Temple Demon

The Temple Demon is a muscular figure of average height with pale, ash-gray skin marked by green bands around its upper arms and legs. Its spiky dark-green hair falls to the shoulders and is parted at the center of the forehead, and it bears the fangs and sharp claws common to demons. It wears a sleeveless blue tunic patterned in dark turquoise and white that leaves the chest exposed, along with pale wrappings at the wrists and ankles. After Nezuko kicks its head from its body, the severed head sprouts a pair of muscular arms from the stump of its neck.

As with most demons, the Temple Demon is vicious toward humans, lunging at Tanjiro the instant it realizes he is human. It is intensely territorial, furious at the siblings for intruding on what it considers its ground. It also carries an air of superiority during the fight, gloating over how quickly it shrugs off a blow to the jaw.

The demon has long been attacking travelers who shelter in a small temple hut on the road toward Mount Sagiri. When Tanjiro asks villagers for directions, one warns him against traveling at night, noting that people in the area have been vanishing.

During the Final Selection arc, Tanjiro catches the scent of blood while passing the temple and throws the door open to find the demon feeding on two corpses. It pounces, but he slashes its throat with his hatchet, only for the wound to close in seconds. Pinned and outmatched, Tanjiro is saved when Nezuko comes to her senses and kicks the demon's head clean off. Head and body then fight on separately, the head growing arms to attack while the body hurls Nezuko aside. Tanjiro headbutts the head, pins it to a tree, and tackles the body over a cliff before Nezuko hauls him back. At dawn, as he hesitates to deliver a finishing blow, a masked man arrives and warns that an ordinary knife cannot kill a demon. The head curses Tanjiro until sunlight reduces it to ash.