Wolverine demands to know "who the hell is Eli Bard?!" Warpath explains that when he encountered the Demon Bear, the spirits of his people showed him Bard's past.

Apparently, back in ancient Rome, Eli Bard was named Eliphas, a once prominent Roman senator. However, his wife, Aurelia, was only using him so that he'd give his seat in the Senate to a general named Mascius and threw him out of her house. Wandering the streets of Rome, he then met Selene, (to Wolverine's fury, as the X-Men know her as Black Queen of the Hellfire Club), who offered him a ride in her carriage.

She then offered him her love and immortality if he helps her sacrifice every single soul in Rome. All he had to do was paint symbols around Rome in his own blood, so that every soul could be leeched to be fed to Selene, thus rendering her invincible. When he later learned that Mascius had taken his seat and Aurelia burned all his possessions, he agreed to do so. However, he warns a slave girl named Claudia, whom he gave ruby earrings to on the night he was thrown out of his house, to leave with her family.
Unfortunately, that ruined Selene's plan before Eliphas could enact it, for Claudia's father told Mascius, who captured Eliphas. Selene soon realized that Eliphas had betrayed her, when she couldn't leech any souls. The Roman soldiers attempted to slay her but she proved to be beyond human, so she and Eliphas were bound and prepared to be burned at the stake.

However, she killed her would-be executioners, but the strain of lack of souls weakened her. She turned her wrath of Eliphas and sapped his soul but promised him a state of living death.

A few hundred years later, a farmer uncovers Eliphas' body, but was fed upon by the newly turned bloodsucker. Despite all Selene did to him, Eliphas still loved her. He roamed Europe searching, changing his name to Eli Bard before traveling to the New World. He encountered Warpath's Apache tribe, who recognized him for what he really is but failed to kill him. Their deaths were blamed on disease thought to have been brought by the Europeans. Eventually, he found Selene in Nova Roma but did not dare approach. He then sought to find a new sacrifice for her.

By chance, he came upon the entire Purifier army whom he deemed to be an ideal sacrifice. But since encountering the Technarchy, he changed his plans, using its power to resurrect the dead Apache. However, Wolverine doesn't understand the connection between the Technarchy and his tribe; Warpath states it is everything.

In New Orleans, Eli, with his band of zombie Apache, approaches Selene's home. The latter had no use for him or either of his servants and ordered hers to kill him. However, he presents before her a resurrected Caliban, who can locate every deceased mutant for Eli to resurrect as a soul sacrifice for her; Selene smiles.

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