The Tales of Ash Saga, shortened to Ash Saga, also known as the Tales of Ash/Ash Arc, Third Arc or even The King of Fighters III, is the set of games focused on the third plot of The King of Fighters franchise.
The saga's first game, The King of Fighters 2003, was released on December 18, 2003. With the main character now being Ash Crimson.
KOF 2003 is the last game to be released annually and to be numbered per year. Later games in the saga are named "The King of Fighters" followed by a Roman number (XI, XII, etc.). It has three (2003, XI and XIII) telling the story of the saga and another one (XII) with no history but questionable Dream Match status, yet the saga does not yet have an end-of-arc Dream Match.
Story[]
A mysterious group called Those from the Past aims to revive Orochi to their own ambitions. And somehow the protagonist Ash Crimson is attached to them, stealing the powers of the Three Sacred Treasures one by one.
Now Kyo Kusanagi, Iori Yagami, K', Elisabeth Blanctorche and their allies need to stop the mysterious group and stop Ash Crimson's actions.