Calf took deep calming breaths before planning his next move. He let go of the notion of getting out of this unscathed seeing as it was already too late for that. The rooster changed rhythm and tactics so fast it seemed it was always a few steps ahead of him, so he had to be willing to risk it all if he were to have any hopes of matching it even for a few seconds. He took in his deepest breath and held it as the silver ball went up the rooster's throat. He ignored the ticking seconds and just went in for the kill, resolving to improvise his way to the conclusion of this battle. He took his first step with an exhalation and timed it to the stream of flames, dodging to the right and lowering his shield to the left. The rooster tracked his movements with its eyes and the stream followed where it looked, pursuing Calf, who responded by swinging his shield to block it. He bent at the waist and tilted to the right while maintaining a firm grip on the shield's handle. He leapt slightly off the ground as the attack met his shield, using all his arm strength to anchor the shield as the axis and letting his body ride the blast’s force to turn in a circle.

He continued towards the rooster the moment his feet hit the ground. The rooster changed tactics again when he came to within 4 large steps, repeatedly loosing short bursts of flame that condensed into a ball of fire before reaching him. Though they packed less of a punch on the force side, they still burnt just as hot. With his shield shrunken back to size and held in one hand he presented many points of contact whenever he took a step and the rooster took advantage of this, peppering him with balls of fire all over. He dodged and batted away most of them, but a few hit the ground next to him forcing him to jump away. The rooster took that chance and returned to the stream attack, knocking the shield to the left and upwards, exposing Calf's front-side for further attacks. The rooster switched back to short bursts as Calf attempted to pull the shield back down. It managed to release three bursts before Calf could execute corrective measures with one ball grazing his thigh, the second shattering his mask at the forehead and the last hitting him square in the forearm and clinging to it.

Calf let out a pained scream at the flames about to consume his arm. He knew he couldn't pay much attention to the pain lest the rooster use that chance to finish him off. He rolled on the ground to douse the flames and the attempt sent loose stones and sand into his tender and exposed flesh. Calf let out another scream while he was on the ground, rolling back and forth to play up the effects of the last burst of flame to bait the rooster. The rooster bit and launched forward with glinting talons bared towards Calf's upper body. Calf brought the shield forward to meet the talons and rolled aside at the last second. The rooster landed with force and pushed the vacant shield down, creating a dent where Calf lay seconds ago. As it prepared to leap away, Calf stabbed it through the foot and pinned it to the ground for but a split-second. He pulled out the spear while leaping up and stabbed into the thigh before grabbing onto the wing feathers. With a swinging stab he lodged the spear-point into the upper part of the wing from the inside and let the sharpness of the blade and his hanging weight do the work for him. The downward cut severed the right wing's forearm bones, effectively grounding the rooster. Calf met the ground in a roll and pulled the shield underneath the rooster's now useless right leg. The enraged rooster turned to other tactics, leaning all its weight onto the left leg, and ruffling its feathers in an effort to defend itself. Calf tried to stab it through the side, but the ruffled feathers presented quite the challenge, stopping his arm's forward motion mid-stab.

The rooster twirled on its left leg and pulled Calf with the motion. It made three revolutions at dizzying speeds, slowing to a stop at the sixth and relaxing its feathers. Though the shield hanging on his left forearm made it quite challenging, Calf had managed to hold on to his spear with both hands through the whole ordeal. The relaxing of the ruffled feathers resulted in Calf being flung away quite the distance and on instinct he'd turned to hit the ground shield-face-first before skidding to an eventual stop. A searing flame greeted his stop, hitting him on the back and clinging to his shield arm for the second time in the encounter. He rolled to the right and brought the shield up to avoid further burns. As the shield rested on an errant stump at a tilt, he sat behind its cover catching a breath. He couldn't help but notice that though the flames had been extinguished, sparks continued to emanate from his charred arm at the rhythm of his heartbeat.

He took out some honeyed salve from his pouch and applied it generously to all the burnt areas he could reach. He could hear sizzling from the areas he'd applied it to and applied even more for extra measure before taking steps to improvise. He took out a bit of the untreated tail he'd cut off for later use and sliced the slimy inner membrane into sections. He then made a few long strips from the hide and set them aside for wraps. He applied more salve to the wrist before placing the membrane over it, which had an immediate cooling effect on his burnt wrist. Working fast he applied the makeshift wound wraps before turning to the leather strips. With these he also started at the wrist, knotting the first strip there before coiling up his arm. As each strip was exhausted, he knotted the next before continuing to his shoulder, where he switched out the membrane wraps for an untreated slab of the tail, membrane yet to be scrapped off.

He tilted his shield to expose the grafted back portion of the hide and winced at the initial sting of the flames. After a few seconds he tilted the shield back into position and moved his shoulders to test whether the graft would hold. It did. He made impromptu repairs on the cracked upper portion of his mask using a shaving from the stump propping the shield up. He fastened the block in place using a piece of hide and wraps before picking up the shield and approaching the rooster again. When he was within 5 steps of the rooster, he lifted the shield higher as he crouched and let it go. The stream of flame tracked the center of the shield and continued tracking it into the distance for a second as it was blown away. Calf covered two steps in a crouch as the silver globe bobbed from the throat to the chest and back. He breathed in and timed his leap to match the moment the rooster directed its mouth to his shield-less form. With his spear hand drawn back, he met the stream of flame shoulder-first with his left hand firmly gripping onto his knee and the length of his shield arm curved to cover the side of his body directly facing the flames.

Steam rose from the wraps as he closed towards the rooster, jabbing at the exposed heart. The point sunk in deep, but the rooster bucked, life still coursing through its veins. Calf held on and looked up to see the pulsating silver globe at its throat. He grabbed onto the errant chest feathers above him and pulled out the spear before pulling himself along the rooster’s length. As he hung face to face with the silver globe, he drew back for a devastating blow, but the rooster breathed in even more in a desperate act of self-preservation. The silver globe slid down the throat towards its chest as Calf made to strike it, barely avoiding the deep stab. Calf let go of the bunched feathers in his left hand and brought it to the spears shaft. He brought his knees high before thrusting them downwards. The motion sent his body sliding down the length of rooster as the spear-point's blade cut through the rooster's flesh and ribs. The descending blade met the silver globe, stopping it mid-ascent and with that the rooster let out a stifled scream before its bucking ceased and it stiffened shortly after.