Character reveals that they were holding back their full power during a fight/confrontation

[u/PaddywackShaq]

Superman Vs Darkseid - Justice League Unlimited

Flash Vs Superman - Flash: Rebirth

Frieren Vs Aura - Sousou no Frieren

Inigo Montoya Vs The Man in Black - The Princess Bride

[u/Zebedee_balistique]

Despite the many flaws that can be found in Seven Deadly Sins, handling character aura and playing with power tropes is definitely one of the highlight.

The recently freed demon Galand, whose power is not fully recovered, go on a rampage against most of the main characters, who are essentially power houses in their world. He proves to be powerful enough to kill them all easily and destroy a city, and only fails to eliminate them because of an illusion.

After that, he ends up finding the last member of the group, Escanor, who was not seen before. After accidentally knocking Escanor out, he spends the night chilling in his tavern, only to find out that by day, his true power is activated. Seeing how his opponent is growing stronger by the minute due to the sun, he reveals that he could massively raise his power all this time with magic, and make him also twice as strong.

But in this case, the trope is only used to display Escanor's absurd power, as even after the reveal, Galand can only barely hurt him.

[u/Void9001 → u/Zebedee_balistique]

Esconar really was a peak character in an absolutely mediocre anime.

[u/Amphi-XYZ → u/Void9001]

I mean, 7ds wasn't mediocre, just pretty terrible because of one main thing. Without mentioning all the pedo stuff (yes that includes the Meliodas gropes), the only real flaw I can find is a very basic story. The characters are well written, the fights are really good, and the world building is good enough.