Ash Crimson

Ash is a clever trickster and serves as an anti-villain as well as an anti-hero in the series. He is cunning and manipulative, often condescending friend or foe to his whim, and has ambiguous morals in his actions. He often gains his teammates through promises that he can fulfill, though he rarely specifies the means of granting them. One case in particular would be his teammates, Oswald and Shen Woo, as he pits them against one another to get their desires. Despite being seemingly frail by appearance, Ash is powerful as he was able to defeat Iori whilst in his Riot of Blood state seemingly with ease. Ash is a cunning, self righteous, and flamboyant individual. Confident in his own powers, he doesn't take things too seriously and considers things that are of no interest bothersome. Even when faced with serious situations, he is calm and somewhat blasé. He isn't one who considers working with others, but instead uses others to achieve his goals. He tends to flaunt the superiority of his halfhearted effort and speaks in a playful and condescending manner, which often irritates the characters he is speaking to. He views Elisabeth as his older sister figure, and notes that she is "too serious". He feels that Duo Lon and Shen Woo are his good friends, although he appeared to them with mysterious intentions. He also has a habit of calling people pet names such as "Betty" for Elisabeth, and "Ozzy" for Oswald. His personality seems to slightly change when actively using the power of the Yasakani jewel. Usually calm and composed, when using his Fructidor move, Ash will laugh maniacally while making his opponent burn with the purple flames of the Yasakani. This behavior is similar to Iori, and it may be interpreted as Orochi's taint affecting his mind. ~!Prior to the KOF XIII tournament, Ash openly joins forces with Those from the Past and works for their master. During the tournament finals, his true motives are revealed: his previous actions were done to earn Saiki's trust and to gain enough power to rob Saiki's soul. He wants to end their bloodline. Ash carries out his true plan when Saiki finally lowers his guard, but Saiki's essence overwhelms him. After being defeated again by the winning team, Ash regains control of his body. Saiki insists that Ash enter the Time Gate, which will allow them to return to a previous era and begin their entire plan over again. Since Ash likes the current world, he allows the gate to close. His inaction erases both him and Saiki from time. Ash has a few moments to apologize to Elisabeth before disappearing. He leaves the stolen sacred treasures behind for Iori and Chizuru to reclaim. __XIV Arc:__ Ash Crimson's act of erasing Saiki (and consequentially, his own self) from existence by orchestrating a temporal paradox (by trapping Saiki in the present time) sets up the events in the game, and resulted in the appearance of the entity known as Verse. After Verse's defeat, Ash's soul is released and is found by Kukri and Elisabeth on Carpathian Mountains in Ukraine. It is then highly implied, if not outright confirmed, that Ash is alive again!~