Liam drew his dagger, ready to fight until they woke up, gripping the handle tightly and adopting a firm stance.
Carrie prepared to use her telekinesis, tensing her muscles for both offense and defense, breathing with concentration.
"Carrie, I need you to stay close to me. I trust you to stop attacks I can't block or dodge. Remember the training," Liam said telepathically to Carrie, reminding her of the perception and reaction training where she learned to use her telekinesis through the extra sense it provides, without needing to see the target to act precisely.
"Yes, leave those attacks to me," Carrie replied mentally, frowning and clenching her fists, recalling how at first it was hard to sense everything within her telekinetic range, and how, over time, she had learned to react almost instinctively to any object entering her reach.
"Oh, how cute, talking to each other with your minds. Twenty-seven years ago, I met another who could do the same," said Pennywise, tilting his head slightly while smiling mockingly.
Liam was a little surprised by that, blinking quickly—probably something that happens in the books. He put the thought aside and began advancing toward Pennywise.
Carrie floated using her telekinesis, moving alongside him a few meters away, her eyes glowing with focus.
Carrie started first; she ripped off the entire BlackSpot and threw it at Pennywise with surprising ease, her arm muscles taut and her body levitating steadily.
Pennywise let go of his smile and adopted an expression that would terrify any normal person, his eyes fixed and body motionless as if it didn't matter that the entire structure was thrown at him.
Seeing this, Liam and Carrie stopped, frowning, not thinking for a second that this was enough to take Pennywise down, and scanned their surroundings for any attack.
"Never think he's dead. Always keep your guard up," Liam warned Carrie telepathically, jaw tense, eyes locked on the enemy.
"Mmm," Carrie nodded seriously, breathing deeply, accepting the warning; she had personally experienced what Pennywise could do.
At that moment, they felt the ground tremble beneath their feet, and from it emerged dozens of what used to be Liam's father, appearing just as he did in life but with clear signs of decay—tall, overweight, large portions of his head missing black hair, and a broken neck.
"Liam, I've returned. I'm here to take your life back to how it was when you were five," Liam's father said with an arrogant smile, leaning his torso slightly toward him.
"How I miss hitting that bitch of your mother. You made me lose many years of fun." His expression shifted from delight to hatred in seconds, eyes filled with malice.
Liam watched this with indifference, shoulders relaxed but gaze steady. His younger self might have been afraid before regaining his memories, but now all fear was gone. It seemed Pennywise was trying to draw out his fears from this life since he couldn't access those from the previous one.
But Liam had developed few fears in this life; aside from losing Carrie, very few things could affect him.
Liam had avoided Carrie's advances in recent years because he hated the idea of having a weakness—someone they could target to reach him in the future when he inevitably made enemies—but over the years, he came to accept that a life without loving or trusting someone else isn't really living.
In that moment, he decided to accept his love and face the dangers of the future together, pressing his lips lightly with resolve.
Liam attacked one of his father's clones without hesitation, dodging a grab attempt with agility and cutting its neck precisely with his dagger, decapitating it instantly.
"Ouch, that dagger of yours even hurts in dreams," all the clones said at once, voices full of surprise and pain.
At that moment, as the clones stopped, Liam could briefly turn his attention to Carrie; she was surrounded by clones of her mother, eyes fixed, body ready to react.
"Carrie, don't hold back. They're not real," Liam said telepathically, sending confidence through his gaze.
Carrie, hearing this, stopped hesitating; she had been unsure because, although she no longer cared for her mother as before, this was different than mocking her and not visiting—now it was about killing. She inhaled deeply, chest rising and falling steadily, and attacked.
All the clones were lifted at once by her telekinesis and crushed simultaneously, causing massive amounts of blood to spill from their bodies, covering her as well.
The ground began to fill with more blood than should have been possible from just those few bodies.
Seeing this, Liam nodded with determination and continued attacking on his side, using kicks to toss one clone over another, making time to defend against another coming from behind. Dodging a strike and cutting the same arm, the clone's head flew off immediately with a single slice.
When his hand-to-hand combat skills weren't enough, he used his dream mastery to manipulate the environment to his favor, his eyes scanning every detail.
On Liam's side, heads and limbs flew in every direction.
On Carrie's side, clones of her mother kept appearing, only to be instantly crushed or thrown aside like rag dolls, her body floating with absolute control.
This continued for what seemed like several minutes until no more clones appeared.
Carrie and Liam looked at each other and nodded, both breathing heavily and ready for what came next.
At that moment, the blood, already up to their knees, began converging into a single point several meters away, swirling and mixing with force.
Seconds later, taking the form of Pennywise, he looked at both of them with a malicious grin.
"Playtime is over," said Pennywise, eyes glowing, body standing tall and threatening.
Immediately after, he appeared next to Liam, a butcher knife in hand, swinging toward his body rapidly.
Liam moved instantly thanks to his training, dodging objects thrown by Carrie at high speed, creating some space. It wasn't enough, but he never tried to evade fully—his movement was an attack as well.
Pennywise's arm was deflected to another direction before the blade could reach Liam. He glanced at Carrie as his other arm flew off, cut by Liam's dagger.
At the same instant, a new arm grew as if the damage was insignificant. It disappeared from Liam's side and appeared next to Carrie, attempting something similar.
But instantly, his body lost all movement, frozen by Carrie's telekinesis. A second later, it was crushed like any normal human, screams silenced by the pressure.
The crushed body disappeared and reappeared at a distance, inflating like a balloon, and soon was unharmed again.
"You two are annoying. Time to float," said Pennywise, and in the next second, his mouth began to open impossibly wide.
"Shit, close your eyes, Carrie!" Liam shouted, face tense.
Carrie, hearing this, was startled but didn't hesitate, closing her eyes instantly, inhaling deeply, mentally preparing herself.
"Don't open your eyes for anything in the world. It's time to trust only your senses." As Liam said this telepathically, the world around them began to change, tension filling every corner of the nightmare.
It collapsed rapidly, causing both of them to wake up, drenched in sweat, as if emerging from an intense nightmare.
The sun was already high in the sky, showing that the night was over.
"We did it. We survived," Liam said with relief, hugging Carrie tightly, his face relaxing for the first time in minutes.
"Yes, we did it," Carrie hugged him back, holding on as if afraid to lose him, remembering the fear from the dream Pennywise had forced upon her.