—ColossusI lost you once, Illyana. Please don't make suffer any further. Please...
Appearing in "Soul's End"
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Synopsis for "Soul's End"
In the castle in Limbo, Nightcrawler sits on the floor of the throne room, surprised that he is not dead after having been attacked by Colossus and Wolverine, and realizes that the reason why he is still alive is because the control that Witchfire has over his friends is far from complete. To free them from her spell, Nightcrawler evades his friends, races to the shackled Darkchilde and pulls the Soul Dagger out of her torso, bringing with it the Soulsword. Then, by using the mystic weapons on his friends at the same time, he frees them from their possessed states.
Nearby, Witchfire completes the process of forming the fifth and final Bloodstone from Pixie's soul. Seeing this, Nightcrawler teleports over and uses the Soulsword to cut off her right hand, causing it and the Bloodstone to fall to the floor, but Witchfire uses her other hand to blast him away from her. Nightcrawler checks on Pixie, who believes that they're all dead now that the last stone has been made, but Nightcrawler tells her there's still a chance if she can free Illyana, something she is reluctant to do.
Meanwhile, Witchfire's hand reforms and she uses it to pick up the Bloodstone and set it in its place in the Bloodstone Amulet, thereby summoning the Elder Gods and sealing the fates of their worlds. As the gateway opens, Witchfire welcomes the Elder Gods and invites them to join her, but she is then struck by a mystical burst from the Darkchilde, wielding her Soulsword and accompanied by Colossus, Wolverine and Rockslide. As the Elder Gods advance, they are met by Wolverine, Rockslide, Nightcrawler, Colossus and Pixie, leaving the Darkchilde to face Witchfire alone. Sure of her victory, Witchfire blasts the Darkchilde but is shocked when she is unaffected. As the Darkchilde attacks with her sword, her silver armor flows off her body, revealing it to actually be Mercury who forms her left arm into a blade which she uses to impale Witchfire.
While Mercury keeps Witchfire pinned to a castle wall, the Darkchilde cuts the Bloodstone Amulet free and calls Pixie to her, saying she needs her and her dagger. The Darkchilde explains that they can't stop the Elder Gods if the amulet has all the Bloodstones, so they'll have to break the spell by removing the last Bloodstone. When Pixie protests that it's impossible to remove a stone once it's been emplaced, the Darkchilde states that the bond may not be permanent yet and that, since their weapons and the bloodstones were all forged from pieces of their souls, by combining their powers they might be able to get them back. Striking together with both the Soulsword and the Soul Dagger, they manage to pry the latest Bloodstone out of the amulet.
With the spell now broken, the portal begins to suck everything towards it, forcing the X-Men to grab hold to whatever they can to avoid being sucked in along with the Elder Gods. Pixie tries to grab the now-incomplete Bloodstone Amulet but Witchfire gets it first and takes it with her through the portal which then seals itself.
Angry that she's lost another part of her soul, Pixie threatens the Darkchilde with her dagger but discovers that the Bloodstone that they pried loose has now bonded with her dagger. An upset Pixie flies off.
Nightcrawler speaks with Illyana who states that she's not okay, she's a soulless beast, a monster, and that after these events her soul is further out of her grasp than ever. Nightcrawler encourages her to come back to Earth and prove that she does have a soul, and Colossus also begs his sister to not run away because he's missed her so much. However, Illyana becomes upset upon realizing that she still has horns and uses a stepping disc to teleport all of the X-Men back to Earth.
Appearing in the Danger Room, the X-Men are greeted by the rest of the X-Men, including Magik's former New Mutant teammates. Feeling that she can't be there, Illyana opens a stepping disc but Colossus begs her not to leave him again, then Cyclops arrives and tells her not to leave them again but to stay there with her family. When Peter asks her to not make him suffer any further, Illyana cancels her stepping disc, holds Peter's hands in hers, and says that she'll try.
Solicit Synopsis
Notes
- This recreation of Illyana Rasputin next appears in New Mutants (Vol. 3) #1 when she falls out of a teleportation circle onto the grounds of the X-Men Headquarters. Having been wounded in battle, she warns Sam and Roberto and the X-Men that the Fixers (Shan and Dani) will almost be dead by now, and that she needs their help to find them. This Illyana reveals that she's from a bad future and has come back in time to prevent the deaths of Shan and Dani at the hands of Legion.
- The story in New Mutants (Vol. 3) #9 will provide more details about the future from which she came, but New Mutants (Vol. 3) #20–21 later makes it clear that some of her claims were lies meant to manipulate the X-Men and the New Mutants into unknowingly helping her to destroy the Elder Gods.
- The reason why the X-Men seemed unconcerned about letting Pixie fly away into Limbo is because they know that she can teleport into and out of Limbo, as she was the one who brought them there in X-Infernus #2.
- This story contains the second attempt use the Bloodstone Amulet to summon the Elder Gods. Unlike the first attempt, depicted in Ka-Zar the Savage #12, this time the gateway opens between their realm and Limbo instead between their realm and Earth. Despite this difference, there is no reason to believe that the "Elder Gods" who appear in this issue and in New Mutants (Vol. 3) #20–21 are not the same entities as the Elder Gods that were worshipped by Belasco. Where the idea that these beings should instead be known as the Elder Gods of Limbo originated is unknown.