Chizome Akaguro

Chizome Akaguro (赤黒血染), best known by his villain name Hero Killer: Stain (ヒーロー殺し ステイン) is a villain that is notorious for having killed many pro heroes and is the main antagonist of the Vs. Hero Killer Arc.

Appearance
Chizome is an intimidating, muscular man who walks with a distinct hunch. He has black hair and wears it in a messy fashion that would drape over his face if not for his headband and mask. Chizome's face is mostly flat because he doesn't appear to have a nose, and he has blood red eyes. His unique tongue is unusually long and tainted with many small bumps.

The Hero Killer sports a dark colored sleeveless combat suit, plated with metal armor across his body to holster his weapons. The torso is sleeveless, Chizome instead wraps his arms in bandages.

He also wears long black wristbands, and a watch on his left wrist. His knees are protected with metal pads and the costume is completed with black, steel boots. Chizome always dons his signature blood red scarf and matching headband. As well as the tattered cloth he wears round his face as a mask.

Personality
Chizome is a cold, unforgiving man with a sense of duty to cleanse society of false heroes. He believes that those who work as Heroes to collect income are unworthy of being called the name and only All Might is a true hero. Due to his strong ideology, Chizome took it upon himself to become the Hero Killer: Stain to stain his own hands with blood to purge fake heroes and change the current society.

Chizome does not wish to kill those who are not targets for his own cause. He dislikes needless bloodshed and came to blows with Tomura Shigaraki because of it. He was reluctant to attack Tenya Iida before the hero in training provoked him. He even told Tenya the true traits of a hero in contrast of those who desire to use their Quirks in selfish ways. Chizome spared Izuku Midoriya because he showed characteristics of a true hero. He believes heavily in creeds and convictions, stating that they are needed in order to accomplish anything and that without them people are weak and will eventually die.

In spite of his extremist views and beliefs, Chizome does have genuine ideals about Heroism which he stands by firmly. He does not hesitate to save people he deems worthy of being called Heroes, does not like killing without reason, and will even give advice to his enemies. He seems to acknowledge that what he is doing is morally wrong, but believes that in order for society to be put on the right path, someone must be what he is, indicating he sees himself as somewhat of a martyr.

The Hero Killer's conviction gives him an incredibly murderous aura and bloodlust that paralyzed several heroes in fear. It gives him enough confidence to willingly challenge several pro heroes at once, even after sustaining major injuries.

History
All Might's debut as a Hero deeply inspired Chizome. Since then, Chizome aimed to become a Hero like All Might. Chizome entered a private Hero course high school to train to become a Hero. However, Chizome became hopeless and despaired after seeing the school's "fundamental decay"; that the students there were becoming Heroes for the money and personal gain. Disillusioned by the reality of Heroics, Chizome dropped out during the summer of his freshman year.

After dropping out of high school, the teenage Chizome preached an ideology which he called the "Revival of Heroics" through street oratory speeches and soapbox speeches. However, no one listened to him.

Over the following decade, Chizome realized that only action will create his ideal world and change Heroics for the better. Chizome researched and disciplined himself in the training of the killing arts through self-study. He did this in order to achieve his duty of "Revival of Heroics". During this decade, Chizome's parents died (it is unknown what led to their deaths but it is believed that Chizome was not involved).

After completing his training in the killing arts, Chizome had a brief stint as a vigilante, going by the name of Stendhal, hunting villains to make up for the heroes mistakes. During this time he had worked with the Vigilantes, such as Knuckleduster, The Crawler, and Pop Step. During this time he had became more and more disillusioned with hero society to the point where he began to work with a villain who was supplying the quirk enhancing drug Trigger to several small time criminals.

Sometime later, after his face got disfigured, he took up the mantle of Hero Killer Stain and begun advocating the "Revival of Heroics". In this ideology of "Revival of Heroics", Chizome (now known as Stain) stated the guidelines of being a Hero: that Heroes must not desire rewards or compensation, and that people can only have the title of Hero when they commit the ultimate acts of self-sacrifice. The ideology stated that the "Heroes" of the modern world are fakes who pretend to be Heroes.

Stain then began implementing his "Revival of Heroics" by killing Pro Heroes, deciding that he would not stop his purge of the Pro Heroes until the world realized the flaw in the Heroics system. Stain's end goal with implementing his ideology "Revival of Heroics" was to create a just world filled with true Heroes.

U.A. Sports Festival Arc
Stain is introduced after heavily injuring Ingenium. In the same area as the unconscious Tensei, Stain is disgusted by the fact that pro heroes call themselves "heroes", saying that they are not worthy of being Heroes. He declares that the only person who is worthy of being called a Hero is also the only one who is allowed to do him in: All Might.

Stain appears again on a rooftop, saying that the current society is distorted and twisted and declares that he will make them face reality. After Kurogiri appears, Stain draws his katana and aims it at Kurogiri. However, Kurogiri asks Stain to withhold his blade and says that he has been wanting to meet him due to his notoriety. Kurogiri asks Stain for a moment of his time, teleporting Stain and himself away.

Vs. Hero Killer Arc
Kurogiri brings Stain to the League of Villains' hideout to meet with Tomura Shigaraki. Stain sees that it was Tomura's League of Villains that raided U.A. High and that Tomura wants Stain to join. Stain asks what Tomura's goal is, to which Tomura replies that he wants to murder All Might and destroy anything that is unsatisfiable to them such as some of the students from Class 1-A. Seeing that Tomura is being childish, Stain says that Tomura is being foolish and that there is no sense in bloodshed without a cause. The mysterious voice on the monitor orders Kurogiri to allow Stain and Tomura to continue talking, saying that Tomura's meeting with Stain (an experienced infamous villain) will stimulate Tomura's growth.

Stain's meeting with Tomura turns into a fight. Stain overpowers Tomura with ease and pins Tomura down onto the ground, stabbing Tomura's right shoulder with one of his daggers while pointing the other dagger at Tomura's neck. Stain also prevents Kurogiri from moving. Stain tells the pinned down Tomura that in order to accomplish anything he needs a creed and a mind, telling the amateur villain that those who do not have creeds and minds will not survive and definitely die. Stain states that the current society is fake, overrun with poor Heroes and Villains who throw their power around aimlessly. Stain prepares to cut Tomura's neck with his dagger as well as the hand on his face, but Tomura grabs the dagger with his hand and begins disintegrating it. Tomura tells Stain that while he does not have such serious creeds, he does have a desire, which is to crush the society where All Might is set up in, wanting to plunge it into the ground. Tomura completely disintegrates Stain's dagger. Stain leaps backwards away from Tomura. Stain concludes that while their goals are different, his and Tomura's desire to destroy the current society is one thing they have in common. Stain tells Tomura that he has tested his mettle and concludes that he has a crooked creed dwelling within him and wonders what that creed will sprout. Stain declares that he might spare the League of Villains and will not dispose of it once he has ascertained them with his own eyes. Seeing that his business with the League of Villains is over, Stain demands to be returned to Hosu, Tokyo as he has unfinished business there.

Kurogiri warps himself, Stain and Tomura to Hosu. Tomura notes that Hosu is quite prosperous while Stain says his goal is to reform Hosu by sacrificing the "fake" Pro Heroes that work there. Stain states his belief; that the title of Hero should only be bestowed onto people who achieve great undertakings, saying that there are too many "fake" Heroes that only work for money. Stain leaves to finish his business, saying that he will keep appearing until society realizes its error and jumps off the building.

Stain goes to an alley and finds Native, defeats the Pro Hero with ease and immobilizes the Pro Hero's movements. Stain hears the chaos in Hosu and realizes that Tomura has made his move. Stain decides to leave Tomura to his own mechanisms while he finishes his business. Stain prepares to kill the Pro Hero with his katana. However, Stain feels the presence of someone approaching him from behind and uses his katana to slash at the person, knocking Tenya Iida down to the ground as well as knocking off his helmet and glasses. Stain sees that the person who tried to attack him is a child, telling the child to leave. Tenya gets up, telling Stain that he has been searching for him and looks at the Hero Killer with vengeful eyes. Stain points his katana at Tenya and says that he has avenging eyes, telling Tenya that if the situation demands it children will also be targets.

Stain prepares to go and finish his job of killing the Pro Hero, but the enraged Tenya yells to Stain that he is the brother of a Pro Hero he cut down and he has come to stop Stain in his stead. Tenya tells Stain to never forget his Hero name, Ingenium, which is the name of the Hero that will take him down. Seeing that Tenya is serious about being a Hero, Stain tells Tenya to prepare for death. Tenya attacks Stain with a high speed kick, but the Hero Killer dodges Tenya's fast kick with ease by jumping above him. Stain kicks Tenya's right arm, causing it to bleed and slams Tenya onto the ground with his left foot. Stain stabs Tenya's left shoulder with his katana which defeats Tenya. Stain reveals to Tenya that he let Tensei live in order to feed rumors. Stain says that both him and his brother are weak because they are fake Heroes. Tenya, even though he is defeated, rebukes Stain's claim that his older brother Tensei is weak, yelling that Tensei was a splendid Hero and that he will kill Stain to avenge his older brother. Stain tells Tenya to save the injured Pro Hero behind him, advising the defeated younger brother to act selflessly by rescuing others first and not be selfish by brandishing his power for his own sake. Stain states that seeking revenge just to satisfy one's selfish desires is the act furthest from the title of "Hero" which is why he will die now. Stain stomps his foot on Tenya's head and prepares to kill Tenya with his katana, saying that Tenya will be an offering to a just world. Stain is about to deliver the finishing blow. However, Stain is punched in the face by Izuku Midoriya which stops Stain from killing Tenya.

Stain is pushed back a bit from Izuku's punch. Stain recognizes Izuku from one of the photos that Tomura showed him. Stain praises Izuku for wanting to save Tenya. However, Stain states that he has a duty to kill Tenya as well as the Pro Hero, threatening Izuku that if he gets in the way he will kill him and asks the young Hero what he will do. Izuku states that butting into other people's problems is one of the principal qualities of a Hero. Stain smiles at Izuku's statement.

Stain and Izuku begin their battle; Stain draws out his katana and a small dagger; Stain charges at Izuku. Izuku activates One For All Full Cowl throughout his body and closes in on Stain, causing the Pro Hero to comment that Izuku's plan of attack was a wise choice against his katana, a long ranged weapon. Stain attacks Izuku with his katana and dagger, but Izuku dodges by running through the gap between Stain's legs. Seeing that Izuku is behind him, Stain counters by slashing at Izuku with his katana, only to be avoided by Izuku's jump. Izuku attacks Stain with his move 5% Detroit Smash, delivering an enhanced downward punch to Stain's head. However, Stain is still unfazed and licks his dagger that has a trace of Izuku's blood, causing Izuku to become immobilized. Stain, impressed with Izuku's actions, tells Izuku that there is worth in keeping him alive and decides not to kill Izuku. Stain prepares to kill Tenya once again. Suddenly, Stain is attacked by a column of fire and ice, forcing Stain to stop his attack on Tenya and dodge the fire and ice. Shoto Todoroki reveals himself as the one who attack Stain with fire and ice, having been called by Izuku for help through a text message.

Stain dodges Shoto's ice attack by jumping into the air and manages to evade Shoto's fire attack. Stain lands on the ground. Stain throws his dagger at Shoto's face and manages to land a cut on Shoto's face; Stain also throws his katana up into the air at the same time. Stain appears before Shoto and attacks him with his dagger, but Shoto blocks Stain's attack with a pillar of ice. Stain grabs the distracted Shoto and prepares to lick the blood off his face. However, Shoto activates his fire power and knocks Stain back, preventing the Hero Killer from ingesting Shoto's blood. Shoto attacks Stain with ice again, but the Hero Killer dodges and slashes at Shoto with his katana and dagger, although Shoto is able to defend himself with a small wall of ice. Shoto creates and attacks Stain with great pillars of ice, attempting to block Stain's view. Stain cuts through Shoto's ice pillars with ease. Stain throws two small daggers into Shoto's left arm, causing it to bleed. Stain jumps into the air and prepares to stab Shoto with his katana. Suddenly, Izuku appears before him and grabs Stain, attempting to throw him onto the ground. The Hero Killer retaliates by knocking Izuku away with his elbow, causing Izuku to fall onto the ground. Stain then distances himself away from Shoto and Izuku.

Izuku and Shoto team up to battle Stain. Izuku tries to attack the Hero Killer, but Stain slashes at Izuku with his katana, causing Izuku's leg to bleed; Stain licks his katana and activates his Quirk, which paralyzes Izuku. Now that Izuku is immobilized, Stain sets his sight on Shoto; he cuts through Shoto's wall of ice, removing Shoto's defense and prepares to attack Shoto.

Stain dodges Shoto's attack and prepares to cut him with his katana, criticizing Shoto for relying on his Quirk too much. Suddenly, Tenya uses Recipro Burst and kicks Stain's katana, shattering it in half and kicks Stain away. After Tenya apologizes to Izuku and Shoto, Stain mocks Tenya for having a change of heart because he has already shown his true colors, saying that he is a fake Hero who prioritizes his selfish desires and that he is the "cancer" of society, preaching that he is here to correct that. Stain becomes angered by Tenya's resolve. Stain is kept at bay by Shoto's fire stream but eventually manages to get away. Stain attacks Shoto with daggers but Tenya intervenes. Stain is approached by Izuku and Tenya; Tenya hits Stain in the stomach with his speed enhanced kick while Izuku punches Stain in the face with his enhanced might.

The combined might of Izuku and Tenya's attacks causes Stain to lose consciousness. However, Stain keeps himself awake and makes one last ditch attempt to kill Tenya by attacking Tenya with a blade. However, Tenya kicks Stain again and Shoto shoots a stream of fire at Stain's face, causing Stain's face to have burn marks. Shoto and Tenya's additional attacks causes Stain to become unconscious, having finally reached his limit and falls onto Shoto's ice, defeated. Stain's weapons are removed from his body and he is tied up with rope to prevent escape.

Izuku, Shoto, Tenya, and Native leave the alley with the unconscious Stain in tow being pulled by Shoto. Suddenly, the winged Nomu appears and grabs Izuku, starting to fly away with him. Shockingly, Stain regains consciousness and frees himself from the ropes with a blade up his sleeve. Stain licks off the winged Nomu's blood from the female Pro Hero's face and activates his Quirk. The winged Nomu becomes paralyzed due to Stain's Quirk and stops flying, dropping Izuku in the process. Stain stabs the winged Nomu's brain and defeats it, causing to fall to the ground. Stain grabs Izuku and saves him. Stain, despite being heavily injured, states that the "fake" Pro Heroes and the pathetic criminals in society are his targets for his purge, saying that everything he is doing is for a just world.

Endeavor shows up and prepares to attack Stain. Stain's bandaged mask falls off, revealing that his nose was carved out, shocking everyone. Stain, despite his heavy injuries, steps forward and says that the fake Heroes must be rectified and the word Hero must be restored. Stain urges the pretenders to try and stop him. Stain continues walking forward and declares that the only one who is allowed to kill him is All Might. Stain unleashes a bloody malefic aura which instills fear into everyone present; one of the Pro Heroes fall down out of fear, Shoto and Tenya fall to their knees, Izuku becomes terrified, Gran Torino becomes tense and even Endeavor takes a step back. Stain takes a step forward, but the grievous injuries of his perforated lungs caused by his broken ribs causes Stain to finally lose consciousness. Everyone is shocked and stunned that even though the Hero Killer lost consciousness, Stain is still standing.

The next day, the Chief of Hosu Police, Kenji Tsuragamae, states that Stain sustained several burns, bone fractures, perforated lungs, and other serious injuries but he is still alive and is undergoing treatment for his grievous injuries.

The news of Stain's defeat and arrest spreads like wildfire throughout Japan. Stain's backstory is revealed in published articles and becomes a major topic. Stain's backstory inspires and causes a rise in villainy, causing many villains to decide to unite themselves with the League of Villains, which is the opposite of what he wanted, a just world.

Hideout Raid Arc
After undergoing treatment for his injuries, Stain was incarcerated in Tartarus, a special prison for criminals for whom the death penalty is not enough.

Quirk and Abilities
Bloodcurdle (凝血): Stain can paralyze and immobilize an opponent by ingesting samples of their blood. The amount of time a victim is paralyzed for varies depending on blood type, with B having the longest duration, then in decreasing order, AB, A, and O. Regardless, the maximum amount of time anyone can be paralyzed is 8 minutes. As noted below, his speed and endurance are also both superhuman grade, which is how he manages to get access to his opponents' blood in the first place.

Overall Abilities: Stain is a powerful villain, as he was able to battle and heavily injure Ingenium, a popular and powerful Pro Hero, without much difficulty, leaving him in a critical state. Stain also was able to murder 17 known Pro Heroes and crippled 23 others to the point of being unable to make a full recovery. Even Shoto Todoroki commented that Stain is a strong combatant. It took the combined efforts of Izuku, Shoto, and Tenya to take down Stain, but even using all their power only managed to briefly knock him out; Izuku commented that Stain was probably holding back against them and could have killed them any time, to which Shoto agreed. He can emit an overwhelming amount of blood lust when provoked, enough to even cause Endeavor, a highly regarded hero, to back up.

Enhanced Speed & Reflexes: Stain has proven himself to be quite agile as he was capable of dodging Tenya's high-speed kick with ease and has shown to have great speed as well as reaction time.

Immense Endurance: Stain also appears to have a high pain threshold, as he barely felt any pain when Izuku dealt his 5% Detroit Smash to his head but was completely unfazed. Stain has immense endurance as his lungs were perforated by his broken ribs and, despite losing consciousness due to his injured lungs, still stood standing even though he was unconscious.

Highly Perceptive Combatant: Stain has shown creativity and mastery over his fighting style having been able to deal with close and long range opponents through a mix of misdirection, aggression, prediction and use of the environment he is given in order to get up close to his target or at the very least draw even the slightest amount of blood to activate his Quirk.

Equipment
Weapon Arsenal: Before being arrested, Stain carried various weapons with him, which included a katana, five daggers, throwing knives, toe-spiked boots and folding knives. He was apparently skilled in using them.

All Might
Stain seems to have a great deal of respect for All Might and even states that he is the only true hero in the world. His respect towards him came from his respect he had towards him when he was a teen, All Might was the reason Stain decided to become a Hero. Stain's respect and admiration for All Might runs so deep that before finally falling unconscious, Stain declared that only All Might is allowed to defeat him.

Tenya Iida
Stain despises Tenya for his desire for revenge against him. He scolded the young hero over his selfish desires of revenge over saving the Pro Hero he was about to kill. Even after Tenya learned from his mistakes Stain stopped at nothing to kill him, claiming that people don't change their views easily. Tenya however, though he hates him immensely for almost killing his brother, acknowledges Stain was right about him and resolved to start over as a Hero.

Tomura Shigaraki
Stain views Shigaraki as an immature child who wants to cause needless bloodshed all for nothing. He did not hesitate to pin him down when they conversed and refused to join his alliance, which earned him Shigaraki's hatred. Shigaraki also despised how Stain's capture was the main news story insted of the Nomu attack.

Izuku Midoriya
Stain, like All Might, respects Izuku for his convictions and bravery he displayed in his fight with him. He acknowledges Izuku as a true hero. Because of his respect, he both spared Izuku when he first fought him and risked his life to save the young hero in training from a Noumu.

Shoto Todoroki
Stain seems to also respect Shoto for his skills and convictions as a true hero. Shoto, however, despises Stain for his ideologies about "fake" Pro Heroes.

Battles
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Field Training Arc
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 * Tenya Iida & Izuku Midoriya vs. Stain: Interrupted
 * Tenya Iida, Izuku Midoriya & Shoto Todoroki vs. Chizome Akaguro Loss

Trivia

 * Stain's design, having no nose, bandanna and samurai equipment is possibly inspired by the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in their early, dark comic debut.
 * His weapons, dark outfit, and violent ideology could also be a reference to the general trope of the violent antihero's of the 90's
 * Additionally, Stain's personality is very similar to the Marvel anti-hero, The Punisher. Both are former heroes who turned to darker methods of obtaining their forms of "justice". They both also have a strong moral code separating them from true villainy (Punisher only murders criminals while Stain only murders corrupt heroes).
 * Stain's blood type is B.
 * A character named Stendhal in a spinoff has seemingly the same abilities of Stain.
 * Stain's name contains the kanji for red (赤), black (黒), blood (血), and stain (染).
 * The two middle kanji for can be combined to form the word venous blood (黒血)

Quotes

 * (To Tomura Shigaraki) "To truly accomplish anything... one needs will and conviction. Those without it... the weak ones.. They'll be weeded out. It's only natural. That's why you're about to die."
 * (To Kurogiri) "Hero is a title reserved for those who perform truly great feats! Too many are undeserving... Just money worshipers playing hero! Until this society wakes up and rectifies itself... I will continue to do my work."
 * (To Tenya Iida) "Forget about yourself for a second and try saving others. Don't wield your power for your own sake. Because getting trapped by your own hate and acting out of pure self-interest... makes you the furthest thing from a hero."
 * (To himself) "Both this sham-filled society... and the criminals who wield their power in the name of petty mischief... are targets of my purge... All for the sake of a better society..."
 * (To various heroes and U.A. students) "If I don't fix it... if someone isn't... stained with blood...! If heroes aren't restored...!! Come! Just try me... you fakes! The only one allowed to kill me is... All Might, a true hero!!"