"So", Sight said in a decisive way, "So that is how we'll destroy the sword?"

"Yeah", Grey nodded.

They'd apparently come to a conclusion. Their idea wasn't exactly wrong, although a bit off, but not necessarily in the wrong direction. If they could execute it, we would have gotten rid of Arthur. But I had the feeling it won't be so easy, especially since I knew Excalibur was sentient.

I should mention that Grey and Sight left me on my own after pulling the sword out. It was as if they only cared about the sword. So I was just lying on the grass beside Silver, in a pool of my own blood.

They placed the sword on a stone and Sight did his thing. The air felt heavy and time almost stopped. It was that heavy feeling again. Sight intended to rip the sword to pieces and destroy it so minutely that it would turn to ash. But there was something around the surface of the sword that wouldn't let Sight reach it. The sword was blurred, almost as if it was made of smoke.

Sight undid the strange heavy state.

"What's happened?", Grey asked.

Sight just buzzed a 'hmmm' for a long time.

"Some sort of curse. Very old", Sight answered eventually.

"Curse? You can't get through then?", Grey asked, worried that we were losing time.

Sight shook his head.

They pondered for a while, nervous looks on their face. I just wanted to get back enough strength to be able to speak. I don't know if it was just about the strength though. I seemed to be running low on will too.

Grey then came up with an idea and sat beside the sword. He placed his hands around it and a faint white glow formed a misty cloud around the sword.

"Try it while I'm dispelling the curse", Grey said to Sight.

The dispelling was clearly an effort for him, even for a short time. That curse had been around too long. I wonder if Grey sensed that the sword was sentient. Sight deployed his dismantling magic again. The air suddenly grew heavy and I'm sure it took a toll on Grey who was already plenty injured from last time.

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I felt droopy too. But this attempt was soon over, with Grey panting and the sword fully intact, just as before. But Sight seemed to have learned something new, a revelation. I thought he'd realized that Excalibur had a will of its own. If so, I could be relieved. Sight knew how to take care of it. Destroying it wasn't a solution, simply because it wouldn't come to pass. At least, not in the traditional sense.

Sight also realized that I knew the truth of his revelation. So he finally took notice of me and deployed a barrier around my wound.

"Godspeed, boy, godspeed!", he said, while looking at my wound.

It was going to heal alright, I had that sort of immunity from Nasty II. As for Grey, Sight walked up to him.

"No point in trying this way, young'un. Let us wa-"

Before Sight could finish, the ground above caved in. Sight ducked to avoid the rising smoke and gravel. And with the avalanche came a group of knights.

When the smoke settled, they stood opposite Grey and Sight and Excalibur, and upon noticing the sword, they wore a furious face.

"Lancelot!", Grey looked up to find him, clad in a silver armor.

"Grey, you damned...!", Lancelot exploded, "What are you doing with the sword?!"

I suppose Lancelot sensed what was up with it.

Grey took a breath to calm himself down, "You figured it right, Lancelot. I'm going to destroy it. Someone had to do it."

"Hand it over!", Lancelot commanded, unsheathing his sword.

"Don't take one more step!", Grey said, in a much more authoritative voice that shook you to the core, "I'll destroy it if you do."

Lancelot wouldn't know that the sword could be destroyed with force alone, because he wouldn't have tried to destroy it. Grey was clever enough to know that. So he could sell this empty threat to Lancelot. And so he did. It worked as expected.

Lancelot stopped in his steps. Galahad tried to get to Grey with his huge bode, but Lancelot stopped him.

"We don't want to turn this place into a war ground, now do we, Knight?", Sight asked.

"If that is what it takes to save our Lord's legacy...then so be it. Don't get in our way, you're an outsider. And not welcomed here anymore", Lancelot spouted.

"Sight, leave this to me. This is between us", Grey took charge and Sight couldn't say anything anymore, so he came to where I was and leaned against the tree, folding his arms.

Lancelot and Grey eyed each other for a while. I'm sure the Knights were just surprised that Grey intended to take them all on by himself. Not to mention, he was in no condition to be fighting.

"Sight, only one favor", he looked back at Sight.

Sight sighed and deployed a shield, a strengthening shield around him. I suppose this was the only way to leverage Grey's situation.

"Before we begin...", Grey began, "I won't stop even if you die, Lancelot."

Lancelot smirked, mockingly, "And neither will I."

Despite what Lancelot said, in the end, it was Grey against half a dozen knights. Although, not all of them were putting in their all, it still wasn't a pretty battle.