She appears in Storm's garden, where she buries her. She notices the garden is wilting away and cannot survive without Storm's magic. Suddenly, Storm rises from where she's buried to threaten Illyana for killing her, and Illyana disappears in a stepping disc in fright. She appears in a cave, and wonders whether it was really Storm, or one of Belasco's illusions. Colossus then charges at her from behind, blaming her for his fate, and Illyana once again teleports away. She appears in front of her parents' home in Russia, excited to see them, but they don't seem to recognize her. They deny her and leave her on their doorstep since she was too old to be their daughter. She is then attacked by zombie versions of the X-Men, and faints. She awakes before Belasco, who tortures her, using his magic to make the third bloodstone. They disappear, and she passes out, awaking in a snowstorm. She soon realizes the bleak, snow-covered landscape was the remains of Storm's garden. A strong wind knocks her into the big tree Storm had grown from an acorn that was her life force. She uses it as a shelter, and tries to make a tree herself the same way, but it explodes into black energy, like before. Days pass and she ages and grows a foot taller, and tries growing a tree once more. After she fails again, she accidentally knocks down Storm's tree and it crumbles to dust. Enraged, and with nothing more to lose, she repeats the process of making an acorn, only this time making a sword. She summons a stepping disc to face off against Belasco with her new weapon.

Belasco, meanwhile, is busy making plans to escape from Limbo when Illyana appears, slicing through surrounding statues with her sword. They begin to fight when S'ym appears, but her sword slices him across the chest and leaves him helpless. Belasco backs away in fear as she destroys all his spell books. Illyana recalls that learning isn't lost, but passed from one to the other, and she soon takes on Belasco's demon characteristics while his fade away. Soon she has horns, fangs, red skin, and a tail, while he becomes more human. She doesn't seem to notice or care at first, and is about to kill Belasco when she realizes she's become just like him. She then refuses to kill him, and this enrages Belasco, who claims she's weak. He disappears saying, "a battle is not the war", and she becomes herself once more.

She returns to the alter Cat once brought her, and realizes she'll have to face Belasco again. She disappears in a stepping disc and is pulled through the portal by Kitty. For the X-Men, only seconds had passed since she disappeared, but seven years had passed for her.

Her reminiscing at an end, she stands on the grounds of the Xavier Institute a year later. She notices it's snowing and comes into view of the New Mutants playing around in it. She wonders what life would have been like had hers been ordinary, but realizes "an ending can also be a beginning."