253: Chapter 254 Arena

The Pale Mouth, a massive strike cruiser.

As the mobile fortress of the Carcharodons Chapter wandering the void, it is nearly four kilometers long.

Its internal corridors are intricate, filled with hydraulic lines, religious altars, and gear-driven machinery.

Chishi Technology wandered through the labyrinthine lower decks, being given wrong directions by several Servitors along the way.

It took him nearly half an hour of sweating and rushing to reach the Chapter arena located on the middle level of the officer deck.

That is right, an arena.

Unlike other fanatically religious Space Marine Chapters, the flagship of the Carcharodons Chapter's 3rd Company did not have a solemn and majestic Ecclesiarchy chapel.

Instead, it had an extremely spacious arena!

Because in the eyes of these bloodthirsty warriors, rather than wasting time kneeling before statues chanting prayers, it was much more practical to hone killing skills through hand-to-hand combat.

At this moment, the arena was teeming with people.

On the circular stepped spectator stands.

The vast majority of the 3rd Company's Space Marines had stripped off their equipment, standing shirtless, revealing muscles as thick and solid as rock, excitedly watching the brawl in the arena below!

"Awoo! Smash his skull!"

Chishi Technology finally squeezed to the front row, pushing aside a big guy who was waving his fists and howling.

The big guy was pushed, turned his head to look at the 1.9-meter-tall Chishi Technology.

Seeing that this mortal was also a sturdy man, he did not mind the offense, grinned, and turned his head back to stare at the fight in the arena.

Chishi followed everyone's gaze downward.

In the center of the huge fighting platform forged from dark black metal.

A man with bulging muscles and a buzz cut was wearing nothing but an extremely flashy pair of American flag-patterned briefs!

Under the glaring spotlight, he was frantically posing like a bodybuilder for the audience, showing off his biceps.

And under his bare feet lay three sturdy men who had already been knocked unconscious.

Those three men all clearly bore many black carapace neural interfaces used to connect to Power Armor; they were clearly real Space Marines!

This flashy, fearless posture—any member of The Fourth Calamity could tell at a glance that this was a player!

Chishi Technology took a closer look and recognized this guy.

The kid's ID in the game was [John Cena].

He was a somewhat famous celebrity on the forums.

It was said that in the real world, this player was a professional MMA fighter and also a formidable wrestler.

He had a very high level of expertise in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and ground grappling, and even in the game, when sparring empty-handed, he could go toe-to-toe with several hardcore players who were retired special forces in reality.

Chishi Technology pulled over the big guy watching the fun next to him and asked loudly:

"Brother! What is going on down there?"

The big guy looked down at Chishi and explained in a muffled voice with a laugh:

"Hehe, that crazy mortal in the fancy briefs down there keeps making a fuss about wanting to join us for the Astartes transformation surgery. He even challenged our Company Captain to a sacred honor duel."

"The Captain did not want to kill him directly, so he let him fight a few matches in the arena to test his strength. As it turns out, this kid is freakishly good. Relying on pure physical strength and that strange grappling technique, he actually knocked down four or five of our prisoners in one go!"

"Prisoners?"

Chishi Technology was stunned for a moment, pointing at the people on the ground with black carapaces,

"These people have interfaces, are they not also Space Marines?"

Hearing this, the big guy showed a look of contempt and disdain on his face.

"Pfft, what kind of Space Marines are they? They are just turncoat traitors."

The big guy snorted,

"Seems like they are the scum from the Mantis Warriors and Lamenters Chapters."

Chishi Technology's mind quickly flashed through the background of Warhammer.

He immediately remembered that the Mantis Warriors and Lamenters were two Chapters that had been defeated by the Empire for wrongly supporting the rebel Huron during the famous Badab War, and were judged as semi-rebellious Chapters that needed to undergo a century-long crusade to atone for their sins.

And as a major participant in that counter-insurgency campaign, it was quite normal for the Carcharodons fleet to capture and imprison these defeated enemies as trophies.

Normally, a Space Marine Chapter absolutely could not accept prisoners from other renegade Chapters as fresh blood.

But the Carcharodons' own situation was very special; they wandered the fringes year-round and acted without taboos.

Plus, the 3rd Company was the wildest of the Carcharodons.

Taking a few renegades as sparring sandbags was nothing.

Here, where were there any Imperial iron laws more important than fighting and survival?

Just then.

The high platform of the arena changed again.

With the sound of heavy gears, the heavy metal door on one side of the gladiator arena slowly opened.

A Space Marine, also covered in black carapace connection ports but significantly larger and bulkier than a normal Space Marine, walked out silently.

This guy was over 2.5 meters tall, his muscles like cast steel; he was an absolute elite veteran capable of wearing heavy Terminator armor!

Standing in front of this Terminator veteran, John Cena, who was just over 1.9 meters, looked like a son facing an angry father in terms of the size difference.

The 3rd Company Space Marines in the stands erupted in a roar like a tsunami when they saw this person appear!

"Blackfist! Blackfist! Blackfist! Tear that mortal apart!"

Apparently, the codename of this veteran was Blackfist.

The battle began quickly.

Accompanied by a piercing alarm, an iron cage welded from plasteel bars descended from the sky, slamming down with a boom, tightly enclosing the entire metal fighting area and locking off any retreat.

The moment the octagon cage formed.

Blackfist's massive and heavy body moved immediately!

He did not hold back at all because the opponent was a mortal; his whole body was like a heavy siege shell fired from a cannon, carrying terrifying kinetic energy, and he slammed fiercely toward John Cena!

If this hit connected, an ordinary mortal would instantly turn into a puddle of meat.

However, facing this mountain-crushing charge, John Cena was not afraid at all.

He bent his knees slightly, instantly assuming a defensive stance with one hand protecting his face and the other lowered, a style very typical of modern MMA.

Just as Blackfist's mortar-sized iron fist swung out and was about to smash into his face!

John Cena exerted force from his waist, his body sliding underneath at a strange angle, not only perfectly avoiding the heavy punch but also instantly closing in on Blackfist's lower body.

Subsequently, John Cena's right hand was like a venomous snake, cunningly hooking Blackfist's thick right ankle, and using the inertia of Blackfist's charge, he yanked it back fiercely!

Blackfist was, after all, an elite veteran who had killed his way through mountains of corpses and seas of blood; his fighting experience was terrifyingly seasoned.

He instantly sensed his center of gravity shifting and saw that this mortal wanted to drag him into ground combat!

A fierce look flashed in Blackfist's eyes; he simply gave up resisting the pull and took advantage of the momentum to sit down hard, his hill-like body bringing terrifying gravity as he slammed down fiercely toward John Cena below!

He wanted to use his weight advantage to pin him down directly!

But!

At that very instant, John Cena suddenly performed a high-difficulty core strength explosive move.

John Cena pushed off the ground with both hands, using pure upper body strength to instantly propel his entire body off the ground!

His entire body hovered upside down in mid-air.

Subsequently, his body made an incredible wide-angle flip in the air.

Blackfist noticed his movement, and just as his feet touched the ground, he was about to deliver a headbutt as a counterattack.

However, the next moment! John Cena's hands were like two iron locks, tightly gripping Blackfist's thick waist from behind!

The moment John Cena's feet landed firmly on the ground, the muscles on his thighs and back, woven like steel bars, instantly bulged and flushed red.

With a roar, John Cena actually lifted Blackfist's massive body, weighing hundreds of kilograms, straight up from the ground into mid-air!

Once a person's feet leave the ground, the body has no stable space to exert force.

As strong as the Terminator veteran Blackfist was, he was lifted high by John Cena, and his limbs could only flail helplessly in the air, completely unable to exert any strength.

At this moment, the onlookers of the 3rd Company Space Marines had never seen such fighting methods!

They were like they had been injected with stimulants!

They stood on their seats, pounding their chests, roaring until their faces were red, cheering for this display of pure martial power!

Subsequently.

Amidst the deafening roars of the Astartes.

John Cena roared again, his core strength exploding, and executed an extremely beautiful and brutal suplex!

"BOOM—!"

Accompanied by a terrifying, teeth-grinding sound of flesh colliding with the metal floor.

John Cena slammed Blackfist heavily onto the hard metal floor!

This throw was extremely vicious; the entire arena even trembled because of it.

Even Blackfist, who had undergone nineteen genetic surgeries and had bones as hard as steel, was dazed by this back-suplex, seeing stars instantly, and his brain nerves briefly short-circuited.

Blackfist, relying on combat instinct, subconsciously wanted to roll and struggle to get up.

But how could John Cena give him a chance to catch his breath!

His follow-up move followed immediately.

John Cena rolled over and pressed on top, skillfully grabbing one of Blackfist's still-twitching right legs.

His legs instantly coiled, skillfully executing a perfect armbar!

The armbar, a ground-locking technique that uses the reverse force of human joints—as long as the target is a humanoid creature.

Even if he is an enlarged Space Marine, once his joints are locked tight, he is powerless to escape.

Unless he is willing to have his leg bone snapped on the spot!

Blackfist's right leg was locked tight, and a cracking sound of unbearable weight came from the joint.

He smashed the metal floor futilely with his left fist, and finally, out of respect for a warrior's honor and consideration for the shattering of his joints.

"Bang! Bang!"

Blackfist slammed the floor twice, signaling his surrender.

John Cena knew when to stop and immediately released the lock.

He nimbly flipped up to stand, wiped the sweat from his forehead.

Then he leaped, jumping to the top of the octagon iron cage like a monkey.

He looked down, continuing to pose in various flashy bodybuilding poses for the group of dumbfounded Space Marines in the stands.

And those Carcharodons veterans, who had always been known for their brutality, saw their company's ace defeated by a mortal.

Not only did they not feel that they had lost face, but they cheered and shouted even more crazily at John Cena on the cage!

In their culture, the strong are respected!

The strength and technique displayed by this mortal won their complete respect.

This cheering was even more enthusiastic than when Blackfist appeared earlier!

On the periphery of the arena, on a high platform on one side of the officer deck.

3rd Company Captain Bell Shall, with his hands on the cold metal railing.

He looked at the mortal in the octagon cage who was celebrating with flashy poses, his brows furrowed.

"In other words, these mortals not only possess basic physical strength that is not at all inferior to the Astartes, but some individuals even master terrifying close-quarters combat techniques?"

Bell narrowed his eyes, "Where on earth do these people come from?"

Bell carefully recalled the details from a few days ago.

A few days ago, Chapter Master Tyberos suddenly ordered the shuttle to dock and stuffed a whole bunch of mortals into the 3rd Company.

But the Chapter Master did not reveal any details, just dropped the people off and hurried back to the main ship; his expression was somewhat happy.

At first, Bell only regarded this group of people as ordinary Hive City soldier scum.

Although the Power Armor they were wearing looked decent enough, he only intended to incorporate them into the Chapter to serve as mortal auxiliaries responsible for scouting and acting as meat shields.

Who could have imagined that such a reckless fool would suddenly pop out!