Assassin's Creed II/Sequence 14: Veni, Vidi, Vici

The final DNA Sequence explains more the overall story and let's you settle things between Borgia and Ezio. Although there is still unfinished business at the end of the game, you've earned the respect of the Assassins and are prepared to put stop to the Templars for good in the next installment of the series.

X marks the spot
Before unlocking the final DNA Sequence in the game, you will need to collect all 30 Codex pages and arrange them in the Codex page room at your villa in Monterrigioni. Depending on what DLC if any you have, the memory of unlocking the location of the vault will happen at different times. If you've already beaten the game, then it won't matter since you've already played this sequence, but otherwise, at the farthest sequence you have – either Sequence 11, Sequence 12 or Sequence 13 – you will get this memory at your villa to play the memory. If you don't have all the Codex pages, a memory will block your entrance.
 * Memory start: Talk to your uncle in the Codex page room in the Villa Auditore.
 * Reward: 7,000ƒ

During the Sequence 12 DLC, you obtain a map of the Codex page locations, and these will become visible on your map at this point, whether you've synchronized the viewpoint for that area or not. If you don't have the Sequence 12 DLC, you will just be told that Ezio acquired it during the missing memories, and it will just be given to you. When you have all the pages, bring them back to your villa, where Leonardo will decipher them for you. Go into the Codex page room and speak to your uncle to begin the memory.

Interact with the pedestal in front of the Codex wall and you'll put the Apple of Eden on it. After that, step into the white marker in front of the wall and interact again to put up the pages. Using your eagle vision, rotate the pages until they line up in such a way that they show a map of the world. Start with the outer edges first, which create a border around the entire picture, then work your way inward, aligning the ones adjacent to properly placed ones. When you finish, you'll see the map of the world and find that the vault is in Rome.

In bocca al lupo
Before you talk to your uncle and move on to Sequence 14, fill up on any ammo or medicine you may need and equip your best weapons and armor, as you won't be able to go back to the villa or visit any shops. Your purpose in Rome is to find the Pope, Rodrigo Borgia, and assassinate him. If you look at your map, you'll see by narrow, white corridor that you must take a prescribed route along the top of the wall, then make it through a restricted area to get to Borgia. Start out by free running up the crates with a white sheet on them to the wooden beam above. From there hop to another beam, then out to a hanging platform, where you can jump to the handholds on the wall parallel to it. Climb up the handholds, then jump to the wooden beam at the top and wall run up to a piece of broken ledge. Shimmy around to the right, then climb leap up to a small handhold just below the top of the wall. Climb up the top and ledge assassinate the guard looking out to sea. Climb around to the right and do the same to the other stationary guard, then jump over the wall and assassinate the roving guards, starting with the one who is behind the other. You are now free to pull the lever on the wall to raise the gate.
 * Memory start: Talk to your uncle in the Codex page room in the Villa Auditore.
 * Reward: 10,000ƒ

There are two guards in the area beyond who periodically patrol around the well there. When they walk by the entrance, follow them and assassinate them from behind. Climb up the wagon with the white sheet on it to get up to the balcony next to the northern gate, and perform a ledge assassination on the guard up there. Hop over and pull the lever he was guarding to open the gate. Through the gate and up the stairs to the next area, you'll find a roving patrol of four guards, along with another lone patrolling guard farther away in the area. You can either fight these guys or just run through, climb the far wall to the white marker and proceed to the next section. If you want to skip the fight, wait at the bottom of the stairs until the group starts walking away from you, then sprint up and to the wall.

In the next section the guards have been alerted to your presence, and you can ride a horse along for a spell. You can make with the horse all the way to the next closed gate as long as you don't get knocked off your horse and don't take too long. There is a big gap in the wall and a bunch of crates and wagons that you can jump over as you go. For the most part, if you can keep your speed up, you'll be able to get past the guards before they can set up a good blockade. If you come up to any that are set up and ready to knock you from your horse, jump one of the obstacles next to them to avoid them. When you get to the last gate, you'll likely have to fight the five guards in the area, as they start throwing rocks at you when you try to climb up to the top of the gate. If you can't manage to make it on your horse, you'll have to go the distance on foot, either fighting the guards along the way or escaping them. There is another gate in the middle of this section you'll have to climb if you didn't make it through before it closed. However you do it, climb up the gate at the end and enter the white marker there.

At the top of the gate, run across the roof and assassinate the archer on the other side. The next section consists of one guard patrolling back and forth next to the hay cart below you, a stationary brute by the middle haystack and two normal guards patrolling before the middle and last haystack. When the first soldier is away from the cart, perform a leap of faith down into the hay cart, then stealth assassinate him when he comes back. Keep in mind that you'll want to wait for the patrolling duo to be  as far from you as possible before doing anything. Next, hop out of the cart and run to the middle haystack, where you can stealth assassinate the brute while the two patrolling guards have their backs turned. Next time they come back near the middle haystack, get out and assassinate them one at a time when they stop with their backs to you. Climb up to the top of the next gate and ledge assassinate the guard patrolling up there, then climb up, jump to the two guards standing on the other side of the roof and double-assassinate them before they spot you. If a guard below on the other side sees you, run back the other way until he loses his alert status.

When the archer on the next roof over isn't looking, perform an air assassination the guard between the two towers before climbing up and taking him out. In the next section you'll see two stationary guards below you and a roving group of four beyond them. You can air assassinate the first two, but you'll have to fight the other four and the reinforcements that arrive shortly after. Probably the easiest way to beat them all is to jump up to the roof of the little building where the brutes can't follow you and take care of the other guys. Then go back down and use your bare-handed disarm to take out the remaining four brutes. When you become anonymous again, you can climb up to the lever in the southwest corner of the courtyard and activate it and open the gate below you.

The remaining sections are restricted areas, so blend in with the groups of monks to remain hidden from the soldiers. In the first section, both guards have their backs to you, so joining in with the monks is optional. Take out the soldier on the left before killing the one at the end of the hall by the lever. Keep in mind that the monks will freak out if they see a dead body, so try to do the killing right after they've passed. In the next hallway, there are two guards patrolling around walls on the left and two stationary guards at the end of the hall by the lever. Join the first group, then follow the soldier when he walks by and assassinate him. Do the same to the second guard either as he walks by another group of monks or when he comes to investigate his fallen comrade. Lastly, run around the wall to get behind the other two guards and perform a double-assassination.

Your final objective is to kill Rodrigo Borgia. Follow the hallway down to the Sistine Chapel where he is speaking to a group of people with guards along the sides. Take the hanging and fixed wooden platforms above the congregation to the end where you can perform an air assassination on Borgia. Unfortunately, the Staff of Eden makes the job tougher than expected. Using the power of your Apple of Eden, you'll create some clones that will help you attack Borgia. Besides just using throwing knives, another easy way to beat him is to constantly grab him, which will let your otherwise useless clones get their hits in, even if he blocks your grab. It also gives you a chance to get your licks in while he's on the ground. Fighting him normally isn't advised, as he's obviously the toughest enemy in the game and he'll take out your clones with one good hit.

When you've depleted all his health, a cut scene will play and he will steal your Apple and take off down a secret passage. Use your eagle vision to see the mechanisms in the west wall, then go over and activate them both to uncover a hidden set of stairs. Follow the hallway beyond to another area where Borgia is trying without success to figure what to do next. You'll drop all your weapons engage in melee fight with him. If you try for normal melee combos, you'll do pretty well, but he will end up countering you after a few punches. When this happens, just block or dodge and start over. A safer, quicker method is to just keep grabbing him, then beating him until he drops, kick him while he's down then do it again when he gets up. Eventually you'll wear him down to where when you attack or grab him you'll get a quicktime event. Press the armed hand button when he drops to his knees, and you'll enter another death scene with him.

Leaving the Assassin hideout
After defeating Borgia, head through the new opening to the west and enter the white marker there. While the credits roll, you'll be able to control Desmond outside the Animus, so don't turn the system off yet. When you regain control, follow Lucy downstairs. Down in the warehouse, you'll find Vidic and a bunch of guards. You just have a single hidden blade, but unlimited health, so just take your time and kill all the guards. Don't bother running after Vidic, as you can't kill him. When you've killed all the guards, Vidic will escape you'll take off with the other Assassins. There's an Animus in the van, and Desmond will hang out in there until they get wherever they're going. After the credits stop, you can run around in the Animus and finish anything you still have left to do, such as collecting everything and doing side-missions.
 * Reward: