"Wolverine! Wolverine! Wolverine!"
As the yellow-skinned Huanpinadoan, who had an extra pair of arms beneath his armpits and wielded four short axes, was hacked into several pieces by two claws, a nearly three-meter-tall "lizard man" with a thick, long tail was run through the jaw and up to the top of his skull by a Bone Blade.
The deafening roar of the crowd drowned out every other sound in the city. Even the scavengers laboring in the Junk Mountains could feel the Contest City's long-lost fervor.
Sakaar's Contest of Champions Arena looked very much like a gladiatorial arena from ancient Rome on Earth.
The grand structure of metal and stone, built in a ring, could easily accommodate more than a hundred thousand spectators. The stands, a veritable exhibition of intelligent beings and races from across the universe, erupted again and again in thunderous cheers.
Some uninhibited spectators even tore open their clothes, baring private organs growing in all sorts of places as they indulged in the delirious thrill of slaughter.
On the arena floor, paved with Sakaar's distinctive blue-gray Iron Stone, more than a dozen oddly shaped corpses lay scattered about.
A figure clad in dark blue and black leather armor, with octagonal metal pauldrons on both shoulders, stood impassively surveying the crowd. His arms were bare, but gleaming white, jade-like Bone Blades and long, thick claws grew from them.
James Howlett was unmoved by the Sakaarans' cheers. The contrast between his present indifference and the frenzied violence he'd shown moments ago was stark. After only three fights, he'd already gained a large following of "slaughter fans."
In the best-positioned box in the arena, a scrawny old man leaned over the railing, scrutinizing James. He fell silent, then suddenly broke into a wide grin, like a madman.
James had chosen