Having his attention mostly concentrated to the now exposed head of his enemy, Captain Stark didn't notice how in such a short time span the Alien had immobilized him.

Actually there was another motive behind such situation to unfold. The android though of the pain-nullifying effect created by the drug as an actual positive aspect of it. In reality it was more of a double edged sword, it surely helped him as he was not hindered by pain anymore. Yet he lost awareness about the injuries he received during the fight.

He only understood this now, seeing dozens of rainbow colored tendrils either piercing and coiling around his body.

They lacerated his flesh and tied his metallic components, to ultimately anchor themselves into the ground.

Even if the multiple injuries that were copiously leaking blood were already in the process of healing due to the drug, for the android this was humiliating.

Even if a part of him new that his enemy was stronger than him, his pride was still hurt.

'I know that my chances of winning the fight are very slim. He'd probably just need to wait until I tire myself out and use his teleportation ability to end me.

Maybe if I used the special skill I received from the system upon reaching level three as my last resort…

However he'd just need to use his own soon after to outmatch me again.

At this point I might as well try to escape, if only I was alone.

By any chance I can't abandon these poor souls to their destiny, not against such an unpredictable alien. I won't let them feel such despair, I did not endure my training as a soldier of the Union to be defeated like this.'

As his conviction and pride grew stronger, Stark decided that this might as well his last opportunity. Now it was do or die.

"This is my pride!"

As he shouted this a new strange energy started to surface from within his body.

Then is horns grew bigger in size, and bright red particles appeared all around them. The android quickly felt his body progressively heating up.

His external temperature continued to increase until his skin started to cyclically melt and regenerate, while his metallic components became incandescent.

Noticing these changes Xeno had no choice but to quickly stop his restraining move and retreat a few steps away.

'He must be desperate, if his stamina was already being depleted by both me and the drug he used, now his body won't be able to hold on for more than a few minutes.'

By analyzing the status of his enemy, Xeno could easily guess that just by avoiding him and stalling for time he could win the fight.

Yet it has been a while since such a good opponent appeared before him.

'I want to fight him, to test my fighting capabilities and understand my limits. Experience is the only way for me to understand how to improve and what am I lacking.

Exhausting him would be the safest method to capture him, yet since he proved to be a better opponent than I had initially thought I should switch my objectives.'

Without any restraint, Xeno charged himself once again, emitting a dark purple aura all around himself. His tendrils madly undulated, almost as if exited from all the energy they were receiving.

Even Stark, in his moment of frenzy, could feel the pressure that the silver alien was emanating. Nonetheless he had no time to spare and couldn't stop is current momentum. As by activating his special ability he had already chosen to fight to the death. He couldn't try to run away anymore, as he was sure to be exhausted pretty fast.

'Although his presence has surely become stronger, this much surely isn't a special ability. He either is keeping it as his trump card or… he is yet to reach rank two!?'

That was actually the case as every participant that arrived on Earth through a ticket could not be of level higher than two.

No one could break the rules of the conquest game, as such each one of the contestants would usually start the game already being on the verge of being promoted to level three.

This was the case for Stark as well, whom had immediately rushed at the System base to level up.

However Xeno, which didn't have a precise schedule for the day, decided to quietly observe the situation first. As he didn't feel as pressured for gaining such extra ability.

This might have been a result of the innate arrogance of the Azoth race, yet at the same time Xeno always has some reasoning behind his choices.

The contestants weren't allowed to use any tool which wasn't provided from the special shop of the conquest game. As such considering the raw potential prowess of the participants, Xeno was among the strongest ones.

The barrier set up be the android was exactly one of the tools present in the special shop, it is actually quite pricey. He was able to buy it only thanks to the support of the Union which gifted him the necessary coins.

The fight quickly resumed, the two giants quickly started something more like a death match. Stark was now sure of his quick regeneration as well as his offensive power.

However Xeno demonstrated to be tougher than expected. Inflicting deep wounds on the alien proved to be a difficult task.

The only bright side was the fact that the regeneration of the alien was much inferior to his own.

For a few minutes the two furiously continued their close ranged fight. It was a furry of various clashes, from sharp claws, tails and even wild chomps.

The biggest difference being that Stark possessed an actual fighting style, which he learned at the academy, while Xeno was entirely relying on his instincts.

As the fight dragged on, it was becoming clear what the current situation looked like. It was a stalemate.

It wasn't that strange, even if was true that the android had a much higher regeneration rate he wasn't able to inflict serious injuries on Xeno.

The Alien was, from the start, physically a lot bigger than the enhanced human, and that in a close up fight was a point on his favor. As even with such an imposing build Xeno wasn't slow at all.

Next, even if was true that Stark had a more precise and composed way of striking at his opponent, due to his training, he couldn't express his full power.

The reason behind it being both the psychological pressure that was weakening his concentration and continuous disturbance caused by Xeno's tendrils.

It was a good tactic that the Alien though of to disrupt the android smooth movements. He changed the extremities of his tendrils to be extremely pointy and sharp, while overcharging them to be more durable.

In spite of everything, Xeno started to feel the number of cuts and bruises around his body slowly increasing. Purple blood started to gush out from his fresh wounds, giving him not such a pleasant sensation. It was time to end this duel.

With such aim, the alien quickly analyzed the situation. Stark is actually pressured to find a way to strike a fatal blow on the alien, this because he needs to win the match before his body collapses of exhaustion.

As such he is quite easy to bait, probably even what might seem an obvious feint for him would automatically become a golden chance.

Thus Xeno proceeded with a newfound plan, he quickly retracted all his tendrils, which had reassembled around his torso forming a luminous armor-like structure. At the same time he crouched and lunged forward, letting his head totally unguarded, as if executing a desperate move.

'He must be more tired than what it seems. Maybe both his huge body and high energy consumption did put a toll on his body. Anyway I must exploit such mistake!'

Stark immediately proceeded with an all out attack, aiming for Xeno's exposed head.

"This is my chance! You are finished!"

Yet as the glorious moment he desperately wished for was finally coming, the huge target in front of him suddenly disappeared.

'Fuck! I totally forgot about his teleportation ability. But how did he still have so much energy left?!'

Having already experienced such ability, the android knew were the alien had teleported to.

Behind his back.

While Xeno's enhanced tail was about to slice Stark in half, a thick black screen blocked the attack.

'The human actually had one more trick up his sleeve. It seems to be a strong nano-shield made of black energy. You had a good timing, yet it's not enough.'

As the enhanced human felt relieved for having just blocked a potential fatal blow, once the effect of the tool ended, making the shield disappear, Stark saw nothing but despair.

As the alien wasn't there, he disappeared again.

In truth in such a small time, Xeno managed to improve the utilization of his teleportation skill. This time, as just opening the eye in itself consumed a lot of energy, he simply kept it open. As such he could afford to teleport twice, obviously his affinity isn't high enough to allow a continuous teleportation yet.