The Sword of Mercy

Charlemagne saw a brilliant light. He thought at first it was firelight reflecting from Ogier's blade, but in the next instant, the light, dancing in the swirling smoke, seemed to form itself into... could it be? An angel.
...Charlemagne smiled back at the angel; if this was death, he welcomed it. Ogier, disconcerted by the man's smile, paused. Then, with a grunt, he swung Curtana down toward the head of his former king. As he did, Charlemagne reached toward the angel, using his right hand in which he still held Joyeuse [Charlemagne's sword].
The two blades met... Joyeuse tumbled to the stone floor... Ogier's next blow would be fatal. Holding Curtana in both hands, the Dane raised it for a stabbing, downward thrust. And then he stopped, staring at its blade. Curtana had lost its tip...

I took this passage from Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson's "Peter and the Sword of Mercy". I thought this was a cool opening for a book, when I first read this. Then, I wondered if there was any truth to this story of a "sword of mercy". When I looked it up (thank you Wikipedia), I found that Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson had actually based their book on a very real historical artifact. The legend of how the sword received its name is fake, probably. However, there is a blade by that name which is kept as a part of the Crown Jewels of the United Kingdom and "is carried in the coronation procession", as their story states. This fact gave me even more interest in the book, and even though their legend is fake, it is still awesome.

PS: Highlighted are three unique ways of ending a sentence.