X-Infernus #1-4 (2009)

This is the sequel to the Illyana Rasputin story “Inferno.” She’s in Limbo looking for her soul, which attracts the attention of Marvel’s devils: Mephisto and his son Blackheart, Dormammu, Hela, and Satannish. I love Satannish’s name because Marvel has no official “devil” but they have this guy who is devil-like, so he’s Satan-ish. Love that. She also gets the attention of Witchfire, Belasco’s daughter, who sees Illyana as her competitor to the throne of Limbo.

Back on Earth, Amanda Sefton hasn’t been able to breach the dimension so the X-Men are powerless to search for her. Pixie, who got her own soul dagger during an adventure in Limbo, stabs Nightcrawler (under the thrall of the dagger) and the team discovers that the soulsword has been stuck inside Nightcrawler.

I know in prison people can smuggle weapons in their tush, but this is a bit excessive.

Once the sword is released, Magik is able to teleport to Earth–but Pixie doesn’t want to give it up. Hero-on-hero fight, Magik gets the sword back and tells the X-Men to leave her alone, and then goes back to limbo to finish what she started. Of course they don’t. They figure out that Pixie is a living portal, and send a team after Magik. Note that Pixie’s soul is also being taken by the soulsword.

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Because time is different there, while Magik was gone Witchfire took over the Limbo dimension. The rest of the story is Magik trying to take her down, with the X-Men fighting through demons to help.

Witchfire summons the Gibborim (the bad Gods from the Runaways series). The X-Men fight them while Illyana takes on Witchfire. She stops Witchfire from completing a ritual, but can’t stop her from escaping with several bloodstones.

We end without much resolved. Illyana still doesn’t have a soul and is still becoming increasingly less human without it, but agrees to stay with the X-Men for now. Thus, she’s joined the team.