I do enjoy the plot of this series, however, I think in this case it's one of the situations where I think the anime and the graphic novel are/will be better (I've only seen the first season of the anime) because so much of this is about battles that would be better to be illustrated instead of being explained in excruciating detail that takes up more time than the actual dialogue and progress of the plot.
Whole volume dedicated to one battle and it still cuts off in the middle… it’s fine. Despite the nonsensical nature of the motivations for the underlying plot in this story, the characters continue to be fun and make it work for me.