Photoshop Transparency Changes When Merging or Exporting as PNG

Hello,

I created some text - 7 rows of the same word and changed the layer style stroke to size 25 px, position Inside, blend mode soft light, opacity 100% for first row and each row I lowered opacity by 15, Fill type color and color was white.  These settings were all for the stroke in layer style. The actal layers were all normal blend modes, 100% opacity, 0% Fill.  This bascially looks like a word that is outlined.  The initial document is transparent, 4000 x 4000 px 600 dpi.  When I try to merge my layers or export as a png the words look like a brighter white and the transparency is barely noticable.  I dont' know what I am doing wrong.  I am using the current PS 2023 and latest updates on a Windows 10 laptop.  Can anyone help me resolve this so that what I am seeing in my document looks the same when I merge my layers or export as a PNG?

Thanks