Tanjiro Kamado vs Hand Demon

Tanjiro Kamado vs Hand Demon is a battle that takes place in the forests of Mount Fujikasane during Final Selection. It focuses on the battle between the prospective applicant Tanjiro Kamado and a vindictive morphed demon.

Prologue
After fending off two demons at the start of Final Selection, Tanjiro notices a rotting smell and the scream of an applicant fleeing in fear. He glances over and is horrified to notice a giant, green, morphed demon, made up of hands covering its entire body. The demon swallows a dead applicant whole and grows stronger from devouring him. The Hand Demon launches its appendages at the fleeing boy and pulls him in. Before the demon eats him whole as well, Tanjiro builds up the courage to leap into action and cuts the arms off using the Water Breathing, Second Form: Water Wheel. Despite being wounded, the demon seems more pleased to see another "fox cub" and asks what the year of the Meiji era is. When Tanjiro tells him it is now the Taishō Period, the demon goes crazy and curses Sakonji Urokodaki for trapping him on the mountain for so long, a new era has passed.

Tanjiro is surprised to learn the Hand Demon knows of his trainer. The demon tells him he was trapped on the mountain by Sakonji forty-seven years ago and he has been feeding on all his students as revenge. He can tell them apart from other applicant because of the warding masks he crafts for them. The demon has survived by eating over fifty applicants during the selections over the years, including thirteen of Sakonji's pupils.

He recalls two pupils in particular; a young boy who he considered the most powerful of the ones he had faced and a petite girl who was extraordinarily agile. Realizing the demon is speaking about Sabito and Makomo, Tanjiro hears the demon gloat over when he told Makomo of Sakonji's foolishness in making his masks, speaking of her grief in defending Sakonji's intentions and how he had ripped her apart when she lost control.

Battle
Filled with rage, Tanjiro charges head-on towards the Hand Demon and leaps for its head. However, he is punched away by an arm from the side and crashes into a tree. The boy falls injured with his mask broken and bleeding from the head.The applicant Tanjiro had saved flees the area and leaves him for dead. As the demon approaches the downed Tanjiro, a vision of his brother Shigeru begs him to wake up, causing him to dodge the demon's hands in the nick of time. Tanjiro back flips out of the way and the demon unleashes a barrage of extended arms. The swordsman in training cuts away at the arms until he is forced to retreat.

The demon claims Tanjiro cannot win just by slicing away his arms, remembering that not even Sabito was able to slice his neck. Sakonji's latest student cuts off another arm and stands off with the demon. He knows he cannot lose and must bring down this morphed demon in this decisive battle. Tanjiro charges toward the demon, cutting off three more arms before noticing the demon's scent coming from below him.

Four hidden arms appear from the ground but Tanjiro jumps out of the way in time, surprising his opponent. The demon tries to capitalize on this moment and attempts to grab Tanjiro whilst he is mid-air. He deflects the hand with his rock-hard head and flips onto the demon's giant outstretched arm. The Hand Demon spawns smaller arms and tries to stop Tanjiro, but he counterattacks with Total Concentration Water Breathing and swiftly slashes the arms apart as he lunges through his enemy's defenses. Tanjiro manages to get close to the demon's head with a leaping strike. The Hand Demon believes his neck is too tough for his opponent to cut and plans to crush his head after the sword fails. However, Tanjiro detects the Opening Thread and decapitates the demon with the Water Breathing, First Form: Water Surface Slash.

Aftermath
The manner of the Hand Demon's defeat reminds it of the previous loss at the hands of Sakonji; he recalls feeding on several human bodies before being discovered and captured by Sakonji.After beheading the demon, Tanjiro watches as the morphed body begins to disintegrate into ash. The demon regrets that the face of a Demon Slayer will be the last thing he will ever sees, but while lamenting over his fate, he is surprised to notice Tanjiro's sad expression despite his victory.

Tanjiro detects a scent of sadness being emitted from its body and prays that the demon will not be reincarnated as another again, holding onto one of his hands. The demon himself tears up as he disappears, and has a vision of himself heading towards a light in the afterlife, reincarnated as a human child asking his brother to hold his hand as they go home. At the same time, the souls of Sakonji's students waiting by the stone the demon had killed and eaten are finally able to be put to rest, waking through the mist into the afterlife.