Let your soul guide you...
This series is probably underappreciated today (in part because it wasn't reprinted in any trade paperback until recently and thus was only available in the original 20-year-old issues) because more is implied than actually shown in the panels. The rapid passage of time continues as we learn Illyana has spent two years apprenticing to Belasco - considering the martinet style he uses, Illyana should probably be farther along by now (she probably didn't get Sundays off). Perhaps her lingering internal soul conflict over following him completely or remaining true to the goodness she once had is preventing her from fully developing in her sorcery. The encounter with the New Mutants was a good touch (though since it had already happened in the comic world it wasn't as impressive as if it had previewed something two years down the road). Illyana's destruction of Cat was definitely another darkly violent aspect of the series, furthering the underlying conflicts in the major characters of how to escape Limbo and one's personal diabolical devolution. The misleading cover does not have much to do with the content of the issue, though it may indicate what could happen after this issue closes. Will Illyana be saved, inside and out? One more part to go.