New X-Men # 40 - “QUEST FOR MAGIK” Part 3 of 4

Things aren’t going well for the New X-Men in Limbo. Most are captives of the devil-ish Belasco who will kill them to get what he wants. But who is this girl who bears a striking resemblance to a certain Russian mutant who died years ago? And does she mean help or harm to the New X-Men? Either way, one has lost his heart. Another will lose her soul.

Surge, Hellion and ONE officials travel to Germany where they resuscitate Amanda Sefton so she can get them to Limbo. The Darkchild draws two Bloodstones from Pixie to form the Soulsword she needs to defeat Belasco. Anole breaks free and saves Pixie using his newly regrown and more powerful arm. Rockslide reconstitutes his shattered form using the rocky landscape of Limbo. This grants him a larger form with a molten lava core… and an apparent immunity to magic! He stops Illyana from further corrupting Pixie, who now possesses a Souldagger! The remaining New X-Men battle Belasco who bounces back from every attack they can muster. He threatens to kill and resurrect them in an endless torturous cycle if they do not tell him where Illyana is. Amanda gets Surge, Hellion and an ONE Sentinel to Limbo where they are immediately attacked by a horde of demons!

The Beast pays a visit to Dr. Kavita Rao to solicit her help in finding a means of saving mutantkind from extinction. The irony of the situation is not lost on the pair considering that Rao developed a cure for mutantcy. But with mutantkind going the way of the dinosaurs, her career as a mutant geneticist has also reached an obsolete state. Kavita willingly gives Hank what remains of the DNA samples and data she received from Ord of Breakworld, though the samples themselves were rendered useless on M-Day. She also gives Beast an important piece of advice: No help may be better than the wrong help… especially some of the corrupt scientific minds her has already approached for help!