To avenge Rocky's death, he abandons his ordinary life. In order to infiltrate the NESTS cartel without being recognized, Maxima was transformed into a cyborg, with his strength and reaction time increased to superhuman levels, built-in weapons, and the ability to conduct instant data analysis. He also has some degree of cyberpathy. He infiltrates NESTS and is assigned to be the partner of K′. They both defect from the cartel after K' encounters his clone, Krizalid, and grows sickened by the organization. Since then, he has become K's steadfast companion and he is often the one who enters both of them into the following tournaments. Official Invitation Team (Sylvie Paula Paula) (Kukri) (Mian) The Official Invitation Team is composed of characters that Antonov personally invited to participate in his tournament. First appearing in The King of Fighters XIV, the team consists of Sylvie Paula Paula, a remnant of NESTS who wields electromagnetic powers, Kukri, a mysterious fighter from North Africa (presumably Mali) who utilizes sand-based fighting techniques while hiding his face with a hood at all times, and Mian, a Sichuan opera dancer and fighter. Prior to the tournament, each member lives in the underground society with Mian and Sylvie often taking part in underground tournaments together. During the end of the final match, Kukri reveals that he is familiar with Verse, especially since half its power lies within Shun'ei. When the tournament ends, Kukri leaves his teammates and Antonov behind and travels to the Carpathian Mountains in the Ukraine where he finds Ash Crimson. Kukri is soon joined by Elisabeth Blanctorche, revealing that she had hired Kukri to enter the tournament to find and rescue Ash whose soul resided inside Verse. Kukri is the main antagonist of a spin-off sequel between The King of Fighters XIV and The King of Fighters XV titled SNK Heroines: Tag Team Frenzy, in which Kukri himself kidnaps and sends most of the female participants from the XIV tournament into his personal pocket dimension, alongside Jeanne d'Arc from the World Heroes series, Thief Arthur from Million Arthur, and a recently resurrected Shermie, as well as swapping genders of male fighters Terry Bogard, Iori Yagami (going under his previous alias Miss X from SNK Gals' Fighters), and Skullomania from Fighting EX Layer. It is revealed in The King of Fighters XV that Kukri’s cynical attitude had been originating from the death of his master and