User blog comment:Miskos3/Fairy Tail 542: Instinct, Review/@comment-4933386-20170704034221/@comment-7418318-20170706075013

Serena and Irene happened before he was split into body and spirit, so what he consciously did back then doesn't really matter much for what his mindless body does on pure instinct.

We've seen Acnologia do both. We've seen him eat magic that was fired at him the same way Natsu does, but we've also seen Jellal having his magicpower absorbed at a short distance in mid-flight without any physical contact between the two... so... whatever is required by the plot really. :/