Sensing that his adorable little human was trapped in a living hell of coercion and threats, the "King of Humanity" DNA dormant within Shu's body instantly activated.
With the speed of a thunderbolt and the stealth of a ninja, he aggressively seized control, temporarily becoming the tyrannical owner of the group chat.
Of course, Shu didn't permanently strip Aizhar of her rightful privileges; he was merely acting as a temporary proxy.
He immediately slapped Evolution with a permanent mute, threw him into the digital solitary confinement channel, and followed the psychic network connection to deliver a metaphorical sledgehammer directly to Evolution's Herrscher consciousness.
[Evolution]: ?
When did this bastard start lurking in the chat?!
Where is the admin?! Admin, mute this dog right now! My glorious, thunderous plan for revenge is being ruined by this bastard!
Did any of the Herrschers genuinely believe Evolution's plan was going to succeed?
Shu didn't care. After delivering a harsh lesson to Evolution for bullying Aizhar, he quietly logged out of the channel.
The Herrschers had paid a price for Aizhar's assistance. Although the amount of power they could grant was severely limited by the autonomous restrictions of their respective Divine Keys, for an ordinary human like Aizhar, it was more than enough.
At the very least, she could now comfortably punch out a Chariot-class Honkai beast, which was sufficient.
Shu only punished Evolution because of his sheer disrespect and arrogant trash-talking. The rest of the arrangement was technically fine.
Exiting the secret Herrscher channel, Shu rubbed his forehead miserably and let out a long sigh. He felt that the upcoming Voices of Arc City was going to be completely devoid of any normal, positive energy.
It's entirely comprised of schemes and chaotic nonsense, my friend.
"Do we genuinely have any normal competitors left?" After Shu gave the group a brief rundown of the origins behind the bizarre team names, Kiana stared blankly at him and asked the question burning in all of their hearts.
Shu shook his head.
Based on the current roster, the only relatively normal group they were facing was the Vodka Girls. The rest were absolutely incomprehensible entities.
There are literally no humans left in the competition.
What exactly is our 'Voices of Arc City' going to turn into?
"Whatever... At the end of the day, it's just a band competition. If it comes down to it, we'll just fight a popularity war. It'll be fine." Shu pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed, thoroughly adopting a "fuck it, we ball" mentality.
There's no way a public idol audition and performance program is going to devolve into a literal cage match on stage, right?
"Hard to say." Bronya's voice floated over eerily. "Based on Bronya's extensive experience, these types of abstract band duels often escalate into literal combat."
"What kind of 'extensive experience' are you watching?!" Shu sighed, placing his phone face-down on the table and covering his breathtakingly beautiful face in despair.
"It's fine. Whether it's a battle of music or a literal battle, we aren't going to lose, right?"
"Of course not!" Kiana instantly puffed out her chest and planted her hands on her hips. After several days of Shu's rigorous coaching and training, Kiana felt her confidence skyrocketing. She felt she could deliver two consecutive god-tier live performances without even breaking a sweat.
Bronya and Mei didn't say anything, but through their recent practice sessions, they both recognized that their current skill level was genuinely quite high. At the very least, they were perfectly qualified to be a professional girl band.
All three of them were massive anomalies overflowing with talent and raw stats. After just a little bit of synchronization, their sheer numerical superiority was undeniably apparent.
But that being said, the capabilities of their competitors absolutely could not be underestimated. They couldn't afford to be arrogant. They needed to continue their rigorous training.
"Alright, everyone. Since our opponents are this formidable, let's get back to practice." Mei clapped her hands, pulling everyone up from their seats and back to their respective positions.
Drummer: Bronya.
Bassist: Mei.
Guitarist & Lead Vocalist: Kiana.
As for Shu, he served as the band's keyboardist and backup vocalist.
Kiana was, after all, a rookie. Although her raw talent and physical stats allowed her to sing almost any genre of music perfectly, in reality, the vast majority of her performances failed to satisfy Shu, the insatiable Dementor.
"The emotion in this one isn't quite right. It feels like it lacks soul." After Kiana finished belting out another track, Shu scrunched up his face and delivered his usual critique.
"Oh, come on! Stop holding everyone else to your impossible standards! Everyone has a different appetite; you have to learn to be satisfied!" Kiana had heard this exact feedback from Shu countless times by now and was completely unfazed.
She still remembered the very first time. She had genuinely thought her singing was terrible, to the point that Shu was forced to speak up.
Facts proved that was merely Kiana's stereotyped perception of the old Shu. The current Shu was no longer the man who would rather swallow all his thoughts and suffer in silence than say something that might make others uncomfortable.
Shu was exhibiting signs of chaotic gremlin behavior. This was likely the insidious influence of the Herrscher of Obsession's divine power.
Furthermore, Shu's critiques were genuinely meant as constructive advice. It was just that his advice didn't sound like something a human being could say, or rather, it wasn't something that could be reasonably demanded of a human.
"When you sing this song, you need to project the feeling of... casually strolling through a dense, pristine Norwegian forest..."
Kiana: "?"
Does that sound like human language to you?!
At the time, Kiana had been furious, passionately arguing that what Shu was demanding was physically impossible for a human to execute. Her argument immediately received the full support of Bronya and Mei.
All three of them felt his conditions were far too harsh; it was basically just Shu making things difficult for them.
It was three against one. The advantage was entirely Kiana's.
And then, Shu proceeded to personally demonstrate exactly what it meant to be an absolute "Stat Monster with Flawless Mechanics."
Mei finally understood why Kiana had been so obsessed with Shu's singing previously, and Bronya was utterly flabbergasted.
It turned out that everything Shu described, he could actually execute flawlessly, and the effect was undeniably, overwhelmingly apparent!
Seeing the tangible results, Kiana's motivation skyrocketed. She immediately decided to diligently learn Shu's techniques so she could unleash her voice on stage and charm thousands of beautiful girls.
Facts proved their initial judgment was entirely correct.
Not a single one of the points Shu mentioned could be easily learned. Or rather, absolutely none of those techniques were something a normal human could physically execute. Even Kiana, after several grueling attempts, finally concluded:
Shu is not human.
The issue had escalated from a simple learning curve to a fundamental biological limitation. Shu desperately wanted to say, "If you're bad, just practice more," but he couldn't bring himself to utter those words. Offering advice and demonstrating the technique was his absolute limit.
And so, the issue was glossed over. By now, the group viewed Shu's advice through a massive filter. Whenever he offered a critique, they had to actively decipher it before responding.
If it was completely unrealistic, they would just nod along, maybe question it half-heartedly, and then happily trick Shu into singing it for them, enjoying a free, god-tier concert. It was a wonderful system.
Meanwhile, it wasn't just their group. Across all of Arc City, inside and outside the Fire Moth bases, every single team that had secured a spot in the live finals was engaged in intense, frantic rehearsals.
Every team burned with absolute confidence, fiery enthusiasm, and possessed transcendent, otherworldly capabilities.
All of them were pointing their swords directly at the championship of The Voices of Arc City!
Victory was within reach!