Summoning Key

"The Summoning Key is the most powerful artifact in this, or any other dimension."

- Shadow Man

"This artifact has the power to contain and preserve the subject's soul. YOUR soul. But it can only be done after the moment of death, just as you saw me do to my other self."

- Young Edward Richtofen explaining his plan with the Summoning Key to the others.

The Summoning Key is a mysterious artifact featured in Call of Duty: Black Ops III Zombies. It is featured in the map Shadows of Evil as a quest item and as part of the easter egg in Der Eisendrache. It plays a large role in the Shadows of Evil easter egg, Apocalypse Averted as well as Der Eisendrache's easter egg My Brother's Keeper. According to the Shadow Man and Richtofen, it is the most powerful artifact in existence.

Summary
The Summoning Key can be found in a crate in the back of a truck in the spawn alley in Shadows of Evil. In order to obtain it, the player must enter beast mode and smash the crate, revealing the Summoning Key, which can be pick up by the player in their human form.

According to one of the ciphers in Der Eisendrache, the Summoning Key was supposed to be delivered by the reporter who worked for Mr.Raft, but as the writer of the cipher arrived to collect it, the reporter was bubbling and acting weirdly, then the crate was sealed with "some ancient magic", storing the key. The writer of the cipher acted in self-defense and killed the reporter. This cipher explains why the Summoning Key, a very powerful artifact, was left in the middle of Morg city.

The Summoning Key is used by the players to complete rituals around the map. Everytime a ritual is completed, the soul of the person sacrificed in the ritual will be trapped within the Key. During the easter egg, the Shadow Man is ultimately trapped within the Summoning Key by the crew in an effort to remove the Mark of the Beast from their hands.

After completing the easter egg, a Keeper will hand the players the Summoning Key in order to remove their curse, but before they could grab it, the Edward Richtofen from Origins snatches the Key, saying he doesn't have time to explain and that he has a universe to set right before thanking the crew and leaving through a portal, dooming the Shadows of Evil cast. In the map The Giant, Richtofen will mention to Nikolai that he has an artifact that could be useful to them later on, which is in fact the Summoning Key.

In the map The Giant, several pieces of blue scrap paper can be found scattered around the map, with each piece being a part of a blueprint. When put together, they will reveal a blueprint involving the Summoning Key, as well as the blueprints' creator, Dr. Monty.

In the map Der Eisendrache, Richtofen will mention the Summoning Key once again. In the end cutscene, Richtofen explains that he plans to preserve the souls of the original characters after they are killed, stating the Summoning Key can only preserve their souls after the moment of their death. After the Original Timeline Dempsey was solemnly put down by his Origins Timeline Dempsey, Richtofen uses it to capture his soul. During this, Richtofen also reveals what he did to his Original Timeline body after he killed him, he knelt down to capture his soul. With Dempsey dead, Richtofen only has the Original Timeline Nikolai and Original Timeline Takeo left to preserve their souls after they have been killed.

In the intro for Zetsubou No Shima, the Summoning Key was taken from Richtofen by a Japanese Officer onboard a ship in the Pacific Ocean before a wave gives the four a chance to fight back. After Takeo kills the officer with a Katana, the Summoning Key rolls off his hand and around the deck of the ship before almost falling overboard before it is caught by Takeo.

Appearance
The Summoning Key is a golden sphere with six Apothicon symbols on it. Out of the six symbols, only one is translatable, which is the symbol on the golden circle, translating to "Urgast", which is Apothicon for "Servant" in English. During a ritual, the six symbols fly out from the key and surround the person being sacrificed. After the ritual has ended, the symbols return back onto the Summoning Key.

Souls Preserved within the Summoning Key

 * Nero Blackstone's Lawyer
 * Jack Vincent's Partner
 * Jessica Rose's Producer
 * Floyd Campbell's Promoter
 * Shadow Man
 * Possibly other timeline Richtofens
 * WWII Edward Richtofen
 * WWII "Tank" Dempsey

Trivia

 * Strangely, there appears to be an outline of the KN-44 on the Summoning Key blueprint. This stands out due to the light blue coloration in the center.