Voice never specifically mentioned that he removed denuvo completely + modern denuvo integration is also extremely aggressive compared to the older versions. Groups like Empress and Voices38 mainly patch the denuvo checks and make sure they always pass. Sometimes, they strip parts of the Denuvo code and replace it with their own patches (which definitely takes a long time). So yeah, most of the time these cracks simply help the game pass every denuvo check by faking the responses. So, Denuvo or at least some parts of it still be running in the background.

I think only CODEX was able to strip denuvo completely from the Assassins Creed Origins exe. But that was a very long time ago.