When the lightning bolt was released from the cloud, there was no flash, no sound, no fancy tricks. The beam of purple lighting almost seem subdued as it traveled through the air in an instant. Unknowingly, one might get the impression that this bolt of lightning was very weak in the infinitesimally small amount of time it took to arrive.
But those who were familiar with the Heavenly Tribulation and Heavenly Punishment would know that this sort of lightning was the most terrifying. When the lightning was bright and loud, it meant that energy was leaking from the lightning bolt as it traveled from the Heavens to the ground. In sound, in heat, in light, energy was dispersing as the lightning bolt traveled.
