The squad of Zerulic guardsmen had been nervous - indeed, almost downright scared - when they had rushed into this secluded alley to investigate whatever clearly magical occurrence had taken place there. They had then been gripped with grim determination the second they had laid eyes upon the corpse sprawled on the dusty ground, lying in a pool of blood too small for her to have bled out or have been dead for very long, and had immediately and collectively summoned the resolve to face the murderer in a battle of life and death if circumstances required it. Indeed, one man - the halberdier taking the leftmost position in their formation - was even assailed by righteous anger, and felt a true desire to exact vengeance. Doing so would not have been productive, though, and any guardsman in this day and age knew that to kill and murder were not necessarily the same thing; they needed the whole story before they acted. So they were on the defensive, ready to die for the justice they believed in and worked to protect, wary of what might be truth and what might be trickery.
All that determination and single case of fury melted away once they recognized I'on, however; they knew the penin by reputation and had seen him from a distance from time to time, and they knew that he was considered a respectable and lawful denizen of their city. He was a personal friend of the Blue Duke, even, so while the enchanter did not truly have any authority over them whatsoever, holding no actual noble title, there still was an instinctual tendency in them all to defer to his judgment. He could be trusted, they thought; he would tell them the truth.

While none of the guards showed any outward reaction to I'on's chastisement for their tardiness, the middle- and front guardsman - the corporal and leader of their squad - did mutter about them having come as quickly as they could once they had become aware of something happening, but before he could go into justifying the time of their arrival further and louder, I'on spoke again, automatically commanding their attention. The woman at the back, a private trained as a crossbowman, actually timidly lowered her crossbow under the intensity of the penin's glare and averted her eyes from his, feeling for some reason as though [I]she[/I] was to blame.
None of the guards had any idea who this "Blue" was, however, nor this other character referred to as "the Fixer". The existence of the tools was a secret kept and maintained by the very highest echelons of Rodoria and Kirkin, neither country being aware that the other had tools as well, and one that was shadily ensured would never be publicly known by the enigmatic organization known to its members as Corpse Forge. The existence of the Fixer, likewise, was something that a lot of powerful people went to great lengths to hide, since not only was he a renegade tool himself, but was also an agent of the Grand Master that had proven extremely hard to deal with, and which had harassed units across northern Kirirak devoted to foiling the efforts of the Crimson Dawn for years. He not only a dangerous secret, but also an embarrassment to all the people and organizations he had humiliated since his desertion.
These guardsmen were at the bottom of the chain of command, as far from the top as one could possibly be, so for I'on to expect them to have even the faintest clue who these two characters were was probably rather unfair, since there was practically no way at all that they could know. They had heard about the mess Ixion left earlier after his contract, but they did not know who the culprit behind it was, and since this man was apparently with I'on, they did not immediately peg him as a suspect and felt no need to apprehend him.

Indeed, the guards would have been liable to let them all go, albeit with a message that all three of them would probably be wanted for questioning later, once they were done investigating the crime scene - which would never happen, obviously, since this murder and Fixer-sighting would be swept under the rug long before then - had the situation not abruptly escalated. One of I'on's two companions growled and stepped toward the lead guardsman, reaching for his halberd and swinging his staff at the corporal's head. Before anyone could react the other one - Ixion - was suddenly between them, intercepting the first one and blocking its blow with a wicked-looking sword... which, upon making contact with the staff, gave a dim pinkish flash from the little black stones embedded into the entwined twin blades and in the eyes of the horned demon's skull at the guard, accompanied by a sound reminiscent of a faint whisper. Then something or another suddenly came darting from out of nowhere, striking the assailant in the head and apparently knocking him unconscious on the spot.
After all of this had happened in such rapid succession, it was only then that the guards found themselves capable of reacting. Moving immediately, yet with an organic and natural coordination with one another, the corporal and the female crossbow-wielder behind him stepped backward while the guardsmen at the flanks stepped forward, quickly switching from a defensive formation to an aggressive one, moving to halfway encircle the attacker. Halberds were once more lowered and ready to strike, and the crossbow was raised anew and trained first at the one that had moved to attack them, then at Ixion, then back at the nerveless aggressor. No one attacked, however; not yet.
"Reina's tits!" the corporal exclaimed obscenely, clearly shocked and frightened. "What in the Planes?!"