Despite the general misconception, Index have proven to be an extremely vitial part for this arc. Not only was she able to provide valuble information, but she had also personally Participle in the final fight and have proven to be capable of holding her own.
Something else I've notice; There is an excessive use of metaphors during the already lengthy discussion scenes, alot of which could be easily understood the first time round without going any deeper... hopefully when it comes out, the anime would not go down that path.
On the topic of things that can be cut out, I feel that Kanzaki's presence in this volume is hardly impactful at all, her entire role could easily be edited out and the main story wouldn't be affected at all. In addition, all the ecchi scenes with Anieze doesn't seem to play a part at all... Maybe in the future, but not for this...
Despite all that, I can see why some people have said that this volume would be the turning point for the whole story, in fact, it would have made a more fitting ending to the anime, given the large scale magicians vs magicians battle at the end. The set up might be slow, but once when they hit the ramp, the atmosphere just takes off
