In Kumamoto,Japan (1893 AD), Ichisumi's powers first awoke. She suffered from a severe inferiority complex. Perhaps brought on by her abusive father, a proud samurai who was mad at her repeated failures. As a geisha she was also jealous of the more beautiful and intelligent geisha around her who were more successful. Fueled by her repressed rage and the disapproval of her father, she wished to disfigure the other geishas and Ichisumi's power first manifested, she let loose a swarm of "yume"* beetles that instead ravaged all the women in her village and hundreds of others. The beetles also absorbed the memories of the massacred women. Ozymandias mentions that the memories drove her insane. Impressed with her abilities Apocalypse directed Ozymandias to add her to his cadre of Final Horsemen, appointing her Pestilence.
Hundreds of years later, Pestilence and the other final horsemen, fight the new X-Force in their base on the moon. They easily defeat the team.
- Pestilence was created by Rick Remender and artist Jerome Opena and first appeared in Uncanny X-Force Vol.1 issue 2 (2010).