Calling people addressing it as trolls comes off super disingenuous and being overly defensive about it just makes you look worse.
I get it. But you also have to know that some people are trolls. I can't be the only person here who's been to 4chan. I'll give you an example from the latest build that convinces me Nix is not an AI slop hack.
I see this process on every piece of art. Most people don't seem to argue over whether Nix does the drawing. I also do not think it is plausibly debatable if he does the coloring. Most people when they see the process more argue that the shading or maybe blending is AI. Shading and blending tools have existed in Photoshop for a long time. But regardless, maybe after drawing and coloring, he put it into stablediffusion and got the shading and blending. This is obviously a possibility.
We also know that AI detectors are very inaccurate. I included references in the OP. The Pit from 2018 is identified as AI, DevilHS from 2020 is identified as AI. A screenshot from this game is identified as AI. So that cannot be a good method for identifying AI.
We all have to think about things in our own frame of reference and with the standards which we all create ourselves. Look at the final panel in the comic. There is some shine and shading on her pants which is what I think people identify as "AI" shading or "AI" look. Maybe I am wrong, but that is what I think of when I think of AI stuff. But if you look back at panels 2, to the panel where she falls in the water, there is no shading, shine or blending that resembles that. I would argue that it is, superficially, a different style.
If the image was put through an AI processor, how did that happen? Did the AI mess up or get lazy and not upgrade every panel? Who messed up? Nix or the AI? Which panel should have received more effort? 2 or 4? Obviously 4. 4 is the panel people want to see. So a real person exercising prudent time management will put more effort into panel 4 than into panel 2. AI would be indifferent. So, it just seems unlikely that there is a meaningful amount of AI. Additionally, Nix make fairly small modifications based on feedback.
Photoshop CG tools may have been AIified. If that is the case, everything is AI. The fight is already lost. Maybe when we start adding animations, that may change your mind. Live2d needs for there to be extensive layering and objects to work right and part of the reason I picked Nix is our animator said his raw files have a lot of the object layering necessary for easy animation. You do you. I hope you like the game anyway. The story may be a little cliche, but the game isn't AI at least.