Nia Honjo's expression shifted, revealing an evil grin.
Frankly, even though Nia Honjo was highly attractive, that creepy smile significantly diminished her appeal.
But the implication behind her expression made Miku Izayoi's face darken:
"Cyberbullying... or even targeted offline attacks... In a sense, I'd become the target of all-out assaults by fans willing to pay any price... right?"
In the entertainment industry, Miku Izayoi had heard of at least triple-digit cases of tragedies befalling pure idols who announced their relationships.
Burning endorsed products was the mildest outcome. Cases of stalking, assault, even murder targeting specific addresses offline – she'd heard them all.
Precisely because the industry was so chaotic, during her debut, Miku Izayoi accepted Nia Honjo's suggestion to use a virtual avatar, deliberately choosing an animal persona to avoid the unnecessary trouble her striking looks would cause.
After all, she simply loved singing and wanted to make a living from it – she wasn't trying to sell her face, even if that would've been easier money.
Thanks to Honjo's help, Miku Izayoi hadn't suffered much hardship. Although her exceptional looks had attracted attention from agencies and backstage personnel, these issues were effectively resolved without escalation.
Thus, until now, Miku Izayoi had only heard about such incidents, not experienced them.
But even just hearing about them made her fully aware of the terrifying consequences such situations could unleash.
Especially the price a beautiful girl might pay when facing such circumstances.
Instantly, Miku Izayoi reconsidered whether she should debut with her real appearance at all.
She knew her looks well enough – the kind of fans her real appearance would attract was almost too predictable.
While Miku Izayoi focused on the industry's harsh realities, Luo Shu was more concerned with the earlier issue involving the Desire Faction.
"An idol breaking character leads to fanbase collapse, weakening demons through diminished faith..."
"So, demons accepting faith become constrained by the personas constructed through that faith? They can't act contrary to their established image without suffering damage?"
"Meaning the Desire Faction plans to use human faith to weaken demons? Making things easier for themselves?"
"Bingo!"
Nia Honjo snapped her fingers, then looked at Luo Shu with surprise:
"Your intuition keeps getting sharper, Luo Shu. You grasped the key point this quickly?"
"You're absolutely right – demons accepting faith creates these character-based vulnerabilities."
"And the witches of the Desire Faction aim to exploit these manufactured weaknesses to strengthen their position in advancement rituals, attempting to consume demons and become Demigods."
"In a sense, what they're really trying to do is cut corners during the Demigod advancement ritual."
Nia Honjo clicked her tongue in amazement as she said this.
Aya Tokoyogi had researched the unorthodox Witch Class, devoured the demon she'd contracted with, and thus achieved her High Tier Class as the Witch of the Notaria.
Though this relied heavily on Class materials from True Hell, accomplishing this feat was inseparable from Aya Tokoyogi's own capabilities.
As inheritors of Aya Tokoyogi's research, the witches of the Desire Faction specialised in studying how to simplify the Demigod ritual while maintaining its original effects. They'd actually developed some methods.
Idol worship and religious faith were among the proven effective approaches.
With proper manipulation, certain traits of idols—such as a fear of fire or insects—could become deeply ingrained in the public consciousness as chaotic beliefs. When bestowed upon demons, these could artificially create weaknesses.
The witches would then exploit these vulnerabilities to defeat the demons, absorbing their power to complete their advancement.
In a way, this method wasn't limited to demons alone - it could work on other races too.
At this point, Luo Shu murmured: "Isn't this similar to my Calamity Bestowal?"
Hearing this, Nia Honjo paused before bursting into laughter:
"It does seem quite similar indeed!"
"Except the witches need to gather faith beforehand, use specific techniques, and even control idols or religions to meet the usage conditions."
"Overall, the effect is weaker with more activation requirements - far inferior to your Calamity Bestowal, Luo Shu."
Luo Shu shook his head, then frowned:
"The troubles don't end there. The biggest issue is the source of demons."
"For a witch's Demigod ritual advancement, they need a pureblood demon. In True Hell, even the lowest pureblood demon is the direct descendant of a baron - meaning they have at least a Demigod, if not higher, backing them."
"Essentially, pureblood demons are young nobles - lords and ladies - while our world is just some obscure backwater."
"If it's such a backwater, where would all these nobles come from for the witches to share?"
Miku Izayoi looked stunned: "Are pureblood demons really that rare in our world?"
Patiently explaining to the uninformed Miku, Luo Shu said:
"Not just rare - practically non-existent. Even the SDS has only managed to gather four pureblood demons so far."
"One is Kisara, whom I captured with my team. Another is Ania, who revealed herself of her own accord. Then there's Serafall and Ravel."
"In other words, even with the SDS's capabilities, we've only found four pureblood demons, including those already killed."
"To be honest, whether there are even twenty pureblood demons left in the entire world is questionable."
"Regardless, the number of witches in the Desire Faction can't possibly be fewer than twenty, right? Their core members alone likely exceed twenty witches, not to mention middle and lower-ranking cadres."
"So, compared to weakening demons through faith, the real challenge lies in finding pureblood demons."
"That is indeed the biggest obstacle limiting the Desire Faction." Nia Honjo nodded, then smirked playfully. "But Luo Shu, you did mention that Serafall counts as a pureblood demon~"
Hearing this, Luo Shu's expression froze momentarily before turning peculiar:
"Those Underworld demons? You're saying Sirzechs' purebloods count too?"
Surely not... Could the demons from that Underworld really be that unlucky?
Although unconfirmed, Luo Shu couldn't help but feel a twinge of pity in his heart.
If this were true, the demon race might genuinely become something even dogs wouldn't want to be...