On Mercury's sunward side, the surface temperature reached four hundred degrees Celsius.
Humanity's Great Wall-class interstellar destroyer hovered above the Caloris Basin.
Zhang Qi put on his spacesuit and followed Gaia out of the ship.
They had barely flown any distance before they spotted an enormous blue machine.
Its armor was blue and white, and a massive high-energy sniper rifle was mounted on its back.
It was the god of Mercury, Taisis.
He stood there as though he had been waiting for them all along.
"Taisis!"
At the sight of him, Gaia landed directly in front of Taisis.
"Saron's fleet is assembling."
"They're trying to seize the Galaxy Star. For the sake of peace in the universe, we need your help."
"With him here, do you really need my help?"
Taisis took a deep breath and looked at Zhang Qi, who stood on Gaia's shoulder.
"You... saw everything?"
Gaia fell silent.
"That battle just now took place only a few thousand kilometers from here."
Taisis lowered his gaze and reached up to touch the barrel of the sniper rifle on his shoulder.
"At that distance, it might as well have happened right in front of me.
Besides, with the fluctuations from that forced fusion of light and dark energy, I couldn't have turned a blind eye even if I'd wanted to."
Zhang Qi raised an eyebrow, studying Taisis with some curiosity.
His observation system seems pretty impressive...
"If you saw it, then you should understand all the more how serious the situation is!"
Gaia stepped forward, the broad-bladed greatsword rattling against the rack on his back.
"He is the one Lord Otan chose! The Galaxy Star is in his hands. As Star Gods, we should assist him and stop Saron's ambitions!"
"Should?"
Taisis repeated the word.
Then he gave a