Approximately 10 seconds before the invention of mercy.
…Look, all I’m saying is if Crowley did not see Aziraphale give the sword away, he must have seen it “flaming like anything” some other time. How appropriate would it be if our favorite “never actually killed anything” angel started disobeying by failing to smite our favorite demon in the Great War? Maybe because he remembered how divinely beautiful the Architect of Stars had been and couldn’t bear to destroy someone so wonderful?
This is one of my favorite headcanons, and unfortunately one of the very few that survived S2, so I decided I have to thoroughly enjoy it now before it too gets dashed by S3.