- Prologue - Zahra is stabbed. Oof. - Chapter 1 - Exposition chapter of sorts. Zahra describes the city as she walks through it. Here her voice is kinder, softer. We learn of how Rami is a complete layabout and Zahra and Yaseen do most of the work. As she returns to her home, she sees a Divine Frame outside it. - Chapter 2 - The Frame is owned by one of the members of the Sayf Clan, who has chosen their family as a winner of the lottery to join the Clan, but at the cost of Rami's children's lives. He very easily agrees and stabs his daughter before throwing her into the river, then heads towards Yaseen next. - Chapter 3 - Zahra is saved by Idris and they decide to flee the city together. - Zahra vows revenge, and decides that she needs a Frame. - Chapter 4 - Two years have passed. Zahra has spent this time honing her body and mind to razor points in preparation for her moment to rain hellfire on the Sayf Clan. She finally gets her lead when Idris learns of a Frame that can't be activated by anyone in a small town bordering the two nations - which probably means it's divine. It seems like a dead-end, but they decide to sneak in and try to activate it anyways. - Chapter 5 - Miraculously the Frame _does_ activate, after Sekhmet appears to Zahra. She asks why she has been awakened, and threatens to kill Zahra on the spot. Zahra explains that she is looking for revenge, and Sekhmet agrees to help her. - Just in time too, as a member of the Sayf Clan notices the Divine Frame's activation, and comes to see what's up. - Time for a test run. - Chapter 6 - Zahra and Idris quickly have to learn how to wield a Divine Frame in battle against this Sayf Clan Member. He's not exactly a powerful member, but that doesn't mean much when you're brand new to your mech. - They clash and win eventually, but Sekhmet takes a big hit, and the squad regroups out in the desert for repairs. - Chapter 7 - Zahra and Co. know that they'll be noticed soon, given the Sayf Clan member's death. Zahra wants to jump in and start the slaughter (and Sekhmet encourages it), but Idris suggests they hide out and train so that they're fully prepared. - The reality is that Zahra hasn't thought this through at all, and she knows it. How is she supposed to go up against an entire Clan by herself? - With a little help of course. But we'll get to that. - Chapter 8 - Zahra and Sekhmet train together. The former gets used to the controls and nuances of piloting, whilst the latter gets used to her Pilot. It's not easy. - Idris tinkers with Sekhmet in the evenings, feeling like there's something different about the Divine Frame, but unable to put his finger on it. - Before they can discuss further, the Sayf Clan closes in on them, and the team is forced to move to another hiding spot - Chapter 9 - Frustrated and lashing out at Idris, Zahra heads to a medium-sized town to go on a supply run. In that time, she bumps into a handsome man named Asim. He flirts, she ignores him, and the two are approached by a few guards. After a tense exchange, the handsome man hints at his distaste for the Sayf Clan and its overreach. - This finally gets Zahra's attention. They probe at each other a bit, and after a moment, Asim decides to have Zahra follow him to the nearby tavern, promising it'll be worth it. - Chapter 10 - Zahra meets a few members of Darqa, the resistance force looking to fight back against the Sayf Clan. She wasn't aware of it because she was on the run and rarely interacted with other people. - Zahra is initially unconvinced that Darqa can do much of anything against the Sayf Clan, but realizes their fierce determination is exactly what they might need. As a result, she chooses to let one of its members in on her secret Divine Frame: Asim. - Chapter 11 - Asim is shocked to see the Divine Frame - and Idris is shocked to see Asim. - They snap at each other a little, and Idris is _not_ happy that Zahra has brought someone in on the secret - and definitely not just because he's a jealous nerd, no sir. - Zahra convinces him that this works towards his point of not having a plan, because she believes she has one now: gear up Darqa with their own Low Frames and, with her leading the charge in her Divine, overthrow the Sayf Clan. The country is liberated, she gets her revenge. Win-win. - Sekhmet ponders why the other Gods are working for the Clan - Chapter 12 - The trio, now working with Asim, begin to run random, unplanned strikes on various troops in the Sayf Clan's army. These are mostly unsuccessful, with only a few Low Frames being looted. This is because the troops often self-destruct their Low Frames as a failsafe against being captured, or because Sekhmet is so powerful that the Low Frames are destroyed rather than disabled. Frustrated, the team argues amongst themselves, until Idris shuts them up and gives the plan. - Chapter 13 - The trio meet with Darqa to discuss their plan. They decide the best move is to attack one of the nearby Frame Factories in one push. Darqa members on the ground will face off against the other foot soldiers, while Zahra engages with any Low - or if they're unlucky - Divine Frames. - The night before the battle, Idris confesses, and Zahra explains her Aceness to him in no uncertain terms. - Chapter 14 - The battle begins. All goes smoothly until Zahra, of course, clashes with a Divine Frame, this time piloted by a highly skilled member of the Sayf Clan. The battle goes poorly, but as Zahra faces the brink of death, Sekhmet unleashes a mythical level of power that allows her to easily decimate the enemy. Darqa liberates the Frame Factory, but Zahra passes out, and also learns that she can fly during this battle lol - Chapter 15 - When she comes to, Sekhmet explains that whilst the power she used can easily win them a battle, it comes at a great cost. Zahra realizes what this cost is when she notices that she can no longer see out of her left eye - This is a reference to the Eye of Ra, which I came up with because I'm big-brained as fuck - Zahra accepts this cost if it means she can destroy the Sayf Clan - Chapter 16 - Darqa celebrates this unfathomable victory, but Idris is uneasy. He notes that if Darqa and Zahra weren't on Sayf's radar before, then they definitely are now. - Zahra acknowledges this, and resolves to wage war as quickly as possible - Chapter 17 - Zahra trains the Darqa members in their usage of the Low Frames, although she has trouble because she has the social skills of a snail and is unused to the lack of power the Low Frames have compared to Sekhmet. - Idris trains a new group of Tuners, but he's extremely good at it, whoulda thought - MIdway through their training, a Darqa member bursts through the door and reveals that the Sayf Clan has Asim captured. - Chapter 18 - Zahra and Idris decide to set off on a solo rescue mission to get Asim back - Frameless. They sneak into a Sayf Clan encampment that is suspiciously under-staffed. Before they can think on it too much after freeing Asim, a copy of Zahra appears and asks to have a chat with the squad. - Chapter 19 - JK it's not a clone, it's Yaseen! He reveals that he's been alive this whole time. Rather than let his father kill him, he overpowered him and turned the blade against Rami instead. Impressed by this show, the Sayf Clan agrees to take him in. - Zahra was never going to get revenge on her father. He's been dead for two years already! - Yaseen has also turned into a scary creep. He says that he plans to burn the Sayf Clan down from the inside, and asks her to join him. Zahra hesitates, but decides that the plan hasn't truly changed, and that she'll continue to work with Darqa to liberate the people from the Clan. She encourages him to defect and join her, as two Divine Frames along with Darqa's forces might be enough to overpower them. - Before they can come to a conclusion, the necklace that carries Sekhmet's spirit when not in Divine Frame form lights up, and Zahra is overwhelmed by the extreme hatred emanating from it. A similar necklace lights up on Yaseen, causing the twins to double over in pain. Idris and Asim use this moment to take Zahra and flee - Chapter 20 - Zahra meets with Sekhmet, and the goddess reveals that in some divine twist of fate, Zahra's twin is piloting the Divine Frame that is being powered by Bastet - _Sekhmet's ex-wife._ - She reveals the story of why she was sealed away in the Divine Frame: - Sekhmet was the goddess of war, and asked to destroy the forces of an opposing nation by her father, Ra. - She did so for him, but Ra then feared her power. Because of this, he plotted with the other gods to get rid of her in the worry that she would turn against him - Bastet was the key to this plot. She sealed Sekhmet away in her sleep - Sekhmet works with Zahra because she understands her need for revenge. What she doesn't understand is why Bastet was sealed into a Frame as well. - Chapter 21 - The team is not doing hot - Zahra is barely able to train Darqa. Sekhmet isn't operating at full capacity. They're depressed as hell - Idris and Asim both try to cheer Zahra up, but to no avail. She realizes that her brother cannot be reasoned with, and that she will probably have to engage with him in battle. Sekhmet realizes the same with Bastet. It's dragging them down. - Asim has an idea - Chapter 22 - He takes Zahra to where his family was buried, destroyed by the Sayf Clan, and explains what happened - He helps Zahra get her conviction back by helping her realize that the Sayf Clan doesn't need to be destroyed solely because of her revenge. It needs to be destroyed because an empire is simply unlivable. She has the chance to help future generations not experience the same tragedy that they have. - Zahra gets her groove back. - Chapter 23 - Zahra has a heart to heart with Sekhmet on being free of the shackles of revenge, _and_ the Divine Frame she's trapped in. She vows to help the goddess be freed from the Frame once the battle is over, and asks her to help Zahra not as a tool, but as a friend. - Sekhmet agrees (and also gets her groove back) - Chapter 24 - The battle begins. It rages on for a while, but Zahra's support and Idris' tactics give the group the edge. - Eventually, Zahra finally clashes with Yaseen. It's a brutal battle, with both Pilots and the Frames they pilot taking a heavy amount of damage. Yaseen uses the same heavenly power that Zahra did, through Bastet. Zahra considers doing the same, but realizes there might be another way. She closes in with Sekhmet and clashes against Bastet. - Sekhmet reaches out to Bastet, trying to understand why she betrayed her. Bastet reveals that Ra threatened kill Sekhmet if Bastet didn't seal her away. Feeling terrible about what she did, Bastet sealed herself away in a Divine Frame as well, hoping to meet Sekhmet away sometime in the future. However, the hatred that eminated from Sekhmet made her believe that they could never reconcile. - But they do! As a result, Bastet forces herself to shut-down. Yaseen, incapable of believing that he's about to lose, decides that he'll just self-destruct the Divine Frame instead. Zahra ejects herself from Sekhmet and onto Bastet, punching a hole through her visor (apologizing all the while) and yanking her brother out of the mech before he can blow it up. As the two free-fall and throw-hands, Zahra realizes that the reality is that they're going to die. She finally relents, letting her anger go and embracing her brother. - It's all good, Asim snatches the pair out of the air near the last second. - The battle is won. - Chapter 25 - The Sayf Clan was routed by Darqa. Yaseen was their strongest Pilot, and the top brass were actually extremely poorly trained - they never had to fight, so they were easily overpowered once a hole was punched into the capital's defenses. - Asim marries his Tuner and assists in the efforts to mop up the Sayf Clan strongholds outside of the capital. - Idris is elected to lead the country towards a more peaceful, democratic reign, although he realizes that it will take generations of work to fully reach that vision. - Yaseen is placed into prison, along with the rest of the living members of the Sayf Clan that weren't killed in battle or managed to escape. - Zahra decides to find a new purpose: freeing Sekhmet and Bastet from their prisons. Carrying both of their necklaces, she sets off to do just that.