The blood mist filling the air had yet to disperse, and shattered alloy fragments still drifted slowly overhead.
As Battle Beast's charge began to lose momentum, Shane thrust both arms forward and shoved him away, then slowly landed in a hollow section of the Steel Planet whose purpose he could not discern.
His calm gaze remained fixed on Lobo, who tumbled through the air several times before steadying himself, kicking off with both legs, and charging back in a fury.
Rather than counterattack immediately, Shane deftly sidestepped and tried to probe for information.
"Hold off for a moment. I have a few questions."
Rob could not fly, and his brute-force leaps left him unable to change direction at will, so Shane dodged him with ease.
"With strength like yours, why would you willingly stay on Mongul's Warworld and serve as his gladiator?"
Rob said nothing and launched himself into another enormous leap.
Shane nimbly dodged him again and continued questioning him.
"Does Mongul have a stash of strange treasures he's never used?"
He had intended to coax some information out of Rob between exchanges.
After all, Rob looked lucid and clearheaded, not as though he were being controlled. And from Shane's memories of comics in his previous life, along with Monarch's memories, Rob was not particularly difficult to talk to. Yet the Lobo before him had absolutely no interest in conversation.
"You talk too damn much!"
Rob's furious roar shook the surrounding air, and his hulking body barreled toward Shane again amid a savage rush of wind.
Shane was about to repeat his earlier maneuver when Rob bared his teeth in a triumphant grin.
Just before they could pass each other again, Rob hurled a strange chain.
The chain moved with remarkable agility and swiftly bound Shane.
"This is..."
Shane