During his battle against Sato, Marcus had not been trying particularly hard to beat his fellow transmigration. His goal was to break Sato's will to continue fighting.
Despite being on the receiving end of an ambush, Marcus still felt a sort of kinship with another person that originated from Earth. He could tell that Sato was not in a particularly good emotional state and was hoping to stop him here without bloodshed. If he could assist someone with similar circumstances to himself, he wanted to even if they were currently an enemy.
All of the spells and attacks he had been using were meant only to incapacitate Sato, though, none of them had hit their mark. Sato's skills were high level, and he had a great deal of battle experience. Halfhearted attacks were not going to bring him down.
Still, none of his strikes could harm Marcus, so he figured it was just a matter of time until Sato understood that he could not win.
