In the pommel of Sir Percivale’s sword was
a red cross and the sign of the crucifix therein.
Apparently this had no special virtue other than reminding Percivale of God. Percivale’s sword could cut through a chain and be none the worse (it would be surprising if the other noblest swords did not have this quality also).
Eventually, Percivale received Galahad’s sword – apparently Balin’s Sword, that Galahad had drawn from the floating block of marble at Camelot, and which he now relinquished becaushe he had acquired King David’s Sword. Percivale left his own sword at the hermitage in Carteloise Forest. This would have been the sword with the red cross in the pommel, the one known to be able to cut through chain. Since Percivale died about a year after Galahad in Sarras, Bors could have brought back Balin’s Sword to Lancelot.
See also
Hermit King | The Legend of King Arthur