Richard fired age acceleration desperately, decaying the shadows, but it cost him precious seconds and enormous energy to break free. And the moment he did—
"NIGHTMARE PROJECTION—TERROR INCARNATE!"
Richard's vision filled with personalized horrors drawn directly from his subconscious fears, from the nightmares he'd had during meditation, from the deep anxieties he'd accumulated over three hundred years of existence.
He saw himself dying alone and forgotten, his three centuries meaning nothing.
He saw Chronus turning away in disgust, calling him weak, choosing a new champion.
He saw the other demon lords pointing and laughing at his failure.
He saw his name being erased from history, his accomplishments forgotten, his entire existence amounting to nothing but a footnote in someone else's story.
