BIOGRAPHY - page 3
Time may have passed in Limbo, but the relativistic properties of time in that dimension gave Belasco a second chance at the young Illyana Rasputin. After several apparent decades had passed for Belasco and the three surviving X-Men, the young Illyana Rasputin once again wandered into Limbo, followed by Kitty Pryde and, subsequently, the uncanny X-Men. This time around, Belasco’s servant, Nightcrawler, helped in the capture of Kitty Pryde, who was horrified at the skeletal remains of her teammate, Wolverine. Like before, Belasco reveled at the capture of Illyana, to whom he once again offered the pentagram embossed locket, hoping to begin the spell of his gods’ release as he had once before.
Unlike last time, however, the X-Men had aid. Left alone and now an old woman, Ororo saw her past self and her teammates of so long ago. Using her magic, Ororo helped Colossus and Wolverine make their way to Belasco’s chamber. Elsewhere, the Nightcrawler of the “present” confronted his “future” demonic-self and defeated him. Taking his clothes (what little there were), Nightcrawler found his way to Belasco’s chamber and passed himself off as the sorcerer’s faithful servant. With the arrival of Colossus and Wolverine, followed by the youthful, elemental Storm, Nightcrawler revealed his true identity and struck against Belasco. Outnumbered and overpowered, Belasco fled.
As they had done in the previous timeline, the X-Men prepared to follow Belasco until they were halted by a familiar voice. The aged Ororo appeared from the shadows and told them that it had been the same decision her X-Men had made long ago, which had led to tragedy. Using her magic, Ororo reunited Kitty’s skeleton with her body and freed her from the crystal. She then bid the X-Men return through the mystic gate leading to their isle, which she would close behind them.
As the X-Men prepared to leave, however, Belasco returned accompanied by S’ym and a host of 
demons. He clearly planned to use this opportunity to follow the X-Men through the gate and into their reality. With the elder Ororo’s promise that it was the best decision, the X-Men departed. Crafty as ever, Belasco managed to slip by Ororo the Elder’s defenses and grab the young Illyana, determined not to lose her a second time. Through this dimension-spanning tug-of-war, Belasco and Kitty struggled for possession of Illyana. In the end, however, Kitty lost her grip on the little girl, allowing Belasco to pull her back through the portal and into Limbo. [Uncanny X-Men (1st series) #160]
With the portal to Earth now closed, Belasco had triumphed. Decades ago, he had lost the little girl while the X-Men remained. This time, the cursed mutants were gone and the prize was his. Wasting no time, Belasco took the young Illyana to the altar and placed her upon it. With eldritch magic, he reached into her soul and removed a part of it, commanding it to float in the air before him. Looking on in horror, Ororo tried her best to stop the dark sorcerer, but even in her prime she had been no match for him. Stroking the chin of Illyana’s phantom reflection, Belasco caused it to grow in age, even as it grew in darkness. Laughing all the way, Belasco transformed Illyana’s innocence, until it matched his own, dark soul. The process complete, Belasco transformed the simulacrum of Illyana into a ball of energy, which then became a Bloodstone. Taking this first of the five Bloodstones for his next ritual, Belasco carefully placed it inside the pentagram embossed locket.
This task completed, Belasco turned his attention back to Ororo, intending to end her threat forever. It was only by the timely intervention of Cat that Ororo managed to avoid Belasco’s wrath. Still, while he must have been more than a match for the pair, Belasco did something most curious: he left, fading away in teleportation. In truth, Belasco had no more immediate need of Illyana and decided to allow Ororo and Cat to take her away. The two spirited the youth away to 
Ororo’s garden, where, over the course of a year, the sorceress began to teach the young girl the ways of magic. Concerned that such an education could only lead to the perversion of the girl’s soul, Cat snuck into the garden at night and led the young girl away. As all of this transpired, the three were completely unaware that their unfolding drama was eagerly watched by Belasco. [Storm & Illyana: Magik #1]
Like Ororo, Cat took it upon herself to teach the now seven-year-old Illyana in the ways of the sword and physical defense. All of this led up to Cat’s plan to return Illyana to Earth. Two years later, when she felt Illyana had achieved enough, Cat took her back to Belasco’s citadel. By phasing through the fortress, Cat and Illyana were able to make it to an outdoor altar on a terrace. There, where the dimensional barriers separating Limbo from Earth were the thinnest was where Belasco would eventually cast his spell. Once again using her phasing powers, Cat tried to take herself and Illyana through the dimensional barrier, as though she would through any wall. Unfortunately, Cat’s plan had not gone unnoticed by Belasco, who dragged the pair back through the dimensional divide and into his lair.
With the two at his mercy, Belasco sadistically completed Cat’s transformation into a feline form, 
virtually eliminating her former, human personality. Turning to the beaten Illyana, he produced a large blade, which she used to slit her own wrist under his influence. The blood from the gash dripped down into her locket, solidifying as the second of Belasco’s needed five Bloodstones. Elsewhere in her garden, Ororo oversaw these events and cursed at her friends’ fates. [Storm & Illyana: Magik #2]
Over the next few years, Belasco trained Illyana in the dark arts of sorcery. A fearful pupil at first, Illyana felt powerless to try and escape. Becoming the perfect disciple for the sorcerer instead, the more she learned, the darker and more corrupt Illyana became. Determined to end Illyana’s corruption, Ororo broke into Belasco’s citadel, breaching its walls with a powerful storm, the likes of which she hadn’t conjured in years. Still, the attack proved useless and Belasco withstood it easily. However, instead of dealing the mortal blow to his former disciple and long-time foe, Belasco’s servant, Cat, struck Ororo from behind, laying her low. Recognizing that Ororo had been trying to save her soul from Belasco, Illyana attacked Cat, snapping her neck. [Storm & Illyana: Magik #3]
Irate at this act of betrayal, Belasco once again tried to assert his control over his latest apprentice and instructed her to take a blade and sacrifice Ororo’s soul to the Elder Gods in order to create a third Bloodstone. Belasco’s words were in vain, however, as Illyana had returned to her senses. Seeing no alternative, she plunged her blade into Ororo’s heart, killing her and releasing her spirit 
naturally, instead of transforming it into a Bloodstone. As if in response to the former weather-witch’s death, lightning and winds rocked Belasco’s citadel, shattering the tower and crushing many of the demonic inhabitants. Belasco became incensed and attempted to take out his wrath on Illyana.
However, the young girl managed to escape by way of her teleportation stepping circles, an aspect of her mutant power that she had been experimenting with in secret, away from Belasco’s prying eyes. Still, Illyana could not escape for long. Capturing her quickly, Belasco took another part of Illyana’s soul, transforming it into the third Bloodstone. Still angry at her betrayal, however, Belasco left the tortured and exhausted girl in the wastelands of Limbo, even deigning to take the locket she had worn around her neck for years. [Storm & Illyana: Magik #4]
While Illyana attempted to recover and survive in the desolation of Limbo, Belasco turned his attention to other pawns in his game. Directing his attention back to the Savage Land, Belasco began to affect the land of his old nemesis, Ka-Zar. Crafting an intricate plot to fool the jungle lord and his mate into helping him, Belasco was amused at the idea that they who had played a part in his resurrection would also play a part in his ultimate triumph.
For the inhabitants of Pangea, they were living in strange times. Unpredictable weather manifested and rocked the valley, accompanied by earthquakes. Even the electricity that powered the heaters that kept the valley warm failed intermittently, causing concern for the future. To make 
matters worse, the great volcano of Mt. Flavius began to smoke, sending portents of an eruption to occur. To investigate the possibility of an eruption, Ka-Zar’s comrade, Dherk, decided to investigate. During his analysis, Dherk came upon a stone in the caverns of the volcano. Knowing that Ka-Zar was intending to propose marriage to his lover, Shanna, and needed a ring, Dherk picked it up, intending to fashion it into an engagement ring as a present. Unbeknownst to Dherk, this was Belasco’s influence and the stone was the sole surviving Bloodstone of Beatrice’s amulet.
As this transpired, Belasco also turned his attention to the renegade Aerian scientist named Sep, who had become obsessed with reviving the comatose queen of Zarhan, Leanne. Sep had been trying for weeks to use Atlantean medicine to heal his lost love, to no avail. Revealing himself only as a dark voice emerging from the shadows, Belasco contacted Sep and promised to provide the energy needed to power the Atlantean healing machines. He only asked in return that the revived Leanne would perform a task for him and that Sep would wait in the lab while the assignment was completed. Despite the evil dripping from the spectral voice, Sep agreed. [Ka-Zar the Savage #28-29]
As everything seemed to be moving in his favor, toward his ultimate goal, Belasco gloated in his citadel. If Illyana would not help release the Elder Gods, then Ka-Zar and Shanna would serve. However, while his attention had been drawn to Ka-Zar and the Savage Land, he had not witnessed the recent trials of Illyana Rasputin. The former disciple had not only survived the wastelands of Limbo but had grown stronger. Using the residual energy that she had obtained from Ororo’s mighty oak, combined with her own strength, Illyana had managed to forge the Soulsword, the very weapon that Belasco had warned Margali Szardos would never be hers, so long ago.
With her power of teleportation, Illyana traveled to Belasco’s inner sanctum at the speed of 
thought. Using the combined talents and abilities of her mutant power, her knowledge of sorcery and her newfound Soulsword, Illyana made short work of Belasco’s servant, S’ym, and turned her attention to Belasco himself. Attempting to defend himself against the frenzied attack of his former disciple, Belasco found his own power waning, even as Illyana’s grew. Belasco’s crimson skin began to return to its pre-demon hue and his tail disappeared, followed by his horns. At the same time, those same traits went to Illyana, who became, at last, the Darkchylde Belasco had so desired. It seemed the Elder Gods’ patronage would flow to the mage best suited to their needs.
Belasco was saved from destruction, however, as Illyana remembered the battle of sorcery Ororo had fought with Belasco so long ago, which led to her own corruption. Not wishing the same fate to befall her, she spared Belasco, choosing to not kill the now very mortal sorcerer. Irate beyond belief, Belasco nevertheless realized his vulnerability and teleported himself away, apparently still possessing much of his magical might. After Belasco’s departure, Illyana used her newfound 
mutant mastery of stepping discs to return home. Despite her departure, however, Illyana remained the new master of Limbo. While far from powerless as Illyana’s demon nature faded and his returned, Belasco had lost the position of ruler. Still, even as Illyana returned to her brother and the X-Men, seven years older than how they had last seem her (mere seconds had passed for the X-Men, due to Limbo’s status outside of time and space), Belasco knew that Illyana had been corrupted and the three Bloodstones in her locket could still mean his ultimate triumph. [Storm & Illyana: Magik #4]
Despite this significant setback, Belasco wasted no time in continuing his machinations in Pangea. Upon his return to Ka-Zar, the android Dherk had told Ka-Zar and his companions about Mt. Flavius’ imminent eruption and devised an explosive to relieve some of the magma pressure by diverting it through a newly created tunnel. Both Ka-Zar and Shanna agreed to this desperate mission, but not before Dherk handed Ka-Zar a gem-embossed ring to give to Shanna as an engagement ring. The gem had been fashioned from the stone Dherk had discovered in the bowels of Mt. Flavius.
Over the next few hours, Ka-Zar and Shanna managed to execute the plan with only a few obstacles. Confident that all had seemed to go according to plan, the couple returned to their village, intending to announce their nuptials and plan a wedding ceremony. Ever the analyst, Dherk decided to investigate the ecological ramifications of his plan. After a brief encounter with 
Sep, Dherk was captured by Belasco, who revealed to the android that everything that had transpired as of late in Pangea had been part of his plan. Once on Shanna’s finger, the Bloodstone ring effectively symbolized the binding ceremony he once conducted on Beatrice and intended for Shanna. This connection bridged the dimensional chasm between Limbo and Pangea, allowing Belasco to freely return.
Moving to the next stage, Belasco instructed his latest thrall, Queen Leanne, to march with her army to the village of Shalan, where Ka-Zar and Shanna were about to be wed. As the Lemuran army attacked, Belasco revealed himself at the ceremony to be the High Priestess Wend in disguise. Now, with all of his most hated enemies assembled, Belasco teleported himself, along with Ka-Zar, Shanna, Queen Leanne and Leila, an innocent youth from a neighboring tribe called the Tree People, to his newly created mystic throne room, hundreds of feet below the surface of Pangea. Along with the true High Priestess Wend, Ka-Zar and Shanna were force-fed a magical draught, which began to transform them into demons, who would serve as the Adam and Eve to Belasco’s new race of demons.
After reclaiming the Bloodstone ring from the helpless Shanna, Belasco announced his plans to transform the innocent soul of Leila with his magic and create a new Bloodstone. With the original Bloodstone that had become Shanna’s engagement ring, added to the three already created from Illyana Rasputin, this final Bloodstone would guarantee Belasco’s triumph.
Horrified by what was happening, Queen Leanne managed to return herself to her senses and helped to free the still-transforming Ka-Zar and Leanne. Striking quickly, Ka-Zar attacked Belasco but seemed no match, until he managed to steal the sorcerer’s sword. Seeing the mighty Belasco cowering in fear from the weapon, Ka-Zar made two realizations. The first was the Belasco never 
used his right arm, because it didn’t exist. The second was that the sword he held was what severed that limb. With the realization that this sword was the one weapon that could end the threat of the sorcerer, Ka-Zar plunged its tip into the chest of Belasco. Mortally wounded, Belasco screamed in agony and faded away, followed by the disappearance of the blade that had wounded him. [Ka-Zar the Savage #28-29]
[Note: The story of Belasco’s lost arm has never been adequately told. The flashbacks told by Dante’s log and Belasco himself both depicted him with two arms at the moment he went into stasis. Truthfully, they were inconsistent on whether he was already demonic in appearance yet, too. This led to speculation in the Handbooks that Dante’s log was fraudulent, but an alternative history for Belasco has not emerged.]