BIOGRAPHY - page 4
After his defeat, Belasco was not heard from for some time. With his loss of his power base and servants, he might not have known how to proceed with his long-term plans. He returned to the City of Dis beneath Pangea and, by sheer happenstance, was visited by the Fantastic Four. Ben Grimm’s team of the Human Torch, Sharon Ventura and Crystal of the Inhumans was exploring Mole Man’s Subterranea and discovered a warp network which connected different underground lands. Seeing the redheaded Crystal, Belasco immediately fell back on his old plans for Shanna and Beatrice to make her his bride.
The Fantastic Four found Crystal in Belasco’s clutches and managed to escape from him through the warp network. Unfortunately, their flight also alerted Belasco to the presence of the network, and he followed them. The neighboring realm was the “Land Within,” the exiled space where Belasco and the Sorcerers Guild dispatched the Cat People over 700 years prior. Their time in the dimensional nether-realm had corrupted the Cat People into true demons, and Belasco retained proprietary control over them due to the original spell of exile. Belasco was prepared to overpower the Fantastic Four with his 
new race of slaves, but a mystical battle between Doctor Strange and Shuma-Gorath happening at the same time threatened to collapse all the nether-realms. Belasco was distracted preserving his own realm, allowing the Fantastic Four to escape and seemingly costing him any further control over the Cat People. [Fantastic Four (1st series) #314]
Bored and directionless, Belasco found ways to amuse himself. A former cult leader known as the Reverend turned to Lucifer for his worship after his church was disrupted by the Punisher. Belasco 
was all too happy to play the role of Lucifer and told the Rev to make sacrifices in his name. A possible mutant, the Rev had always had the power to heal himself and others, but Belasco took sadistic pleasure in making Rev believe his power only came from worshipping “Lucifer.” He guided the Rev towards gathering a particular plant from the rain forest of Venezuela. This plant could be used as a sterilizing agent, sufficient in large doses to sterilize the entire human race. The Rev merely amused Belasco, as did the rivalry between his operative Jigsaw and the intruding Punisher. He played with the pieces until he grew bored, abandoning the Rev to his fate and moving on from the whole operation. [Punisher (2nd series) #35-40]
On another occasion, Belasco psychically reached out to his alleged daughter, Witchfire. She began to hear a voice in her head, claiming to be her father and trying to urge her on in power and ambition. Increasing her abilities, Belasco directed Witchfire to move in opposition to the Goddess, a recent manifestation of Adam Warlock’s “good” side who had acquired multiple reality altering Cosmic Cubes in order to reshape Earth and the universe into Paradise Omega. It 
seemed that Witchfire’s father wanted her to kill the Goddess to prevent utopia and pave the way for his Dark Ones. Fortunately, Witchfire’s efforts were thwarted by the actions of Alpha Flight. After being severely injured by the Alphan called Wyre, Witchfire returned to her senses with no memory of the events that had passed or who her mysterious “father” was. [Alpha Flight (1st series) #122-124]
Eventually, Illyana Rasputin came to believe that the price of maintaining control of Limbo was darkening her soul, so she relinquished her throne. The mantle of mastery of the realm fell to the next most powerful entity in Limbo, Belasco’s old servant, S’ym. Wasting little time, S’ym, along with his own servant, N’astirh, proceeded with a plan that nearly opened a permanent portal between Earth and Limbo. Although he had been thwarted, S’ym still plotted to try again. Another consequence of this event was Illyana reverting to childhood, losing her power over sorcery or the Soulsword. [Inferno crossover]
When S’ym planned a new invasion, it was Belasco who rose to thwart him. It seemed that Belasco had no interest in S’ym succeeding where he, his master, had failed. While he had not participated in the Inferno, Belasco had evidently followed the events closely, as he knew the only way to stop his former servant lay in the first demonic invasion. In the middle of the Florida Everglades, Belasco encountered and recruited the time-traveling mutant called Cable and Lee Forrester. He initially directed the Fear-Lord known as D’Spayre against them, hoping to soften their resistance but D’Spayre proved unsuccessful at breaking them. Teleporting Cable and Lee deeper into the swamp, the demonic sorcerer showed them a threat to their reality, which threatened him, in turn. Belasco explained to Cable that this was the Nexus of All Realities, a natural phenomenon which 
inexplicably existed in the middle of the Everglades. He also told them how S’ym planned to use this expanding tear in reality to link Limbo and Earth once more. Prior to the original Inferno, Cable’s mother, Madelyne Pryor-Summers, had been corrupted by S’ym and transformed into the Goblin Queen. As the Goblin Queen, Madelyne had attempted to sacrifice the infant Cable in order to permanently link the two dimensions. Madelyne had failed and the infant Cable had survived. Now, thanks to that history, along with his symbolic link between magic and science (a trait he shared with the Nexus itself), Cable was uniquely qualified to end the coming invasion. Cable remained distrustful of Belasco and his motives but decided that he had little choice.
Shortly thereafter, just as Belasco had predicted, S’ym arrived. Acting quickly, Belasco attempted to deal with his former servant, but found himself no match for the much stronger demon. Cable, 
however, was unimpressed by S’ym’s might and easily trounced the demon. After being laid low, S’ym disappeared into smoke, apparently at the command of the smiling Belasco, who congratulated Cable for serving his purpose. When the cyborg commanded that Belasco keep his end of the bargain and close the portal, the dark sorcerer acted most strangely; he complied. With the task completed and their business concluded, Belasco inexplicably teleported away, leaving Cable and Lee alone in the swamp. [Cable (1st series) #13-14]
Despite his temporary foray into altruism, world domination was still of great interest to Belasco. To this end, Belasco turned his attention back to the island that still floated in the Bermuda Triangle, which once was called home by Magneto and, later, the X-Men. Investigating through the ancient ruins, Belasco came across a green crystal of great mystical power. He discovered that, by focusing his power through a small shard of the crystal, he would have access to even greater power. In further investigation of the island, Belasco discovered an ancient cairn, one of many that acted as a dimensional gateway, which led to the demon N’Garai.
After recruiting the undead pirate called Bloodscream, Belasco concocted a daring plan. He 
enlisted his newest partner to gather wrecks of the area and man them with sailors from passing ships by way of his undead touch. Once they had enough ships, all fully manned, the pair would travel into the realm of the N’Garai. While Bloodscream, who longed to return to his pre-cursed human form, believed that their ultimate goal was to prevent the N’Garai from ever conquering Earth, Belasco intended something different. He intended to enslave the N’Garai and return with an army of demon warriors who would help him conquer the Earth. The subjugation of the N’Garai would be easy, he believed, as the crystal’s mystic might would be magnified a thousand-fold in their realm. Over a period of months, Bloodscream complied as instructed, amassing a small armada. All seemed to be proceeding as Belasco planned.
Unfortunately for Belasco, the disappearance of so many ships had not gone unnoticed by the captain of the Arcadia, Lee Forrester, who called in her friends, the X-Men, to help. Jumping at the chance to help an old friend, Beast, Psylocke and Wolverine made their way to Lee’s ship on the Gulf coast of Florida. After a short time at sea and an encounter with Bloodscream, the team came across the island, which seemed to float in a mystical bubble in the middle of the ocean. Immediately, Wolverine recognized the island and recalled Belasco’s connection to it.
Despite this warning, the group was easily captured by the new might of the dark sorcerer. With 
his hated foes helpless, Belasco could not help but boast of his plan and showed them the cairn he had found on the island. With all pieces now in place, Belasco began to weave the mystic spell. So powerful were the magical forces at play that the island itself began to fall apart under their feet. Still, the spell continued, opening the doorway to the N’Garai dimension. Though the three X-Men managed to free themselves, nothing seemed to be able to stop Belasco from his latest plan.
At the cusp of success, victory was snatched from Belasco’s grasp once again by the sharp shooting of Lee Forester. With the island destroyed, Lee Forrester, on the deck of the floating 
Arcadia, fired her rifle at Belasco’s prism-gem, shattering it. With his link to the larger crystal destroyed, Belasco lost access to those arcane energies, his ability to conquer the N’Garai shattered along with it. Nearby, Bloodscream grew enraged by Belasco’s betrayal. During the weaving of the spell, Belasco’s boasts had alerted Bloodscream to the sorcerer’s intentions of returning to conquer Earth. Deciding that an end to Belasco was necessary, even if it meant his own destruction, Bloodscream wrestled with the sorcerer, dragging his former partner into the cairn and the N’Garai dimension. The portal closed behind the two, apparently ending the threat of Belasco forever. [X-Men Unlimited (1st series) #9]