Samson Reza's manor felt more of a fortress than a manor. Located on a flat terrain with almost no greenery or rocks to hide in around the area, the manor was surrounded by low walls, though the top of the walls were spiked.
There was a watchtower inside the manor compound, with four marksmen at each corner of the viewing platform. It would be difficult for the normal assassin to enter the compound, but Darko was no ordinary assassin, he was an Assassin.
A double metal gate blocked the main entrance into the manor compound. Behind the metal gates stood a lone guard, who had a rifle slung over his back. However, the metal gates were easy to climb over, and it was the easiest way Darko could see to get into the place.
With a quick flick of his wrist, Darko fired a Phantom Blade at the guard. In a few graceful but swift movements, he climbed over the double metal gates, landing on the other side of it. Retrieving his Phantom Blade from the dead guard, Darko proceeded to hide the body in one of the many bushes across the manor courtyard.
Once the body had been hidden, Darko climbed up the manor, entering through an open window on the first floor. It would have been an effortless task, if not for the guard looking out of the same open window.
Swooping in through the window, Darko tackled the guard onto the floor. Before the guard could even utter a word, Darko knocked him unconscious with a good elbow strike to the head.
Darko left the room and walked around the manor, getting to know his surroundings. After a minute or two of exploration, Darko returned to his task of finding Samson.
Clinging gracefully from a chandelier that illuminated the living room, Darko eavesdropped on a conversation between someone who seemed to be Samson's personal assistant and a senior guard.
"Hey, the boss wants the number of guards on patrol doubled immediately," the assistant said. "He reckons that someone wants to kill him."
"Rather paranoid, is he?" the senior guard commented. "But I suppose that's why he's still alive. Alright, I'll get the word around."
As the personal assistant walked up the grand staircase in the living room, Darko leapt off the chandelier, landing right on top of the assistant. The air was knocked out of the man's lungs.
With the cold steel of his Hidden Blade touching the man's throat, Darko asked, "Where is Samson Reza?"
"Bugger off," the assistant, who had a thick English accent, spat. Darko was surprised at the reaction, which the assistant could tell, and he tried to wrestle the Assassin off him.
Luckily Darko recovered quickly, and stopped the assistant's attempt with a hand to his neck. "I will only ask once more. Where is Samson Reza?"
"In his study on the second floor. You can tell it's the study from the door, which is different from the others."
Darko and the assistant came up to the door of the study, which was thicker and better designed than the other doors. He had a gun pressed against the assistant's back.
"Sir?" the assistant called. "The guards managed to capture a hooded man in the courtyard. Right now he's in the living room, tied up and his weapons stripped off him."
The trick worked. In less than ten seconds, Samson Reza was on the other side of the study door, unlocking it. The moment the door swung open, Darko threw the assistant to one side and barrelled into Samson. Not missing a beat, Darko got up and shut the door, locking it as well.
"What the hell…" Samson was stunned at the sudden turn of events, and was still recovering.
"For the act you have done, you shall pay," Darko said as his Hidden Blade sprung. "Svetovid has been killed, if you do not know yet."
"Oh well," Samson shrugged. "I can always take another hopeless man and turn him into a killing machine."
The man was truly insane, perhaps even more insane than Svetovid himself, whom Darko had killed. This man had to die now, no matter what.
Taking a few moments to scan the room he was in, Darko found a window at the other end of the study. It was small, but it was enough for him to fit through.
By the time the squad of guards managed to get into the study, Darko was long gone and Samson Reza was long dead.
After telling Talia the episode Darko had, she understood and was contented with Darko's actions. However, there was a worried look on her face.
"The Assassin base in Bucharest was…attacked," Talia said as she bit her lip. "My Assassins found no one in the building. They were taken."
"Who took them? Where are they?" Darko was furious and saddened at the same time.
She shook her head in disappointment. "I do not know exactly where they are, but I am certain that they are in the Russian Empire. Go to Ilyich Café in the west part of Moscow. That is an Assassin-owned establishment. Be sure to introduce yourself as Darko from Petrograd University."