Lavis, the famous dukedom of the North, was also among the few places able to ignite a Source of Fire's Order during the first moments of the disaster.
But unfortunately, even though the Source of Fire's Order blessed their people and protected them from the influence of Chaos Magic Power, the terrifying Demons were still covetously looking at that territory.
Perhaps it was the bloodline of Lavis' royal family that attracted the Demons' attention.
In any case, back when Marvin was handling Dark Phoenix, an Abyss Door had opened above the capital of Lavis Dukedom.
Countless Demons rushed down and the battlefield became very chaotic.
When Marvin left for Jade City, he originally wanted to take a look. He was quite close to Daniela, after all. Even though he believed in the strength of the Ice Empress, his appearance in this world had already caused too many changes.
Diggles died earlier, Glynos' God Realm exploded, and even the enigmatic Truth Goddess had been resurrected.
Who knew what else could happen?
Thus, as soon as the trip to the Crimson Wasteland ended, Marvin refused Old Ent's mission to go to the Green Sea Paradise and started heading toward Lavis.
On the way, an uneasy feeling grew in his mind.
Isabelle was quite good at reading expressions and body language, so she noticed that Marvin didn't look well, but she didn't say anything and simply increased her pace.
Aside from places like the still peaceful White River Valley, this world's population suffered considerably from the Great Calamity!
Marvin and Isabelle witnessed too many tragedies on the way.
The Supreme Jungle was still fine since it had a Source of Fire's Order, so there were very few animals or plants that had transformed into monsters, and those that did were quickly eradicated by the Great Druids.
But once they left the Supreme Jungle territory, it felt like purgatory!
The Lavis Dukedom was only three territories away from the Supreme Jungle.
But these three territories were already filled with corpses.
They walked on the main roads through these lands and only saw countless corpses.
The territories were dyed red with blood, but ironically, it was now the beginning of spring in the North.
There were no snowstorms to conceal everything. The effects of the Great Calamity on mankind were clearly displayed before the two.
Isabelle had heard about everything that happened to Feinan back when she was in the Crimson Wasteland, but she hadn't been able to picture how miserable Feinan had become without seeing it herself!
Those with no Sanctuary to rely on fell prey to the Chaos Magic Power.
Her eyes were filled with anger.
In the distant, lush hills, white and tender sprouts were growing from the trees' branches. This should have been the most beautiful stretch of the North's springtime.
Farmers should be working in small groups to till the land in the new year. The nobles would hurry toward the outskirts, riding horses or hiking.
But this had all disappeared.
Only corpses remained. Countless unmoving bodies.
Flocks of crows flew over from the stormy coast in the northwest. They smelt the blood from this place and were wantonly enjoying their sumptuous feast.
They passed through mountains of corpses and seas of blood while killing some Wizard Monsters on the way.
Just like in his previous life, Marvin noticed that some of the Wizard Monsters had started evolving after reaping a great many lives.
This was terrible.
Only the Wizards' wills had been destroyed by the effects of Chaos Magic Power, while their strength didn't decline. Only those with steady and powerful wills were able to resist the Chaos Magic Power's enticement.
But that just happened to be in line with the core nature of Magic, Chaos! Because of this, in the upcoming days, these Wizard Monsters would keep becoming stronger!
Chaos was a hot spring that brewed sins. This was a vicious circle, but no one could stop it.
Thinking of this, Marvin suddenly recalled a theory regarding Chaos...
All spells originated from magic, and magic itself originated from Chaos.
The Universe's most basic and pure power came from the Astral Sea and the bottomless Abyss. The former represented the Power of Order, defending the laws of the Universe. The latter stood for the Chaos Power that assailed the laws.
In ancient times, it hadn't been for no reason that Wizards were seen as heretics.
Many later schools of thought that specialized in Magic Theory came to the conclusion that the more people there were that could use Magic, the more Feinan would tend toward Chaos.
This was the same for the entire Universe.
Chaos meant expansion. And endless expansion would lead to an unimaginable explosion!
These theories had been touched upon when Marvin hunted Wizard Monsters in his previous life.
At that time, he had already felt that this point of view was quite interesting.
After transmigrating to this world and noticing these Wizard Monsters becoming stronger, Marvin's heart grew cold when he recalled those memories.
When Lance created the Universe Magic Pool, was it really to maintain the world's order?
Was he able to see this world's final destination from his point of view?
Something like Chaos, was it really something that Order could resist?
After the Universe Magic Pool was created, the 3rd Era ended. The New Gods rose up and the Wizard Era neared.
Feinan had become incredibly powerful during the Wizard Rule Era, but the end of the 4th era was also because of these powerful Wizards.
Mankind was close to extinction. Chaos Magic Power was released in one breath, just like a wild beast coming out of its cage, affecting the entire world.
The Abyss' Demons already had their eyes burning red, itching to kill their way in. The Ancient Angels, now Archdevils, were also quite interested in the 4th Fate Tablet. The previous prophecy of the Evil Spirit Sea was still ringing in people's ears, and more filthy negative energy kept brewing. Only a few more years and that most frightening monster would be born. Even the God Realms that symbolized Order would lose their bottom line.
They started breaking the rules.
This world became extremely fickle. Anyone who chose power wouldn't go down peacefully.
As for the innocents that were affected, they were ordinary people.
Their lives were as insignificant as those of ants.
Within a week of the start of the disaster, Feinan's population had been reduced by two-thirds.
The remaining third were mostly hidden in Sanctuaries, while a few were hiding in far-removed villages. They lived desperate lives, wondering when all this would end.
Marvin's mood became quite heavy.
They spent a good half a day's time to pass through the three territories.
Marvin used his own flight technique along with his Royal Griffin shape, while Isabelle used a spell she had learnt from the Winter Assassin. These made the long travel not so difficult.
Both of them competed in their long-range speed, and Marvin found out with some shame that Isabelle flew faster than him once she used an additional special technique.
This was heaven-defying!
Marvin could only look at her in envy.
In this world, there would always be some geniuses. Unfortunately, this kind of secret technique couldn't be used when in combat. Otherwise, it would clearly be beyond Godly Dexterity and allow her to kill anyone.
The Winter Assassin had been quite smart and competent. If he hadn't been unjustly attacked, he would likely have become the Shadow Prince.
"Finally!"
At the entrance of a forest, weeds and brush on the sides were growing wildly, but they still couldn't conceal the stone tablet.
[Lavis - Sorcerer Dukedom]
There was a line of much smaller text below: [The truth is not something visible to the naked eye.]
Marvin understood the meaning of that sentence. Lavis Dukedom had a lot more inhabitants than Rocky Mountain. The only difference was that Rocky Mountain's Sorcerers had been exiled by the South Wizard Alliance while the Lavis Dukedom had been established by the Cridland clan on their own.
Strength was everything, so the other lands to the north recognized the strength of Lavis Dukedom, but they still regarded them as monsters.
Marvin himself was a Sorcerer, so he knew this was only a bloodline power.
This proved that ignorance was the biggest flaw.
"Let's go…"
The two of them entered the forest.
A burst of warm aura suddenly greeted them, a rather peculiar feeling.
[Power of Order].
Entering a territory covered by the Power of Order from a land filled with Chaos Power gave an intense feeling.
Anxious minds would suddenly calm down.
Even Marvin and Isabelle felt this way, let alone other people.
They walked along the forest path and entered Lavis' boundary.
It was called a Dukedom, but in fact, compared to the numerous city-states in the North, Lavis Dukedom wasn't very large.
Marvin once estimated that even counting all of Lavis that was centered around the capital set up on the snowy mountain, it still wasn't as large as White River Valley.
After all, after including Sword Harbor and River Shore City, the size of Marvin's territory was very impressive.
If the South Wizard Alliance were still there, he'd have the title of Marquis at the very least. And his territory would be enough to establish a Dukedom in the North, maybe even a Kingdom.
They advanced on the road into the Dukedom, still seeing some corpses on the way, but it was far better than the state of the three previous territories!
These were corpses of Demons.
They went through a few villages, but there was already not a soul in sight in these villages.
This would have been simply unthinkable before this disaster had happened.
Marvin and Isabelle went through four territories in the North and had yet to find a living Human.
But this kind of situation wasn't too surprising post-Calamity.
It was only when they reached the capital that they found some life.
To Marvin's dismay, they met not only a group of refugees, but also a small troop of Demons near them.
At the lead was a sinister Horned Demon. He seemed very strong and was currently saying something in Common.
As for the group of refugees, they looked like they were in despair.
Isabelle looked questioningly at Marvin.
The latter indifferently told her, "You deal with it."