Occult: World of Yandere Official Cover For Volume 2

  "Mom, are you?...

  Marcy stood frozen in the doorway, eyes locked on Tanya and the towering, muscle-bound man who had his arms wrapped around her waist from behind like he had been doing it for years.

  Bel, still slouched at the kitchen table with a half-eaten sandwich in front of her, as she gnced up and caught Marcy's expression, pure defeat mixed with raw shock, like someone had just yanked the floor out from under her.

  Tanya let out a long, weary sigh. She twisted free from Nier's hold, stepped forward, and folded her arms tight across her chest, staring Marcy down.

  "You, of all people, should understand why I'm doing this."

  She said, her voice low, emphasizing she was serious about her decision.

  "Twenty years Marcy, Twenty goddamn plus years I put up with your father's bullshit. Before Nier showed up, I was staring down the barrel of Daniel's college tuition with no idea how I would ever pay it when the time came."

  Her eyes fshed a cold fire. Behind her, Nier leaned back against the counter, his arms crossed as he watched the drama pyed out before him with a zy smirk pying on his lips with his eyes half-closed, like he was enjoying the show.

  Marcy wasn't having a single second of it.

  "I don't care if you're divorcing Dad."

  She e snapped.

  "But Jesus Christ, Mom, the way you're going about this? You're gonna look like the biggest slut in town, and that's me of all people saying it. Yeah, he is rich as hell, but you met him three fucking days ago, officially at least. And from the way you're letting him grope you in front of me like that, he already fucked you, didn't he?"

  Tanya didn't answer right away. She just exhaled, slower this time, and tilted her head.

  "So... you're not mad?"

  "No. Not really. Can't say the same for Daniel, though. This is gonna crush him if he ever find out."

  "It's not about what Daniel wants, Marcy."

  Tanya's reply came quick, almost reflexive. Then she frowned, scanning the room.

  "Wait, this is why you haven't come home since that night isn't it? Come on woman Daniel's been worried sick you know. And where the hell is Miss Imani? I need to talk to her, and she has been almost impossible to get a hold of."

  "She went home."

  Tanya said ftly.

  "Her husband's back in town today. She didn't want to make it too obvious that she's cheating on him."

  "Cheating on him, Miss Imani, cheating, she is wild but her opinion about love and marriage is old school as hell, who the fuck is cheating on Marcus?"

  Tanya's gaze slid past Marcy and nded on Nier. Marcy's eyes blew wide when she saw this. As she whipped around, finger jabbing like a spear.

  "What the fuck? You're two-timing my mom? You're an absolute asshole!"

  Nier chuckled, low and unbothered.

  "Two-timing? Please. More like four-timing. One's upstairs. The other's not here today."

  Marcy’s mouth fell open. She spun back to Tanya, voice cracking.

  "...W-What? Mom, you're okay with this!?"

  Tanya shrugged, almost casual.

  "I'll let mi amor keep his harem. Besides... he is not human, a man like him shouldn't be wasting his magnificent seed on one woman, look Marcy, I know what I am doing, so just fuck off."

  Marcy blinked, ignoring her curse words as her mind focus on the non-human bits as she said

  "Say...what now?"

  Bel, who had been silent this whole time, shifted in her seat. She was listening now, really listening, though her jaw was tight with irritation at the thought of these women swarming her man.

  She already knew Nier wasn't normal.

  As a Hesta, she could sense Flux and other Hestas from a mile away. Nier read loud and clear as a Flux, but tely there was something else threading through him, Gaian energy, the kind you only saw in modern Hestas or ancient warlocks like her mother. She kept quiet as she continued to listen to the argument, her eyes narrowed, watching.

  Marcy, meanwhile, was staring at Nier like he had grown a second head. He was already intimidating, six-foot-five of solid muscle, red eyes and maroon hair, but not human? Her voice came out small, trembling.

  "Not... human?"

  Nier’s smirk widened. He slid an arm around Tanya again, pulling her close.

  "My, my... you look scared, girl."

  Marcy swallowed hard.

  "Are you... a Hesta?"

  'I can't reveal what I truly am. Not with Bel right there. So let's go with this instead.'

  "No."

  Nier said smoothly.

  "I am a collector."

  Marcy frowned.

  "A collector? Like... a Flux collector, wait so you are Corrupt!?"

  "Pretty much yeah, I use Flux item's, of all sorts, giving me a variety of powerful and useful abilities."

  He pushed off the counter, rolling his shoulders.

  "But item that are external are full of weakness, I mostly collect parasitic or biological applicable flux items and fuse them to my body. Hence the reason I got all kinds of parasitic enhancements living in me. For example…”

  He didn’t finish the sentence.

  In one fluid, impossible motion, his body rippled, his bones cracking, muscle swelling, skin darkening as thick bck fur erupted across his frame. In seconds, a massive silverback goril stood where Nier had been, filling half the kitchen with raw, primal presence.

  "Oh my God."

  Marcy shrieked, stumbling back into the doorframe.

  "Yeah."

  The goril rumbled, it's voice deep and distorted but still unmistakably Nier.

  Bel's eyes went wide, as she leaned forward, whispering to herself, barely audible.

  'Fascinating. So that is how he turned into a cat... how he tore through those men like paper. A parasitic collector. That is insane. One parasite is dangerous, but dependent on the host's needs overall. But what's weird is the use of multiple? Parasites are dependent on the host, so having multiple inside would tear each other apart first... unless... unless he has somehow conditioned his body into a self-sustaining supernatural ecosystem. Not just symbiosis, but perfect harmony. The human body is already a biome, but this... This is something else.'

  This was the theory Bel spun in her head to expin Nier's little goril stunt, even though the whole collector story was pure bullshit.

  She filed it away, already turning the pieces over for whatever edge she could squeeze out of it.

  Marcy, still rubbing the side of her head like the shock had left a bruise, cut in.

  "So, Mr. Augustus… you fight Fluxes?"

  The air between them was thick, awkward as hell. Their st few run-ins had all ended badly with him calling the cops on her at one point.

  Nier just rolled his shoulders, his silverback body rippling back to human in a heartbeat, skin sliding over defted muscle like water, as his fur vanish into nothing.

  "Pretty much."

  He said, his voice casual.

  "Killed a few. I even got one as pet somewhere in this house right now."

  "What!?"

  Tanya's head snapped up, eyes wide.

  "Haaa!?"

  Bel's cup of tea she took at counter slipped from her fingers and hit the pte with a wet sp.

  "No way. For real?"

  Marcy leaned in, pupils blown with pure curiosity after Nier dropped a bomb like that.

  Nier exhaled through his nose.

  "Maybe I'll show you. Maybe I won't. Right now, though."

  He turned.

  "Bel."

  "Ahhh yeah."

  She responded back to Nier, and question.

  "Yeah what's up?"

  "When I finish up here, you want to join me!?"

  "Hmmm, where too?"

  She said with a seductive smile on her face, causing Nier to chuckled in response.

  "I will expin on our way, you want to come to Tanya?"

  "I would, but I actually called a moving truck to get my things from the house."

  "Can't you just leave them there, I can always buy you new clothes."

  "Mom has her precious paint collection at home, that's why wants to move them.”

  Marcy suddenly chimed in.

  "You paint?"

  Nier asked a little surprised by the sudden news, and Tanya giggled a bit as she said with a slight blush.

  "A little bit yeah."

  "I see, you have to show me your skills sometimes."

  "Actually I was hoping I could paint you one day."

  "Sure, it's a date then."

  Nier commented spping her ass, as he soon passed Marcy, and sat on the table beside Bel, and said.

  "So Bel, if memory serve me right, you have basket ball practice today right!?"

  "Ahhh tell me about it, I am not a fan of sports, but it was that or woodworks, I would much prefer this over that. Besides my main two courses, alongside Math, and English of course, but we also need to pick six out of 326 other side subjects to take alongside the important four to study."

  "Ooof, that sounds tough, I wish I could rete, but I never went university."

  "Wait really!?"

  Bel questioned, genuinely suprise, to which Nier replied back.

  "Yeah after highschool, I id low for a bit, then a year or two ter I started to work my first job, which was also my st job, I have been with Esther's BPO for over eleven years before I retired early."

  Nier expined, and Marcy, walked up to him, and sat beside him.

  Her eyes on Bel, it was hard to believe one of the richest woman was right infront of her.

  But she wasn't here for that, with all these powerful people crowding Nier.

  She had to make a pce in his life, still she can't cheat on her boyfriend, but damn, for some reason it becoming hard to resist the urge these days.

  That aside she tried to act casual.

  "So what's you pns for today Mr. Augustus!?"

  "I’m going to make a stop at the bank."

  "The bank you say, can I come."

  Marcy’s hand shot out as she was going to grab his sleeve, then froze mid-air.

  'No not yet.'

  She thought.

  'Still, now that I know he is glued to Mom. This is perfect. Getting close will be easier, all I have to do is py nice, and I can snag that sponsorship.'

  Marcy thought to herself, as a sly little smile tugged at her mouth.

  Perched on Nier's shoulder, Kaly's tiny voice purred straight into his ear.

  "Darling."

  "Yes, my love?"

  Nier whispered, and Kaly responded back.

  "This emo bitch is trying to use you."

  "I figured as much, it's weird I can read her emotions as clear as day, I know she is up to no good."

  "So, are you just going to let her be?"

  "Of course not, this little emo cunt needs special training, as though, baby steps are needed before that. However I will take that first step today."

  With that Nier began looked at Bel and continue his conversation.

  "So Marcy, I have a question for you?"

  "What's that handsome?"

  "Do you know anyone at the Hero Association in our Sector?"