Why did God-Cas seem more powerful than God or the Darkness?

Question

When Castiel absorbed all of the souls of purgatory, he becomes pretty much invincible:

1. An Archangel's blade doesn't work on him (Sam pick's up Raphael's blade, and after the season 5 episode "Hammer of the Gods", a clear distinction was noted between an Angel's blade and an Archangel's blade, with the latter being the more powerful of the two)

2. He was able to prevent Raphael from teleporting with a simple thought (he didn't even need to click his fingers)

3. He managed to kill a countless number of angels in heaven without any effort

4. He had the power to completely get rid of hell but chose not too

In season 11 episode 22, we see the Darkness easily weakened by:

1. Some magic from four or five witches combined (this seemed like a huge stretch. Even though the darkness was able to kill them, I don't see how that lightning-magic was able to harm her)

2. A few dozen demons that manage to lift her into the air(I can't imagine this ever happening to God-Cas based on what we saw of him. If he managed to kill thousands of angels, what's a few demons to him?)

3. An unknown long dagger-like weapon that Lucifer used that didn't seem to have any special properties and could've been used by anybody less powerful than him (an Archangel's blade didn't work on God-Cas, so I struggle to see how this could've done anything to him)

4. An Angel nuke (this one seemed slightly plausible, but then again, if God-Cas managed to kill all of those angels with what must have been a click of his fingers- I doubt he smited each one individually- then one would think the Darkness could have too, even from Earth).

It's hinted that God-Cas was on par with Michael, as he was afraid to get rid of hell as it would mean freeing him from the cage. Now since God is way more powerful than Michael, and the Darkness seemed to be at the very least on par with God, then it doesn't make sense as to why she seemed so vulnerable when God-Cas didn't have any weaknesses except for his his own power source (the souls).

So what is the explanation behind this? Inconsistency? Personally I think all high-order beings had their powers dumbed down this season, as we didn't get much "Archangel mojo" (the sort we saw from Gabriel) from Lucifer either.

Answer 1

Pretty sure it's just inconsistency. The Darkness was revealed to be God's sister and implied to be all powerful maelstrom of destruction going by Dean's visions. And Crowley wouldn't have risked dealing with his mother and Lucifer's cage for anything less. The demonic minions have all received massive power increases over the seasons, while Crowley, Sam, Dean and Cas have all been dumbed down literally.
--Early Demons Used to be able to only possess people that offered a weakness for the demon to exploit. ex. ep 104 Phantom Traveller
--Castiel used to be able to instantly spot demons, but last 2 seasons ability hasn’t always worked --Only powerful demons had Telekinesis, last 2 seasons we’ve seen TK powers demonstrated by several underlings Since the heroes can no longer sense obvious traps or spot extremely transparent manipulations; I think the writers decided to balance things out by dealing out the Achilles heals to major villains to give our heroes a path for victory.

Answer 2

The blade Sam had stabbed Castiel with was not an archangel blade as earlier on when crowley and raphael were performing the ritual dean threw and ordinary angel blade at him, that was what dropped to the grown when castiel imploded rapahel and that is what sam picked up.

Answer 3

An important detail that I think gets skipped over a lot is that the archangels fought with Amara (with God's help). Meaning that Amara cannot "fingersnap" Gabriel and Raphael. If she could, they wouldn't have survived. Yet God-Castiel was able to "fingersnap" Raphael. I think in terms of raw destructive power, God-Castiel was more powerful than God or Amara. But of course there is more to it than that. Amara is more "powerful" than God, yet she cannot create, and she doesn't seem to have the reality-warping or prophetic abilities that the archangels or God has (which if Doctor Who is anything to go by is a HUGE advantage). Could God-Castiel defeat God-Chuck in a one-on-one? Possibly. Though Chuck might be able to use his superior abilities in reality-manipulation to swing the fight his way. I also think this might be why Castiel didn't want to fight Lucifer and Michael. Just being stronger isn't enough when you opponent can change the rules of the game. Not to mention the fact that Castiel believed himself to be the good guy, and before the most recent dumb fights between archangels, such battles were supposed to be planet-destroying eruptions. If God-Castiel were to fight Lucifer or Michael, humanity would be doomed, and Castiel didn't want that. I think God-Castiel would be more than a match for Amara, who only really knows how to punch her way through problems. She's the primordial version of a dumb brute (though she certainly isn't ACTUALLY dumb). EDIT: Personally, I am of the opinion that archangels are capable of soloing God. Not easily. God wins nine times out of ten, just like Amara beats God nine times out of ten, that's why God made the archangels. In order for the archangels to fight Amara and be useful, they would have to at least be close to God in power.