The Academy did not quiet down even after Noctis finished his admission and left the administrative sector with Emeralda and the escorts. The deeper institutional districts continued operating beneath the crimson sky as though the hour meant little inside a place where magic theory, military training, bloodline research, and faction movement overlapped constantly. Students moved between lecture halls in organized groups while instructors in dark formal uniforms crossed elevated bridges carrying sealed documents and enchanted tablets. Magical constructs drifted overhead with stacks of books, weapon cases, sealed artifacts, and crystal containers filled with unstable energy samples that hummed faintly behind layers of restraining runes. From one direction, Noctis could hear the distant rhythm of combat drills inside a reinforced training field, while from another came the softer overlapping voices of students reciting spell-structure theory beneath the guidance of a demonic instructor whose tone carried the patient cruelty of someone used to correcting failure harshly.
Emeralda guided him away from the busier academic corridors and toward the sovereign residential territory, where the roads widened gradually and the buildings became fewer but much larger. The change did not happen abruptly. The Academy's dense lecture sectors slowly gave way to older streets lined with black trees, stone lanterns, and territorial boundary formations that pulsed faintly beneath the ground. The air carried less noise here, not because the district lacked activity, but because the space between each estate became large enough that sound no longer crowded the surroundings. Noctis noticed how students moving through the area lowered their voices without being told, and how even Academy servants maintained quieter steps once they crossed into this part of the institution. It was the sort of place where status was not announced through banners or shouting, but through the amount of space others were forced to leave around you.
Inside the pet space, Rengar observed the area through Noctis's perception with obvious interest, his ears twitching slightly while he watched the distant walls and forests pass by. "This part looks better," he said, his voice carrying amusement as he leaned against one of the black stone ridges overlooking the blood lake within the sovereign domain. Bahamut rested nearby with his enormous body stretched across a section of obsidian ground large enough to hold a fortress, the crimson veins beneath his black scales pulsing slowly as he watched through the shared link. The dragon did not speak immediately, but his attention sharpened as the Academy's residential estates grew larger. Noctis kept walking beside Emeralda while listening to both of them without outward reaction, though his gaze naturally moved across the thick walls, isolated compounds, and forests separating one residence from the next. The Academy clearly understood that certain students and bloodlines required distance from others, whether for privacy, political security, dangerous research, or simple survival.
"The sovereign residential district is separated into several levels," Emeralda explained while they moved along a road paved with dark stone that reflected faint crimson light from the sky overhead. She spoke carefully, not like someone reporting what Noctis could already see, but like someone providing institutional context he had no reason to know yet. "Ordinary noble students live closer to the central Academy facilities. Bloodline heirs, military candidates, and politically sensitive students are placed farther in. The estates ahead are reserved for individuals whose presence requires more separation from the general student population." She paused slightly as the escorts behind her remained tense, then continued in the same controlled tone. "Your residence was assigned under temporary sovereign accommodation authority, which is unusual for someone newly admitted."
Noctis glanced toward one of the distant compounds where a high wall rose above dense trees, its upper edges reinforced with dark metallic plating etched with barrier runes. "Temporary usually means someone is waiting to decide whether I'm a problem."
Emeralda's expression did not change much, though one of the escorts behind her lowered his gaze almost immediately. "In the Academy, temporary often means the departments have not decided which authority wants responsibility for you."
"That sounds worse."
"It can be," Emeralda admitted.
Rengar laughed quietly inside the pet space. "They do not know whether to welcome you, study you, avoid you, or throw you at their enemies."
"That is usually how things go," Noctis replied internally.
Bahamut gave a low rumble from where he rested, his crimson eyes remaining fixed on the estates passing through the shared vision. "If they are wise, they will choose the enemy option."
Noctis almost smiled, but the expression remained faint enough that only Emeralda noticed the slight shift at the corner of his mouth. She did not ask about it. After everything she had seen during the northern expedition and the Arena qualification, she likely understood by now that Noctis was rarely alone even when no one stood beside him.
The road eventually curved toward a smaller estate positioned near the outer edge of the sovereign residential district. Compared to the buildings they had passed earlier, the assigned property was not poor or neglected. It possessed reinforced walls, a private courtyard, a small training area, and a compact black stone house with crimson windows and a neat garden maintained by Academy servants. For an ordinary Academy student, even a noble one, it would have been excellent housing. The structure was clean, secure, and isolated enough to provide privacy from the general dormitory districts.
Noctis stopped before the gate and stared at it quietly.
The escorts stopped with him.
Emeralda also paused, her gaze moving from the residence to Noctis's face as she immediately understood the problem. The property might have been acceptable on paper, and the Academy officials might have considered it a generous assignment for someone newly admitted, but it was nowhere near appropriate for Noctis. More importantly, it was physically impossible for Bahamut to exist here outside the pet space without turning the entire property into rubble. The courtyard was barely large enough for a modest combat exercise, the garden was decorative, and the walls were built for privacy rather than the presence of a Primeval Sanguorath.
Noctis continued looking at the house for several moments without speaking. The silence was not dramatic, but it became increasingly uncomfortable for the escorts because his dissatisfaction was obvious in the simple fact that he had not moved. One of the younger escorts shifted his weight subtly before catching himself and lowering his head. Another kept his eyes on the ground while his hands remained folded tightly behind his back. Emeralda said nothing because there was nothing useful to say yet.
Inside the pet space, Rengar was already laughing. "That is not a residence. That is a storage shed with walls."
Bahamut raised his head slowly, and the movement alone caused crimson mist inside the pet space to roll outward across the ground. "I would not fit through the gate."
"You would not fit inside the courtyard either," Rengar added.
"I would fit after breaking it."
Noctis stared at the property a moment longer before exhaling through his nose. "This is what they assigned?"
Emeralda answered carefully. "Under normal Academy standards, this is a high-level sovereign accommodation for newly admitted students."
Noctis turned his head slightly toward her. "Under normal standards."
Her silence answered clearly enough.
One of the escorts cleared his throat carefully afterward, but he did not speak immediately. He stepped forward, lowered his head, and bowed with the stiffness of someone who understood the next few words might become dangerous depending on how Noctis received them. "The Academy normally reserves larger sovereign territories for individuals with established internal authority, upper-year status, military appointments, or major faction influence," he said, keeping his voice controlled despite the tension gathering in his posture. "This assignment was likely made because your admission was finalized quickly after the Arena qualification, and the administrative sector may not have wished to displace an existing holder without further review."
Noctis listened until the escort reached the natural opening inside the explanation, then asked calmly, "For people like Kaeltharion?"
The escort stopped speaking.
The silence that followed settled heavily around the gate. The escort remained bowed, but small beads of sweat began forming across his face despite the cool air moving through the residential district. Within several seconds, the sweat gathered at his jaw and dropped onto the dark stone path beneath him. He did not raise his head. He did not deny the implication either.
Noctis looked back toward the small estate. "So Kaeltharion has something better."
Emeralda's expression tightened faintly. "Lord Noctis…"
"He's not here," Noctis said, still looking at the house.
"That is true."
"And no one knows when he'll return."
"That is also true," Emeralda replied carefully.
Noctis turned away from the assigned residence entirely. "Take me there."
The escorts became still in a way that had nothing to do with discipline. Their bodies did not move, but the change in their breathing, posture, and lowered gazes made the fear obvious. Taking Noctis to Kaeltharion's estate was not simply an act of guidance. It meant leading the Progenitor Inheritor directly toward the territory of one of the most politically dangerous figures inside the Academy, a figure already tied to Noctis through old betrayal and current absence. The escorts understood the implications immediately, and their hesitation stretched long enough that Rengar's amusement inside the pet space gradually faded into sharper interest.
Emeralda turned fully toward Noctis. "Kaeltharion's residence is not simply larger housing. It is faction territory."
"I assumed as much."
"It is protected by his subordinates."
"That also sounds expected."
"Entering it without authorization will be treated as a direct challenge to his faction."
Noctis finally looked back toward her, his expression calm rather than irritated. "Emeralda, I'm not asking whether it is politically convenient. I asked you to take me there."
The words were not loud, and that made the pressure behind them worse for the escorts. Emeralda held his gaze for a moment, then lowered her head slightly. She did not look surprised anymore. She looked like someone accepting that the situation had already moved past the point where ordinary caution mattered.
"Understood."
The escorts reluctantly turned away from the assigned estate and began leading him deeper into the sovereign residential district. No one tried to argue again. The path changed quickly once they moved beyond the outer residences. The estates became larger, their walls thicker, and the forests surrounding them denser. Some compounds were so heavily isolated that only the upper levels of distant manors could be seen through layers of black-leafed trees. Magical barriers pressed faintly against the air around certain properties, not active enough to harm anyone walking the main road, but strong enough to make it clear that unauthorized entry would not be tolerated.
Noctis observed everything as they walked.
The Academy's internal hierarchy became more obvious with every step. The difference between his assigned residence and the territories deeper in the district was not minor. It was not simply a matter of architectural preference or available space. It was political value made physical. The larger estates belonged to individuals or factions the Academy had already accepted as influential enough to require territory rather than housing. The road itself grew quieter as they approached the deeper estates, and even Academy servants became less common, replaced by private guards, faction retainers, and magical sentries standing near reinforced gates.
Inside the pet space, Bahamut watched more attentively now. "These territories are better."
Rengar smiled. "You mean one of these might actually hold you without breaking immediately."
"I said better."
Noctis walked for several more minutes before the path curved toward a section of the district almost completely enclosed by forest. The trees here were taller and older than those near the previous estates, their black trunks twisting upward beneath crimson leaves that absorbed much of the surrounding light. Thick stone walls eventually appeared beyond the forest, rising high enough to block most of the estate from view. The walls were not decorative. They were reinforced, ancient, and built with enough thickness to withstand serious attacks before the magical barriers even activated. Between the walls and the forest, the entire territory felt separated from the rest of the Academy in a way the assigned residence never came close to matching.
Then the main gate came into view.
Beyond it, through the bars and open gaps between the outer structures, Noctis could see the estate stretching far into the enclosed grounds. A large mansion stood at the center of the property, its dark architecture marked by old noble lines and subtle crimson accents that blended vampire influence with demonic sovereign construction. A massive courtyard spread before the mansion, wide enough for large-scale combat practice, while deeper sections of forest surrounded the territory on multiple sides. Private paths curved between training fields, smaller auxiliary buildings, and isolated structures likely used for storage, research, or faction operations.
Noctis stopped again.
This time, he did not stare in silence because he needed to evaluate the property.
He already knew.
This was the kind of territory he should have received from the beginning.
The courtyard alone could accommodate Bahamut comfortably. The forest provided isolation, the walls provided privacy, and the size of the estate meant his companions could move without constantly remaining confined inside the pet space. The difference between this mansion and the small house assigned earlier was so absurd that his irritation surfaced immediately.
"You've got to be kidding me," Noctis muttered.
None of the escorts answered.
Noctis looked across the walls, the courtyard visible beyond the gate, and the large mansion sitting quietly under the crimson sky. His gaze remained calm, but the curse that left his mouth afterward was entirely genuine. Rengar nearly collapsed laughing inside the pet space, while Bahamut raised his head fully and studied the estate with far more approval than he had shown toward anything else inside the Academy so far.
"This is acceptable," Bahamut said.
Noctis smiled slowly.
The expression was not cold or wrathful. It was mischievous in a way that made the escorts visibly more nervous than anger would have. They had seen him kill. They had seen him stand before danger without concern. But this expression carried something else entirely: the kind of casual decision-making that ignored political consequences because the logic seemed too obvious to him to bother pretending otherwise.
"He's outside on a trial," Noctis said while looking at the manor.
Emeralda closed her eyes briefly as though already knowing where this was going.
"No one knows when he'll be back," Noctis continued.
"That is correct," she admitted.
"So the mansion is empty."
"It is not empty," one of the escorts said before realizing too late that he should have remained silent.
Noctis looked toward him.
The escort stiffened immediately.
Noctis did not scold him. He simply waited.
The escort swallowed once before lowering his head further. "Kaeltharion's faction maintains the estate while he is absent. Several of his subordinates reside or operate from here."
"Then I'll ask them nicely."
Rengar stopped laughing for a moment. "You are not going to ask nicely."
"I might."
"You will not."
Noctis started walking toward the gate.
The escorts followed with visible reluctance, though none of them attempted to physically stop him. The moment they approached the outer entrance, several guards inside the estate grounds noticed them and began moving toward the gate. These were not ordinary Academy guards. Their armor bore faction markings, and the way they moved made it clear they belonged to Kaeltharion rather than the institution itself.
More figures emerged from inside the estate as Noctis reached the gate.
There were demons of several types among them: abyssal warriors, curse-marked demonoids, a dragonkin with dark scaled arms, and two horned high demons wearing reinforced combat uniforms marked with Kaeltharion's faction insignia. They positioned themselves before the entrance with disciplined hostility, not chaotic aggression. That alone showed Kaeltharion had not gathered weak followers.
The leading demon stepped forward, his dark eyes moving from Emeralda to Noctis before settling on the Vampire Covenant escort insignia. "This territory is restricted."
Noctis looked past him toward the mansion. "I can see that."
The demon's expression hardened slightly. "This estate belongs to Lord Kaeltharion."
"He's not using it right now."
Several of the demons behind the leader reacted immediately, though none attacked. The dragonkin's claws flexed once while one of the curse users narrowed his eyes and shifted half a step forward.
The leading demon held up one hand slightly to keep them still. "You are standing before Kaeltharion's faction territory. Whatever authority brought you here does not permit entry."
Noctis finally looked back at him fully. "I'm taking the manor."
The words settled across the entrance without needing to be raised.
The faction members stared at him, some with disbelief, others with immediate hostility. The escorts behind Noctis remained silent, and their silence made the confrontation feel even worse because it meant they were not going to intervene.
The leading demon studied Noctis more carefully afterward. "You are the one from the Grand Arena."
"I just finished qualifying."
"Then you should understand that strength alone does not grant you ownership of another lord's territory."
Noctis tilted his head slightly. "That depends on how ownership works around here."
"This is not the Arena."
"I know."
The demon's jaw tightened. "Then leave."
Noctis looked across the group again, his gaze moving over each faction member slowly enough that several of them became visibly tense beneath the attention. "I'll give you an option. Kaeltharion is gone, and no one knows when he'll return. I'm here now. Join my faction instead."
For a moment, nobody answered.
The offer was so direct that several demons seemed unable to process whether Noctis was mocking them or genuinely making the proposal. Emeralda remained silent behind him, though one of the escorts subtly turned his face away as if he already knew the outcome.
The leading demon eventually spoke through clenched teeth. "You dare come to Lord Kaeltharion's gate and ask his people to betray him?"
Noctis shrugged lightly. "I thought I'd ask before removing you."
That was when the hostility sharpened fully.
Several faction members began gathering demonic energy, and the curse-marked demon near the side whispered the beginning of a spell beneath his breath. The dragonkin lowered his stance while abyssal heat gathered faintly in his throat. The leading demon reached for the weapon at his waist, but he never finished drawing it.
Noctis touched the mark on his forehead lightly.
Crimson light stirred.
Rengar emerged without sound.
The lycanthrope appeared beside Noctis in dark armor, his daggers already held low in both hands while blood, lightning, and ice moved faintly through his aura. The faction members barely had time to recognize that something had entered the space before Rengar vanished from where he stood.
The first body fell without a scream.
Rengar moved through the gate area with terrifying silence, not like a beast throwing himself into combat, but like a predator already familiar with every gap in his prey's awareness. His dagger passed beneath the leading demon's arm and opened the throat before the demon's weapon cleared the sheath. Crimson lightning flickered once behind him as he shifted sideways, and the curse user who had begun chanting suddenly collapsed with a blade buried through the mouth and into the spine. The dragonkin turned toward the movement, but Rengar appeared behind him almost instantly, ice spreading across one dagger before the blade cut through the back of the neck and severed the connection cleanly enough that the body remained standing for a brief moment before dropping forward.
The remaining demons tried to react together.
That made no difference.
Rengar crossed the distance between them in silence, using blood and lightning to accelerate through angles their eyes could not follow. One high demon lost both hands before realizing Rengar had passed him. Another turned to release a burst of abyssal force and found his chest opened from collarbone to stomach. The last two attempted to retreat deeper into the estate, but Rengar reached them before they crossed the gate threshold. His movements remained controlled throughout the entire exchange, and there was no wasted brutality in the killings. Each strike ended a target efficiently, and each body fell before the next fully understood what was happening.
Noctis watched calmly from outside the gate.
The escorts did not move.
Emeralda's expression remained composed, though her eyes followed Rengar's movements with clear awareness that even she could not fully track them.
Within moments, Kaeltharion's gate fell quiet.
Rengar reappeared beside Noctis afterward, flicking blood from one dagger before sheathing both weapons. "They were slower than the Arena fighters."
Noctis looked at the bodies scattered near the entrance. "They were probably better at politics."
Rengar's ears twitched slightly. "Did you actually expect them to join?"
"Not really."
"Then why ask?"
Noctis walked forward through the gate. "Because it would have been convenient."
Rengar laughed quietly and followed.
The courtyard beyond the wall felt even larger once Noctis stepped fully inside. The stone pathways were wide enough for armored units to march through comfortably, and the open ground before the mansion could easily serve as a private training field. Several secondary structures stood along the sides of the estate, likely used by Kaeltharion's faction for meetings, storage, and internal operations. The forest surrounding the property muffled much of the Academy noise outside the walls, leaving the estate strangely calm despite the bodies near the gate.
Noctis raised one hand.
Devour activated.
Crimson-black energy spread outward from him and wrapped around the fallen demons scattered near the entrance. The corpses dissolved gradually into streams of blood, flesh, bone, and essence that pulled inward toward Noctis until nothing remained except faint stains across the stone. Even those began fading as the remaining blood was consumed.
The escorts watched in silence.
Noctis lowered his hand afterward and looked toward the mansion.
"Much better."
Inside the pet space, Bahamut's enormous body shifted as the dragon finally rose. "Release me."
Noctis looked around the courtyard once more, measuring the available space, the height of the walls, and the width of the open ground. The estate was large enough. More than large enough compared to the previous assignment.
Crimson light unfolded beside him.
Bahamut emerged into the courtyard gradually, his massive draconic body materializing beneath the crimson sky while black scales and red veins caught the glow of the Academy's distant formations. His wings remained folded carefully at first, though even folded they occupied a tremendous amount of space. The ground beneath him trembled lightly as his claws settled onto the stone, and the Primeval Sanguorath raised his head while observing the manor, the forest, the walls, and the open courtyard surrounding him.
"This is acceptable," Bahamut said again, this time aloud.
Rengar glanced up at the dragon. "High praise."
Noctis walked farther into the courtyard while looking toward the mansion doors. "Then we'll use it."
Emeralda finally stepped forward slightly behind him. "Lord Noctis, this will spread through the Academy."
"I know."
"Kaeltharion's faction will not ignore it."
"No one here survived to report it."
"That does not mean no one will notice."
Noctis glanced back toward her with a faint smile. "Good."
Emeralda went quiet afterward.
The answer told her enough.
Noctis was not trying to hide.
He stepped onto Kaeltharion's territory openly, removed the subordinates guarding it, consumed the evidence, and released Bahamut inside the courtyard as though the estate had always belonged to him. Whether the Academy called it a residence dispute, faction provocation, or sovereign challenge did not really matter. The act itself had already spoken clearly enough.
Noctis looked toward the mansion under the crimson sky while Rengar moved ahead to inspect the entrance and Bahamut settled heavily into the courtyard behind him. The forest surrounding the estate swayed faintly beneath the Demon Realm's wind, muffling the distant sound of the Academy beyond the walls. Magical lights continued glowing across the far-off lecture halls, research sectors, and combat fields, but inside Kaeltharion's manor, the atmosphere had already changed.
For the first time since entering the Academy, Noctis had a place large enough to hold what came with him.
And since Kaeltharion was absent on a trial with no known return, Noctis saw no reason to waste it.