Affiliation: NoneFor years, S'ym was the primary enforcer of the sorcerer Belasco, and was instrumental in keeping his master's grip on Limbo secure. When a team of X-Men came to rescue Illyana Rasputin, S'ym ended up crushing Colossus into a wall, and even broke one of Wolverine's claws off, before somehow killing the little X-Man as well.
While Illyana was Belasco's apprentice, S'ym was ordered to abuse her on many occasions. After Magik defeated Belasco and escaped Limbo, S'ym came to Earth to try and beat her as well, so that he could rule the demon plane. Magik stopped him, manifesting her Darkchilde persona to show him who was boss. For a long time afterwards, S'ym appeared to be a good servant, at least as much as demons can be "good." However, when he saw an opening for power, he had no qualms about taking it.
Such an opening came when Magus followed Magik to Limbo and began infecting the realm and its denizens with the Transmode Virus. S'ym was infected, and became a being of living circuitry, able to shift shape at will, and nearly impossible to kill, since he could reconstitute himself from even a single molecule. He led an assault on Magik, and was only narrowly stopped when Magik plunged her Soulsword into the ground of Limbo, though Magik left Limbo for a while as a result. While the Soulsword remained in Limbo, S'ym could not act against Magik, so he had to figure out a way to get her to use the sword on Earth.
Around the same time, S'ym somehow contacted Madelyne Pryor in a dream and offered her a choice of lives to live. Believing that he was only a figment of her imagination, Maddie chose a life of vengeance, so she could get even with Cyclops, who left her for Jean Grey. Unfortunately for Maddie, S'ym wasn't kidding, and he stabbed her in the dream, which apparently led to her transformation into the Goblin Queen and the subsequent Inferno event.
Around the same time, S'ym summoned the demon N'astirh to use his greater sorcerous might to open a portal from Limbo to Earth. N'astirh soon realized that he was more powerful (magically speaking) than S.ym, and fought with his fellow demon. However, N'astirh also realized that S'ym's transmode infection made him a faster thinker, so he forced S'ym to infect him, leading to S'ym's temporary defeat. Still, it was S'ym who taunted the Darkchilde (Magik's demonic incarnation) into opening the portal with her Soulsword, starting the demon invasion of Earth. S'ym's plan was only foiled by the New Mutants and the X-Terminators, who rescued the babies keeping the portal open, and then got Illyana to recall her true self and seal the portal for good.
With the subsequent deaths of both N'astrih and the Goblin Queen and Magik's reversion to childhood, though, S'ym apparently became the lord of Limbo. However, without the Soulsword (which passed to Magik's best friend and soulmate Shadowcat) his control was never absolute, and he was ousted when Dr. Doom attempted to usurp control of Limbo, which was then given to Darkoth the Demon.
A few years later, Belasco returned to power, and S'ym once again had a master. He was present when Belasco kidnapped the sorceress Margali, and again when she returned (in her daughter Amanda's body) with Nightcrawler to free herself. S'ym was badly defeated in that encounter, and appeared to have lost much of his might, possibly including his Transmode abilities. He was therefore in no shape to make a play for Limbo when Belasco's plan to use the N'Garai to invade Earth failed, and Magik II (Amanda) took control.
S'ym was not out of the game yet, however, and managed to infiltrate Magik II's cabinet, posing as the green two-headed Duke Bleys. As Bleys, S'ym was instrumental in the unification of the demonic Splinter Realms, which brought all the demon-lords together to fight a powerful destructive force. S'ym was actually serving this force, hoping that after it wiped out the other Lords, he would become ruler of the Realms. Fortunately, S'ym's deception was uncovered by Nightcrawler, and he left in ridicule and shame when Magik heard his insane plan. His whereabouts are unknown.
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