Author: Koyoharu Gotouge

In the crowded streets of Asakusa, Tanjiro suddenly catches the scent he has hunted for so long, the scent of the demon who destroyed his family. He traces it to a well dressed man named Muzan Kibutsuji, strolling calmly with a wife and child as if he were an ordinary gentleman. When Tanjiro grabs him in fury, Muzan coldly slashes a bystander’s neck, turning the innocent man into a demon to cover his escape. As chaos erupts and the police restrain Tanjiro, a mysterious woman steps forward to intervene.

Exhausted from his first mission, Tanjiro finds shelter at a quiet house marked with the wisteria crest, a haven where injured Demon Slayers are nursed back to health. An old woman welcomes him warmly, serving him hot food and tending to his wounds with motherly care. For a brief moment, the weight of battle lifts as he rests and recovers in peace. Soon his crow arrives with new orders, sending him toward the bustling city of Asakusa.

Tanjiro dives straight into the demons’ swampy dimension and unleashes a whirling Water Breathing technique that destroys all three of them at once. He frees the kidnapped girls trapped inside and returns to the surface with the hairpin of Kazumi’s lost fiancée. When he hands it to the grieving young man, Kazumi breaks down in tears of gratitude and sorrow. Victory tastes sweet, yet it carries the weight of those who could not be saved.

Tanjiro patrols the dark streets with Kazumi when the ground suddenly ripples and a demon bursts from a swampy portal, seizing a screaming girl. Tanjiro charges in and cuts it down, only to watch in horror as it splits into three separate demons. Outnumbered and surrounded, he fights with everything he has while Nezuko leaps into the fray beside him. The siblings’ first real battle as a team explodes into full fury.

With the trial behind them, the surviving candidates are rewarded as the twins guide each one to choose a special ore for forging a Nichirin sword. They are measured for Demon Slayer uniforms and given kasugai crows, intelligent messenger birds that will deliver their future missions. Tanjiro returns to Urokodaki’s home, where Nezuko still sleeps peacefully, and waits with quiet hope for his new blade. A fresh chapter of his journey is about to begin.

With the trial behind them, the surviving candidates are rewarded as the twins guide each one to choose a special ore for forging a Nichirin sword. They are measured for Demon Slayer uniforms and given kasugai crows, intelligent messenger birds that will deliver their future missions. Tanjiro returns to Urokodaki’s home, where Nezuko still sleeps peacefully, and waits with quiet hope for his new blade. A fresh chapter of his journey is about to begin.

Tanjiro spins through the Hand Demon’s storm of arms with Water Breathing and finally severs its neck in one clean strike. As the demon fades, it remembers its human past, and Tanjiro gently holds its hand, offering kindness even to a monster. Tanjiro endures the rest of the seven nights, and when dawn breaks on the final day, only a handful of candidates remain standing. He has survived the Final Selection.

A grotesque demon covered in arms, known as the Hand Demon, blocks Tanjiro’s path and boasts about devouring thirteen of Urokodaki’s students. When it cruelly names Sabito and Makomo among its victims, Tanjiro’s grief ignites into burning rage. The demon’s limbs regenerate endlessly, making every strike feel hopeless, but Tanjiro sharpens his sense of smell to find the thread of an opening. The battle for his fallen friends has begun, and he refuses to fall.

Tanjiro arrives at Mount Fujikasane, where two mysterious twins lay down the rules of the Final Selection — survive seven nights among the demons trapped inside. As darkness falls, the demons emerge from the shadows, hungry and merciless. Tanjiro steadies his nerves, recalls every lesson Urokodaki drilled into him, and strikes back with the flowing forms of Water Breathing. The trial has truly begun, and there is no turning back now.

After the boulder splits, Sabito and Makomo quietly vanish, and Urokodaki reveals they were the spirits of his former students who died in the Final Selection. Overcome with emotion, the old trainer embraces Tanjiro, admitting he was terrified of losing another child like a son. He then prepares Tanjiro for the real trial — surviving seven nights on Mount Fujikasane, a prison of demons surrounded by wisteria. With a carved fox mask for protection and a heavy heart, Tanjiro sets off to face his destiny.