At the duel, Yami's direct attacks on Noah via his Blue-Eyes White Dragons connect and win Yami the duel, despite Noah's protest otherwise. As a result, everyone turned to stone is released but Kaiba isn't happy about Yami taking over the duel using his own cards. Yami and Noah's dueling platforms return to the ground and Noah realizes that Yami is right about what happened to his mind over those six years. He protests that it's not fair and wants his life back so he tries to escape into the real world in Yami's body and both share each others' secrets. Then, Yami's Millennium Puzzle pushes Noah back and Noah questions who Yami is. Since Noah has lost, Yami and his friends demand freedom but Noah says their real bodies are where they've been from the get-go and do not exist in the Virtual World. It all becomes clear to Kaiba: They were knocked unconscious and dumped into the simulation pods. A purple storm cloud covers the sky and Gozaburo's voice is heard before his head emerges, stating that Noah failed for the last time.

 Noah's pleas for more time are denied as Gozaburo says he had more than enough time to prove himself, revealing that he's been behind the Virtual World plot all along and has decided to finish what Noah failed to do. He also reveals that he used Kaiba to push Noah in an effort to prepare him to take over Kaiba Corp but even in Cyberspace, Noah would still be a spoiled brat, unworthy of taking over Kaiba Corp so he turned to Kaiba, pushing him to his limits. Gozaburo plans to use one of the many satellites put into orbit when he was in charge of Kaiba Corp and wants to link every place on Earth, an idea he got from Noah, whom has since despised the idea. Gozaburo will be the most powerful being in the world and no one will stop him! He disappears and Noah brings the group to a former access panel that used to show emergency exits but has since been locked down.

Noah's mood changes as he's now realizing they won't be alone for much longer. They'll be a big happy family. Mokuba snaps him out of it and Noah realizes that there's another exit that he's fairly certain his father is unaware of and leads directly to the real world. Meanwhile, Dark Marik encounters some sort of robot guards and defeats them with his Millennium Rod, then continues his quest to find Yami and the gang. Kaiba is fully aware Noah is lying but was taught to keep his enemies close by. The group arrives at a gate that Noah says leads to the real world but actually has them trapped in their own memories. Sure enough, all-to-familiar scenes from before reoccur whole Noah leads Mokuba to what he claims is an exit in one of the video games but is really another trap.

Mokuba realizes that Noah doesn't have a body of his own but figures Kaiba Corp could make him one as Noah is part of their family. Noah leads Mokuba to the stage where he takes over Mokuba's body and emerges in the real world. Mokuba owes him his life!