Micheletto Corella

"Micheletto. The best killer in Roma. No one escapes him."

- La Volpe.

Micheletto Corella (1470 – 1506), also known as Michele di Coreglia or Miguel de Corella, was a condottiero and a member of the Templar Order. At one point, he was also the Governor of Piombino.

Early life
Micheletto was born in Valencia, Spain, but was taken to live in Rome, Italy at a fairly young age. As a young boy, he and Cesare Borgia were very close, and Micheletto would always act as his protector.

Micheletto and Cesare grew up together in Rome, and Micheletto was given a lofty position due to his relationship with the son of one so high in society. They never left each other's side, and eventually grew into the men that went on to conquer Rome with pure force.

Micheletto stayed with Cesare in the position of loyal bodyguard and pet assassin, advancing his skills with the strangling cord until he became the perfect killer.

Cesare's right-hand man
Micheletto would go on to become the most loyal of Cesare's servants, often acting as the executioner of those who stood in his master's way. All these services led to him being named Cesare's right-hand man, though he still served the Borgia family as a whole.

Around this time, he became a condottiero, and was named the governor of Piombino for a short period of time.

In January 1500, Micheletto accompanied Cesare, Lucrezia Borgia, Juan Borgia, and Octavian de Valois to lay siege to Monteriggioni. After destroying the Auditore's defenses, the group walked through the gates of the town, having subdued Mario Auditore and captured both Caterina Sforza and the Apple of Eden.

Micheletto then watched his master speak to Ezio Auditore, before Cesare shot Mario through the head. Successful in their objective, the party returned to Rome.

Murders
Many of Micheletto's murders went unrecorded, though knowledge of a few were kept known throughout the years. The Church often aided Micheletto by covering up or ignoring his killings.

On 18 August 1500,, the husband of Cesare's sister, Lucrezia Borgia, was killed by Micheletto on Cesare's orders, as the latter was jealous of Alfonso.

In 1502, Micheletto killed Giulio Cesare da Varano and three of his sons, enabling Cesare to take over Camerino. Later that year, on June 9, he killed, the Lord of , in the Castel Sant'Angelo.

On 31 December 1502, Cesare ordered the arrest of all the top captains who had once left his ranks, who he later invited to rejoin him. Two of these, Oliverotto da Fermo and Vitellozzo Vitelli, were strangled back to back by Micheletto. The rest were thrown in prison.

Teaching Giovanni
"Micheletto asks if I have learned anything. I tell him no, but I am lying. I have learned to hate him."

- Giovanni Borgia.

At times between 1500 and 1503, Micheletto was left to guard and teach Giovanni Borgia, Cesare's adopted son and Lucrezia's biological child. He attempted to instruct Giovanni in how to be both tough and merciless, often beating him to force him to learn how to defend himself.

At one point, Micheletto brought Giovanni into the city and instructed him to engage an old man in conversation. As the boy spoke with him, Micheletto approached the old man from behind and strangled him to death, merely to teach Giovanni the cruelties of the world.

These lessons only resulted in Giovanni hating Micheletto, and eventually prompting him to run away from home.

Final tasks
"You cannot save Pietro. The wine he drank was poisoned. As I promised Cesare, I made doubly sure."

- Micheletto to Ezio.

In August 1503, not long after the death of Octavian de Valois, Micheletto accompanied Cesare to a meeting with Francesco Troche, who had told his brother Egidio of Cesare's plans for Romagna. Egidio had sent letters to the ambassador of Venice to warn him, though these letters had been intercepted.

Francesco pleaded Cesare to spare his life, but he was ultimately strangled to death by Micheletto, and his body was thrown in the Tiber river.

Micheletto then went on to meet with a few Borgia guards, giving them costumes with which they could infiltrate the Colosseum play to kill Pietro Rossi, Lucrezia's latest lover. Unknown to him, he was being followed by the Assassin Ezio Auditore, who had sent his apprentices to assassinate all the aforementioned guards and steal the costumes they had been given.

Ezio continued to follow Micheletto to the Colosseum, where he assassinated all the Borgia arquebusiers posted there. Donning his own costume, Ezio followed Micheletto onstage, where they both joined the play.

As soon as Ezio came close to Micheletto, he stabbed him with his Hidden Blade. With the conversation that followed between the two, Micheletto revealed the fact that he had poisoned Pietro's wine as a fallback plan, and that Ezio would be too late to save him. However, Ezio did not kill Micheletto, instead sparing him and saying that in his quest to empower Cesare, Micheletto would cause his own downfall.

Cesare later killed his father, Pope Alexander VI, after the latter attempted to poison Cesare. As a result, the Borgia's influence over Rome disappeared and Cesare became powerless.

In a desperate attempt to retake the city, Cesare sent Micheletto to gather an army to take back Rome, though he never arrived. Instead, Cesare was captured by the forces of the Papal Guard, under the command of the new Pope, Julius II. With his master imprisoned, Micheletto fled Rome.

Confinement and escape
"Chains will not hold me. Any more than they will hold my master."

- Micheletto, upon being captured by the Assassins.

After Cesare's imprisonment, Micheletto fled from place to place, finally holing up in Zagarolo. Not long after, the Assassins located him and met him with a small battalion, and while Micheletto and his men fought bravely, they were no match for the Assassins.

After arresting Micheletto, the Assassins took him to Florence, where he was imprisoned in the Palazzo della Signoria. He was then interrogated and tortured by Niccolò Machiavelli, Piero Soderini, and Amerigo Vespucci. Micheletto gave nothing away, and was then sentenced to execution.

However, the day before the sentence was to be carried out, he escaped with the help of a few Borgia die-hards.

Rescuing Cesare and death
"Is this my reward? For all my years of faithful service?"

- Micheletto arguing with Cesare.

After escaping from his prison, Micheletto traveled to Valencia, where he stayed at the Lone Wolf Inn. He and his followers set up shop in the inn, however, they were confronted there by Ezio and Machiavelli. After a brief skirmish, in which most of Micheletto's men were killed, he fled the scene.

Micheletto then made his way to the Castillo de la Mota, where Cesare had been imprisoned. Using an intricate plan, Micheletto and his followers were able to free Cesare from his cell.

Along with his master, Micheletto once again traveled to Valencia, where Cesare set to work mobilizing his forces. Their troops, however, were soon broken after an attack by the Assassins, and following this, Micheletto met with his master at their headquarters, the Lone Wolf Inn.

While Cesare explained his further plans, Micheletto stated that he would aid him with his conquests. Cesare, however, merely commented that Micheletto had failed him, and enraged by this, Micheletto attacked his master.

However, Cesare reacted faster than Micheletto, and fired a shot into his head, killing him.

Personality
"I obey, Cesare."

- Micheletto to his master.

Micheletto was the most loyal of Cesare's followers, complying with his every demand, even after his fall from power. A man of steely determination, Micheletto often went to great lengths to see that his master's will fulfilled.

Micheletto proved to be quite an insecure man as well, showing extreme discontent when his master did not reward him for his services, as was clear from his outburst when Cesare refused to acknowledge that he had saved him.

Also a very cruel man, Micheletto had no qualms about killing the innocent, and even seemed to take enjoyment from doing so. In addition to his strong exterior, Micheletto was also very steadfast, traits which were useful to ensure that he did not give away his master's location when tortured.

Final words
As Ezio attempted to stab Micheletto, he laughed. Ezio got up to leave.
 * Micheletto: You cannot save Pietro. The wine he drank was poisoned. As I promised Cesare, I made doubly sure.
 * Micheletto: I am not yet dead.
 * Ezio: I did not come here to kill you. He who is the cause of someone else becoming powerful is the agent of his own destruction.

Trivia

 * In the mobile phone version of Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, Micheletto was called Michelotto.
 * Upon "assassinating" Micheletto, he was wearing his Passion play costume, however, when he uttered his "final" words, he was shown wearing his ordinary clothes.
 * During Micheletto's "final" words, Ezio would hold up his right Hidden Blade to Micheletto's throat, regardless of whether he had purchased the second blade from Leonardo da Vinci.
 * Historically, Micheletto later worked in Florence from 1505 to 1507, and was killed in Milan on January 1508.
 * Ezio's last statement to Micheletto, "He who is the cause of someone else becoming powerful, is the agent of his own destruction," could be found in Chapter 3 of Niccolò Machiavelli's The Prince, albeit in more detail.
 * Micheletto was the second target spared by Ezio, and the third to be spared in the Assassin's Creed series. The others were Maria Thorpe (spared by Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad), and Rodrigo Borgia.