Max had warned Severus several times that he might lose control of himself once he came in contact with the seed of destruction and that the seed might play games with his head and show him things that were not true, but he trusted Severus to always have his head in the right place and see through those illusions.
Severus too took Max's warnings quite seriously and touched the seed of destruction with the expectation that the seed would play mind games on him, however, what he did not expect was physical suffering.
The second he touched the seed of destruction he felt all the strength inside his body leaving and failing him as he dropped down to one knee and his consciousness blacked out.
Immediately Max was there to tackle him and save his life as from start to finish Severus did not even touch the seed of destruction for a total of 0.3 seconds nor did he use its power even once.
