Blood is beginning to pool to one side of the arena. It stays vivid, clotting, for a few minutes before oxidising and evaporating into Bali's hot summer climate.
Hundreds of spectators are bearing down on the scene as one man steps forward. His sandals imprint upon the dust as he walks to the centre to determine a winner.
The body of one rooster lies limp in the middle of the square. A second is pulled away and the crowd starts to empty as the moment ends.
Rooster fights are among the growing list of animal-based money-making operations increasingly used to lure in tourists flocking ever further afield.
A new investigation shared exclusively with the Mail has uncovered how Bali taxi drivers are now promoting the spectacles to unsuspecting tourists who know nothing of the dark underside of the industry.
