His intention is to make her his disciple and use her to open a gateway for the Elder Gods. The X-Men follow to save Illyana. Due to the warping of space and time in Limbo, there are two alternate but equally valid outcomes to the rescue attempt. In one, the X-Men transport Illyana back to Earth, but are themselves trapped in Limbo, and are one-by-one killed by Belasco and his minions over the course of several decades; in the other, the X-Men escape back to Earth and Illyana is trapped in Limbo. He makes Illyana his apprentice in the dark arts, transforming her into a "demon sorceress." He forcibly shapes part of her soul into the first Bloodstone, giving her great potential for power and allowing him to hold sway over her so that she willingly creates a second. However, after guidance from the remaining X-Men in Limbo, she rebels against him, driving him from Limbo. Magik is later deposed as the ruler of Limbo by the demon S'ym. During Illyana's seduction, Belasco also attempts to transform Ka-Zar and Shanna into demons to be parents to a new demonic race. He is seemingly defeated when Ka-Zar impales Belasco on his own sword. Belasco is next revealed to be the new master of the Cat People. Belasco eventually takes control of Limbo once more. The cultist "Rev" worships Belasco, mistaking him for Lucifer. Belasco seeks to wipe out humanity, using the Rev as a pawn. The Rev is defeated and killed by the Punisher. Belasco also turns Alpha Flight-ally Witchfire against her team by influencing her demonic side. She finally is restored to normal and returns to Beta Flight, Alpha Flight's support group. Later, Belasco and the fear-demon D'Spayre contested to corrupt Cable, the son of Madelyne Pryor, who had been the ally of S'ym and N'astirh during "Inferno". Belasco banished D'Spayre and summoned himself, Cable, and Cable's ally Lee Forrester to Limbo, where S'ym threw Belasco out of his way and fought with Cable. Cable won, and he and Lee returned to Earth. It was eventually revealed that Illyana's best friend Kitty Pryde had received Illyana's Soulsword after Illyana had died; in dying, she had bonded the Soulsword to Kitty's own essence. After Kitty's team Excalibur fought off several claimants to the sword, Nightcrawler's girlfriend Amanda Sefton was given the sword. She then gave the sword to her mother, Margali