He shifted.
The sustained nightmare application continued — background pressure, ongoing drain. He didn't reduce it. He added to it.
[TERROR AURA — LEGENDARY + FEAR INCARNATE]
The Terror Aura was a passive output — the specific quality of Satou's presence after everything he'd absorbed and become, the supernatural fear-inducing quality that had made the settlement's enemies hesitate, that had made the council chamber go quiet. Against Chronus, who had been in combat for centuries and whose capacity for rational function under pressure was foundational to his entire identity, the Terror Aura alone wouldn't achieve anything notable.
Combined with Fear Incarnate — the ability to manifest as the physical embodiment of terror, making the psychological reality of fear into something that pressed against consciousness whether or not the target chose to acknowledge it — and layered on top of the sustained nightmare application already running:
Chronus's cognitive load increased.
