Wizards & Warriors/Purple Cave

The keys to the keys
You enter the Purple Cave in the lower left hand corner. This stage is composed of one single open area even larger in size than the Ice Cave. As a result, it's rather easy to feel lost or misplaced until you get a better feel for how the stage is arranged. There are a number of enemies in this cave, including fire spitting cobras, red and pink bats, and pink stalagmite creatures that can't be destroyed. In addition to the requisite collection of diamonds, a whopping 200 this time, you'll need to find every key in this stage in order to exit and fight the boss. However, only one key is available from the outset. The other two keys are locked behind closed doors.

Red Key
To get started on the hunt for the first key, you should make your way up and along the left-hand side of the stage. As you are climbing, make note of the red door that you pass as you jump up. Climb all the way to the top until you reach the ceiling, and can't climb any higher. Then travel a short distance to the left, and you will find the red key.

Blue Key
Now return down the left side to the red door that you passed. You can pick up the diamonds inside of the red chest (A) along the way. Enter inside, you will drop down a small chamber with two platforms and two skulls that shoot sparks at you. The skulls can be killed with a kick but they are unimportant, so don't bother attacking them. Drop to the bottom of the chamber, and you will find the blue key. Then hop back up to the door at the top and escape.

Pink Key
In order to find the final key, the pink key, you'll need to travel a bit. From the red door that you just left, drop back down until you can travel to the right. Go all the way to the right and you should reach a red treasure chest (C) that contains the Staff of Power. Continue right, and you will see another red chest (D) which contains the Cloak of Darkness. These are the only two chests that contain changeable equipment. Below the cloak is a red chest full of diamonds (E). From this chest, drop down the gap to the right, and then follow the left wall as you make your way towards the bottom of the cave.

Before you reach the bottom, you should discover a blue door. Enter this door, and you will be in another small chamber similar to the one you collected the blue key from. This time, however, you will find the pink key perched on a platform beyond two spark spitting skulls. Grab it quickly and make your exit from the room. All that you have left is to gather enough diamonds.

Gathering Diamonds
In addition to the multitude of single diamonds scattered around the cave, and the seven treasure chests which contain diamonds, there are also seven hidden chamber entrances that can be discovered around the level. If you collected the Horn from the ../Lava Cave/, you can use it to help you divine where the entrances are located. If you use the Horn in the vicinity of an entrance (so that it can appear on the screen), you will be able to see it.

Once inside the chamber, remember that you have a choice between physically touching the diamonds, or throwing a dagger or axe at them. Physically collecting the diamonds will only net you one additional diamond, but throwing a dagger or axe at them increases your count by two for each diamond that you touch. Make the most out of your efforts by throwing weapons to collect as many diamonds as you can.

Finally, if you're still short the 200 diamonds that you need, stand still and fight off the bats that continuously appear throughout the stage. They won't always leave items behind, and when they do, it won't always be a diamond, but they will appear on occasion. Once you have all of the diamonds you need, make your way to the upper right corner of the cave. If the guardian knight is gone, you can escape through the exit using the pink key.

Boss: Apparition
The Apparition is a large boss who appears like a ghost in a purple robe. Unlike previous bosses, the Apparition appears to follow a pattern of movement with no regard for Kuros' position. It drifts down to the ground and simply moves back and forth while firing projectiles at Kuros. Though the boss is tall, it is not impossible to jump over. So your strategy should be to simply leap over the boss and run to the opposite side of the room, where you can attack the boss until it is time to leap over it again. Do this until it is defeated, and then destroy the souls that escape from the boss. Collect the treasure pile that rises out of the ground, and you will run to the door to rescue Grizelda for 30,000 bonus points.