' I must warn you Max, never absorb the knowledge from another soul directly, always filter it through an A.I. otherwise you will lose your own sense of self ' Seraphiel had warned Max when giving him the accused move and Max took full note of it.
Technically, soul drain was supposed to be a challenging battle. The reason behind why Seraphiel told Max to lower his opponents HP and wear them out before using the move was to maximise the chances of success, however, even then success was not a guarantee.
Since Max was supposed to use soul drain only on opponents who were of higher age and higher tier to himself, he could never be completely at ease regarding what hidden move they might have up their sleeve as he could only hope to deal with whatever they threw at him within the soul realm.
However, with Angakok becoming a broken man without the will to fight back, Max faced no difficulty while absorbing his soul.