Virtual World Story 4 : Virtual World ( ４ バーチャル " Sutōrī Shi : Bācharu Sekai " ) is a story arc in the " Yu - Gi - Oh ! " anime . The arc does not appear in the manga . It is sometimes referred to as The Noah Arc or Noah ' s Arc , by fans and by 4kids Entertainment . In the English dub , this arc and Battle City part 2 are referred to as Enter the Shadow Realm . Originally created in order to allow for more distance between the anime and the manga , the arc bisects the Battle City story arc and serves as a side adventure for the protagonists . Many of the characters introduced in the Battle City arc , however , appear only in a minimal role . Appearances . Cards . Monster . Normal Effect Ritual Fusion Token Games . Winners are in bold . Gameplay Mechanics . The large majority of the story arc revolves around a new gameplay element , which is created specifically for this story arc , known as the " Deck Master " . In these Duels , each player would select a Deck Master , which begins the game outside of the playing field . Each Deck Master has a unique special ability , which can be used at any point in the Duel as many times as desired . It is to be noted that even Deck Masters which otherwise have no special abilities ( such as Normal Monsters ) have a special Deck Master ability . As well , it appears that some Deck Masters retain their normal special abilities to be used as their Deck Master abilities , such as " Jinzo ' s " ability to negate all Trap cards and Nightmare Penguin ' s ATK increase of all WATER - Attribute monsters . The Deck Master can also be specially Summoned to the field , without any prerequisite such as Tributes , Fusions ( for Fusion Monsters ) or rituals ( for Ritual Monsters ) . However if the Deck Master is destroyed , its controller automatically loses the Duel . If the Deck Master is itself Tributed or otherwise replaced , the new monster would become the new Deck Master , and the old Deck Master ' s abilities were lost ( in theory , the old Deck Master could be returned by normal means - but without the Deck Master abilities , although this point is not elaborated upon in the story arc ) . It is not explained how a monster that cannot be specially Summoned , or a monster that can only be Summoned in a special manner ( such as " Fusion only " ) can be designated as a Deck Master , as no such monster was used as a Deck Master in the story arc . It is also not known whether a Deck Master card counts as against a Duelist ' s main ( or Fusion , if the Deck Master is a Fusion monster ) Decks , as this concept is not elaborated upon in the anime . When a member of Yugi ' s group Duels in this Virtual World , he / she is given a Duel Disk by their opponent , and they must build a new Deck . Plot . The Virtual World arc can be seen as a sequel to the Legendary Heroes arc ( episodes 43 - 45 ) as it features The Big Five looking for revenge within a virtual reality system similar to the one they were defeated in . Entering the virtual realm . Aboard Seto Kaiba ' s airship , the eight Battle City finals Duelists prepare to head for Alcatraz ( " KaibaCorp Island " in the English dub ) , the site of the semifinal and final rounds of the Battle City tournament . However , the trip takes a mysterious wrong turn , and finds itself landing in an undersea fortress - apparently , a mysterious force is set on revenge against Kaiba . Forcing many of its passengers off the ship , the mysterious force leads them into another room , where they reveal themselves to be the Big 5 , who are the five former board members of KaibaCorp , who were fired by Kaiba before the Battle City tournament for attempting to take over his company from underneath him . The Big 5 seek revenge against Kaiba , as well as Yugi Muto for foiling their plans to take over the company on two different occasions ( by defeating Maximillion Pegasus and the Big 5 ' s Mythic Dragon in " Legendary Heroes " ) . To do so , they force their participation in their own virtual Duel Monsters tournament , in a similar vein to Kaiba ' s " Legendary Heroes " games . There was also an added stipulation : if one of the protagonists were to lose , the Big 5 also threatened to take their bodies for themselves and escape into the real world . It is also noted by the Big 5 that the virtual tournament would require virtual cards , and thus neither " Slifer the Sky Dragon " nor " Obelisk the Tormentor " could be used by Yugi or Seto Kaiba , although players could freely choose their Decks before every Duel . As the group enter the virtual world , however , they find themselves separated : Yugi in a forest near a lake , Téa Gardner in a canyon , Tristan Taylor , Serenity Wheeler , and Duke Devlin in and around a castle , Joey Wheeler in a mansion , and Seto and Mokuba Kaiba in another forest . Each of the separated groups , as it turns out , faced a different member of the Big 5 . As it turns out , the Big 5 are controlled by Noah Kaiba , the biological son of Gozaburo Kaiba , and stepbrother to Seto and Mokuba . Noah had died ( or , in the English dub , had his body " rendered useless " ) in a traffic accident when he was young , but his mind was preserved in the virtual world . He believes that , as Gozaburo ' s biological son , he is the true legitimate heir to KaibaCorp , and that he , not Seto , should be the one running the family business . How Noah enlists the help of the Big 5 is unclear , but it was implied that , as a result of the earlier encounter between them and the main characters , the minds of the Big 5 were similarly preserved in the virtual world ( in the English dub , the Big 5 reveal that when Mythic Dragon — the monster at the end of the Legendary Heroes arc — was destroyed , so were their bodies , but not their minds ) . In the virtual world , each member of the Big 5 would use a different monster as their Deck Master and their personal avatar . Gansley , a businessman with a penchant of quoting famous philosophers ( in the original ) or business acumen ( in the English dub ) would be the first to Duel , against arguably the strongest of any of the main characters - Yugi . Despite wanting to choose his trusted " Dark Magician " , " Kuriboh " chooses itself as Yugi ' s Deck Master . Forced with this choice , Yugi proceeds to Duel . Gansley ' s strategy to defeat Yugi was simple - by using a supposedly invincible sacrifice - and - revive combination , he could force Yugi ' s monsters to attack Yugi directly , without fear of being harmed . Yet , Yugi is persistent , and eventually has the last laugh - by combining " Kuriboh " ( who Gansley dismissed as " weak " ) and " Rainbow Blessing " , Yugi could set up a play which could allow a monster to bypass Gansley ' s defenses , and attack Gansley directly , which he does to win the Duel , using " Swift Gaia the Fierce Knight " . As Yugi proceeds to find a way to reunite with his friends , Crump manages to trap Téa Gardner into a Duel . Being a competent amateur player in her own right , she chooses a Deck of all - female monsters , including " Dark Magician Girl " as her Deck Master , to which Crump scoffs at , citing it as an unwise decision , thinking that " Dark Magician Girl " would not be effective without her male counterpart ( in the English dub , this is replaced by remarks suggesting a perversion towards young girls ) . As an additional catch , whenever either Duelist lost Life Points , part of their body would be frozen , and encased in ice . Despite being at a disadvantage for most of the match , " Dark Magician Girl " eventually helped Téa by Summoning herself to the field and using her own Deck Master ability , allowing Téa to draw the " Sage ' s Stone " card . With that card , Téa Summoned " Dark Magician " from nearby Yugi ' s Deck ( thus helping Yugi to find Téa ) and win the Duel . With Yugi and Téa reunited , the focus shifts to Johnson , who is slated to face Joey Wheeler . Believing he finally escaped the virtual world , and eager to get his hands on Yami Marik for what he did to Mai Valentine , Joey discovers that this was an elaborate trap set by Johnson , who proceeds to Duel him . Johnson manages to get the upper hand in the Duel through a combination of his Deck Master ability , " Clear the Courtroom " ( which , at the cost of 1000 Life Points , cleared the field of all cards ) , as well as the illicit ability of manipulating the outcome of Joey ' s luck - based moves . Yet , just as it seems that Joey ' s luck was about to run out , Noah appears and insists that Johnson forfeit the Duel for cheating . Joey , in the spirit of a True Duelist , convinces Noah to let the match continue , knowing well that Johnson would not be able to cheat again , and eventually wins by outwitting Johnson at one of the mind games he claimed to be an expert at . Tristan Taylor , Duke Devlin , and Serenity Wheeler manage to find each other , yet they find themselves faced off against Nezbitt , who wants to take Serenity ' s body for his own . With Tristan and Duke willing to protect Serenity from harm , they try to convince Nezbitt that they should take her place , but he settles on a three - on - one Duel . Serenity , despite having never played in a Duel herself , and knowing little about the rules , is relieved that Tristan and Duke would help her along , but miscommunication between Tristan and Duke would ultimately cost Tristan his Deck Master . Crestfallen over Tristan ' s sacrifice , Duke manages to use his dice tricks and his signature monster , " Orgoth the Relentless " , to buy some time . Convinced by her older brother ( who had managed to find her ) that she , too , must fight in the spirit of a True Duelist , Serenity vows to continue playing . Serenity would ultimately deal the final blow in the match , thanks to her Deck Master , " Goddess with the Third Eye " , whose ability allowed her to Fusion Summon monsters without " Polymerization " , using the remnants of Tristan ' s playing field . With Nezbitt having technically won Tristan ' s body , Nezbitt uses it to kidnap Mokuba , while Yugi and friends seek to restore Tristan , who now resides in the body of a robot monkey ( which is actually a brown version of " Acrobat Monkey " ) . Kaiba , in pursuit of Nezbitt , encounters Leichter , the last member of the Big 5 . Eager to put Leichter aside , Kaiba tries to use his " Crush Card Virus " strategy against him , only to fail as he realizes that Leichter ' s Deck Master was " Jinzo " , which renders the opponent ' s Trap Card s useless . Combined with " Imperial Order " , a card that rendered Magic Cards useless , this left Kaiba with only Monster Card s . Furthermore , Leichter would use " Satellite Cannon " , a monster that could only be destroyed by Level 8 monsters or above , and whose power increased the longer it is in play ( but only while attacking ) , in an attempt to ensure his victory . However , Kaiba manages to Summon " Blue - Eyes White Dragon " , a Level 8 monster , in time , and uses it to destroy " Satellite Cannon " and win the Duel . Throughout the Duel , the viewers learn of how Seto took over KaibaCorp : In the Japanese version , on Seto ' s birthday , he and Mokuba were given 2 % shares in KaibaCorp . In the English dub , Seto was given ten million dollars ; quite how Mokuba acquired 2 % of KaibaCorp is never explained . In the Japanese version , Seto had to return one hundred times the investment within one year , while in the English dub , he merely had to return ten times the investment . Seto had shown his cruel business tactics when he accomplished his feat in just one day , and with that task completed , he managed to get the Big 5 into transferring their shares of KaibaCorp to Seto , so that both Seto and Gozaburo had 49 % of the company each . However , Seto had blamed Mokuba for leaking the information out to Gozaburo ( when in fact it was Seto himself ) , making Seto ' s attempt fruitless . When it seemed that Gozaburo had won , Mokuba then threw a bombshell of his own : he ' d never turn his back on his brother , and combined with Seto ' s 49 % , his 2 % would be enough to oust Gozaburo from power . It is not completely clear what happened to Gozaburo after this ; in both the Japanese and English versions he ' disappears ' . Noah manages to capitalize on Seto blaming Mokuba , and convinces Mokuba through brainwashing that Noah is his true big brother , and that Seto was a nobody . This is part of his plan to slowly take everything Seto has of value from him , and the Big 5 was simply a tool for his means - by making a false promise of bodies , he could manipulate the Big 5 as he wished . Fall of the Big 5 . Unaware of this , the Big 5 continued to try and take more bodies so that they would not have to share Tristan ' s , and manage to convince Yugi and Joey into a Duel with everyone ' s bodies on the line , in a winner - take - all duel . During this Duel , the Big 5 ( who started with 8000 Life Points ) manage to Summon their signature monster , " Mythic Dragon " , by Tributing their five respective Deck Masters . However , it is destroyed by " Mirage Knight " , a monster that was Summoned after Yugi and Joey were able to fuse " Dark Magician " and " Flame Swordsman " together ( which were , respectively , Yugi and Joey ' s Deck Masters ) to create " Dark Flare Knight " , who destroyed itself by attacking " Five God Dragon " and taking no battle damage due to its effect , allowing " Mirage Knight " to be Summoned . The Duel , however , did not end , thanks to the Trap Card " A Deal with Dark Ruler " , allowing the Big 5 to Summon a new Deck Master , " Berserk Dragon " - a monster that gradually weakened the longer it stayed on the field . After surviving a round of attacks , Joey , who the Big 5 thought was the weaker link of the two , and was allowed to survive on 300 Life Points , would set up " Dark Magician " by transforming him into " Dark Magician Knight " by using the Magic Card , " Knight ' s Title " , allowing him to use his Deck Master ' s special ability ( which , he explains , would only work on Warrior - Type monsters ) and was able to transfer most of the ATK of " Flame Swordsman " directly to " Dark Magician Knight " , which was enough to destroy " Berserk Dragon " and win the Duel . Seven Turns of Heaven ' s Creation . With the Big 5 defeated , Noah banishes the five and takes matters into his own hands . He challenges Seto directly , fully intending to take his body in order to escape the virtual world , and claim the position that he believes he deserves . Noah tells Seto that he would win in seven turns , with each turn representing each of the seven days of creation ( this detail , like all other religious references , was removed from the English dub ) . Despite Noah ' s choice of " Shinato ' s Ark " as his Deck Master , Seto manages to get into a position in which one of his monsters could attack either of Noah ' s two monsters and win the Duel . However , Mokuba suddenly appears to support Noah , effectively stopping Seto from attacking Noah ' s monsters for fear that Mokuba would be hurt . Because of this , Seto had effectively played into Noah ' s hands : Noah was never in any danger of losing the Duel , thanks to another of his Deck Master ' s abilities that gave him Life Points based on the number of discarded monsters . Now with the upper hand , Noah begins to take control of the Duel . Meanwhile , Seto attempts to get through to his brainwashed brother , to no avail . With one last hope , Seto Summons his " Blue - Eyes White Dragon " , which manages to break Mokuba free of Noah ' s control . Yet , thanks to his Deck Master , Noah ' s Life Points continue to rise . Desperate , Seto uses " Last Turn " to force the Duel into one final winner - take - all Battle Phase . Seto chooses " Blue - Eyes White Dragon " to attack while Noah chooses his Deck Master to defend . Although " Blue - Eyes White Dragon " wins the battle , the destruction of " Shinato ' s Ark " allowed Noah to summon " Shinato , King of a Higher Plane " , a more powerful monster that destroys " Blue - Eyes White Dragon " , allowing Noah to win the Duel . As a token of his victory and his apparent worthiness of the title of head of KaibaCorp , Noah turns Seto and Mokuba to stone . Yugi , however , is enraged over Noah ' s actions : had Seto not Tributed " Different Dimension Dragon " , the Duel would have been a DRAW , since this dragon cannot be destroyed in battle ( this was an error ; " Different Dimension Dragon " can only be destroyed by monsters with " less " than 1900 ATK ) . Instead , " Blue - Eyes White Dragon " was Summoned so that Seto would save Mokuba ( in the English dub , this detail was omitted - Yugi is enraged over how Seto had effectively been blackmailed by Noah earlier when he had used Mokuba as a human shield ) . He challenges Noah to continue the Duel , with Yugi taking Seto ' s place . With Life Points being 7400 - 400 in favour of Noah , and no monsters on Seto Kaiba ' s side of the field ( and no cards in his hand ) , Noah gladly accepts , intending to quickly win , and turn both Yugi and his friends to stone . Should Yugi win , however , he demands that everyone be set free from the virtual world . Having to Duel against a different kind of Duelist in Yugi , Noah uses Spirit Monsters , a type of monster that returns to the hand at the end of the turn , and the " Spring of Rebirth " Magic Card to attack Yugi and increase his own Life Points in the process . Although Yugi manages to use " Cyber Jar " to destroy all of Noah ' s monsters , including " Shinato , King of a Higher Plane " ( which Seto forced Noah to Summon to the field as a result of Noah needing a target to declare as a defender for the effect of " Last Turn " ) , Noah uses another Deck Master ability to pull " Shinato , King of a Higher Plane " back to the sidelines , but with the caveat that Noah now cannot Summon " Shinato , King of a Higher Plane " back to the field for the remainder of the Duel . Because of his Spirit Monsters , " Spring of Rebirth " , and another Deck Master ability , Noah ' s Life Points continue to accumulate to the point that Noah simply allows Yugi to directly attack him every turn - an effort that turned largely fruitless as Noah would manage to gain even more Life Points . Being confident of himself , Noah offers Yugi a chance to forfeit the Duel , but for every turn that Yugi continues to play in which Noah is not defeated , one of Yugi ' s friends would be turned into stone . With time running out , Yugi ends up in a situation where he has 100 Life Points to Noah ' s 10 , 000 , facing off against Noah ' s most powerful Spirit Monster ( which stayed on the field due to a Trap Card ) , with nothing on the field and no cards in his hand . Worse , all of his friends are eventually turned turned to stone . It seemed all but lost for Yugi , when he is reminded that even though all of his friends ( Seto and Mokuba included ) are turned to stone , they are still there in spirit to cheer him on . With a new - found confidence , Yugi draws " Card of Sanctity " , allowing Yugi to draw six cards . With these six cards , he revives Seto Kaiba ' s " Blue - Eyes White Dragon " and fuses it with the two " Blue - Eyes White Dragon " he has drawn to form " Blue - Eyes Ultimate Dragon " , and he uses his fifth card , " Quick Attack " , to allow " Blue - Eyes Ultimate Dragon " to attack Noah ' s monster immediately . He then uses his final card , " De - Fusion " , to split " Blue - Eyes Ultimate Dragon " back into three " Blue - Eyes White Dragons " , and attacks directly with all three , winning the Duel . Escape from the Virtual World . With the Duel won , Yugi demands that Noah free everyone from the virtual world . However , Noah reveals to everyone that , in the process of entering the virtual world , they were all knocked out and placed in virtual reality pods . Everyone is later shocked to find that it was Gozaburo , or at least , a digitized copy thereof , who had attempted to trap everyone in a complicated plan to take over the world by trapping everyone in the virtual world ( in the Japanese version , Gozaburo was going to use missiles positioned in space to manipulate the world to his will ) . Desperate to tell the world of Gozaburo ' s impending atrocity , they are determined more than ever to escape the virtual world . With Noah willing to help Yugi and company despite his duplicity , they follow him to a large door that was said to be a secret backdoor that Gozaburo had not discovered and closed . However , Noah ' s true colors are revealed as they trap Yugi and friends within their own recent memories , although all would eventually free themselves from the trap . Meanwhile , Noah and Mokuba discover a virtual replica of Domino , in which Noah tricks Mokuba in order to escape the virtual world in Mokuba ' s body . Noah ( as Mokuba ) then aims a missile - armed satellite in order to destroy the undersea fortress ( and thus the virtual world ) , and proceeds to leave on a helicopter alone . However , once there , he experiences a change of heart due to Mokuba ' s willingness to forgive Noah ( and even helps convince Seto to find a way to create a new , if somewhat artificial , body for Noah ) , and proceeds back into the fortress , only to find the satellite controls having been destroyed by Yami Marik . With only 60 minutes until the fortress is destroyed , Noah begins working on a way to save everyone . Meanwhile , Seto , being too smart to fall for their trap , proceeds to the virtual KaibaCorp headquarters , where Gozaburo waited . Gozaburo challenges Seto to a Duel to see who was worthier of running KaibaCorp ( similar to how Seto had played chess with him as a child ) . Gozaburo quickly finds a way to discard the five pieces of " Exodia the Forbidden One " ( using " Painful Choice " ) in order to Summon " Exodia Necross " , a monster which , as long as the five pieces of " Exodia the Forbidden One " were in the Graveyard , it is immune to virtually every card ( The Left Leg , Right Leg , and Left Arm granted Necross immunities to Magic Cards , Trap Cards , and Monster Effects respectively ) and grew more powerful with every battle it was involved in ( Exodia ' s Head prevented it from being destroyed from a monster attack while the Right Arm ensured that its ATK increased by 1000 points whenever it engaged in battle ) . Although Exodia Necross seemed unstoppable , Seto realized that , like himself with " Blue - Eyes White Dragon " so long ago - ironically before his defeat at the hands of Exodia , Gozaburo is using the power of only one monster , believing that it alone would win the battle for him . By using the " Soul Demolition " Trap Card , Seto manages to remove the five parts of Exodia from play from Gozaburo ' s Graveyard , weakening it so that " Blue - Eyes White Dragon " could destroy it and win the Duel . As the countdown to impact reaches eight minutes , Joey , Tristan , Téa , Duke , and Serenity manage to escape the virtual world thanks to Noah ' s help , but Noah asks Yugi to stay behind to help save Seto . With everyone safely out , Noah then proceeds to put himself back in the Virtual Reality pod in order to save Mokuba and trap Gozaburo in the virtual world . Yugi and company make it back to the airship , which escapes just in time to avoid being destroyed by the missile . The airship proceeds towards the Battle City finals , completing the originally - planned trip . Meanwhile , Mokuba mourns for the stepbrother that he only briefly knew .