The King of Fighters XIII

Story

The game takes place five years after the events of The King of Fighters XI and is the final game of the third story arc that began in The King of Fighters 2003. The fighter Ash Crimson has absorbed the powers of two of the descendants of the clans that sealed the Orochi 1,800 years ago, Chizuru Kagura and Iori Yagami, while Kyo Kusanagi is to be his final victim. As his former comrade Elisabeth Blanctorche prepares to stop him, the fighters receive an invitation to another King of Fighters tournament hosted by a person named "R". The tournament is sponsored by a woman named Rose, who is controlled by "Those From The Past", the organization behind the previous two tournaments and is trying to break Orochi's seal, with Ash acting as their agent. As the winning team reaches the end of the game, Saiki, the leader of Those From The Past, sets his work in motion. Saiki wants to use the energy used by the winning team to cross time, and kills his own subordinate just to face the champions. But as the battle rages, Botan notices that the gate connecting them to the past is beginning to close despite the fight. Before Saiki can act, he is ambushed by Ash, who kills him and steals his power. It turns out that although Ash was recruited by Saiki to retrieve the three sacred treasures for the Time Gate, he had no intention of helping Saiki. Ash is suddenly caught up in Saiki's form and comes face to face with the champions of the tournaments. Saiki is defeated in the time gate, but he insists on traveling to the past, believing it means nothing since he can return to the past and cross the gate again to try his plan once more. However, Ash stops his attempt and allows the gate to close, leaving Saiki trapped in the present. Since Ash is a descendant of Saiki, he denies Saiki's existence in the past, forcing him to end his own existence. When Ash disappears from the world of the living, the flow of time resumes. In the epilogue of the story mode, Chizuru and Iori regain their powers. The remaining members of Saiki's group leave. While it seems that everyone has forgotten Ash's existence, Elizabeth is left emotionally devastated as she still remembers her childhood.