Betty discovered a portal after she opened the chamber door. Nothing could be seen on the other side, but judging from the way it gave out a cold draft, Betty figured that the entry point would lead straight into an artic environment. She looked at her personal journal where it showed her the subject of facing the ice crown's trials. Unfortunately, all she could find was directions to confront the entities in the temple. She sighed in response as the details were vague, but sought comfort in the fact her group had navigated the temple by the letter.

"Here I go," Betty exhaled to herself as she buttoned up her olive jacket and tucked her journal away. Once she stepped inside the portal, she immediately found herself stepping into a blizzard. Gusts of wind blurred out her vision and she felt cold like she never had been before. Her teeth were clenched tight as she tried to focus, while she lifted one foot at a time into the thick blanket of snow. She felt like she regretted her decision to leave her dark blue cloak behind in hindsight as it would have offered more warmth, but there was no going back now. The portal behind her was already gone, whether by obscurity or if it closed on its own. Everything she saw around her was white with snow, and there was no sign of shelter or if the storm would even let up. The next thing she knew, a strong wind rolled towards her like a violent wave at sea. Her body was thrown backwards several feet which sent her screaming in fear and she immediately passed out once she landed on her back. The storm continued to howl as strong as ever after the fact, but from Betty's perspective everything she heard slowly subsided until there was absolutely nothing.

Sometime later, Betty found herself being nudged awake. She could hear someone calling out to her in a youthful voice and her eyelids fluttered open in response. To her surprise, it appeared to be a small green dinosaur with a slim-like body in nature. He stood on two legs and he had two arms with three fingers for each hand. His neck had a dark green collar like a tapeworm's and his head resembled that of a Brachiosaurus. When she met his eyes, it seemed like he had a friendly, caring demeanor.

"Miss Betty," he spoke again. "Are you alright?"

"I am," she replied slightly dazed as she got up with his assistance. She frowned moments later when she recomposed herself. "How do you know my name?"

"My name is Gunther or at least a memory construct of the name," the dinosaur replied smiling with a shrug. "I'm the first person to have ever worn the ice crown since its creation. The thing is, everything that the crown has been through can be seen from whoever that is trapped from the inside."

"I see," Betty nodded. "Nice to meet you."

"The one you're trying to help goes by Mister Petrikov, right?" Gunther asked. "I actually met him in person and he's a really nice guy."

"Is he here?" Betty asked excitedly in anticipation. "I have so much to tell him!"

"No he's lodged away deeper into the crown now," he replied sadly. "It happened when you started the trials. Before he went away though, he sent me to help you out."

"What can you tell me about the crown?" Betty asked as she recovered from her disappointment.

"Many years ago, near the beginning of time," Gunther began. "The universe was comprised of sentient beings that were divine in nature. They had unimaginable strength and their powers essentially made them immortal. As fate would have it, a clash of ideals brought them into a civil war. One side fought for peace, while the other for chaos. In time, the ones who sought for boundless destruction became known as Monsters, while the other group were called Guardians. Despite their never-ending battle however, creation progressed and countless worlds developed civilizations. There was a time when the forces of evil were on the verge of ultimate defeat during the Crustaceous period, but then it came to a sudden halt." He stopped and formed a somber expression, "In one last act of desperation, the last few remaining Monsters formed a deadly comet from the cosmos that threatened the fate of existence itself. One that possessed untold levels of energy that could be used to overpower even the most capable of Guardians. Only four of them remained at this point, each one representing the four elements of slime, candy, fire, and ice. Together they used their powers to drive away the destructive source of creation. My master, Urgence Evergreen the ice elemental foresaw the possibility that the war may be lost despite their best efforts. As a result, he created an instrument that was to harness and enhance his overall powers."

"The crown," Betty answered.

Gunther nodded, "It was designed to have wish-granting capabilities. Had my master worn it first, he would have desired to possess the strength necessary to win the fight single-handedly no matter the odds." He hung his head in shame, "What I didn't know at the time though was that the crown was still in development despite being nearly finished. So when the time came for the moment of truth, Evergreen relied on me to hand it to him in the heat of battle. Instead of doing what I was told, I took the matter into my hands, thinking I could just wish for the same thing and save the world. It was unstable with side-effects however, and soon I lost control of myself and my identity from the raw power it channeled. For a long time, I thought that my desire to be like him would lead to the same outcome but the crown instead changed me literally into a more of a cheap copycat of Evergreen! The only difference was that I kept chanting something repeatedly in a state of madness and I constantly had my memories of my rough upbringing with him being played over and over... All I wanted to do was to gain recognition from him. I wanted to make him proud like a father is to a son, but instead I messed everything up by going my own way until the crown finally destroyed my body."

"What happened then?" Betty asked with empathy.

"The comet was driven away before it could ever reach Earth surprisingly," he replied as he wiped his tears. "But it came with a great sacrifice. Without the essential artifact, all of the elementals merged themselves into a harmonic synchronization to fire off a beam powerful enough on a galactic scale... Their bodies deteriorated as a result, leaving behind only the smallest traces of themselves to carry on their legacy as reincarnations. The world and the universe was saved.. at least for a long while."

"I'm sorry to hear that, sounds like this Evergreen could have done a better job at raising you from what I'm hearing," Betty frowned.

"He was the only family I had," he said glumly. "I was just grateful to have someone at all to be honest, but it is what it is." He recomposed himself before resuming with a hardened expression, "After my passing, the crown was lost in the ocean. Centuries would pass, but it would still remain in good condition, waiting to be claimed by the next owner."

"Simon did tell me he got it from a dock worker near the Atlantic," Betty commented. "Somewhere at Scandinavia."

"It was found even before then," Gunther replied. "The first time it happened, a pair of Vikings discovered it by accident when they went out to go fishing. In their time, they were at war with an army of knights from a faraway land known as the Blackstone Legion. Ever since their first encounter, the Vikings would lose almost every battle until they were driven back into the heart of their homeland. The Knights were ruthless as they were efficient, capturing the strongest of warriors to bolster their own numbers, while executing the weak. When they didn't do that, they also shattered the Viking leadership by destroying nearly all of the food reserves for the winter season so that only one clan would survive. To make a long story short, the Vikings were basically disorganized, outmatched, and without hope."

Betty nodded in acknowledgment.

Gunther continued, "One day, a young warrior by the name of Svein drastically changed the course of history for his people. When he took the ice crown after he fished it out, his body went through a transformation where he could wield the power of ice and snow. With it, his people rallied behind him standing before the immense army of Knights in one grand act of defiance. To everyone, it seemed like the Vikings were just throwing their lives away."

He leaned forward, "But to Svein, it was a moment of triumph. Moments after he lead the charge, he had already pushed the Knights back with a massive blizzard under his control. Those who stood in his way had no chance as he used the cold weather against them. Thousands of his enemies were lost in a matter of seconds. By the time he was within striking distance, he would spare whoever was left to spread his reputation. Slowly but surely, his forces would take back the land that was lost to them until the Knights were driven towards the coastline. The Vikings had won the war for survival and their enemies had never returned since."

"And that's when things began to go wrong for Svein," he bowed solemnly.

"His intentions upon wearing the crown were noble," Gunther resumed. "He wanted to be a hero by saving his people from starvation and inner turmoil. Defending his home was all that mattered, nothing more. But with the crown's instability, Svein began to lose himself among his brethren. Suddenly, he desired the need to conquer and incite meaningless violence. He became untrustworthy with his troops thinking they would turn against him for the crown. And when it became clear that the crown no longer served as a blessing, it was time for it to go."

He gestured Betty to follow beside him.

"We are in the frozen forest," Gunther continued. "The place where his men conspired to overthrow him. Twelve in his inner circle volunteered to avoid suspicion, and only one survived." He stopped to face her, "The trial has decided to reenact that moment. The entity you seek has taken on Svein's form and you must destroy him at all costs."

"Madness I presume?" Betty asked.

"Whatever you see is just a shadow of his former self," Gunther warned. "Don't let yourself be fooled into reasoning with him."

"I'll try," Betty said while forming a hardened expression.

The pair walked off in silence after that. As Betty took in her surroundings, she noticed there were some trees up ahead that were splintered from being struck at several angles. Then, there were swords and shields scattered everywhere next to splotches of frozen blood. Whatever happened to the men must have experienced a gruesome fate that Betty didn't want to visualize. As she kneeled down to pick up one of the weapons, she could hear somebody fighting not far in the distance. Swords could be heard clanging the more she rushed closer, and moments later she found two Vikings in a tense battle with their former leader. Not long after she arrived on the scene, Svein used his offhand to freeze one of his opponents entirely in ice. The warrior howled in a mixture of anger and horror as he froze in a helpless position, leaving the other to finish the battle for him. The second warrior heaved as he swung his sword erratically with powerful strikes, but all of them were perfectly blocked by Svein who had an amused smile. Moments later the two found themselves locked into a power struggle with Svein holding in place, while the other man struggled to budge. To the subordinate's surprise, his eyes darted all over himself when his body shuddered and slowly became encased in ice. Fear and panic consumed his whole being while Svein continued to stare at him with an evil grin. The warrior screamed as loud as he could in his final moments, only for it to be silenced as the ice finally wrapped his head. Svein had already relaxed his stance as his opponent perished and walked around him until he had a clear angle to grab his head. His hands shifted a bit to get a good angle and then he pulled upwards until the man was decapitated. Svein appeared to be fascinated as he walked away with it, only to suddenly turn around and pitch the head at the other frozen being with deadly precision. The ice shattered in a hundred shards with a red mist painting the blanket of snow beneath them.

"You've finally come," the crazed leader bellowed upon diverting his gaze to Betty.

"That's as far as you'll ever go," she stated with a disgusted expression.

"Fool," Svein taunted. "I am the leader of the Norsemen, the will of Odin! Once I am done with you, I will rip your skull from your spine and toss it away LAUGHING!"

"So uncivilized," Betty remarked scowling.

Svein raised his sword and shield in the air as he prepared for battle. Both of his hands were glowing blue as the crown channeled his energy and a small barrier of snow flakes circled around his body. Betty could only arch herself forward in response, waiting for the Viking to deliver the first strike. Judging from the way Svein presented himself, Betty anticipated he was the kind of opponent to deal a lot of damage while sustaining a heavy defense. She would have to move quickly if he ever used any ranged attacks with his ice powers and she would have to strike methodically instead of rushing forward.

Svein leapt forward towards Betty as he raised his blade up high. Although his battle cry froze Betty in her tracks, his opponent steeled herself at the last second and jumped to the side before his blade could hit. Upon hitting the ground, the snow rose momentarily before it quickly settled back down. Betty thought the obscurity would help give her time to recover, but it seemed Svein was already on to her with another attack. Once again, she jumped and rolled out of the way as the blade slashed horizontally at nothing. Svein snarled in frustration as he missed a second time and his eyes blazed completely with blue electricity from the crown's powers. The thick blanket of snow had no effect of slowing the madman down, while Betty mustered all of her adrenaline to power through. Her energy was already being drained from running and diving repeatedly that soon it would render her too weak to fight in a long battle.

"Have I really come this far just for all of it to end here?" Betty thought as she panted.

Svein meanwhile seemed to be howling in amusement as he fired a stream of blue energy directly from his sword which chased her around.

"Is this how I really want to go out?!" Betty repeated with more indignation with herself. "No, I've defeated Bella Noche, went toe to toe against a giant robot, and then literally fell off a mountain and into the war zone! I refuse to let a past life of the crown keep me from getting to Simon any longer!" Her eyes narrowed in anger and her fists tightened, "It's time to fight back!"

Svein was caught off guard as Betty suddenly used her ice powers to leap towards him. The beam of energy he fired still followed after her, but it hit nothing but the barren trees behind her as she flew over and slashed his right shoulder. A small blood splatter made its way onto the ground as Svein yelled in pain and he briefly examined his injury in disbelief. Moments later, his fury resurfaced and he began to lash out once more with smash-based attacks.

Betty felt some of her strength return to her as she wounded Svein for the first time. Although it seemed insignificant at the time, it proved to her that the Viking was far from invincible. As she ran around him from a fair distance, Svein slammed his sword onto the ground where it conjured a trail of frozen stalagmites. Moments after they surfaced however, the spikes would slowly sink back into the ground, making the terrain safe to walk on again. Betty unfortunately felt a stinging sensation as a thin cut made its way along her back and she jumped high in the air before she could get skewered. Afterwards, Betty returned fire by shooting a volley of ice bolts that Svein simply blocked with his shield until Betty decided to close the distance between them. As the seven foot tall warrior loomed over her, Betty remained composed and quickly slashed at his left thigh before making another cut across his side on the returning swing. Svein appeared to buckle from the initial impact, but he quickly brushed aside the next attack as he suddenly struck Betty with a right back-handed blow. She went flying as a result and watched as her rival rushed towards her shortly after she landed. A small crater formed on the ground as Betty rolled out of the way, with Svein resting his right knee over where Betty's head would have been had she not acted fast.

"Your will is strong," he taunted. "But it won't be enough!"

Betty didn't respond and instead engaged the warrior in a one on one fight. Blades would clash as they swung left and right, with Betty using her agility to evade whenever it seemed like there was an attack she couldn't possibly block. After a while, Svein attempted to shoot another ice blast at Betty whenever she stopped to recover. She dodged and weaved as each one missed her by inches. By the time she discovered an opening, Betty slashed her blade against the warrior's chest at three different angles until Svein unleashed a powerful yell that stunned her backwards.

"You will not have this power," he snarled. "It is mine to control!" At that, he lunged himself forward in a winter of fury. Betty tossed aside her shield on cue and gripped her sword downwards diagonally to go for the counter. He was closing the distance at an incredible speed that there was no way Betty would have a chance to dive out of the way on time. As he was nearing in seconds, Betty looked back on an image of Simon and Marceline standing together before she made her move. After it disappeared, everything moved in slow motion as Betty twirled herself clockwise in a crouching stance. Her blade made its way upwards as Svein was now at arms reach, and he tumbled forward into the ground upon missing Betty. A thick streak of blood splattered onto the ground to confirm the hit, and the Viking found himself on his back breathless with his power waning.

Betty walked over to Svein after the battle with a weary expression. As she crouched over to his side, she noticed his features were far different than they were before. Instead of having a piercing blue gaze, they were soft and gentle. His cheeks were now slightly rounded whereas they were once long and thin. Upon examining the rest of his body, Betty discovered his size shrunk to that of a young adolescent.

"You're just a kid," Betty silently gasped at her discovery. It also didn't help with the fact that he slightly resembled someone who was once considered the hero of Ooo.

Svein coughed briefly until he argued, "It.. does not matter. The crown has destroyed everything that I have sworn to protect!" He coughed a bit more. "I could never live with myself knowing the death I've caused."

"Maybe if I had just-"

"I've tried," Svein argued reading her mind. "Once the crown is worn once, the curse will latch onto its user. It would not matter if I separated myself from the headpiece as it always has a way of making its way back." His eyes frowned, "My people wouldn't have understood anyway. Even if it were possible, I would still be marked for death."

"You're just a victim that was being controlled," Betty argued. "It was never your intent to turn against them."

"They'd still see me as too dangerous to live," Svein cried.

"You didn't deserve this," Betty shook her head. "You rose through the ranks and sacrificed everything to protect your people."

"I should have never taken that crown!"

"Then everyone would have died!" Betty yelled. "I don't know why all this had to happen, but it ultimately lead to the preservation of your people's future. You can't let this weigh down on you forever, Svein. It isn't healthy. So much time has passed since then. You have to let it go."

"This guilt is something I can never let go, even in death," Svein breathed. "It is all that I have become. How could I possibly learn to forget such an atrocity if I had tried to move on?"

"You don't," Betty answered as she clasped his right hand. "You remember the times you shared with your friends and family. You remember these actions as a means to better oneself. No matter what, you must continue to move forward!"

"Why?!" Was all he could ask.

She gripped his hand tighter and eyed him with a determined expression, "Because a friend of mine once told me that mistakes are not meant to burden you, they are meant to shape you. That is the brilliant thing about life, we are given the opportunity to change ourselves for the better despite what hardships are thrown at us. You may have been dictated to fall under a curse, but I believe you still would have done everything to redeem yourself rather than to just resign to such a fate. If you really believed yourself to be deserving of living like this, you wouldn't have felt remorse. And I especially know this because there was someone who went through practically the same thing recently. I would have made the same argument with him too given the chance."

Svein eyed her in wonder at this information and sighed in acceptance, "If only I had known that back then. Perhaps there were a few others who maybe felt the same way, but I never knew." He narrowed his eyes to compose himself, "My sole purpose was to protect the people first and foremost. It's been my goal then and it certainly would have been the same now. Thank you so much for your kindness, Betty. I'm glad to have come across you. And now I'm ready to face the end now, in peace."

"Anything for a friend," Betty said compassionately.

"Stop the curse," Svein ordered. "Save your betrothed. Don't let him or anyone else suffer the same fate like this ever again."

"I promise," she nodded.

Svein was given a peaceful death as Betty stayed by his side. After a few more minutes of silence, the boy had slackened his grip with Betty running a hand down on his face to close his eyes on cue. She mourned for him momentarily as she bowed in silence and then stood back up with the crown's gem piece. Gunther wiped a tear as he joined her side and was given a pat on the back shortly after.

"I really hope you'll succeed," the former apprentice said.

"Thanks, Gunther," Betty nodded. "I am ready to leave."

"The portal's materialized between those two trees over there," he pointed as they formed on cue. "You should be able to meet your friends there."

"Thanks for your help, aren't you coming?"

"I'll be with you every step of the way," Gunter answered as he disappeared into the gem that Betty was holding.

"Oh, wait! Quick question."

Gunther summoned himself back on cue.

"Why didn't the crown make Simon this violent like the others?"

He shrugged, "It could have been a lot of things: his love for you, a strong mindset, or maybe even..."

"What?" Betty anxiously asked.

"The crown can foresee a threat that may threaten its very existence, perhaps in the near distant future." Gunther replied with a cryptic expression.

The trial was complete and now only one entity remained.