In somewhere chaotic, filled with so many poles and shrapnel of some sort, hollow breeze can be felt in the despair-filled place.

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

Yet the only loud noises there are the sound of two people fighting against each other, exchanging fists, kicks and some other weapons presents.

This is the fight between a man in black knight-ish suit of armor and a woman in grey knight-ish suit of armor.

Currently, those two are pointing guns, shooting at each other as they jump all over the poles and shrapnel. It is incredible how they are still able to focus on their aim while not hurting their own feet.

Finally reaching the last poles, both quickly cartwheel to their sides, landing on the ground while still having a standoff.

Unfortunately for both sides, there are no more bullets for them. Fortunately, the poles are still there, which each grabs one and in turn revealed to be a long sword and a double blades with a handle at the middle of it.

The fight goes on once again; with the impacts given are a lot bigger.

The spectators of the fight are only able to watch the match outside of what seems to be a huge barrier surrounding the battlefield. Each of them shows a worried look on their faces. It can be said that none of them are looking forward for the end of the battle.

The two warriors keep on fighting with each other, releasing out everything they are able to throw, accompanied with killing intentions. This can be seen on their faces as soon as they are unmasked, showing no hesitation whatsoever.

The man is finally able to throw her off her balance with one strong slash, moving forward for a killing blow with the tip of his blade is reaching her neck.

But then he stops.

The woman seems shocked by his action as he lowers down his weapon, facing off against her.

The crowd finally able to gives a sign of relief, but now filled with curiosity as what they are conversing on.

suddenly went south in just a blink of an eye.

The crowds are now screaming, panicking as the barrier is now disappears, with some of them entering the site in hurry.

At the same spot, the woman is now being held by the man as he is calling her out after pulling a blade out of her body.

The woman just smiles at her and whispers something weakly.

“I love you.”

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Sarah wakes up in the middle of the night, quickly sitting up straight and breathing hard. Her face shows a sign of fear and shock, filled with so many sweats.

She quickly hugs herself, trying so best in heating up her whole body against the cold of that night.

That dream again… this is not the first time she has been dreaming of such thing. And every time the dream is played in her head, it becomes more and more vivid.

It doesn’t just felt like a dream anymore at this point. She can actually remember the feeling of being stabbed right on her chest; the pain of fighting against someone she loved.

That man… He is none other than Shraffe himself, but that’s just sound so absurd. Did she ever felt such for him?

Man, this whole thing is so confusing! Not to mention the revelation of her uncle revealed himself as a leader of an organization filled with heroes… and now Shraffe is also one of them now.

It has been days since the incident, and now they have gone back home. But she has no longer seems to be seeing any trace of him. It’s like he no longer have any time to spend with her.

Wait, why would she care about that!? That’s his life! He can do whatever he wants to do…

…that’s what she would like to say. But somehow she just couldn’t help it if she just craves to see him even more.

This is an unhealthy obsession.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Thanks to that night, her morning isn’t as good as she would hope. She can still feel sleepiness inside of her.

As she yawns, she walks down toward the living room and hears a female voice calling her out, “Kakak, it’s rare to see you woke up really late. It’s already noon.”

“Really?” she seems to be in a confused state still, “I see…”

Her eyes than wander to the outside world, seems to be hoping for someone to pop up.

Unfortunately, the person who does pops up is not the one she hopes to see.

“Kakak? What are looking at?”

“N-nobody! Aida, you are scaring me!” she shouts at her.

Her younger sister, Aida just laughs at her, “It’s weird how lately you have become easily flustered upon teasing. It’s like you have changed. What happened back in the village?”

She becomes embarrassed all of the sudden, “N-nothing…”

But Aida becomes suspicious of her, “Really?”

“Y-yeah…”

“You are not… doing something weird, right? Or rather, Abang Shraffe didn’t make you do something terrible, right?”

“What are you talking about!? We did NOTHING at all! Besides, we’re just friends!”

“Friends? That’s bad…” a middle-aged woman appears from somewhere, bringing a tray of foods with her, “If you don’t find someone soon, you will become a really old .”

“Mak, do you really have to say such thing! I am still 17! I still need to study and all!”

A middle-aged man appears from upstairs, “It’s good that you wanted to study and stuff, but do you want to watch your friends getting married while you’re not?”

“Ayah, not you too! Why are you guys keep on talking about marriage and stuff like that!? I am still 17, I am far from the average of marriage. Besides, I want to study first, and then work while doing whatever I want to. Then, I’ll be getting married when the time’s come.”

Her mother responds, “That will become a problem for you. No man wanted to be with someone who will postpone on their marriage lives. They are beasts after all. Unless you are talking about someone who would do outside marriage…”

“Not that talks again! Mak, ayah, I already know about such stuff! FYI, there are some men who would be willingly to wait for such. You guys are so ists!”

Her father sighs, staring at her, “Sarah, life is short. If you don’t do anything fast, you will lose all the chance to be happy.”

Aida speaks out loud toward everyone there, “Don’t worry, Sarah already have someone!”

“REALLY? WHO IS THAT BASTARD!?”

Sarah is now swallowed in fear, “What is wrong with you? I thought you said you want me to find someone?”

The two married couple look at each other as one of them finally speaks up after a small cough, “You see… when you are still a child, I met this old friend of mine. We promised to each other to arrange you and his son for a marriage.”

The news… hurts…

“AYAH! MAK! WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU!?”

“Hey, if you ended up choosing someone wrong to be with, you will be regretting for the rest of your life.”

“THEN YOU JUST SOLD ME TO SOMEONE ELSE!? WITHOUT MY CONSENT!? THAT’S PROSTITUITON! FREE NONETHELESS!”

She quickly storms off away back into her room, and seconds later walk out of there, fully dressed and move out of the house, “I’LL BE LATE!”

Aida is shocked, looking at her sister as she turns back toward her parents, “I have never seen her angry like that. That’s far worse than that time of the month.”

Her father sighs, “Ah well. If she just stays here and listen, I could have told her that I will only do that in case she takes too long to get married. I mean, I did not state specifically which daughter I want to marry his son to.”

“Wait…” Aida realizes something, “NO! HOW COULD YOU! I AM NOT YOUR E!”

She does the same and walks out of the home, fully dressed, “I’LL BE LATE!”

Their mom just glares at him, “I told you this is a bad idea…”

“Hey, you never said never!”

“This isn’t the time to quote a stupid reference.”

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Sarah soon found herself wander in a shopping complex; a great place for women to spend times.

But not before greeting a group of people first, “Hey!”

A woman of oriental Asian descent greets her back, “Sarah, you look… pissed…”

“It’s my parents, Athena. They just told me that if I don’t find any husband candidate soon, they will be arranging that for me.”

“That’s… harsh…”

A dude beside her speaks out loud in excitement, “Then, I can be your husband. I’ll be the best husband your parents will be proud off!”

“Okay, first of all, no. Second, you do realize that your current girlfriend is sanding right beside you, right?”

Athena just glares at him, but he seems fail to even see the point, “So? She can be my second wife if she wants to. I will always be loyal to you.”

“Extra point, we are already over, so please stop saying as if we will ever be a thing again, okay?”

But that is still failing to even grasp the true point of the conversation, “Then, I guess you will be married to whoever your parents asked you to. I am the only one for you.”

Athena chuckles in annoyance, “Wow, I can’t believe I still have a gut of calling us an ‘it’ couple. Besides, Sarah is the popular girl type. She gets so many fans all over the place. Everybody wants her.”

“Those men are beasts.”

“And you’re not?”

“I’m a beast.”

Both Sarah and Athena are now unable to grasp his true point, as both mutters in unison, “And that makes it even better?”

One girl calls upon their attention, “Hey, if you are feeling so down today, how about we just spend today with something we’re good at?”

All of the ladies nod at each other as they shout out loud, “SHOPPING!”

And thus their quest is commenced, leaving the boys just staring at them, “Women are so confusing…”

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

As the girls keep on doing their quest, Sarah suddenly stumbled upon something that peaks her interest.

It’s him.

It’s Shraffe.

Slowly, she walks out of the group and quickly follows him from behind.

If you think the main heroine of this story is being a stalker for her own obsession, you would be wrong.

What interests her is the fact that Shraffe, someone who is so traumatized that he is unable to face women without freaking out, is able to walk freely in a place with so many people in it, and quite especially with women around.

She sees how he enters a clothing shop, and goes to look at every single women clothing there…

Wait, women clothing?

But then he walks out of there and enters a golden shop.

Now, what?

He then walks out of there, thinking about stuff for awhile.

Ah!

This totally clinches it! He is looking for a suitable gift for his girlfriend, probably.

Girlfriend…?

KRAK!

A sudden rush of adrenaline fills up her lungs as she can no longer act like a normal stalker anymore.

SHE. NEEDS. ANSWERS!

“Shraffe!” with a gentle push, she calls him out from behind.

His reaction is great; he is totally shock by her sudden appearance, “S-Sarah! Wh-what are you doing here?”

“Shopping; a pretty common womanly activity.”

“That’s not what you love to do.”

Wait, what? How? How did he know of such stuff?

Truthfully, she never enjoys wasting her time and money on stuff she don’t think has any significance that she has to fill her wardrobe is. A lot of time, she just follows it because that’s what her friends always wanted to do as if to cheer her up. That never works, but she appreciates the effort.

But the thing, nobody ever knows that she hates those activities. Not even her family. So how did he know?

He stares at her suspiciously, “Judging by how slow your respond is, you must be wondering how I even know of such thing.”

Wow, it’s like he is a mind reader.

Shraffe smiles as he looks away, looking at his surrounding, “How about we sit somewhere else. There’re just too many people here.”

“I guess you still hate such situation, huh? Then, I’ll be picking the venue,” she quickly grabs his left wrist and pulls him away from there.

Unbeknownst to them, a group of people are already looking at their actions from nearby.

Athena whispers, “I knew it! It is always him whenever she’s gone.”

“Owh, that nerd!” her boyfriend screams in anger, “If he thinks he can touch her like that, I will remind him off what is the difference between the sky and the planet!”

“You mean; the sky and the earth?”

“I don’t do politics.”

“You’re serious?”

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

“Really? KFC?”

True, the two are sitting at a table inside a fast food restaurant known by people as KFC, or the full name as Kraze this ing Chicken.

What? You really think I would shamelessly promote stuff without getting paid?

“Why not?” Sarah asks him with wonders, “I love the foods. You don’t?”

“Of course I do.”

Silence creeps in for a while as she finally breaks it, “Well… did you really join your dad in whatever he does?”

“Are you referring to the family business or to the other business?”

“The other one?”

He sighs, “I don’t know. I mean, I would like to. It’s like a dream come true for a Tokusatsu fan, but…”

“But?”

“Not sure, but somehow it just doesn’t feels quite right.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, I don’t see what I can find if I ever do that. It’s like something feels incomplete that just makes me hesitate to do anything about it.”

Sarah just smiles at him, as he finds it quite annoying, “What?”

“You are so lucky.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Your life. I can’t help it but feels like your life is quite exciting for some reason. Not just that, but I can see in your eyes how you have grown into something better. I wish my life is as excited as yours.”

“I.., hate it…”

“Hm?” she has her interests set in again.

“I hate my life. I start as a shadow of my own far superior sister, and being called as a nerd for no particular reason. Not to mention, that… incident…”

He looks at her, “I even hurt my own cousin, who is just trying to help me. I can’t control myself, drown in my own hatred toward your kind.”

She smiles, leaning forward, “What are you talking about? I have fun that night.”

STOMP!

“Fun!?” the worst boyfriend ever appears beside them.

It seems they are somewhere nearby, listening the whole time.

The man shouts in anger, “Tell me, loser. What the did you DO to her!? Answer me!”

Sarah stands up, throwing a quick jab right into his face. The man is quickly sent flying back to the group.

“What the , Sarah!?” the man screams in anger mix with dumbfounded, “Why are you defending that loser!?”

“First off, he is not a loser. He is the man that holds this world’s fate! Second, I had with him!”

What?

That’s a reaction to her words by her friends.

“Not just any ; it is a divine where you literally ended up flying through space riding a unicorn!”

“That’s not… what happened…” Shraffe mutters in confusion as she grabs his arm and walks away from there, not before grabbing some leftovers away from there.

The jerk which we still have no idea what’s his name is now shaking, as if he can’t accept her words, “That’s… impossible… she’s my … not that loser’s… Only I get to her…”

“You… are an , you know that, Ray?” Athena stands up and storms off from there.

But then she stops, slowly moving her head back to the place. Her eyes turn to horror to what she sees in front of her.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The two keep on running through the crowd as she finally stops.

Shraffe is still confused as he asks her, “Sarah… what was that?”

He tries to take a peek, but then he sees her face seems to be looking sad over something, “Is there anything you want to tell me?”

She suddenly chuckles as she turns toward him, “I… I think I’m just confused.”

“About what?”

“Ever since we’ve returned home from the village, I can’t help but become a bit too concerned about whatever you are doing lately. I’m no longer myself, I guess…”

She seems hesitate as she stares at him, “Am I look weird to you?”

“You? What about me? I literally still scared of women who are strangers to me.”

“Then… I am close to you?”

…

“Hahahahaha….” Both of them laugh a bit.

Sarha speaks up first, “I know the whole unicorn thing is just an exaggeration, but I actually enjoyed that night we spent together.”

“You are still a young woman; you are not supposed to like such stuff…”

“There’s no rule on how to live and love yourself.”

“I guess you’re right…”

She stares at him for a while, causing him to blush suddenly, “Wh-what are you staring at?”

“Nothing,” she winks at him, but then the smile fades, “But now there’s something.”

Without even looking, Shraffe quickly chants, “Affliate Henshin!” and wears his golden suit of armor, turning around in a defensive pose against a strong attack that hits him.

He is shocked to see what’s in front of him, “Ray?”

The jerk that is seems to be attacking him, however, looks different. There’s literally black smoke covering him. His eyes are also shine in black light and there are fangs on his teeth.

His voice seems distorted, doubled and even auto-tuned as he mutters, “Nobody…messes… with my …”

“Sarah, move!” Shraffe shouts as she obeys him.

She can see how he is pushed back by the sheer strength of Ray as the man has his body turns bigger, looking bigger with more muscle all of the sudden.

“What happened to him?” she asks him but he shakes his head, “No idea. I have never seen such case before. I really need to start reading the HQ’s archives.”

He materializes a gun and starts shooting the man, but it seems nothing works. Instead, he got pushed away as if he is nothing.

Shraffe starts running around while still gunning the beast man while he chases after him, muttering the same thing over and over.

And at the same time, Sarah notices something strange about her hands. They are filled with the same golden stuff.

And then she faints.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

She wakes up, founding herself lying on a white place and stands up, looking around.

“Where am I?”

“You had it easy,” a female in tattered clothes approaches her out of nowhere.

“You have so many chances,” a female in a military uniform appears.

“You are even closer to him,” a female in a red jacket appears.

“Heck, you are the first one in his eyes,” a female in police uniform appears.

“Yet you took your sweet chance of saying it right,” a female in white garb appears.

All of them surround her, startling her with their appearances, “You are all… me?”

“We are all you of different worlds; different lives; same outcome?”

“Same outcome?” she wonders.

The one in tattered clothes mutters, “I spent my time wanting to impress him, but all I did is moving further away from him.”

The one in military uniform mutters, “He is always right by my side, and I always thought that I will always have a time for such, till finally I lost him and unable to do such thing anymore.”

The one in red jacket mutters, “A lot of my life spent in blaming him for things that isn’t his fault, and making him thinking of such thing as the truth.”

The one in police uniform mutters, “I keep on lying to him so many times, and while trying to hide my secret, he falls for someone else instead.”

The one in white garb mutters, “I stubbornly insists on how I am right and he is wrong, but what happened is that I am making a gap between us.”

All of them then speak up in unison, “But you did not facing something like what we had to.”

“Who are you talking about? Who is this ‘him’?”

“Who else?” the one in white garb moves closer to her, “Who else is in this small heart?”

“We are not weak, yet this is our only weakness. Do not let anyone else exploit it.”

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

She wakes up and quickly looks around the place, seeing how Shraffe is now in a fist fight against the big horrific jerkass on the ground floor. He is currently losing, getting weaker in each of his movement.

Ray finally able to land a hit right on his face, pushing him as he collides on a wall.

Her friends are down there, shocked with what they are witnessing currently. She can also see Athena is held by two of her female friends. It seems one of her leg is unable to move at all.

Without any thought, she quickly jumps down and rolls forward, running straight toward Shraffe and stands in front of him.

He is shocked to see her, “Sarah, what are you doing!? You are going to get yourself killed!”

But instead she shakes her head, “Nope. Not before I do what I do best; protecting the world alongside you.”

She then held out her right hand as it flashes in the same golden light, which then turns into a black box looking like a smartphone. She puts the phone down and raises her left hand, which in turn turns into a badge with a rabbit on it, along with some other objects.

“Affliate Henshin!” she shouts as she throws the badge into the phone, as the badge is literally appears on the screen with some menus on it. Sarah then presses a button labeled ‘BATTLE’.

The screen flashes white as some parts of a suit of armor flying out of the screen, attacking the monster once as they move fast back to their owner, literally putting themselves onto her body.

Sarah is now wearing a suit which makes her look like a noble with a long jacket around her as her helmet simple helmet with the shape of a combination of X and O as her golden visor.

“Heart of a Gun Queen; Gunslinger.”

“Gunslinger?” her friends wonder with whatever is going on right now.

Shraffe is still on the floor as he mutters in confusion, “You… absorbed the Zero Particle?”

“Thanks to you, of course,” she turns back at him as she moves into a fighting stance, similar to his style of fighting and charges forward.

The monster goes on a rampage once more as he tries to strike her, but she jumps onto him first and strikes him fast with her right palm, followed by her left palm. The strikes appear as fast as she hits the face repeatedly.

She then lands on the floor and gives a straight kick again on the face, before spins around while giving him a roundhouse kick, pushing him away.

“Tough, ain’t you?” she smirks as she takes out her phone once more, now pressing a button labeled ‘WEAPON’.

Now crossing her arms, two white pistols appear in her hands as she starts spamming bullets so many times on the enemy.

Sarah then puts the end of the holder part of the guns together, somehow pulling a string between them as she starts using it as a nunchuk.

“Whoa, that’s dangerous,” Shraffe comments on the absurdity of the weapon as she chuckles, “Dangerous is a good thing, right?”

“I have no idea where did you get those words…”

Spins the guns around, she runs forward to get close to the beast and starts hitting him with the weapon, while still able to shoot him point blank, even with the gun at the end of the chain which is completely untouched at all.

She repeatedly hit him all over the place and jumps back, shooting him again.

Shraffe stands up and turns back into his civilian form, muttering, “I guess you don’t need me after all.”

“Hey, moral support!”

“I feel so weakened somehow…”

Sarah brings up the phone once more, now pushing a button labeled ‘EXECUTE’ and aims both of her guns toward the jerkface with the guns glowing bright white at the tip of it.

With a press of triggers, two beams are shot forward, combining into one big beam as it hits the beast man, completely obliterate all the trace of black smoke and muscles from Ray. The real body falls onto the ground.

With the suit disappears from the sight, she turns at him, smiling at him, “Thanks.”

“For what?”

“For being by my side.”

She moves closer to him, planting a kiss right onto his lips and moves away, “Like it?”

Realizing that he is spacing out, he quickly responds, “Y-yeah… thanks…”

He notices Athena’s feet as he quickly moves closer to her, “Your feet… let me help.”

As she sits on the ground, he puts both of his palms onto her leg, creating golden lights all over it for few seconds.

Athena then quickly takes a look at her feet, startled, “Healed…”

“Be careful then, okay?” he smiles at her.

Now she felt blushed all of the sudden.

Ray opens up his eyes, and quickly sees Sarah as he runs toward her, “Sarah!”

CLICK!

Petrified is his current state, “Wh-what with the gun?”

Sarah is pointing her pistol straight toward him as she speaks up, “You will remember how I am nobody to you but your past. Athena is also not with you anymore. Shraffe is not just any nerd. He is mine and I am his. Forget any of that and I won’t hesitate to pull the trigger.”

Moving back toward Shraffe, she smiles at Athena one last time before dragging him away from there.

Athena is speechless, but she seems to be redder than usual, “Cool… both of them…”

And her heart rapidly pumping blood.

Somewhere nearby, Aida just witnessed everything, “What the hell?”

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Back at her home, Sarah’s parents seem to be watching the TV together when her mom suddenly asks, “Ayahnya, do you remember who is that young man you want to married to Sarah to?”

“Why?”

“Just wondering.”

“I think… his name is Ashraf Naqiuddin. Can’t remember though. His parents always called him Shraffe.”

 

End of Sarah’s heroic origin, one of the strongest heroine and the main heroine herself in the story of Affliate Zero.

Name: Sarah Syarifah
Designation: Gunslinger
Weapons: 2x Siren Pistol Specialized Custom, Chain, Siren Staff (Priestess mode)

Abilities: Manipulation of Zero Particles, which is mainly used by her as a mean to warp her surroundings to her advantages. The bullets used in her guns are also made up of Zero Particles. She can also create firearms with the particles. She also has another mode called Priestess Mode, which focus more on magic-based attacks.

Next: Rina’s origin, going on how she felt about her uous feeling toward her own brother.