Curse works similar to Eddie's shadow gauge in Guilty Gear. Each move (bug) takes a percentage of the gauge. I believe the exact figures are posted somewhere. You only use the C and D bug if the next mixup attempt will lead to a combo. I have been saying it for months, Arakune is hot garbage.
Arakune has a few nice things but they took too much away in return. Counter Assault is nerfed to shit, 6B, 5D, J.B not being jump cancellable on block fucking sucks. In older games you can do meaty 5D to stop upback and wakeup back dash. In this game if they block you're forced to go into shitty 3C or forward dash.
His new 22ABC move is a shit zoning tool. Character is really depressing now