Tento di Cruciamentum

The Cruciamentum, officially referred as Tento di Cruciamentum, is a rite of passage practised by the Watchers' Council to test the Slayer in case she lives to see her 18th birthday. While some of the more conservative members of the Council consider it a time-honoured rite of passage, other less ruthless Watchers consider it to be a brutal, antiquated practise.

In the weeks prior to the Slayer's 18th birthday, the Watcher is forced to administer to the Slayer a number of chemicals that weaken her powers, leaving her with the strength and reflexes of a regular teenage girl. Then she is taken to a specially prepared location where she is locked up with a particularly vicious vampire selected by the Council for its potential to actually kill the Slayer.