For Captain Li Shan's entrance, the platform that bridged the backstage area to the arena didn't extend normally. Instead, a floodgate opened up beneath the entrance hallway, the very same one used to flood or dry out the arena, and let a stream of water pour into the area outside of the arena bounds. Riding seated in a small boat was Captain Li Shan, who let the stream of water spout her boat into the artificial lake before standing up to the audience's applause.
Meanwhile, her opponent walked out from the opposite side of the arena without the use of the extensive platform as well. Ethereal, shadowy hexagons flickered and flipped above the head of the hooded man before settling on a position that showed the number "16" on its front, shaped in white flame. When the hooded man stepped forward, colorful squares appeared directly beneath his feet. It was this mysterious sorcery that allowed him to walk over the area separating the arena and the backstage waiting area.
Halfway across the distance left to walk, the colorful square simply didn't appear underneath the magician's feet, causing him to drop and plunge into the water below. The audience stared at the magician's shocking botch of a flashy entrance with confusion at first, before breaking out into a collective fit of laughter. Slightly embarrassed, the magician swam up to the arena's edge and snapped his fingers. The ephemeral shadows above his head started shifting again until they settled on the number "8" depicted in white flames. When the magician took steps, the colorful squares appeared underneath his feet, elevating him up to the arena's level until he hopped onto the stage and patted himself down.
Because his hood and cape weren't too comfortable to wear while completely soaked, the magician grabbed hold of the cloak and swiped it aside, revealing himself as a slender man of average height wearing a baggy linen shirt underneath a clown-like, oversized, and square-shaped blue blazer. Bogemu had wild, eggplant-colored long hair that spiked upward in two large prongs. He had a large band-aid stuck on his face that seemed to keep his head from splitting apart, doing a rather poor job of covering a grievous cleave mark, though preventing it from exposing his brain or misshaping his head and face completely.
"Sorry 'bout that," Bogemu Uneyotsu laughed out, cringing at himself about as much as the audience was just a handful of seconds ago. "Didn't notice I ran out of legal steps and had to roll the dice again to determine how much further I'm allowed to walk."
"Is this the guy we're putting our hopes on to pull Mana through and deposit her soul back into her body?" Asuka grumbled after turning to Shige-H, whose faith also received a hefty blow after seeing the quirky magician make a fool of himself this way after trying to act as cool as his opponent.
"You know what they say about beggars and choosers," Shige-H grimaced, looking concerned but accepting that they may not have had much of a choice in how they'd go around bringing their comrade's soul back to her body.
The stern-faced woman pirate captain opened her eyes when her boat closed up to the arena and ran up the central mast before jumping off the tip to vault in the air and land on the westernmost bit of what remained of the fighting stage after Ryoku Genshi's fortuitous desperation move. She approached the shaggy and a tad creepy-looking magician without wavering or flinching until the two stood within arm's reach of one another and patiently waited for the beginning of the match.
"We might owe you a brief explanation, ladies and gentlemen in the audience," the announcer turned away from the two squared-up combatants in the arena and toward the audience looming behind his platform. "Normally, we might have scheduled a break to repair the arena, as we've done after the first match, however, before I announced the break, I had an idea and I hope that the Sheikh won't mind or think it's unfair… You see, these two warriors don't really need a fresh reset of a fighting stage to settle their match. That's because Captain Li Shan is a fierce buccaneer of the seas and can fight while balancing on floating debris or her very own little boat, as she's proven during the battle royale, whereas I'm not fully sure what Bogemu Uneyotsu's ability is, however, he's barely ever moved an inch during his fights and his fights just… Seem to conclude themselves out of nowhere with none of us being the wiser."
A pink-wearing belly-dancer with a veiled face, covered in golden accessories clad in gemstones, appeared from the curtain on the Sheikh's elevated platform and gave a thumbs-up gesture which relayed that the Sheikh permitted this procession of the tournament and didn't consider such a match to be unfair to either contestant.
"Does that mean that I can touch my boat or any debris that's sticking out from the water in the area outside of the arena's bounds?" Li Shan asked after crossing her arms behind her back and turning to the announcer.
"Correct! We will only consider both contestants to be ringed out if they plunge into the lake's water," the announcer confirmed this with an energetic wink of his left eye.
"It's not like that's going to come into play," Bogemu Uneyotsu yawned.
"It's already come into play during your entrance. You'd be wise to mind the rules lest you embarrass yourself once more," Li Shan scolded the aloof magician.
"Hey, can you guys hurry and start the match already? I'm sensing a lot of pent-up aggression on my opponent's part and I don't want her to accidentally set off the Game of Life before the match even starts," Bogemu Uneyotsu lifted his arm in the air like a pupil wishing to speak in class.
"Very well, I shall skip the pleasantries and introductions because of popular demand, also because I can't for the life of me come up with anything that hypes up contestant Bogemu Uneyotsu for the sole reason that I wasn't able to see him doing anything in the two incredible eliminations he scored in the battle royale! For the third match today we have the pirate captain Li Shan against Bogemu Uneyotsu! Begin!" the announcer waved his hand out only for the gong to ring and the match to be considered as having officially begun.
Being rather close to her opponent and not having full knowledge of his abilities, Captain Li Shan decided it would be wisest to withdraw and scope the magician's abilities for now. The esteemed pirate captain vaulted backward while flinging a handful of paper-wrapped marbles to scatter in front of her and cover her hasty retreat. Just as they popped, revealing flashy fireworks that served to both blind and burn a careless opponent, Li Shan's eyes widened in surprise when she saw the colorful light show rapidly slowing down in front of her eyes.
The surroundings turned bleak, washing away into a void of complete blackness as Li Shan, who froze in mid-air, looking to hop on top of her little boat, now landed her feet firmly on something wet and rippling, yet solid enough to keep her standing. It was as if this was some kind of World of Zen, where the conventional laws of physics did not apply and people could stand effortlessly on an infinite void flooded with some kind of invisible and bottomless liquid.
"Still, I was caught by your maddening witchcraft?" Li Shan exclaimed.
"That's what I was telling you, missy," Bogemu Uneyotsu stuffed his right index finger into his ear, giving it a thorough plunging and rubbing before pulling it out and easing the itchy sensation that begged for some scratching. "When you display any kind of ill-intent toward me, you end up triggering the Game of Life. Now neither of us is in control, though, in the same way, both of us may be in more control than we've ever been in our entire lives. Depends entirely on one's perspective, I suppose…"
"The Game of Life? Life is no game! Life is a struggle for survival, a competition for who is willing to do more, to stoop lower to survive. It's only after a long life and countless tough choices that I established some sense of order in the Southern Seas. All because of the Pirate Code that is in effect in our fleet," Li Shan turned to her sword and prepared to draw it, but hesitated. Realizing that this realm of absolute darkness was nothing like anything she could recognize or understand, she kept her sword sheathed and heeded her opponent's advice that this Game of Life bypassed the conventional terms of combat.
"Well, it's just what I call it, so no need to shoot the messenger, missy," Bogemu Uneyotsu tried pacifying the situation by gently pointing at the pirate captain with empty palms. "Actually, it's the only magical spell that I've mastered in the short, for a magician, life that I've had. Given how it works, it probably won't get that much longer, to be honest."
"Hmm… I wonder if I can break this spell of yours by parting you and your head. That's usually how it works with ninja techniques, after all," Li Shan tried to gauge her opponent's reaction to this threat. Given how utterly undaunting her opponent was physically and the mostly creepy vibes he went after, his reaction would determine if fighting back against the spell's rules was within the realm of possibility at all.
"You're welcome to try, but I wouldn't do that if I were you. That's the first way to collect Penalty Marks and get yourself disqualified from the Game of Life. The outcome of such an event is exactly as nasty as the wording implies…" Bogemu groaned with another pacifying gesture. "Normally, I could just not explain any of the rules to you and just coast on Easy Street on my way to victory. However, this game works in mysterious ways and sometimes I fear it's ready to hand out Penalty Marks to me for not playing fair. That's why, unless it is to tame the actual metaphysical concept of Death itself, I play fair and explain the rules to my opponents. A fair thing to keep in mind–this game has a mind of its own."
"How so? Didn't you say you created this spell?" Li Shan abandoned all hopes of achieving anything with sword fighting and completely moved her hand away from her weapon.
"Just because you can start a fire doesn't always mean you can fully shape and control it. Magicians often play with forces far greater than they are. As a matter of fact, it's the risk I face every time I play the Game of Life that makes it so powerful. Magic weak enough to be controlled wouldn't have made me as acknowledged of a spellcaster as I am," Bogemu explained before striking a crucifix pose and rolling his head back to stare at the black void above him.
Li Shan staggered back, reacting to the emergence of board game fields large enough to fit her as a playing figure with a mere terrified gesture, despite the fact there wasn't much she could do to change anything. Bogemu raised his right arm into the air while turning his body to the left and bending to reach his forehead with his left fist and press it against the magician's face. The spectral form above Bogemu's head rolled, burned, and shifted until it settled on faces decorated with white flame numbers spelling out "11".
"You should roll your initiative, pirate captain," Bogemu said after a brief pause and a series of awkward looks shared between the two combatants. As forceful and lively as Captain Li Shan was, she knew she was playing with forces too dangerous and outlandish to control. When preparing for this fight, there was little to nothing that Li Shan could do to gather intelligence on her opponent.
He has never existed or has been recorded anywhere before his appearance in this colosseum, he's done nothing notable as any notable events and worthwhile fights have been recorded in the sanctuary of all martial arts and paths of warfare. Even during the battle royale, where showcasing one's fighting style was unavoidable, he's never really shown any abilities per se. Whenever Bogemu Uneyotsu was involved in an altercation, time and space warped and halted its flow around the battle and he just came out victorious whenever the flow of reality returned to its natural order.
Li Shan could only assume that all of Bogemu's opponents ended up playing this game. Given how familiar and "marked" Bogemu is, he's survived more than one round of this Game of Life. If this game worked as Bogemu described it, injuries such as his grievous scar nearly splitting his head in half were only possible to occur during the course of this game, as even intent to cause bodily harm to Bogemu Uneyotsu jumpstarted the game.
"How do I do that, exactly…" Li Shan grumbled out, shuffling through a contrast of emotions. Someone of Li Shan's authority and reputation in the seas she sailed in had no use for embarrassment, and yet being expected to do something like roll a handful of ephemeral dice and being unable to perform as expected embarrassed her.
"That's odd, the Game of Life usually wants to be played. Could it be that Death is trying to escape the game?" Bogemu wondered, scratching his hair with a bitter stretch of his dry lips.
"D-Death?" Li Shan gasped. "You mean that the invisible participant causing accidents, maiming, and killing contestants truly was "Death"?"
"Yeah… The metaphysical concept of Death. I couldn't have the Death die, that'd have caused a whole heap of problems. I just kept it leashed in the game. Guess that makes it the Game of Life and Death, huh?" Bogemu smirked and began cackling, almost like chaining Death itself to his board game spell was a laughing matter. "Usually, the game bends according to your whim. You merely need to believe and act upon that belief. I'd roll for initiative if I were you–not playing by the game's rules and stalling the game might earn you a Penalty Mark and you know what that means…"
"I do NOT!" Li Shan barked out at her opponent, forcing Bogemu to jump up in startlement before settling down with a scratch of his cheek.
"Obviously, if you get three Penalty Marks–you lose the game," Bogemu explained.
"And I assume the loser of this game dies," Li Shan said without a hint of fear. As a woman pirate rising from the position of ship decoration to a genuine pirate, then an equal partner of the ship's captain, a captain herself, then–a high-ranking member of a fleet uniting 44 of the most prominent pirate crews sailing in the South Ocean.
"Not exactly," Bogemu replied. "It doesn't matter what happens to the loser."
"It matters to me, hence why I ask," Li Shan insisted.
"No, you don't get it, it doesn't matter what happens to them. When you lose–you're a loser, and what happens to a loser who gambled everything and lost doesn't matter. Deaths can be and are meaningful. Losing the Game of Life and Death is a fate worse than living or dying–it's irrelevance. Just look at Death, it lost one game, and you didn't even know it was gone until I told you. It's bound to the game forever and what it is and what it does doesn't matter," Bogemu elaborated.
"Intend to roll for initiative…" Li Shan looked down, putting her hands together in front of her as if she were trying to conjure a fireball and cradle it in them. "Intend…"
"Oh boy, don't tell me you're one of those guys, the kind that's rooted in logic and reasoning and can't be bothered to take control of something they don't understand. Just think about it like taking control of a dream that wants to surrender control," Bogemu said while scratching his ear with his pinky finger. Something he found so much enjoyment in that he winked with his left eye as he did so.
"Intend…" Li Shan clenched her cradling hands into fists and pressed them to her sides before drawing her Jian-type sword and pointing it in her opponent's direction. "Captain Li Shan, the Pike of Southern Seas, does not intend. She commands and takes control! And I command the initiative to roll!" the buccaneer exclaimed, almost like barking out orders.
In all honesty, Bogemu Uneyotsu was about to roll his eyes, however, just as he stopped enjoying his ear-scratching and nose-hair-picking routine, hexagons shaped by bones appeared before her with a scarlet flame lighting up inside the fiendish shapes. The bone hexagons rattled, almost like shaking the contents inside of a flask and the ephemeral flames inside shook, sizzled, and rattled until settling on white flame numbers spelling out "22".
"Okay, I guess you'll be the one starting the game. Now all you need to do is roll to move, then move according to the number of steps you've rolled. The square you stand on will dictate what happens next. Given the major girl boss vibes I'm getting from you, feel free to walk more or fewer spaces, you'll earn Penalty Marks though, but you might just command them to not appear. Who knows, maybe it will work? I feel obliged by my rule as a player who knows the rules to strongly hint that I do not think it will," Bogemu explained.
"Witchcraft, I command you to roll for movement!" Li Shan exclaimed, sticking her hand out in an authoritative stance as if she were commanding a sweaty and obese pirate who would rather indulge in the spoils of victory of a naval battle than plunder and enrich the fleet. The bone hexagons rattled to the point of instability before exploding. The bold pirate captain covered her face to avoid harm. Just as she was about to ask her opponent what the meaning of this was, she noticed the scattered bones from the fiendish dice assembling in the shape of a number - "1".
The Game of Life and Death began with the first movement.