The issue opens with the team walking through the snowy area of Limbo. Illyana can only manifest the hilt of her soul sword and believes its shattering is preventing her from teleporting. Dani wants her to rest since she just went through something extremely traumatic, but Illyana says there's no time since Limbo under S'ym's control is a threat to the Earth and Krakoa.
Rahne hears the sounds of battle and runs off.
The fairy tale continues with a new 'Goblin Exile' holding the line against a never-ending wave of techno-organic virus infected demons.
They see an older version of Illyana who has been fighting for decades standing atop a military complex fighting an army of demons, infected with the techno-organic virus. They argue over whether to help, but the point is moot as Old Woman Magik uses her Warlock-sword/gun arm to wipe them out. She says they have 4 weeks until the demons attack again and invites them inside.
Exposition dump. Old Woman Magik and Warlock are the last mutants from Krakoa left as far as she knows, but she has been stuck in Limbo since losing her soul sword. Dani and Rahne were killed in battle and Madelyne was killed in a magic accident. Krakoa is no more and the techno-organic virus came to Limbo with Warlock, making the demons even more powerful and harder to beat. She's been fighting alone for decades, losing her arm in the process and not making any headway She thinks the key is to kill the leader like in so many movies, but she hasn't been able to reach the leader in all this time. The spell that she used on the demons drains both her and Warlock.
Data page where Madelyne comes into Illyana's room to ask again why she wants to give up Limbo. It's mostly a repeat of last issue, with some added info that the imprint Maddie left in Limbo has manifested in forms that Illyana has had to fight occasionally. There is confirmation Maddie wouldn't have the power Maddie wonders how this is any different than her being resurrected just because Havok wanted her back and Illyana says she'll have freedom to choose what to do as ruler of Limbo when it's all over instead of being given a one-time choice - though obviously not to attack Earth or Krakoa.
Old Illyana gives young Illyana coffee, and young Illyana asks why she fights this losing battle. 'It's what we do,' Old Illyana responds.
A flying demon shows up under a flag of truce to offer young Illyana and her friends safe passage back to Earth, and both Magiks laugh. Young Illyana flips him off and says they never abandon their own. The demon says she owes no loyalty to her older self and she should take what happened to her as a cautionary tale. The demon also says Old Magik is getting weaker and won't be able to protect them.
Young Illyana calls a meeting so Old Illyana can explain everything and there's another exposition dump juxtaposed with Colossus looking for his sister on Krakoa. He wants to talk to her about something which is never specified and neither Karma, the bartender, or Doug know anything about where Illyana is.
Old Illyana explains that each time they use that spell, Warlock gets weaker. He can't assume his original form anymore. But everything else they've tried failed and it's the only thing that's worked even a little. Young Illyana says that's just like her to keep using the same spell over and over even if it drains a friend, a reference to her year of trying and failing to create an acorn in which she hastened the death of Ororo's oak tree every time she cast that spell. Young Illyana says her older counterpart is thinking too small and suggests a new plan.
When the demons come for another attack, Old Magik challenges their leader to single combat, and S'ym steps forward and accepts. They slash at each other and it looks like S'ym has won, but per young Illyana's plan Old Magik just needed to get close so she could get Warlock into his system like a virus, destroying him from the inside. He turns to ash as the cyber-demon horde turn back into regular demons. While Madelyne, Dani, and Rahne fight the demons young Illyana uses Sy'ms remains to forge a new sword to use temporarily in place of her soul sword.
The rest of the fight happens off-panel and is recounted in a data-page by Old Magik But first there's another fairy tale page recapping what had just happened and saying Goblinyana gained hope from Goblin Exile's fight.
In the data page Old Magik is enamored with her younger self for coming up with the plan and for doing better than she had under the same circumstances. The new sword didn't last long but it served its purpose in wiping out those demons, and she was able to summon a stepping to to go somewhere unspecified, though Old Magik notes that the disk looked 'wobbly.' They offered Old Magik the chance to come with them, but she is going to go back to her Krakoa to see exactly what happened to it and get closure for that.
She also notes that young Magik is doing better than before, but is still in a bad place after losing her soul sword.
Finally, there is another backup from Illyana's time as Belasco's apprentice. Cat is chasing her until she casts a spell which transforms her back into Kitty for a few seconds. It doesn't last and she reverts to Belasco's pet quickly, but Illyana vows to do whatever it takes to get Kitty back for good.