Review – Chapter 222
This chapter works very well as a cooldown arc after heavy lore, horror, and combat.
What's strong:
🌑 Atmosphere shift: The silent, abandoned island after the battle feels haunting and earned.
🌅 Contrast: Moving from skulls, bones, and ruined buildings to a soft sunrise is excellent visual storytelling.
❤️ Emotional grounding: Rae's warmth brings Orimo back to humanity after darkness—this is important and well placed.
🧭 Pacing: This chapter breathes. That's good. After nonstop chaos, readers need this calm.
What could be slightly better (minor):
Some sentences can be smoother and more cinematic.
A bit more sensory detail (wind, smell, silence) would elevate the island's eeriness.
Rae and Orimo's reunion is sweet—polishing the dialogue will make it hit harder emotionally.
Overall:
This is not boring. This is necessary.
It makes the world feel alive and gives readers space to feel attached to Orimo and Rae.
Polished Version (≈95% intact, more cinematic & vivid)
Chapter 222: Rae's Warmth After the Battle — What's Next
The island returned to silence.
Eerie.
Abandoned beneath the crimson moonlight, darkness swallowing everything whole.
What lay across the land were only skeletons, scattered skulls, and broken bones—silent witnesses to a forgotten tragedy.
"I wonder what happened here…" Orimo murmured.
Burnt houses stood like hollow shells. Broken windows stared blankly into nothingness. Inside, rotten beds and scattered remains told stories long erased.
"Maybe… there was a civilization here, years ago," he thought.
A cold breeze brushed past him.
"I should head back to the ship," Orimo murmured to himself.
Step by step, he walked through the island—bones crunching softly beneath his boots. Then his eyes caught sight of it.
A massive, church-like structure loomed ahead, half-collapsed, swallowed by vines and shadow.
"This is creepy as hell," he muttered.
He didn't stop.
One step at a time, he continued forward, until—
The shore.
The sight before him made him pause.
The sun was rising.
The sky was painted in soft pinks and warm oranges, the ocean shimmering as light danced across its surface. The nightmare behind him faded into the quiet beauty of dawn.
From the ship, Rae Winters leaned out.
Her face lit up instantly.
"Orimoooo!!" she shouted, waving both arms. "Come hereee! I know you're hungry!"
Orimo smiled.
"Yeahhh!!" he shouted back, waving as he broke into a run.
He climbed onto the ship, breathing out softly.
Rae placed a hand on his head. "You took six hours, you know."
Orimo scratched the back of his head. "Sorry… I lost track of time."
She smiled warmly. "It's okay."
For the first time since the battle—
Everything felt… calm.