He barely had time to take in his surroundings as a blurry vision of the 'King' came at him, knocking him through space, further than should be possible with this gravity. All he could see of the sky was a glowing blue colour in all visible directions, but no visible light source or boundary. A floating white asteroid struck him in the back. He re-adjusted to the new gravity and he seemed to be able to stand shakily. He reached to touch his back –no, it wasn't his back; it was just a vision of it. He had to remember this was a mental arena, not a physical one. But if a mind thinks it's dead, then the body follows. The Could've Been King was leaping across asteroids with determination, but never once mis-stepping. Naturally, with a brain that had to adjust to multiple realities simultaneously, the 'King' would have no problem mentally navigating his way around an astral plane. Which meant the Doctor would have to rely on strategy rather than mental force. He summoned up an image of himself and threw it at the 'King'. A form emerged of a bright eyed Victorian gentleman with flowing hair, who flew towards the foe. But their foe was too quick; realising he too could summon up these projections, he pulled a jagged lightning bolt sword from the ether and swung it, cutting the vision of the Doctor in half. The Doctor felt the loss as if he had lost a limb. He forced himself up; feeling bereft of a vital part of himself, and catapulted himself forward, flying at the sword wielding alien before him. The 'King' braced and readied the sword, but the Doctor sent forth another projection; that of a white suited Englishman brandishing a cricket bat. They swung simultaneously, with the sword meeting the bat in mid-air and the bat breaking in two. The splinters in the wood ripped their way up the projection until it too fractured into millions of pieces. But the distraction had served its purpose. The Doctor had flown behind the 'King' and blasted it with a dapper caped warrior, which shattered on impact, but clearly injured the target. Flames rippled where the mental shards had struck. The sword flickered, turning deftly into a bow and arrow, which the 'King' levelled at the Doctor's new position. Arrows of hate and vengeance flew at the Doctor, which he avoided elegantly. But in the flurry of bolts, one could not be evaded. It was all the Doctor could do to summon up a scarved grinning madman to block it. He watched the grin fade as the bolt and its victim swept out of existence. The Doctor couldn't take much more of this. His past lives seemed to be detaching themselves like avalanches from an iceberg. He had only the strength for one final attack, and with his might, he forced another four figures into being, all four flying around the shadowy figure like vultures. The first flew for the target, waving its walking stick with venerated anger, but was cut short by a bow and burst before it could make contact. The next struck the bow and arrow from its hands and delivered a colourful elbow to the face, making the 'King' stumble, although in a blind strike, the vision was engulfed in its flames, its projected face vanished without a send-off. The third barrelled into the legs of the 'King, knocking him spinning into space and circled round for another strike, playing a little victory tune on its recorder. But like a dragon, the 'King' spewed solid flames from his mouth, pulverising the vision to ashes. But these had all been strategic distractions, as now the final enigmatic projection was directly behind the Could've Been King. It struck the 'King' with a jab into one of its gaping mouth holes and dissolved, forming a glowing question mark as it infiltrated the body of the 'King', rooting its way through the organs up to the brain. The 'King' contorted with pain, gliding through the empty space until colliding finally with an asteroid, which barely registered. Kneeling in agony, the 'King' could only watch as the Doctor himself landed before him, every inch a warrior, and offered a hand in mercy. "Surrender! leave this observatory and I will let you live" "Never. I have lost too much to stop now" "So be it." The Doctor struck the final blow. That should've been it. The Could've Been King should be no more, but out of nowhere, the virtual world warped; it's blue glow becoming an unforgiving red as the temperature sky-rocketed. The Doctor could feel the heat working its way across his face, right where the clamps were attached. The 'King' must be combusting in reality, and he was still strapped to the metal death trap. The body beneath him rose and swelled; its face constantly flickering through several monstrous countenances. The pain it was feeling was making the whole thing oscillate until it became a mess of writhing, angry, particles, scything away, all consumed with revenge. "I SALL NOT BE BEATEN AGAIN!" It knocked the Doctor upwards into the boiling sky. He had nothing more left, and he was dying in both realities. The pain was intense, but he could use it to his advantage. He focused on the burns on his face, and they drew him closer and closer into the physical world. The pain amplified, but now he had a little bit more control. He managed to move his own, real, finger, but in doing so, he'd given the virtual 'King' an advantage and another blow had been struck against him. He had control of an entire hand now. All he had to do was reach into a pocket… WHAM! He was beaten into asteroid after asteroid, as the many, many arms of the crazed 'King' battered him relentlessly, but at least he now had a hold of his sonic screwdriver. The 'King' didn't stop to gloat and held the Doctor down against an asteroid with a stormcloud of a foot. A blade as confused and enraged as he was, was wrenched from the bowels of this world and was instantly swung down… …To be blocked by a sonic screwdriver with an almighty clang. The Doctor activated it in both realities and the hub in his pocket started transmitting, not to Gallifrey, but downloading all of Gallifrey's resources back through it and into the mind bending machine. The Doctor felt himself heal with almost God-like power, as the information flooded around him as a loyal serpent. The Could've Been King seemed so small now through the Doctor's eyes and he crushed it like a snail, drowning it in the virtual tsunami of data, while he floated above it all. The illusion had ended and back in reality, he soniced the face clamps off and stood to look around. The Neverwere were fleeing, bottlenecking through all the doors. Some were so impatient to get away they crashed through walls to flee. In mere seconds, they were all gone and all that remained of them were a flock of red shooting stars only visible on the observatory screen. He turned back to the mind bending machine to the glowing red metal slowly receding back towards the clamps on the other side. But no-one stood there anymore; all that remained was ash from the twice fallen King. All that remained to be done was to alert the Time Lords to his success. He activated the observatory computer and sent them a video of the whole event with the subtitle "defend this better next time, for there shall be a next time". He hoped would answer any and all questions they had of him, because he had no intention of sticking around. He skulked back to his TARDIS silently. He had no idea why the Neverwere had invaded the Observatory. It could have been any number of factors; its strategic significance, its lack of proper defences, or possibly just the mad will of a mad king, striving towards glory in the only way he knew how, determined to be seen as a hero to justify his conquests. No time for questions, only actions. The War stops for no one.