Max and Haikou had been travelling the entire day and night hoping to find their friend Rex, but unfortunately a snowstorm had forced them to stop and take refuge inside a cave just as they had made it to the mountain range in which the city that the tournament was held.

Max:"Do you think Rex might have, well might have died and been buried by the snow".

Haikou:"No way I can still smell him so he is still alive somewhere".

Max:"I really hope you´re right, Rex might have been selfish, greedy, and sometimes a pain, but he was still my best friend so I think that it´s my duty to find him".

Haikou laughed:"Sometimes you half demons confuse me, but I agree with you sometimes".

Max laughed back:"Thanks".

Both Haikou and Max where incredibly cold and hungry, they both thought that it was the exact same thing with Rex, but Rex was actually lying in a warm bed and devouring a gigantic amount of delicious food. Rex didn´t know where he was or where the food came for and currently he didn´t care either.

Suddenly a loud voice told him to go into the next room; Rex was about to do so but suddenly his legs felt incredible heavy, he looked down only to see that his legs looked just like they always had, covered in armour. Rex took a step but he fell under the weight, Rex often fell but this time he actually felt pain, in the impact Rex´s helmet also fell off.

Rex stood up and put his hand to his head that now ached incredibly. Rex turned around and randomly looked into a mirror. To his surprise he wasn´t transcendent, but he was very much solid. Rex touched his skin and could feel the warmth and the blood pulsing threw his veins.

Rex:"Well I´ll be damned, the curse must have lifted itself".

Suddenly the voice boomed once again to tell him to talk to the master in the other room. Rex shrugged off the echo of the loud noises and decided to do as it told him. Rex walked into the other room (though with some trouble because of the heavy armour). Rex walked over and was surprised at the person that sat there.

Rex:"You´re Grenadeel".

Grenadeel:"I know that".

Rex:"Don´t play dumb with me, I know what you´re after and i won´t give you any of the shards because i don´t have any".

Grenadeel:"I´m not interested in shards, I want you".

Rex backed away:"T-Thank you but I´m straight".

Grenadeel:"Not like that, I meant I want you to be one of my generals".

Rex:"Hell no, I`m thankful for the food but I´ll never aid your mindless killing"!

Grenadeel snapped his fingers so Rex became his puppet with some free will:"I believe that you owe me a favour, do you see that body of yours, I resurrected it for you, and I can just as well burn it down again. Besides if you elp me I´ll give you, let´s say England".

Rex:"Nope Russia"!

Grenadeel:"I would but i already promised that part to one of my other generals".

Rex:"How about China"?

Grenadeel:"Nope"!

Rex:"How about Scandinavia".

Grenadeel:"Try again".

Rex:"South Africa".

Grenadeel:"There´s a south Africa"?

Rex:"Is there any place that isn´t taken".

Grenadeel:"Sure this is, besides everywhere will belong to me you´ll just a be very powerful ambassador, so you want Italy".

Rex:"Throw northern France in and we have a deal".

Grenadeel:"Why"?

Rex:"Hello France, pretty ladies that love exotic men".

Grenadeel:"Well in that case no".

Rex:"Okay but I won´t to be an ambassador somewhere if you want me to be your general".

Grenadeel:"Fine (Why the hell did i give him so much free will), you can have, well let´s say, Turkey"?

Rex:"I like Turkey, you have yourself a deal".

Grenadeel:"From now on you shall only call me master, and obey my every command, now go get armoured up, and then come see me for your next task".

And so Rex was given a new armour and weapons, armour with the symbol of Grenadeel on the back, and two scimitars that could magically fold around his wrists like bracelets and they become swords when flicked out. A mask was also added, one that made it impossible for anybody to recognize Rex, as well as making it impossible for Rex to see who he was talking to. In reality Rex would never have helped Grenadeel, but the puppet spell changed his alignment.

Rex:"Master what is my objective".

Grenadeel:"There are two pests on the way here, i have lured them with a fake tournament add, i want you to kill them".

Rex swallowed deeply:"What are their names".

Grenadeel:"Ukiah and Sam".

Rex nodded, at least they weren't his friends, but what Rex didn´t know was that since x sometimes sounds like s, Sam backwards is Max, and the same thing was Haiku, but the puppet curse made it impossible for Rex to see the connection.

Meanwhile

Max and Rex had finally made it to the top of the very high, very cold, very annoying mountains. And needless to say, the first thing they did was go to the local inn that very conveniently gave all the people that participated in the tournament a free room. Not necessarily a good room but a room is a room.

Haikou:"Max when does the tournament start"?

Max:"On the day after tomorrow".

Haikou:"That´s not a lot of time to find Rex".

Max:"You´re right, but in the worst case scenario we won´t have to find him".

Haikou:"Let´s just hope that it doesn´t come to that".

Then the two decided to hit the hay and call it a night. And it was quite literal because as said the rooms weren't that good. But while Haikou fell asleep quite astoundingly fast, Max just couldn´t stop thinking about Rex that probably was lying dead somewhere under the snow, they had probably walked right over him while he called for help. These thoughts sped through Max´s head all through the night, needless to say he looked wasted by morning.

Haikou:"What the heck happened to you, did you stay up fighting giant rats again"?

Max:"What"?

Haikou:"No wait that was just a dream, but still why do you look like a something a bear ate and barfed up again, and I know what that looks like because I used to be friends with a bear, and boy was that gross".

Max:"Okay way too much information, and I was just worried about Rex, I mean he hasn´t been himself ever since we got here and he got his powers. He used to be a lot smarter than me, I still think he is, but I think Fregaficens might be interfering with that".

Haikou:"That´s not hard to imagine, I mean when I first met him he had heat stroke".

Then they both laughed, but none of them thought it was funny.

To Be Continued