’ Iceman looks up to the sky, and cannot believe his eyes. Lorna Dane hovers in flight above her former teammate. Iceman asks if it is really her – or if she is N’Garai like Banshee and Sunfire.
Lorna scoffs when Bobby mentions the N’Garai and asks him if that was what this was all about. She tells him that he still should not have come here.
Polaris lands and walks up to her caged one time boyfriend, and Bobby tells her that he will not stand by idly while she makes decisions that may ruin her life. Lorna tells him she refuses to have that same argument again, and that they have more pressing matters to deal with. She tells him to stand aside while she releases him. Bobby tells her she has no need to do that, as he can do it himself, and tells her she would be amazed at what happens to metals when they are exposed to temperatures near absolute zero, and as he cools the metals, he just as easily breaks them as if they were twigs.
Lorna tells him that was impressive, as she never felt so much as a chill. Bobby says ‘Cold hands, warm heart’. Lorna frowns and narrows her green eyes, telling Bobby that she never doubted the warmth of his heart - just that she could never return it in equal measure.
Bobby says ‘Whatever’ and while Polaris flies, he glides along an ice slide as they follow the remnants of his flood. The two former X-Men end up in a construction site, and standing on a ledge they see Sunfire who is still lying unconscious in a pool of water, with more water pouring on him. Lorna says ‘And we do what?’ Bobby tells her he will freeze the water again, encasing him in ice again, only this ice is cold enough to keep him unconscious in a hypothermic suspension.
Bobby and Lorna stand over „Sunfire" and Bobby tells Lorna that he shouldn’t give them any more trouble, encased in a bed of ice. The two powerful former X-Men turn away from him – big mistake – and the N’Garai’s features return to their natural form, and with a demon face comes demon strength – and the N’Garai leaps out of the ice. Lorna spots him first and warns Bobby to look out. Bobby tells her that he will have to try something else, as his ice didn’t hold him – and as Bobby shoves his elbow into the N’Garai’s jaw Lorna tells him he hurt the demon as blood gushes from his mouth.
 „Sunfire" gets mad, and with a flaming punch, knocks Iceman out cold. Seeing her friend knocked out, Lorna announces it is her turn, and unleashes raw magnetic energy, enwrapping the N’Garai in streamers he cannot escape. However, a sudden sonic scream plays havoc with Lorna’s inner ear, resulting in instant vertigo, and overwhelming nausea, as „Banshee" screeches down towards Lorna, as the mistress of magnetism goes down beneath the barrage of the N’Garai.
The N’Garai stand over the lifeless bodies of Polaris and Iceman, not knowing that above them sits the Ru’tai called Pilgrimm, preparing his assault on them - but instead the familiar sound of a snikt  proves otherwise, as Wolverine has returned and leaps over towards the demon. Logan remembers telling Bobby that earlier he smelled something that didn’t belong in Genosha – or even Earth! Logan lands on the crane that Pilgrimm is clinging to, and Pilgrimm welcomes this contest. Logan is thrown off his game just a little, by the realization that the Ru’tai is telling the truth.
Logan and Pilgrimm are still fighting when they land on the ground below, startling the N’Garai and Lorna and Bobby who have just risen. Lorna Dane does not ask Wolverine if he wants help, she just acts, and metal objects are drawn towards her like moths to a flame, metal shavings form a torrent that washes toward her like liquid mercury. The metal flows over her body from solids and liquids alike, coating Polaris from head to toe, till every inch, save her flowing green hair, is covered in gleaming chrome.
Lorna has served her purpose – she has the Ru’tai’s attention, who hurls Logan away with inhuman strength, and turns towards the new challenger! Fed up with everything, and in a really bad mood, Lorna taunts the demon, telling it to hit her with its best shot. He does, and punches Lorna Dane in the stomach with full force. The blow has no effect, other than the impact. However, Pilgrimm does not stop after one blow, and scrapes away at Lorna’s armor, thrusting her to the ground, the damages visible for all to see.
Lorna sees just how deep the Ru’tai’s claws have cut, thankfully, the metal covering her body saved her from such a nasty end. The Ru’tai looms above Lorna Dane like the angel of death – the next he shrieks in surprise as he is struck from behind by an energy blast that hits like a thousand razors, and he vanishes in a burst of arcane ether.
The N’Garai possessing Sunfire gloats that he killed the Ru’tai and tells Logan that he will kill him now. Wolverine tells „Sunfire„ that he didn’t kill anybody, and taunts him – until a literal wall of solid sound hits Logan, sending him back across the construction yard. „Banshee" turns to Polaris telling her that Wolverine will not bother with them for a while, but before he can tells Polaris what he intends to do to her, he is struck by pain.
Iceman stands over him, and Polaris, holding her stomach, asks Bobby what he did to him. He replies that he made the air around the N’Garai, so that when he breathed in. the chill scorched the membranes of his throat, ‘less like freezing than being on fire!’.
The N’Garai within Sunfire tells Iceman he has wasted a lot of effort, and will unlikely be able to do that again! The N’Garai unleashes a huge solar flame, aimed at the battered Iceman. Iceman is in trouble, as soon as he regenerates his ice-shield, the N’Garai dissolves it again, a few moments more, and his flesh will melt before the fiery assault too…
‘Stop!’ Cries Lorna Dane, a tear forming in her eye she tells the N’Garai not to kill Bobby and asks him what he wants. The demon tells her that he came for her, and that if she drops her metal defenses he will spare the icy warrior. In pain, Bobby tells Lorna not to do it, as you can not trust a N’Garai. ‘I’ve no choice’ says Lorna, and the metal covering her body slips from her body. Lorna keels over from the pain, and tells the demon that she has willed her armor to flow off her, and tells him to leave Bobby alone, as she is his.
For a long moment, the N’Garai study the face of the pleading Lorna Dane, now vulnerable, before „Banshee" comes up and smacks her out. Lorna is not conscious to see Bobby rush forward, regardless of his own safety to tend to her Lorna. She also does not see the Sunfire N’Garai unleash a powerful that fells him.
The demons kneel over the fallen heroes, and mutter arcane spells never to be spoken by human throats, as the N’Garai steal away the souls of Lorna and Bobby. Then in a blinding burst of unearthly energy, they vanish, leaving nothing behind but two unmoving forms.
A heartbeat later, Magik…arrives. The young woman realizes she arrived to late, and as she looks down at Lorna – a woman who was once a friend – a moment of humanity seems to emanate from Magik. But she returns to the task at hand, knowing that what happened here in Genosha was just a prelude to the true confrontation, and she must pool her resources until then, though a hard decision, it is the right one.
Magik holds her Soulsword above Lorna and Bobby and starts to draw their life essences into the Soulsword. Suddenly, another voice is heard – it’s Wolverine. He tells Magik to ‘Lower that pig-sticker, lady, or I bury these claws where it hurts’. As if she knew their meeting would be inevitable, Magik begins to say something, until Wolverine cuts her off, asking her who she is. She tells him she is Magik, to which Wolverine tells her that she is lying, for Illyana Rasputin is dead, and he tells the young woman that she is not Illyana.
From beneath her cowl, Logan’s claws up at her face, Magik tells Wolverine to look at her and trust her. She tells him that he of all the X-Men should be able to sense the truth. Logan looks, and says nothing, but he knows. He sheathes his claws away from the face of the woman he once knew well and Magik tells him that his strength is needed elsewhere, while she plans to end the N’Garai threat once and for all. She tells him that she needs his help, and as they vanish through Stepping Disk, Logan says ‘You got it Darlin’.


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Fourth Spell: Light the Fire!
Limbo, a mystical netherworld where all times are one and nothing is exactly as it seems. Right now, Neal Sharra, the latest mutant to hold the codename of Thunderbird and newest member of the mutant hero team, the X-Men, is making a stand. So far, he has destroyed several legions of N’Garai demons, the ones he is currently struggling against are the most recent to leap from the cairn of skulls. He knows they will not be the last. Neal has the ability to wield raw plasma, but even his power is finite, and he fears that his concentration and control will lapse, for against the endless horde of demons, how much longer can he last?
Thunderbird stumbles beneath the barrage of the three demons. One of the demons slices across his armor, which was created to withstand such an attack, however the demons claws strike too close for comfort. Thunderbird unleashes a plasma blast, sending one of the demons careening back, before one of the others grabs Neal’s head in its claws. It tells its „meat" that only one of them will die, and it won’t be – Neal cuts him off saying ‘Me, at least this time!’ The demon turns to see who or what Thunderbird is looking at – salvation, in the form of the deadly mutant Wolverine and the powerful sorceress Magik.
The light of the teleportational signal from the Stepping Disk glistens in Limbo’s gloom and Wolverine lunges forward at one of the demons. Wolverine ignores the N’Garai’s own claws, trusting his healing factor to mend the wounds they make, while his own adamantium claws deal efficiently with the N’Garai.
Logan grabs Neal as he passes out, thanking the senior X-Man, and Logan turns his attention to the young woman. He asks his old friend, amused with her that she is calling herself "Magik", what is going on.
The attractive blond girl with the hooded face begins to give Logan the quick version of her complicated story. She tells him that Belasco has captured Storm, Nightcrawler, Colossus, Banshee and Sunfire, and switched their souls with those of the demon N’Garai. He then sent the false X-Men to Earth, to steal the souls of five of their predecessors, and that so far three of them have fallen, and their souls turned into bloodstones. Magik explains that with each bloodstone collected, the cairns open wider.
Thunderbird has collected himself and tells Logan and Magik that that explains why the N’Garai firstly entered Limbo single, then in pairs, and now in threes. Magik tells the men that it gets worse – for when Belasco has all five bloodstones, he will use their power to open a portal between Limbo and Earth. She adds that she has absorbed the bodies of the fallen X-Men into her Soulsword. Logan asks Magik if she is going to fight fire with fire – by countering his possessed X-Men, with possessed X-Men of her own. Neal, not one who is especially knowledgeable in the world of magic, asks how that is possible.
Logan tells him that they are in Limbo, and he would be amazed at what is possible in Limbo. Quite worriedly, Magik tells them that Logan got the plan right, however she adds that the spell is unfortunately short lived and cannot be repeated. She tells them that they will try to regain the stolen souls and return them to their rightful bodies, and grinning, Wolverine adds that they will disrupt the portal spell Belasco is trying to cast. Adding to the dramatic tension Thunderbird reminds them that if they don’t, Earth as they know it is doomed. He tells the far more experienced super heroes that they have their work cut out for them. Magik turns away from the men and tells them to keep the N’Garai from massing, she says that she will return as soon as she can and teleports away. Neal asks Logan if they are talking ‘The Spartans at Thermopylane?’ and Wolverine tells him it is – but with worse odds, before telling him that it is starting again.
In Rome, armed soldiers surround a cairn, and a crowd has amassed keen to see what is going on. A newswoman reports that the portion of St. Peter’s Square where the cairn is has been cornered off, and adds that the cairn seems to be constructed entirely of skulls! Inside a nearby cathedral, someone reports to the priest that in an ancient book of sorcery, which he found, locked within the deepest vault within of the Vatican library. He shows the book to the priest, the picture in it exactly the same as the cairn. Someone else reports that a total of thirteen cairns have appeared worldwide, all at sites of mystical power. Another stresses how terrible the event is, and that the Holy Father must be informed. The priest talks to the Pope over a communication device and tells him that the origin of the cairns has been confirmed, and that it is not often they are called upon to face such evil in the flesh.
Below the cathedral, dressed in civilian clothes, Hank McCoy, a.k.a. Beast senses something, causing him to speak to the person approaching from behind him. ‘Well met by sunlight, proud Titania’ he paraphrases Shakespeare. Jean Grey-Summers, a.k.a. Phoenix asks Hank how it is that when she uses her telepathic powers to mask her from everybody else he still knows she is there. Hank tells her that he doesn’t know, but perhaps it has something to do with the fact they have known each other for so long. He adds that he would know her in anywhere, in any guise.
Jean steps into the light and reveals her new costume. A red one-piece spandex outfit with a yellow phoenix spread across her chest and arms. Beast compliments her on her new outfit. Jean thanks him and as she closes her eyes she tells him that her old one was a symbol of her life with Scott – but now that he is dead…she adds that she needed a new talisman, something to remind her to look forward instead of back. Beast changes the subject quickly and nodding upwards asks her what she thinks of ‘that thing.’
Phoenix tells Beast that as near as she can tell twelve others have appeared around the world. She adds that coincidentally she has lost psychic contact with almost a dozen other X-Men. She tells Hank that she has also been seeing disturbing images recently. He asks if they are N’Garai and Jean tells him they are. She says that since X-Man and X-Force have gone rogue, and Xavier is away in space, the teams’ resources are a bit thin. She tells Beast that she sent the remaining team members to cover what cairns they can. Rogue is at the pyramids in Giza; Cable is monitoring China’s Great Wall; Gambit is at Notre Dame in Paris and Danielle Moonstar is in Greenwich Village, near the home of Doctor Strange.
Jean shows how worried she is when she tells Hank that the "New X-Men" aren’t themselves, that they have been possessed, and that they seem to be attacking their predecessors. She tells Hank that Archangel, Iceman and Polaris have already fallen, and as Cyclops and Havok have been … gone for some time…Beast cuts Phoenix off, saying that as they as the last surviving members of the original team, are most likely next on the hit list. As Jean is about to tell Hank she is sure of it, she suddenly realizes something else is wrong.
Jean tells Beast that the cairn is a diversion and the real N’Garai threat is inside the Sistine Chapel. Hank starts to ask her what makes her think that, and as he picks her up and jumps across the path she tells him that her telepathy hits a dead zone around the chapel, that nothing inside registers. Beast admits that that is a dead giveaway, and as they start for the main entrance, before they can enter it, Colossus is flung out of it.
Beast is surprised to see him, and starts to ask Phoenix what he is doing there, but Jean tells him that that it is his body, but not Colossus inside where it matters. The X-Men dodge out of the door way and just in time as suddenly a Ru’tai crashes out through it, with bodies of priests and guards scattered about beneath it. The demon sniffs the air and hesitates as if it is unsure of his next move. Jean tells Hank that she doesn’t understand what is going on, as the monster is not N’Garai. She wonders what it is doing here.
Beast looks up at the monster and tells Jean that he is from another dimension and is a Ru’tai sorcerer that calls himself Pilgrimm, and that his people were once slaves of the N’Garai. Jeans asks if he is on their side, and Beast says ‘Only if you accept the truism…that the enemy of our enemies must therefore be our friend’.
The demon leaps at Beast and says that it is satisfying to be recognized and remembered, which makes it even more satisfying to destroy him. Jean doesn’t need to read Hank’s mind to recognize the power of the demon and she slams him with a burst of psychic energy intending to paralyze it – but she barely slows him down. Landing across the path from her, the demon tells Jean that it was a powerful mindblast, that it struck almost as hard as this stone will strike her, and the Ru’tai demon chucks a slab of concrete from the path at Phoenix.
Until recently, Jean Grey could have stopped the stone by the roll of her eyes, a flick of her hand or a sigh. Now her telekinesis is gone, leaving her vulnerable to physical attacks. Beast is not though, and jumps in the way of the stone and using his considerable strength, pushes the slab of concrete back at Pilgrimm, which strikes the demon hard. Hank then leaps at the fallen demon, one of his powerful feet first, all the while thinking to himself that it may not be the brightest move he ever made, slams into the demon, satisfying him.
Beast holds Pilgrimm at bay and tells him that he wants answers – he wants to know what he is doing here, and what his stake in the N’Garai conspiracy is. The demon shoves hank back and tells him that his only stake is that he will win, and the N’Garai lose all. Beast asks what is to happen to humankind, and the demon tells him that aside from the fact this planet is the battleground, the humans only provide annoyance to the them, and that eventually as they make mistakes, they will die, then one way or another, the world will follow. Beast continues to pummel the Ru’tai and taunts him with smart comments. Beast distresses that he has been throwing all of his best punches, and the demon barely flinches…Hank notices that Colossus is waking up, and while one time Jean could have simply dropped a building in him…
A purple haze surrounds Beast and he suddenly finds himself elsewhere, seemingly in front of Xavier’s Mansion, he says ‘Never mind the rhetorical question, ignore the tasteless touch of melodrama. Astral Plane right?’ Jean tells him they need to talk, and Hank smiles, saying ‘Amazing gift, even more amazing to look at’. A door opens and Jean walks through it, telling Hank that when she lost her telekinesis to Psylocke, she gained her telepathic powers, including her affinity for shadows. As Jean looks over her purple astral body, she tells Beast that while she is still getting used to the changes herself, this is not what they need to talk about.
 Jean tells Hank that Colossus is awakening and they will soon be fighting him as well as Pilgrimm. She reminds Hank that he is strong and fast, and offers to use her psi-powers to optimize the function of his neural network, to enhance his powers even further. Hank asks Jean why she doesn’t just shut down their minds. Phoenix tells him that Pilgrimm’s thought processes are not human and she hasn’t quite got a grip on them yet, and as for Colossus, well an all out psionic assault could damage his mind permanently. Jean tells Hank that she wouldn’t want to risk that unless she had no other choice. Hank says ‘Then I guess I’ll choose door number one!’
Beast is back where he was, the moment he left, and is still fighting the Ru’tai. He thinks that it is time to give it another shot, and as Pilgrimm leaps to him, he evades him, snags his arm, and flips him off balance, throwing him across the compound. Beast hears a cracking sound, and figures he broke some of Pilgrimm’s bones. Beast says he now knows what it is like to have Thing-level strength and Jean tells him not to get cocky. Beast’s expression shows that he isn’t and tells Phoenix not to worry, and that any damage he did to the demon must have been temporary, as he stands up before him. Beast mumbles that Wolverine isn’t the only person with a healing factor, and Pilgrimm tells Hank that it is a power he will soon wish he possessed. Beast has experienced enhanced strength, now hyper reflexes let him snatch stones literally from the air, which he hurls in a barrage too rapid for the naked eye to follow at Pilgrimm.
Sitting atop the cairn, a possessed Nightcrawler watches the scene below, as Pilgrimm lashes back out at Beast, and Colossus finally wakes and gets into his armored form. Nightcrawler grins slyly at how Colossus will bring down Jean Grey, and the Ru’tai will deal with the Beast for him, which frees himself to attend to their new, and increasingly impaired arrival. He looks across to the rooftop of a nearby building…
…where Magik has teleported to, and finds herself very weak. As she clutches herself, she understands what is wrong, that the holy place where she is rejects her, as she is tainted in body and soul by the sorcery she wields and the choices she has made, the only decisions possible to make. That to save the world, she needed black magic a well as white. Magik tells herself to live with it, as she did what had to be done.
The possessed Nightcrawler smiles at Magik’s less than timely arrival and teleports from the cairn over to where she is. Magik senses his arrival and pulls out her Soulsword just in time to counter his sword. She tells him she knows what he truly is and now and will fight him. The N’Garai within Nightcrawler asserts itself and tells Magik that she is weak here, whereas they are strong. Magik says that is unlikely, and Nightcrawler asks her if he would lie to her, he tells her that Belasco has shielded their true selves within the X-Men’s bodies, that they have become stealth demons who may wander unimpeded where they wish.
Magik and "Nightcrawler’s" swords clang together as they battle it out and he tells Magik that she fights less brilliantly against all three of his swords, and tells her that her battle is all but lost. Magik says ‘Is it?’ then feints backwards, as she slips beneath his guard to smite him with her armored fist. Nightcrawler falls from the rooftop and Magik jumps down too, Soulsword ablaze, she holds it above the fallen X-Man. Magik’s eyes overflow with emotion and she thinks to herself that of all the X-Men why is it that she must face Nightcrawler, and be forced to make this choice. Nightcrawler looks up at her, Soulsword still above her head, and he says to Magik ‘Scruples Liebchen? Sentimentality? The sorceress who hesitates is lost’ and the „reunion" between those two who have much history together is over as he uses one of his own swords to strike at Magik’s armor, breaking some of it.
Across the quad, the clash of metal and Magik’s cry alerts Jean to the increased dangers. She worries to herself that her side may loose this battle. She decides she didn’t want to risk a psychic attack, but now has no choice but to. Phoenix coils her formidable psychic powers and flings it out like gleaming lariats into the minds of the possessed Nightcrawler and Colossus and the Ru’tai demon. The minds of Jean’s three enemies begin to crack, as her psychic cords tremble and she faces her opponents, will force to will force. It seems as if Jean Grey will prevail, but a murky tendrils ooze from her enemies, and it encompasses her gleaming psychic cords, they dirty it and slowly transform it into a chain of darkness.
The possessed Nightcrawler shouts at Jean and tells her that she opened the mind link, but the N’Garai now control it, and that she is doomed. Phoenix looks above her as her once pure psychic powers, now blackened come careening down back at her, she gives in thinking that she doesn’t have the will or the power to break free – until Beast jumps at her, shoving her out of the way, and he finds himself snared by the psychic cord into darkness and stunned by the backlash. Jean looks back, concerned for her friend.
The possessed Colossus tells Pilgrimm that it is a little wonder his kind enslaved theirs, and in his armored form punches the Ru’tai sorcerer out of the game, sending him flying across the square.
„Colossus" then picks up the wounded Beast and chanting an ancient incantation pulls out the soul of the X-Man, thus collecting the fifth bloodstone for the N’Garai and Belasco. Holding Beast by his head, the demon within Colossus tells Phoenix to watch as he crushes Beast’s skull, then it will be her turn. Jean, still stunned from the psychic backlash of her powers cannot move.
The seconds that Nightcrawler was stunned by Phoenix was all it took for Magik to recover and she now continues to fight the possessed Nightcrawler by sword. The demon tells the sorceress that she is injured and will now die, but Magik is a resilient one and she gracefully flings her Soulsword across the quad, and at the same time she vanishes into the brilliant light that is her Stepping Disk.
The Soulsword plunges through Beast, straight through him and his body discorporates, and is drawn into the Soulsword, which lands upright, shattering the concrete. Colossus says that Magik’s effort was wasted, as the "prey" was as good as dead, and as his fist lands almost on top of Jean, tells her she will soon be dead also. As Phoenix leaps out of the way she thinks that she has seldom regretted the loss of her telekinesis more, now is one of those times. But she doesn’t want to try another psychic attack again.
Jean decides she needs a weapon and reaches for the Soulsword, which slips away from her. Magik appears at Jean’s side and the sorceress tells her that she cannot touch it, for which she should give eternal thanks. Nearby, the possessed Nightcrawler says that only the sorceress consecrated to that blade can wield it safely, and Colossus tells Magik to surrender, as they have what they need, she can no longer stop them, and the demons teleport out.
Jean asks Magik if they are telling the truth and the sorceress tells her they weren’t, as they are demons and they always lie. Jean is about to ask something when Magik cuts her off and says ‘Trust me’. Jean smiles at the young woman under the cowl, knowing who she really is, and they understand each other. Magik raises arms and opens another Stepping Disk, and the two young women arrive in Limbo.
Magik asks Logan and Neal what happened, and Thunderbird just tells her that the same thing that always happened – they take the demons down and more take their place. Wolverine looks at Jean, glad to see her safe, and says ‘That hasn’t been our problem’. Neal adds that he thinks the worst is yet to come, and Jean tells him that there is worse ahead for them all.
With the broken moon in the background, Magik tells her friends, old and new, that they will soon face the full force of the N’Garai invading army, and that it is their job to stop them. She says ‘Here you stand…and here you win, for if you lose, the world dies with you’. Phoenix asks Magik what she is going to do, and Magik tells her that she is going to stop Belasco. Jean also asks what happened to the X-Men, both captured and possessed, and Magik tells her that if they can be saved she will save them, but given the stakes it may not be possible… ‘Their lives – for the Earth, and all humanity’ Magik says and the quartet of heroes look on at the world heavy task they have ahead of them.


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Final Spell: Case the Magik!
In his citadel, Belasco, flanked by the N’Garai-possessed X-Men, Storm; Colossus; Nightcrawler; Banshee and Sunfire, holds up the five Bloodstones, the souls of five past and present X-Men. With fire surrounding the unearthly demon, he announces that the circle of the abyss is complete, and that at long last for his masters, and himself, they can claim victory!
In another part of Limbo, a pan-dimensional realm that has access to every point in space and time in the cosmos…two armies assemble. The first, being an infinite amount of N’Garai demons, ready to swarm and destroy those who stand in their way of conquering all. The other team…what they lack in numbers, they make up for in sheer will power. Four super beings who pretty much the only thing standing between the demons and their goal. Logan, a.k.a. the savage resilient and intense Wolverine. Jean “Phoenix” Grey, the heart and soul of the X-Men who even without her powerful telekinesis, is still a force to be reckoned with. The newest X-Man, Neal Shaara, latest to take the code-name Thunderbird. What he lacks in training, he makes up for in attitude. Finally, Magik. The young woman, who is a longtime ally of the X-Men, though her true identity remains known only to Jean and Logan. She is powerful, stunning and the key to the survival of Earth.
As the N’Garai approach the powerful X-Men, Magik reminds her allies that Belasco, with possession of the Bloodstones, will open a multitude of transmat gates between the N’Garai hone dimension and Limbo, then between Limbo and Earth, and all before the world has time to realize it is under attack, it will be overwhelmed. Gritting her teeth, the sorceress adds that even for all their awesome power, the heroes on Earth will not be able to withstand such an onslaught, and with control of Limbo, the N’Garai can easily spread to every world, in every dimension along the Sidereal String. She says ‘Our only hope is to stop them here.’
Magik reminds her friends that their job is to stop the demons’ advance, while she goes and shatters the spell that bought them here. Thunderbird looks at the sorceress with a degree of speculation when he asks her if she intends to stop Belasco all on her own. Magik tells him that she still has some aces up her sleeve, and that it is time Belasco was reminded he is the usurper her, and that in Limbo, it is Magik who makes the rules, and Magik who has the power to break them! With that the powerful sorceress disappears amongst the glimmering light that is a Stepping Disk, teleporting her to Belasco.
Wolverine says that Magik can certainly talk the talk, and asks Jean if she has any suggestions as to their next move. Phoenix tells him that she was thinking about what makes the best defense. Taking to the air, Thunderbird asks her if it would be a good offense, and that if he may have the honor. Wolverine tells Neal to go, as he cannot wait to see what he has planned.
Thunderbird does not have to worry about his powers harming an innocent in Limbo, for the N’Garai are anything but innocent, and while releasing his solar beams of raw plasma, he does not hold back at all. Neal is amazed at what he just did for in the last blast he unleashed, he stroked the land with a fire so intense, that it fused the ground to glass! Neal asks his god Vishnu to forgive him, as he could easily do something similar back home before noticing a second movement of N’Garai around the cairn.
Wolverine and Jean Grey see them too, and Logan, in his usual cynical tone, says he guesses the N’Garai don’t know when or how to quit, before adding neither does he, and plunging head first into the oncoming demons. Wolverine’s mutant power is that of a healing factor which enables him to cope with any wound or disease, making it impossible to kill him. What makes Logan as deadly as his reputation, is a skeleton laced with adamantium, which makes it unbreakable, and claws covered with the same metal, enabling him to cut through anything.
Adding to all of that, is Wolverine’s berserker rage, which transforms him into the ultimate fighting machine. From this point, he will fight until the enemy is no more, or he is – there is no other option. As the N’Garai are taken back by such primal ferocity, it is a side of himself he rarely shows, especially to the other X-Men. He continues to shred the N’Garai with his claws, to rip them up and pound them to death. He is like a man possessed, embracing the mortal combat without regret or hesitation, to the fullest of his capabilities. Though he will never admit it, not even to himself, but this is the closest he will come to what a major part of his soul considers heaven.
Suddenly, N’Garai all around scream in horror and keel over dead. Light radiates from Jean Grey – it is her turn to play, and she can play without lifting a finger. Telepathically, she tells her teammates that while they are alien and foul beyond imagining, the N’Garai still have minds, which makes them vulnerable to her telepathy. She adds that if one finds the right psychic key, they will be too busy dealing with the oncoming chaos within their own heads to worry about anything else. At the same time, Jean can super-charge her teammates, allowing them to sustain maximum effort almost indefinitely.
The psychic link works as a two-way street, and in Wolverine’s head, Jean appears, as a compliment to him, Jean Grey is emotion personified and she overflows inside Logan, with a passion as bloody as he. As Thunderbird beholds Kali, the giver and taker of life, Jean herself finds resonance in her soul to both perceptions. Jean Grey feels the beginnings of a great and terrible joy that carries with it a hunger for more. It is a temptation she has felt before, with consequences she knows only too well – which is why she is determined to deny it…
Meanwhile, elsewhere in Limbo, the young woman known as Magik stands before Belasco’s ominous citadel, ready to make her next move. She looks up at the castle, the dirty red cloud unmoving beside it, and eyes narrowed she comments sarcastically on how impressive Belasco’s plan has been. But after etching a pentagram into the rock she stands on she proclaims that she is impressive too.
Magik stands at the tip of the pentagram and speaks ancient words known to few. Eldritch energies obediently leap from her Soulsword to the pentagram, and her spell reaches its zenith. Magik raises the Soulsword, which contains the souls of five heroes, and as she cracks the middle of the pentagram with the Soulsword, using the full force of her might, the reality around her seems to shatter, and four heroes are released – Beast, Archangel, Iceman and Polaris.
The four heroes look to Magik slightly bewildered at what is going on, and Warren questions her, asking her if they aren’t dead. Magik tells him that on Earth they are, but in Limbo, only when she allows them to be. Whether the mutants recognize her for who she truly is or not, Magik introduces herself to them as Magik, and gives them the briefest version of the story thus far. That Belasco is responsible for what is happening, and that he is using their souls to allow his masters to conquer both Limbo and Earth.
Magik proclaims that to stop Belasco and save themselves, they have to get their souls back, though he has other X-Men acting as bodyguards, and to reach the souls, they will have to defeat them. She asks the others if they have any ideas. Beast reminds everyone that as they know who attacked them on Earth, they know who they are up against here – first generation X-Men against second generation X-Men. He tells Lorna that he knows she can sense magnetic lines of force on Earth, and asks her if she can do the same in Limbo. He adds that by scrambling the lines, she would be able to inhibit Nightcrawler’s teleportation. Standing away from the others, and arms folded, Lorna tells him she can try.
Bobby suggests that he can freeze the other X-Men, putting them in an instant cryogenic suspended animation. Magik begins to disappear in the glowing light that is her Stepping Disk, and tells them all that whatever they decide the key is keeping Belasco’s possessed X-Men busy, leaving her a clear run at Belasco himself. With the sorceress gone, Archangel flies his friend Iceman up towards the citadel, and asks him nicely how often they have tried this, and it actually working. Bobby tells Warren that they are demons from the infernal regions, and asks what they know of the cold, he adds that with any luck, they won’t know how to cope. Bobby Drake, a.k.a. Iceman, the youngest member of the original X-Men succeeds in freezing all of Belasco’s castle, though within moments, they five possessed X-Men, all now bearing their N’Garai faces, break from the ice, and leap forward to the free X-Men.
Sunfire fires a beam of solar energy at Archangel and Iceman, who narrowly dodge it, as Iceman reminds his friends that the people they are up against are not evil. On the ground, Hank tells Lorna to use her magnetic powers to turn Storm’s lightning against her. Polaris warns Hank to look out, and he dodges just in time, before Colossus plunges to the ground where he was standing. Kurt bamfs in and punches Beast, adding that he should have stayed within the Witch-Child’s sword. The possessed Banshee nears the ground and using his sonic powers against Beast, reminds the free X-Men that they are only body without souls, which makes them easy prey for the N’Garai.
Beast leaps up before Colossus’ hands smash him in, and pardons the other X-Men and himself for having other ideas. He thinks himself lucky that his helmet muted Banshee’s sonic scream. Hank then notices that Polaris managed to take down Nightcrawler during the confusion, leaving four to fight – plus Belasco. Looking a little worried, Beast adds that if they can trust Magik at all.
Meanwhile, back at the Limbo version of the X-Mansion, the N’Garai body count has long since become functionally numberless, but it doesn’t matter, Wolverine, Phoenix and Thunderbird all fight all on. Jean notes how the demons just keep coming, luckily though, she is having no problems maintaining power levels, and can keep Logan and Neal at their peaks. Jean worries however, as fatigue is their main danger now. To help the other two fight, Jean has been absorbing the brunt of their mental and physical exhaustion, but that will eventually start to take its toll on her.
Standing near the “mansion” Jean turns around to face it suddenly, as the parlor doors slam open and a demon step out of them. Surprised at how it got into the house, Jean mistakenly calls it N’Garai and she is more concerned with the fact that it has got Psylocke. The demon is highly offended by Phoenix and cries ‘Profanity! This one is Pilgrimm!’ Jean says ‘Like I care’ and drawing on Wolverine’s abilities which she can tap into telepathically, psychic claws pop from Jean’s knuckles, and trained in hand-to-hand combat by Wolverine himself, Jean doesn’t need to use her current connection with Logan as she strikes Pilgrimm in the gut, telling him for attacking the X-Men he now pays the ultimate price.
Jean brings the Ru’tai onto the Psychic Plane and in her shadow-form stands before him, and says ‘You felt my anger. Now prepare for the wrath!’ With his mouthful of teeth, it is hard to tell whether or not Pilgrimm is smiling, either way, he tells Jean that she can try, but may discover that he is not so easily killed. Jean secretly worries, and wonders if Pilgrimm knows she is bluffing, that she is only using her telepathy to make him believe she possesses Wolverine’s claws and Thunderbird’s plasma. Suddenly, after reading the demons mind, Jean realizes that he is not N’Garai.
Pilgrimm looks at his wounds, and is surprised that they are gone. He turns back to Phoenix and says she is some devious meat, using its thoughts to create illusions. He says to her that he ‘traffics solely in reality’. Lunging forward to Phoenix he demonstrates, by smacking her in the face. On the ground, Jean apologizes for calling him N’Garai and adds that she sees in his memories a hatred for the N’Garai. The demon picks Jean Grey up by her hair and looks at her face to face. Pilgrimm announces that as he deals with Jean, he will deal with the N’Garai – in blood and screams.
Jean informs him that if the N’Garai conquer Limbo, he wont be doing anything. She tells him to look outside and asks him how long his own people will last against the demons. She adds that this time, the X-Men are not his enemies, but his possible salvation, and that his fight should not be with them, but with the man responsible for this – Belasco!
The large demon notes the truth and passion in Phoenix’s words, and tells her that he has only ever heard this from one other of her kind. He adds that Jean transcends Wolverine in every way, and Jean tells proclaims she will take it as a compliment. Tossing Jean to the floor, Pilgrimm says that the soul of the Phoenix, is the Ru’tai soul, though Jean begs to differ. Turning his back on Jean, and fading away in his green teleport mist, Pilgrimm reveals that it would be an honor to consume such a creature, but that the price of honor may mean the sacrifice of the Ru’tai. As he fades from view, he promises Jean that when he has dealt with Belasco, they shall meet again. Jean runs out the door and shouts back ‘Not if I can help it, Pilgrimm. Not now, not ever!’.
Back at Belasco’s castle, the battle continues to rage on. Archangel dodges Sunfire’s flames, while Banshee is caught in a mound of ice by Iceman. Polaris deals with Colossus by trapping him in a metal rope, and Beast deals with Storm. Jokingly Iceman tells his friends that experience must count for something, as they have the others ‘on the ropes’. As Warren shoves Shiro back, he agrees, and as he brings the fallen Sunfire to the ground, with the other possessed and now captured X-Men, he wonders why he doesn’t feel more like cheering.
Beast reminds his side that their enemies did give a decent account of themselves, though the battle was almost in doubt to its own end. The crackling voice of the N’Garai possessed Storm speaks up, and announces that Beast is wrong, as the outcome of the battle was never ‘in doubt’, that his defeat, and the defeat of the other three was foreordained before the battle even began! Beasts team turn in surprise, and the five N’Garai possessed demons shatter their shackles.
Storm proclaims to Hank, Warren, Bobby and Lorna, that as they are possessed, so shall they be, all the while, those behind her were being mauled down, and she too is stuck by the powerful might of Pilgrimm! Standing above all nine heroes, Pilgrimm announces that the N’Garai are nothing, and Ru’tai are all, and adds that the human world will never be theirs to claim – but belong to his kind!
 Meanwhile, in Belasco’s throne room, Magik teleports in. She managed to slip past all of his defense to reach the throne room, and sees the five Bloodstones aligned by the pentagram. As the young sorceress walks towards the pentagram, Belasco steps up behind her and knocks her from behind. Addressing her as his apprentice, Belasco tells her this will be as close as she gets.
Belasco holds his sword above the fallen sorceress and decides to strike her would be a waste, as of all his apprentices, she showed the most promise, and adds that there was a shadow on her soul that rivaled his own. Without warning, the form of Kitty Pryde materializes and recounts to Belasco that the shadow is there, only because he put it there. Shadowcat asks the demon lord if he never thought that her best friend would have someone watching her back – or that if the opportunity arose, she wouldn’t be ready for payback?
In armor of her own the soulless form of Kitty Pryde strides towards Belasco and she remembers how she suffered because of him, and how he made her his own puppet. Kitty swipes at Belasco, but misses. In a mocking tone, Belasco asks Kitty what makes her think that that role has changed, and as he shatters her sword, tells her that her power is nothing, and Magik’s even less!
Belasco grabs Kitty by the neck, shattering her armor, and revealing an unknown costume, Belasco proclaiming her the way she was always meant to be, adding that no one knows her as intimately as he does, and announces that it will only take the smallest of his own black and twisted soul, to make the vision a reality!
Kitty narrows her eyes and mockingly says ‘Blah blah blah blah blah…’ and that is the Belasco she knows – too much of a motormouth and too arrogant for his own good – that he would never realize they have worked all of this out on their own – and planned accordingly! Belasco is puzzled and starts to ask Shadowcat what she means before crying in horror and looking over to the pentagram with the Bloodstones – Magik!
With the pentagram glowing, Belasco realizes Magik was faking, and she smiles ‘Wellll – duh!’ And as the powerful sorceress strikes her Soulsword through the Bloodstones, releasing the souls of the X-Men from them, and tells Belasco he should have paid more attention to his business – as it ‘just cost you everything!’ Kitty Pryde falls over, and cries out that her soul has returned, and she is returning to herself again.
Belasco approaches Magik and tells her she is still too late, as the Bloodstones were only the catalyst, and that the spell is self-perpetuating. ‘Unless it is actively disrupted’ Magik reveals. Belasco proclaims he will not allow that, and Magik tells him he is silly for even thinking he could prevent it. She asks him to think about what just happened, to think about who just got their souls back, and to think about how they feel about that – and about him!
Outside Belasco’s citadel, the original X-Men have their souls back, and the second generation X-Men are no longer possessed by the N’Garai and under Belasco’s control. Colossus tells his companions that the Ru’tai does nothing but watch them, and Iceman says that that is fine with him. Beast asks the others to consider Belasco’s castle like an engine, an engine that generates the energies needed to sustain the transmat spell. He tells the others that wrecking the palace will not work, as they have to shatter the dynamic force matrices of the master spell itself. Hank continues his theory, adding that like disrupting the chain reaction by derailing the smooth flow of the nuclear cascade, patterns run through, which will end up doing the work for them. He asks Iceman to first re-freeze the citadel, to as close to absolute zero as he can manage, and Bobby Drake complies by traveling on an ice sled to the castle.
Inside his throne room, Belasco notices the growing ice around him, and curses the X-Men, wondering if he will ever be rid of their interference. Kitty Pryde jokingly tells Belasco to perish the thought, as they live to ruin his day, and she lunges through him using her phasing power, and knocks his sword out of his hand. She tells him that if he thinks about making a quick exit, it won’t work as she is keeping him intangible, so his spells wont have anything to latch onto. Belasco asks Kitty if she wants to die for this, and she tells him that to see him nailed, she would take the risk with a smile. She tells Magik that she is ready when she is, and the sorceress announces that the elements are in alignment – so when the X-Men strike, so shall she!
Outside, Hank tells Lorna it is her turn, as they have turned the castle into the ultimate super-conductor, and now all she needs to do is saturate its power with energy. The young woman, former member of the X-Men and sometimes known as Polaris says nothing, but unleashes her raw power against the crystalline castle. McCoy suggests everyone else find cover and put down their heads, as if this works, the result will be spectacular, and if it doesn’t…he tells Sunfire to vaporize the ice, Pilgrimm asks what that will do, and Beast says it will overload the system.
Inside the citadel, Magik gets her cue to do the same to the magical power grid, and drawing on the power within her soul, she strikes the Soulsword down in the pentagram, and everything explodes, shattering the castle, and the surrounding area. It turns out that Beast understated those results, and of Belasco’s castle, nothing remains but dust. The same for the N’Garai cairn, and the N’Garai warriors that sprung from it. Untouched in Limbo, is the Magik-created representation of the X-Men’s home, the X-Mansion.
As for the X-Men themselves…their effect is quiet and subdued. Archangel comforts Psylocke, while Banshee and Sunfire introduce themselves to Thunderbird. Beast stands with Iceman and Polaris, while Phoenix and Storm discuss the event. Colossus sits on his own on the step and Nightcrawler alone on a ledge. Wolverine walks over to Colossus. The battle and foes have left, and the bodies of the X-Men remain unscathed, but not their hearts, nor their souls. The X-Men are resilient, recovery is a given, but it will take time.
Ororo tells Jean that Pilgrimm is watching them. ‘Watching me’ Jean corrects her best friend in her mind. She tells Ororo that she can sense the demon on the periphery of her thoughts, like a telepathic shadow she will never be rid of. Ororo asks Jean if she would like her to deal with him, and Jean declines the offer, as without Pilgrimm’s help, they would have lost.
The glow of a familiar teleport signal announces the arrival of Magik and Kitty from what was left of the citadel. Magik tells Kitty that she is home and safe, as promised, and Kitty just makes a joke about how it is the last of a never-ending battle of hairbreadth escapes. Kitty tells the sorceress that it can be her home too if she likes. Magik says that once upon a time it may have been, but she is Magik now.
Colossus looks up from his step confused and bewildered at the site before him. He asks his friends if it is his sister, if she has found a way to cheat death and come back to them. Slightly away from the others, Kitty tells the sorceress that she could at least tell the others who don’t know the truth, as it isn’t fair. Magik asks Kitty to say no names, especially here, and to let Magik suffice. Beneath her cowl, Magik’s eyes narrow and she proclaims that names have power, that spells are specific things, enchantments that work against one, are useless against another.
Magik reveals that Belasco learned this when he cast his death spell against her. It may be a small advantage, but against the likes of he and the N’Garai it is a crucial one she adds.
On the doorstep to the fake mansion, Logan tells Piotr that Magik will not be coming with them. The Russian mutant is shocked and asks Logan what he means. Knowing who Magik really is, Logan tells Colossus that Limbo is too important to be left unguarded, and it is she alone who has the power – with the power comes the responsibility.
Colossus stands up and asks why it has to be her. Nightcrawler tries to console his best friend and tells him it is because she is Magik. Colossus asks Kurt what kind of answer that is. Kurt proclaims that fate gave them the mutant abilities, and Charles Xavier gave them the choice of how to use them -by joining the X-Men. The other heroes assemble around Colossus, Wolverine and Nightcrawler, and Kurt continues; reminding the others that they embraced Xavier’s dream of a better tomorrow, and the responsibility to help that tomorrow come to pass. Solemnly, Kurt Wagner adds that with that dream comes a price. Colossus asks if that is fair, and Kurt asks him to look about and consider what might have been, if there were no X-Men.
Kitty and Magik hug, and Kitty asks Magik if there is ever anything she needs – Magik cuts her off and asks for shrimp salad from Zabar’s, a bagel and some lox. Shadowcat walks over to rejoin her fellow X-Men and tells them that Magik says she will be in touch, and that they did good. A smiling, Nightcrawler says ‘Amen to that Amanda! And to you best of all. Our mother would have been proud’. Kitty asks Kurt how he knew. He reminds Kitty that he and Amanda were in love, that some things you can never forget. As the glistening teleportation circle of Magik’s Stepping Disk appears, and the X-Men fade from Limbo, and enter Earth, Kurt shouts out to Amanda, calling her Magik and telling her he will remember her in his prayers always.
With the X-Men gone from site, Magik removes her cowl…and out loud to anyone that will hear, Amanda Sefton concurs with her foster brother, and is glad he approves. She believes that this is as right for her, as the priesthood is for him, and while he battle evil with his faith, she uses her sorcery, strength and sword.
Amanda raises the Soulsword and magicks swirl around her as she cries ‘I was never an X-Man, but through the man I loved, I’m as much a product of Charles Xavier’s dream as any of you! And what after all is a dream, but another word for…Magik!