3 The Activation and Tests

The seconds went by like minutes as the tingling quickly became a stabbing pain that flowed throughout my body and only kept on climbing higher and higher in intensity.

But I didn't toss and turn or writhe under the pain. I just continued lying there, withstanding it.

Even as time seemed to be slowing down even further, extending the amount of pain I had to deal with, I continued to withstand it.

I'd trained for this. I'd put myself through every hellish trial I could possibly survive. I'd done everything I could to prepare myself for this. To become my best self so I can gain the most from this Activation. If I couldn't withstand some pain, what kind of Hunter or Slayer would I be? A pretty goddamn bad one, honestly.

So I lay there...until it hit me.

I didn't need an alarm or to look at my watch because I could sense that it'd just turned midnight. It was time. My body could feel it. And without a second to waste, the muscles all over my body contracted as hard as they could at the same time.

I was locked in place as I felt the pain assaulting my system ramp up to levels I didn't even think were possible. My ears began to ring, I couldn't feel my extremities and I could only see flashes of white, red and black. The ringing in my ears sounding like I was stuck inside a church bell as it was being rung and the numbness I felt in my extremities was spreading up my arms and legs. The flashes of light just got even more rapid as time went on.

Though despite the numbness, I could still feel pain assaulting me. Ripping into me. Changing me.

Some sort of energy was seeping into my body, through the pores in my skin, and coalescing around my muscles, nerves, bones and under my skin, changing everything about my body.

At the same time, I felt something inside me begin to tear. Like someone had replaced my blood with razor blades as every blood vessel in my body was screaming out in pain. But the thing that hurt the most was my heart. It was being torn down and built back up in the image of something else.

The heart of a Demon.

The origin of a Slayer's power was from an ancient Demon being used by a group of men, later called the Shadow Men, bonding the Demon with a human woman who was their captive. The woman fully connected with the Demon and gained the source of it's power - it's heart - in turn gaining superhuman physical prowess that could rival and exceed lower and middle-class Demons and most, if not all, Vampires under a certain age range.

At the same time as this Heart reconstruction sent pain cascading through my body, I also felt a more soothing and calming energy coming from within the pit of my stomach. It rushed throughout my body, a boundless amount of it, healing and empowering whatever the Demon's energy destroyed and helping the Demon's energy when it was rebuilding my body.

Slowly but surely the two different energies were fusing, becoming one, and flowing through my body. It had taken on the best of both and was boiling with anger and rage yet also determined and direct, filled with purpose but also control.

The soothing energy that felt boundless was the energy from my Hunter power's while the Demon's energy was obviously from my Slayer side.

Despite the soothing energy of the Hunter's Mark that I could feel beginning to be engraved on the back of my right hand, somewhat less painful than extremely agonizing is still agonizing pain, you know?

I was stuck in this state, or rather, this cycle of destruction and healing for what felt like an eternity. An eternity of being baptized by pain.

You know, it wasn't all bad. Through that pain, I began to understand something. Feel something. A connection of sorts. To a whole chain of people. But that's when I realized what I was feeling - I was feeling the connection to all the Slayers before me. Which is when I realized how fucked this whole situation was.

If there were Slayers before me, then I may have to deal with some meddling-types who want to know why I'm able to be a Slayer when I'm a guy.

I really hope not...but knowing my position in this world, I'll no doubt have a visit in the future.

Just gotta be ready for when that time comes.

Suddenly, I felt my body lurch forward and my stomach flipped on itself before I suddenly felt like I was falling backwards after being punched by Mike Tyson or something. It was painful but it wasn't much compared to the ravaging my body had just gone through. Slowly but surely, feeling began to return to my limbs and extremities and the ringing in my ears began to come to a stop alongside the pain and the jolts of what felt like static electricity hopping between my cells.

My vision returned to me and my muscles and body began to relax. The first thing I did was bring my wrist up to my face so I could look at my watch.

[00:28 AM]

...28 minutes? Damn. It felt way longer than that. An hour or two wouldn't have been an exaggeration from my point of view.

But disregarding that, I was instantly distracted by the power suddenly flowing through my body.

I'd always felt full of energy and strength due to my heritage of coming from a Monster Hunting family and because of my training up to this point...but compared to right now, my past levels of energy and strength were like that of a lethargic toddler.

Feeling I needed to test out my new abilities, I pushed against the bed under me and instantly found myself flying upward into the air and toward the ceiling.

Usually, I just have to take the hit and worry about landing properly.

But right now, everything moved so slowly and I felt such impeccable control over my body it was like before the Activation of my powers, I was working with a defunct nervous system. Now, however, as I commanded my body, so it obeyed. It truly brought a new meaning to mind over matter.

I moved myself backward, starting the beginning of a mid-air back flip but I tensed myself and stopped my movement just in time for my feet to come into contact with the ceiling. Once I'd done that, I pushed off gently and re-positioned myself mid-air again before landing on my feet.

Looking down at my body, I brought my hand within my view and clenched it.

The raw power going through my body...my muscles...every fiber of my being...it was intoxicating.

Is this how Vampire's feel? If so, I can get why some of them feel that they're better than humans. No matter how well-trained or how much exercise a Human goes through, they'd never be able to come close to this level of power. Even that gymnastic stunt I just did was a casual show of my new prowess. It cost me nothing to do it and neither was it hard for my newly enhanced body to pull off.

I wonder how far I can actually go now? Well, thinking along those thoughts, I should go and test myself out at a secure place, right? Yeah, I should. I was planning to go back home to England soon anyway. Might as well stop off at one of my secure gyms to see my new limits.

Rule number four of being a Monster Hunter: Always know your limits. Knowing how much you can do is vital for work as a Monster Hunter. If you know your limits, you can plan accordingly and push yourself as much as possible.

Checking my watch again, I saw only a few minutes had passed from me waking up, so I took out my phone and made a few calls. So, within less than five minutes, I had a flight scheduled back to England within an hour and a clean-up team were on their way to erase my presence from this hotel room and send all my equipment back to my personal dwellings in England.

Ah~ It truly pays to be from a rich family~

Smirking to myself over my own joke, I walked to the door and inserted the key card to the door. With a beep it signaled that I could open it but when I pulled on it...

*Crack!*

...The door came off it's hinges.

I really need to get to the gym and get a handle on my strength, goddamn.

. . .

Holding the bar tightly, I took in a deep breath before extending my knees and pulling the bar up in one fell swoop. I lifted the bar until it was at my chest before resting it along my collarbone for a second and making sure my lifting technique was proper. Once I'd done that, I pushed up using my lower body and upper body and the bar and weight was pushed above my head.

It was a clean and jerk lift.

It worked my muscles in the same way lifting a shopping bag full of items worked your muscles. You could tell there was some weight to it but it wasn't all that hard to lift. Sure, holding it above your head for a long time would tire you out but lifting it wasn't hard.

The only difference between the weight I'm lifting right now and a shopping bag full of items...is that I doubt a shopping bag full of items weighs 1200lbs.

Letting the bar drop in front of me, the weight banged against the ground before bouncing up and down a little on the mats.

Looking down at my hands, I felt a bit stunned.

I'd just smashed the world record for lifting and I didn't even have to fully exert myself. Sure, I knew other members of my family who could probably break the record in lifting but they'd have to be in the focused state and be a strength-orientated hunter. I was doing this casually. I could no doubt double this weight and still lift it.

That was enough to go up against a Vampire who's around 100-years-old in pure brute strength. Plus the focus state...and well, I know I could win against a Vampire who's 200-years-old without much of an issue.

And the best part about this? I'm 14. I'm not even fully grown or fully matured. I still have years to grow in strength and with the workouts I can now put myself through, I have no doubt in my mind that I'll improve at an incredible rate in the coming years. Which is good to know. I only have three years until canon starts and Stefan returns to Mystic Falls. Also three years until Damon returns to Mystic Falls with the goal of annoying (read; tormenting) Stefan and releasing Katherine who's totally in that tomb under the church.

I'm not gonna let that woman get out. Well, I'm gonna try at least. Damon's crafty as hell and he's got a century on me when it comes to lying and manipulation. Alas, the only weakness I have so far is a lack of experience.

Walking over to the dumbbell stand, I picked up the biggest and heaviest one and did a few reps before giving up when I realized the weights were too light and just threw the 400lbs dumbbell between my hands as I thought about ways to remedy such a weakness. No matter how talented I am, I'm still gonna lose in terms of combat experience when it comes to Vampires who are hundreds of years old.

...Which is why I don't need to be better at fighting. Just smarter. More prepared.

Of course, in the next three years I'm going to throw myself into training and hunting so I can increase my combat experience by a whole lot but I'm also gonna spend some more time in the clan library.

Learning about ways to take down all sorts of creatures has been my thing since day one of training. According to dad, a Monster Hunter can't hunt if he doesn't know everything about what he's hunting. I'd taken that lesson to heart and learnt everything I could. But there's always more to learn. Always.

Putting the dumbbell back down on the rack, I kicked the salt that was on the floor in a specific rune and a shattering sound echoed through the room.

Before I started my work out, I had one of the contracted Witches come in and set up a privacy spell. Didn't want anyone looking into my room with magic and finding out I could now lift well beyond the human limit as a 14-year-old.

Spreading the salt around the room, I made a mental note of sending up the cleaners before picking up a water bottle and taking a swig of it before walking for the exit.

Not before catching myself in the mirror-covered walls of the workout room.

I was tall for my age. About 174cm tall or 5'8". My body was athletic and covered in lean muscle though because of the extra weight training I'd been doing as I turned 12 and entered puberty, there was more bulk to my body than there used to be. So instead of having a physique like a swimmer, I looked more like a gymnast. As in I was the perfect balance between strength, endurance, explosiveness* and flexibility.

It was a good and aesthetically pleasing body to have, honestly.

(*A/N - 'Explosiveness' refers to the ability to suddenly take action. Think of it like speed and acceleration. Like, an Olympic 100m sprinter aims to have a high level of explosiveness to his muscles or a Running Back in the NFL would usually require a high level of explosiveness because they have to shoot off quickly to avoid getting tackled when they receive handoffs.)

I was decently handsome as well, with refined, somewhat noble features that were quite...sharp and angular. But I like to think they make me look focused. Though worst of all would be how my eyes look slightly intimidating. They're sharp and piercing and the bright amber colored irises I have doesn't help either. Neither do my sharp and pointed eyebrows which make me look like I'm glaring or furrowing my brows constantly.

Though, overall, I'd say I'm a handsome guy and it'll probably only get better as time goes by. I just wish I didn't look so...well, to quote my sisters...so much like an intimidating bad boy. That's how they tease me.

Goddamn sisters, man...

Taking my eyes away from my own reflection, I opened the sliding door only to see the Devils themselves. My two older sisters. Oh and my oldest brother. What a pleasant surprise.

"Happy birthday, Art!" the older of the two sisters, Tia, pulled me into a hug, smothering me with her bro-con ways while I felt the other sister, Mary, patting my head as an alternative to her saying 'Happy Birthday'. She was a mute, after all.

Hugging Tia back, I allowed her clinginess for a little more than usual because it was understandable to give your sibling a smothering hug on their birthday. But when she didn't let go after a few more seconds, I pushed myself out of her grasps, being careful not to use too much strength and instead focusing on the technique I'd built up over the years of having to escape her clinginess.

But as soon as I escaped, I felt myself get pulled into a headlock by Thomas, or Tom as I call him, who is my oldest brother.

"Happy birthday, baby brother," he laughed in his distinct way - a mix between what sounded like a mocking laugh and a joyful chortling. It was an odd and weird mix but after hearing it for years, I guess you could say I was used to it.

I was fine with him pulling me into a headlock...but when he went to mess up my hair, I could stand by. I knew Tom's weak spot, so I grabbed it and pinched as hard as I could without causing any lasting damage. What? It's only his side. Where did you think I was pinching?

"Argh!" he yelled, or rather screamed in pain, and got away from me, looking at me with a look of betrayal in his eyes, "Art...why, man? You know I hate being touched there!" he spoke indignantly but all I did was give him a deadpan look.

"...Then don't touch my hair. You know how I hate it when people do that," I shook my head at this air-headed brother of mine before looking to Mary and smiling. I stepped forward and voluntarily hugged her, "Thanks Mary. You're my favorite sibling," I said this knowing it would rile up both Tia and Tom.

"Oi oi, she pat your head as well, you know, Art? What kind of favoritism is this?" Tom complained but he wasn't being serious while Tia seemed to be short circuiting after me joking about Mary being my favorite sibling.

Pulling away from Mary, I turned to Tom and sneered, "Yeah, and what? I'm fine with her doing it because she does it gently. Unlike you who was about to give me a bloody knuckle sandwich!" I said with a mock self-righteous tone and Mary just smiled as her eyes filled up with mirth. I could tell she was very amused with mine and Tom's back and forth bantering. Looking down at my watch, I saw that it was just going two in the afternoon, so I turned back to look at my older siblings, "We're going out for a meal tonight to celebrate, right?" I asked and got nods in return, "Well, I'll see you then. I've gotta go speak to dad. See ya later," I said and quickly gave Tia and Mary a kiss on the cheek and gave a fist bump to Tom before running off in the direction of my dad's study.

I had to speak to him about taking on some more intense missions.