Tik Tik sits in her darkened suite at La Floresian Eternalle, the Nexus of the Tournament of Pleasure. The only light that illuminates the room is her glowing artifact: the Stick of Champions. In one hand, the kobold floats the magical item, and in the other, she scribbles her notes, deconstructing the thing's nature.
When the light brightens, Tik Tik stuffs the artifact away and hops to attention.
Floating before her is the angelic being, Hanioc. Their inscrutable form makes the kobold squint her eyes, but she has come to be used to their presence, one way or another.
"Is it time already?" she asks.
"The hour of the winner's bracket finals is upon us. The one to prevail shall face their final opponent in the grand finals, for the glory of the divine."
"And what exactly will this glory get them?" the wizard asks. "It's never been quite clear."
The many faces of the angel frown in unison. "You have always been a part of this grand undertaking of yours simply for the thrill of discovery. Are you not satisfied with everything you've come to learn?"
Tik Tik flicks her wrist, bringing her cloak to her with a spell. Pulling the hood over her head, she says, "I'd much rather have not had an existential crisis while I was here, learning that not everyone is a friend and that there are some beings out there, even paragons of good, that are terrible."
"The balance of the cosmos is a delicate thing, Tik Tik. That is something you would do well to learn."
"Yeah, I got it. Let's just go."
"Very well."  The angel opens their wings, and the whole of the room dissolves into light.

Tik Tik opens her eyes, finding herself back home in the caverns of the Dragon's Heir Kobold tribe. Sitting upon a hoard of gold is Tikana, the kobold queen. Though a friend of the wizard since childhood, the queen finds herself in a dire predicament. Standing beside her is the reason for Tik Tik’s plight, the demon-cursed elf Elicia.
Typically quite smug with herself, the elf and other herald of the Tournament develops a dour expression when she sees Tik Tik. "Not only did you ruin my plans for Anteronia with your meddling, little kobold, but you couldn't even descend into madness properly."  She places a hand upon the crown of the kobold queen, pulling the half-dragon’s head in towards her thigh. "Even as I make your precious queen my breeding bitch, that isn't enough to break you. Your resilience is legendary.”
"I don't care what Tikana does with her free time. I'm no longer doing research for the Dragon's Heir tribe. I'm my own kobold whose study is for myself."
Elicia smirks at that. "Now, doesn't that sound familiar? Where have I heard such sentiments before? Oh yes, here is the kobold I was thinking of.”
Stepping into the chamber is another bookish kobold. She is the second contender of the match—the scholar Izon.
"There's a lot of talk going on here," Izon says. "And none of it is about the Tournament itself. How pointless it all is. Can't we just get to the match?”
Elicia nods. "Very well. Tikana?"
The kobold queen slides off her coins and stands taller than the smaller kobold. "I'll show you how much the future mother of the greatest being can please another! I am the leader of the Dragon's Heir—the perfection bred through generations of nobility!"
"More like a eugenics experiment with too big of a head on her shoulders," Izon responds, her clothing disappearing around her.
Magic bursts out from around Izon, and Tikana blocks the pressure with her wings and arms, growling. "Fool… I am more of a dragon than you shall ever be!"
Izon traces arcane symbols into the air. Her eyes snap to the kobold queen as her fingers move through precise motions made through memorization and multiple recitations. "Your power is not your own, and you are no dragon... You are a sex slave."
Elicia giggles.
Tikana roars, flapping her mighty wings and flying towards the kobold. "You'll see, you little brat!"
Izon closes her eyes, pinching her fingers together. A latticework of magic appears before her, which Tikana flies right into. The net bends, absorbing the queen's momentum. 
Gritting her teeth, Tikana flaps her wings and attempts to push through, but she slows down against the pull of the magic.
When Izon opens her eyes, the two Champions are nose-to-nose, with Tikana desperately clawing at the barrier to get at the wizard.
"I wonder," Izon begins, lifting a finger. "Would you give your nest mate Tik Tik the same kind of look if you had to face her here and now? Is this what you've become? A desperate whore seeking to continue the chain of selective breeding, no matter the source? Retaining power because you are pressured by the dead... how utterly pathetic."
With a curl of her finger, the net around Tikana closes, binding her, wrenching her arms and legs behind her body, leaving her wriggling on the ground in magical bondage.
"Your desire is to have the most blessed child of power, is it? Perhaps you should be looking in a different direction than the demonic?" Getting down on her knees, Izon strokes her hand down along the bound kobold's underbelly, dragging claws downward to her pubic mound and then gently back up. She closes her eyes and, with muttering under her breath, traces a design, a sigil, over Tikana's scales. “You’ll find no such donor here.”
Immediately, Tikana howls in heat and want. The burning desire that comes from the markings welling up inside her makes her scream in desperate need.
Izon's finger flicks and swirls over the pelvic part of Tikana's scales, humming a tune. Though she is deep in her work, she takes pride and happiness from what she does.

Tikana, meanwhile, fights against the magical net that the wizardly kobold trapped her within, her maw only partially able to open with the magical latticework caught around her mouth.
Izon looks up from her work, giving the kobold queen a quick smile. "Oh, don't you worry about me. I'll be done in a minute. Also, sorry I had to close your mouth, but I can't have you breathing fire on me now, can I?"
"Damn… you pathetic—" 
Izon presses her palm against the magical mark placed upon Tikana's womb. It glows with power, and Tikana's body seizes with an overwhelming feeling. Her eyes roll back, her teeth clench shut, her muscles tense, and sensation moves throughout all of her being, straight up into her brain.
"You should really consider your own position before you make accusations, oh queen of the kobolds," Izon says, standing up. "It'll make you less of a fool."
A moment later, and the feeling is gone. Tikana slumps forward, curling up, panting. "What… was… that…?" she huffs.
"Nothing much," Izon says, "But it is the greatest pleasure that I can give someone—a direct stimulation of one's nervous system through the application of magic. Now that you've felt it, well, I'm afraid that you've just become ruined."
Tikana squirms, rubbing her knees together. "I… what…?"
"You feel it, don't you?" Izon says. "Things are slightly dimmer than they used to be. That's what happens when an addict doesn't get their fix."
"A… addict?"
"You led yourself down this path," Izon says, shrugging. "By selling yourself to a woman like Elicia, you've ruined all chances you've had at a happy and normal life. So, by robbing you of your pleasure, I've given you a chance to think things through."
"No!" Tikana roars, fighting against her restraints, her eyes slit, staring hate up at the wizard kobold. "You can't take away my desires and my ambition! They're what got me this far!"
"Oh, believe me, I understand," Izon says, snapping her fingers.
Another wave of agonizing delight robs the queen of all of her senses. The tattoo glows brighter, and the bonds hold tighter, and Izon stands and watches the spectacle as Tikana’s mouth breaks free of the bonds, but she doesn't fight back. 
No, Tikana is too busy screaming in terrible happiness that sees her drool out of her mouth and out of her sex. The floor slickens with the fluids as she lets go of everything but the delights that she feels.
Izon holds her fingers ready to snap, watching the writhing and laughing and screaming queen at her feet. The sight of pure, refined eroarcana being used leaves her and the others in the room transfixed.
"This is what I'm studying," Tik Tik says. "This is what it can do to people." She grits her teeth and clenches her fist, her tail shaking in quick, jerky movements. "This is what the gods want to introduce to the world?”
Hanioc says,"This is what you and the other mortals in this Tournament have brought to this world. It is a secret best left forgotten, but there's no going back now. You can only watch."
"No…" Tik Tik says, pulling out her book. She flips through her notes and calls out, "Izon! Tik Tik want talk with you!"
Izon glances over her shoulder.
"You said you wanted to learn Eroarcana, but did you really want to become a monster? To become a dark queen? Was that your intention?"
Izon snaps her fingers, and Tikana groans, the net dissipating around her, her body twitching as she curls up, moaning in the post-orgasmic glow of a thousand climaxes.
"Is this conversation really what you want right now, Tik Tik?" Izon says. "After all, I've saved your friend from the clutches of your enemy."
"Elicia not Tik Tik's enemy!" Tik Tik says. "Tik Tik sorry she ruin Elicia's plan and make feel bad."
Elicia, who had been transfixed on the display of power from Izon, lets the little ghost of a smirk spread across her lips. "It's a bit late for apologies. So much has been done so far, and we've both lost so much more. Though,6 you know what? I think this is enough. I'm out of this little game. Izon, if you want power, might I suggest a bit of a political bent? Having the queen of the kobolds under your thumb would surely make you the supreme power in all of kobolddom."
With that, Elicia steps back, swiping her dark stick of champions and disappearing into the portal.
"Really, now…?" Izon says, holding up her hand towards Tikana. "Oh, queen… are you interested in feeling good again?"
Tikana's eyes widen, and she grabs onto Izon's legging, her arms shaking and weak. "Please!" she begs. "I'll do anything to feel the pleasure again!"
Tik Tik gasps.
"I'll make it a less intrusive feeling," Izon says, snapping her fingers.
Tikana hums and nuzzles up against Izon's thigh.
"You…" is all Tik Tik can say.
"Well, I guess this means I’m your boss now, Tik Tik," Izon says. "I hope there are no hard feelings, but I'm going to do what I have to do to get on top, and the top is right in front of me."
"Indeed," Hanioc says, spreading their arms wide. "You have won this match in the Tournament of Pleasure by showing your skills as an eroarcanist. Now, what lies before you is the grand finals, where you shall face the winner of the bout between Tikana and the winner of the loser's."
"Oh… so Tikana may get a rematch with me?" Izon says, patting the queen on her crown. "That would hardly seem fair, would it?"
"I'll fix her," Tik Tik says.
"Oh?"
"That's right, Izon. I'll fix Tikana, and she will be able to beat you next time!"
"Now that, I'd love to see."