BIOGRAPHY - Page 2
Later when Danielle Moonstar was attacked by the Demon Bear, who was believed to have killed her parents, it was Illyana with her Soulsword who defeated the bear by disrupting the spell that had imprisoned Dani’s parents in its spirit form. Strangely, the injuries Illyana received in the fight were covered by pieces of silvery armor and her Soulsword changed its look from a “light-sabre” to a more traditional medieval sword. [New Mutants (1st series) #18-20]
Worried, Xavier discussed Illyana with Dr. Strange, the Sorcerer Supreme. Dr. Strange explained that there was no further tutoring in magic that Illyana would benefit from. He advised Xavier to focus on the growth of her spirit, which she could best achieve with the help of her friends. [Uncanny X-Men (1st series) #191]
When the alien Warlock came to Xavier’s mansion and inadvertently attacked Illyana and Lockheed (not recognizing organic beings as sentient lifeforms), Illyana teleported herself and the 
dragon to Limbo. Hoping to cure herself of the techno-organic virus with which Warlock had infected her, she cut herself with her Soulsword. She awoke in another part of the galaxy on a space ship where clones of the X-Men had fallen under the control of the Brood. Illyana and Lockheed defeated the Brood and Illyana later used her magicks to cure the fake X-Men, even subtly changing them to give them identities of their own. She then put them back on the spaceship as guardians to the sleeping crew. [New Mutants (1st series) #21, 63]
Illyana’s sorcery also came in handy when her teammates Rahne and Sunspot had accidentally acquired the light and darkness based powers of Cloak and Dagger. With the help of Rogue and Xavier, Magik was able to exorcise her friends, transferring the powers back to Tyrone and Tandy, but Illyana also discovered that the eldritch armor appeared now each time she used her powers and each time it covered her body a little more. [New Mutants (1st series) #24-25]
When a strange, hooded man appeared to her, warning her of impending doom, Illyana grew scared. Her fears became certainty when during a game of “truth or dare” Sunspot dared her to teleport the New Mutants into the future. There they crashed a reunion of the elder New Mutants and unfortunately learned that Illyana was dead, a victim of a mutant-killing virus called Legacy. 
Illyana angrily teleported to Limbo, where she was expected by the hooded man, who was revealed to be her eldest brother, Mikhail. Mikhail promised to save her, much to the happiness of Illyana and the younger mutants. Their older versions were hesitant, though, as they knew Mikhail to be a villain. The two teams fought and the fight was decided by Karma, who turned against her teammates, the elder mutants, as she more than most of the others knew what it meant to lose a beloved sibling. Mikhail performed an operation on Illyana with his own powers, allegedly changing the genetic sequences that made her vulnerable to the virus. However, Cypher snooped a little later and learned that Mikhail was the one who had been infected and that he had transferred the infection to Illyana, hoping her magically altered body could withstand the disease. Illyana threatened her brother, but he fled and the younger New Mutants, angry and sad, left as well after Karma had telepathically erased their memories of that tragic day. [New Mutants: Truth or Death #1-3]
Following the kidnappers of their teammates Sunspot and Magma, Cannonball and Magik ended up fighting alongside Magneto and the X-Men against the omnipotent Beyonder. Curious, the Beyonder perceived Illyana’s demonic side and pulled it to the fore. Mad, Illyana teleported herself and those around her to Limbo, where she raged, until Kitty grabbed her Soulsword and restored Illyana to normal (another sign of the link they shared). [New Mutants (1st series) #29-30, Secret Wars II #1]
When the team was whisked away to Asgard, Magik was captured and tortured by the Enchantress, though Illyana at least had saved her teammates by scattering them through time and Asgard’s many realms. The Enchantress separated her Darkchylde half from her and intended to use her evil half as her servant, recapturing the other mutants. Any injuries Darkchylde received were transferred to the helpless Illyana. Of course the other New Mutants came back to rescue Magik and she kind of replaced Asgard‘s Enchantress, claiming her quarters and studying her spells, turning colder and nastier in the process. 
Later, when the X-Men showed up, they all were provided with a choice to stay there permanently or leave. The offer to become the new Enchantress was tempting for Illyana but since it was an all or none decision, Illyana released the Asgardian from Limbo, where she had put her, and traveled back to Earth with her friends. [New Mutants Special Edition #1, Uncanny X-Men Annual #9]
When an injured and dying Professor Xavier was being transported aboard the ship of the Starjammers for treatment, he left the recently reformed Magneto in charge of the school and the students. Soon after, Illyana was purged from her evil sorceress traits within her soul by the seemingly omnipotent Beyonder. However, when she realized that her sword, armor, magics and the problems coming along with them were transferred to Kitty, she took it all back, not wanting to see Kitty suffer the fate meant for her.
Angered that she refused his gift, the Beyonder came back to kill her and her teammates. He did not settle with killing them, but erased them from ever having existed. Neither the X-Men nor their friends and families would remember them. The only reminder of Illyana was once more the Soulsword and armor being transferred to Kitty, the only one who remembered. [New Mutants (1st series) # 36-37, Uncanny X-Men (1st series) #203]
Determined to become human himself, the Beyonder created a machine to recreate his essence. For a test run, he used the New Mutants‘ remains and, indeed, the machine recreated the young mutants‘ bodies. However, they were almost zombies and lacked any emotions or happiness. Once the Beyonder was defeated by the assembled heroes of the Marvel Universe, Magneto was puzzled how to snap his young charges out of their lethargy. The New Mutants questioned the sense of life itself and most, like Illyana, were apathetic. Unable to help the kids, Magneto asked 
the White Queen for help, and the team was transferred to the Massachusetts Academy where they joined the Hellions. The White Queen welcomed her new students and immediately started to erase their memories of the painful events. On a surface level, it seemed that the teenagers were themselves again, but Emma sensed that there still was something amiss. Meanwhile Magneto found out that he had been tricked by Empath, who had increased his feelings of self-doubt and despair, thus prompting the decision to transfer the kids. Angrily, he tried to get his charges back, but Emma Frost called the local authorities, who in turn summoned the Avengers to detain Magneto. Luckily, the New Mutants learned about the fight and, after Illyana teleported them to the battlesite, they helped him. The White Queen decided to try another approach and offered to help the kids together with Magneto. This time the kids came out fine; her telepathic powers and Magneto’s emotional concern restored them to their old selves. With the Mutants deciding to return to Xavier’s school, Emma departed peacefully, though she left her invitation open. [Secret Wars II #9, New Mutants (1st series) #38-40]
However, whether due to the experience with the Beyonder that had traumatized most of the mutants in a way or for other reasons, Illyana found that more and more her spells were often 
having darker results than intended, as she was using black magic.
When the Magus, the father of Warlock and ruler of their techno-organic species, tracked down his son and attacked both him and the New Mutants, Illyana tried to hide the team in Limbo. Surprisingly, the Magus even found a way to follow them to that dimension, where he allied himself with S’ym and turned him into a techno-organic being as well. Illyana teleported her friends away, inadvertently losing them in two different strings of alternate futures, while she herself fought the increasing techno-organic troops of S’ym. Finally, willing to die rather than give up, she tried to destroy Limbo itself using her Soulsword, by impaling it into the ground.
Illyana emerged from Limbo in outer space, where she was found by Professor Xavier and the Starjammers. The space pirates opted to help Illyana, who seemed to be cleansed of her black magic, and together they went back to Limbo. There they found the land transformed into a beautiful scenery and the Sword still sticking in the ground. As S’ym and his hordes moved in, 
Illyana had to reclaim the Sword, after which Limbo went back to its demonic state. Using more and more of her tainted magic, Illyana grew horns on her forehead, taking on aspects of the Darkchylde. Xavier helped Illyana to locate her teammates and they all teleported to the Starjammers’ spaceship. Disgusted by the tainted demon magic, Illyana became hysterical and vowed never to go to Limbo again. Unfortuantely, that would have left the team stranded in space, so Xavier ordered Karma to possess her and force her to teleport them back through Limbo. [New Mutants (1st series) #47, 50-51]
Illyana became angry and sullen, openly rebelling against any authority, feeling she was drowning 
inside, as on the one side she increasingly had to use black magic against S’ym’s troops and the two people who had been her anchor to normality – Kitty and Piotr – were fighting for their lives on Muir Isle after receiving horrible injuries from the Marauders. Instead of being frightened, Magneto offered to battle the demons on her behalf, telling her she was his student and that he knew what it was like to have to live with one’s sins. More importantly, he knew that it was possible to find a better way instead of giving in to despair. Touched by his faith, Illyana started trusting him and lost the rebellious attitude for some time. [New Mutants (1st series) #52]
Later, when the Animator killed Cypher in battle, Illyana snapped and she transported the enemy to Limbo, where she hurled him to S’ym and his masses. She also recognized the dimension 
changing to a darker place. When they got back home, Magik became even angrier when she witnessed on TV the X-Men, among them her brother Colossus, sacrificing their lives in Dallas. More and more demonic traits manifested in her physical form, such as furred hooves, a tail and red skin. [New Mutants (1st series) #61]