earth like Goro Daimon. Having been dead for years after the events of KOF '97, Ash Crimson’s suicidal action at the end of the XIII tournament had caused their souls to reside within a creature known as Verse during the XIV tournament. When Verse is defeated, the New Faces/Orochi Team's souls are released from it, leading to both their resurrection as of the canonical spin-off crossover SNK Heroines Tag Team Frenzy and return in KOF XV. However, their revival causes their awakened Orochi personalities to split from them into separate entities unlike Goenitz and much to their own dismay. Despite this, both the normal and awakened forms of the Orochi Team still vow to carry out Orochi's mission while also trying to avoid the Ikari Warriors' current surveillance towards them. Orochi is the final boss of The King of Fighters '97, and can be considered the main antagonist of the series as most villains either serve it or wants to use its powers for their own ends. Its character origin is another interpretation of the mythical eight-headed serpent demon, Yamata no Orochi. In The King of Fighters series, it is a chthonic supernatural being that is the will of Gaia. It has no distinct gender. It does not regard humanity as trustworthy with regard to coexisting with the planet without ravaging it, and so seeks to extinguish humanity. It was sealed 1,800 years ago by the three sacred treasures of Japan. The three clans' descendants are charged with protecting the seal. In The King of Fighters '97, it incarnates in Chris (a herald of Orochi) to save the Gaia. It is sealed again at the end of the '97 tournament by the three descendants of the users of the three sacred treasures (Kyo, Chizuru and Iori), but the seal is later broken (though not to the point of actually releasing it) by the demon Mukai at the end of The King of Fighters 2003. A clone of Orochi appears as a boss in NeoGeo Battle Coliseum named Mizuchi. In The King of Fighters XIV, Orochi is one of the many souls inside Verse as shown through Verse's win quote against Kyo and in the ending of Team Yagami, as it lands in Aggtelek-Karst in Hungary, it is sealed away once again due to being in its still weakened state. The NESTS cartel NESTS is a mysterious and dangerous cartel that